✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

Y/N's P.O.V. 

The storm had blown itself out by the next morning, but the sky remained a dull, gloomy, pewter-grey as Y/N, Harry, Ron and Hermione examined their new timetables at breakfast. Near them sat Fred, George, and their good friend Lee Jordan, who Y/N absolutely loved, since he joined in on their pranks very often.

"Today's not bad, outside all morning," Ron said. "Herbology with the Hufflepuffs-" 

Y/N groaned, "I fuckin' hate Herbology!" she whined. "Every time I touch a plant it practically withers away." 

"-And Care of Magical Creatures...damn it, we're still with the Slytherins." 

Hermione scoffed, "Y/N, you just need to actually pay attention to your plants. Remember second year where you let a Mandrake slip and Neville spent a week in the Hospital Wing?" 

"That wasn't my fault..." Y/N mumbled. "I said sorry..."

"Double Divination this afternoon," Harry groaned. "The old bat'll probably have us looking at the clouds, or something."

Buttering herself some toast, almost getting the sleeves of her robes in her goblet of orange juice, Y/N said, "Well, you should've given it up like Herms and I." 

"You actually followed my footsteps," Hermione grinned, nudging her. 

Hermione took a bite of her pancakes, leading Ron to ask, "I see you're eating again," with a raised brow, referencing how she hadn't had a bite of food last night because of Elf Rights. 

"I've decided there are better ways to make a stand about Elf Rights," Hermione replied haughtily.

"Yeah," Ron grinned. "And you were hungry."

There was a sudden rustling of noise above them. Hoards of owls came swooping into the hall, landing in front of their owners. Bandit came to Y/N, letter clutched in his beak. She took it gratefully, letting the bird poke his beak into her goblet of orange juice. She'd just get a new one.

Harry had his brows furrowed, which he did when he was confused or overthinking. She'd spent enough time looking at his face to know. He was probably thinking about his letter to Sirius, to which he hadn't gotten a response. 

Bandit flew off after giving Y/N a nip on the finger. Carefully, Y/N unwrapped the letter, coming face to face with Remus' handwriting. 

"Hey, Kid, 

I sorta missed you, so I decided to send a letter. I didn't really think about what it would entail, but here I am. 

I know you know about the Triwizard Tournament happening. I wonder who made you do all that research... 

I'm aware you and Hermione won't attempt to enter, so good on you. Keep an eye on Ron, Fred and George. And Harry. Trouble seems to follow him everywhere, but he's James' son, so what can you expect? 

Obviously, there's age restrictions, but if anyone gets past them...its a magical, binding contract. 

Remember, I'm taking you to see your parents soon, so be ready for that.

On a brighter note, happy start of term. I would say, "Stay out of trouble," but you won't, so there's no point.

See you soon, kid-"

There was a very poorly drawn attempt of a heart, which made Y/N chuckle at her uncle's childishness. 

"- Dad." 

"Awh, that's sweet," Hermione commented, looking over Y/N's shoulder. "Oh...you're meeting your parents soon? Aren't they..." 

"You know..." Harry said carefully, his soft, pitiful gaze on Y/N. "Sort of..." 

"Unresponsive?" Ron said finally, with much hesitation. 

Y/N blinked at them. It was amusing how they treated the topic with such care and hesitance, as to not upset her. "No," she said quietly. "They're sort of better - they...er...asked for me." 

Before she knew what was happening, Hermione had wrapped her arms around Y/N. Harry and Ron reached across the table to hold each of her hands. It w as very warm and fuzzy and made Y/N feel all...squiggly inside. 

"Thanks, you lot," Y/N muttered with a weak, grateful smile. 

"Everything will be okay, Y/N," Harry assured. "I just know it." 

And for a moment, she believed him. 

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

"Bubotubers," Professor Sprout informed them once they had filed into the greenhouse and put thick, dragon-hide gloves on.

The plants were quite possibly the ugliest plants Y/N had ever seen. The leaves looked like giant, black slugs protruding vertically from the soil in front of them. She gagged. 

