five; MUGGLE TERMINOLOGY

Ezra Sutton had had a minuscule rivalry with George Weasley for as long as the two had known one another, it had begun rather playfully on the train to Hogwarts during their first year and had slowly hardened when they were placed into rival houses and pit against one another in certain classes and on the Quidditch Pitch.

Though, due to Sutton's new budding friendship with Fred, and George being his twin brother, they had reluctantly put aside their differences with one another and then accidentally began to warm up to the idea of the other, especially after they had joined their ideas and pranked Cassius Warrington together after they witnessed him taunting an upset first year and after getting to know one another, George had started to realise that she wasn't anything like what people had made her out to be and Sutton realised that there was more to the male than just being a jokester and a bit of an asshole.

"What in Merlin's name is wrong with her?"

Sutton looked up from her bowl of porridge to see Lyra glaring darkly at the piece of parchment in her hand and she was quite certain that if it was possible, Lyra's gaze would have set the page alight.

"What's the matter?" She asked, concern lacing her tone.

Lyra scoffed as she began to she rip the parchment into pieces and she then tossed the remains down the table, the pieces fluttering all over the breakfast dishes and the two ignored the glares and loud complaints from those who had to pick the pieces out of their food.

"Auntie Narcissa wants to take me to go and visit my mother over the Christmas break." She fumed, "Why in Merlin's left sock would I ever want to do that?"

"Merlin's left sock?" Sutton questioned, her eyebrow quirking.

"Don't." Lyra warned.

"Right, sorry." She replied hastily, "Why don't you just refuse?"

"I've done that for the last five years," Lyra groaned as her head dropped onto the table with a loud thud and Sutton's lip twitched as she stared at her friend who had begun to speak, her words muffled by the table, "That hurt."

"Okay, just tell her that you'd already made plans to come to my place for Christmas and then either stay here or actually come to my place," Sutton suggested.

Lyra's head rose from its spot on the table and stared at Sutton for a moment.

"That could work." She murmured.

Sutton grinned at her before turning her attention back to the bowl of porridge in front of her, grimacing at the sight of ripped up parchment slowly seeping further into her breakfast.

✦❀✦

"Morning gentlemen." She greeted as she slipped into a vacant seat across from the Weasley twins at the Gryffindor table.

"Sutton." The two spoke in sync, the brunette casting an odd look at the identical beanies lying atop their heads.

"Word around the castle say you know all the secret passages into Hogsmeade." She commented, not bothering to question the oddness of their attire, considering how warm it was that day.

George gave her a look.

"And you don't?" He asked, rather shocked.

Sutton tilted her head in acknowledgement.

"I only know three." She admitted, "Filch knows about two so he regularly monitors them and the one that I regularly used caved in last Winter."

"The one behind the mirror on the fourth floor?" Fred questioned in disbelief after he and his twin shared a look.

"Yeah, why?" She asked in confusion.

"We reckoned that we were the only ones who knew about that passageway," George explained, causing Sutton to laugh.

"Darlings, millions of students have walked these halls for centuries." She told them, "I highly doubt that you were the only ones."

"At the moment." Fred corrected as he rolled his eyes at her, "But, yeah, we know a few passages."

Sutton grinned as she clapped her hands together.

"Brilliant, will you show me?" She asked eagerly.

Fred and George shared a look and they both shrugged after they broke whatever silent communication they were having before they glanced back at her and nodded in unison.

"Ezra Sutton!" A voice called.

Sutton tilted her head at the looks the twins were giving her before she threw a leg over the seat she was on and turned her torso in time to see Professor McGonagall stop a foot from her.

"Hello, Professor." She smiled at the woman.

"Why aren't you sitting at your table?" She asked sternly.

"I loaned Fred her some of my Potions notes as he missed class the other day and I was just getting them back." She responded without missing a beat, "Aside from that, I thought the teacher's encouraged inter-house unity."

She stared up at her Professor who watched her for a moment, as if searching for any falsification, before she nodded her head once and turned on her heel, walking swiftly away from the trio.

"Ezra?" Fred inquired, his eyes shining with amusement.

She nodded slowly, "Yeah, my parents were rooting for a boy." She responded with a shrug causing Fred to chuckle.

"What's your middle name then?" He queried, the grin on his face slowly growing wider as he stared at her.

Sutton watched him for a moment.

"Uh, no I'm definitely not saying." She finally answered him, fighting the urge to giggle at the pout which overtook his face.

"How did you do that?" George questioned in an awed tone.

"Do what?" She asked in confusion.

"Lie to McGonagall and not get caught," Fred replied after he had finished his pouting over her refusal to tell him her middle name.

The Slytherin laughed.

"I've been blaming things on my aunt and uncle since I could talk." She answered with a smirk, "Also, I wasn't lying because you actually did borrow my notes."

"Oh, right." Fred muttered as he rummaged through his bag until he pulled out her notes and handed them to his friend, "Thanks, they were really helpful."

"No worries." Sutton smiled as she stuffed the rolls of parchment into her bag.

✦❀✦

"That was pretty fun," Sutton admitted as Fred helped her out of the One-Eyed Witch and closed it before they began walking down the hallway.

"You think?" He asked.

Sutton nodded with a smile as she adjusted the bag on her shoulder.

"So what did you end up getting?" Fred questioned.

"Just a book." She replied, "It's my stepdad's birthday in a couple of days and I accidentally left it until the last minute this year."

Fred stared at her in confusion.

"What's a stepdad?" He asked.

Sutton looked down at her shoes for a moment before answering.

"It's a muggle term, it just means that he's not my biological father. He and my mother met a few years after I was born, I think it was about two or three years after my father died. They ended up getting married the year before I came to Hogwarts, hence the term stepfather." She attempted to explain, "Does that make sense?"

"A little." He replied sheepishly.

"From what I know, it's definitely more of a muggle term." She told him, "Mum's a half-blood and Steven is a muggle. Uh, he's been in my life since I was about five or six and Mum says basically the only father figure I've ever had since my dad."

"Can I ask what happened to your biological father?" Fred asked as they walked through the Entrance Hall.

"He died." Sutton responded after a short pause, "I have no memory of him and when I try to remember, all I see is this face hidden in the shadows of my memories and this laughter that I'm sure that I got from him."

"I'm sorry," Fred told her, his eyes soft as he watched her attempt to suppress her sadness for a man she barely remembered.

She looked up at him with a small smile.

"Don't worry, I'm over it." She said. He knew she was lying, "Besides from the little that my Mum has actually told me about him, he's not all that worth remembering."

"Do you want to go and prank George?" He asked suddenly, sensing that the brunette wasn't entirely over it and wanted to stop talking.

Sutton grinned at him, thankful for the abrupt change in topic.

"Do you even have to ask?"

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i'm attempting to make their relationship into a slow one but they're too cute and i just want them together immediately.

thanks for reading!

~r