"The pus has highly formidable and helpful magical properties," Sprout continued. "They need squeezing. You will collect the pus-"

"The what?" Seamus asked from beside Dean. 

"Pus, Finnigan, pus," Professor Sprout said shortly. "And it's extremely valuable, so don't let any slip. You will collect the bus in these glass bottles. Wear your gloves the whole time  - Bubotuber pus can do some odd things to the skin..."

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Y/N said weakly, covering her mouth with her gloved hand. 

"If you're gonna be sick, do it away from me," Harry said playfully, giving her a nudge and a grin that made Y/N's heart flutter.

Before Y/N could retort, Professor Sprout had distributed the pustules that Y/N refused to believe were plants. The whole time, Y/N couldn't stop thinking about how much she wanted to die. It was so gooey and disgusting. 

Y/N did realize that every time she touched a Bubotuber, it wilted slightly. It got a little floppier, or a little squishier. She came to the conclusion that it was normal, since she was pulling it's roots out of the ground.

Halfway through class, when the greenhouse smelt thoroughly of Petrol, Ron smirked. "What if I just-" he made a sudden jerking motion, as though he was going to squirt the pus on Y/N. 

The girl shrieked, almost dropping her Bubotuber. 

"Ronald Weasley, I swear to Merlin I am going to hex your dick off-" 

✦

"Run like you mean it, Thomas!" Y/N yelled to Dean, draped over his back, enjoying a piggy-back ride. 

The boy muttered something that she couldn't hear, and for sure rolled his eyes, but sped up nonetheless. He raced towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest, where Hagrid stood with Fang in front of his hut. 

"Is that better, your highness?" Dean asked irately, almost throwing Y/N off his back. 

"Much," she replied, grinning.

As they approached, Y/N observed the many wooden crates that surrounded Hagrid. When they were almost at the hut (Harry, Ron, Hermione and Seamus were trailing behind Y/N and Dean), Y/N heard a small explosion. 

"Mornin'!" Hagrid grinned at them. "Be'er wait fer the Slytherins - they wouldn' wanna miss this! Blast-ended Skrewts!" 

"Come again?" Ron said as Y/N slid off of Dean's back, landing on the ground lightly, feeling the grass mush slightly under her feet from the previous day's heavy rain.

"Thanks, D," she said. "I'll make sure that Remus sends me that chocolate you like." 

Dean brightened, "Awww, thanks! I love you too!" 

"And eat it right in front of your face," Y/N said slyly. When Dean tried to smack her, the girl ran over to Harry and hid behind him. Dean tried making jabs, but she pulled Harry in front of her each time. 

"Not to say that I'm not enjoying this manhandling," said Harry, "but I'm not," he scoffed. "Leave 'er alone, Dean." 

"Yeah, Dean," Y/N said, sticking out her tongue. "Leave me alone." 

"I'm telling Seamus!" Dean cried playfully, skipping away to where Seamus Finnigan stood. 

Harry slipped a hand into Y/N's, then dragged her over to the crates. There was already a small cluster of students when they arrive. Y/N peered into one of the boxes- 

"Eurgh!" squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backwards. 

And Eurgh was right. 

Inside the crates, about one-hundred per crate, were possibly the most disgusting creatures Y/N had ever seen. They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and covered with slime. Six inches long, with legs sticking out in various places and they had no visible heads.

They were giving off a very powerful smell of rotting fish. Every now and then, sparks would fly out of the end of a Skrewt, and  it would be propelled forward several inches.

"On'y jus' hatched," said Hagrid proudly, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!"

"And why would we want to raise them?" said a cold voice from behind them. 

Y/N didn't even have to turn around to know that Draco Malfoy was behind her. She heard some chuckles, assuming it was Crabbe and Goyle or Blaise and Pansy.

Hagrid looked stunned at the question.

"I mean, what do they do?" Malfoy continued. "What's the point of them?" 

Hagrid opened his mouth, apparently thinking hard. "Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Fer now, jus' make sure they don' die - I've got some things fer 'em to eat...frog liver...eggs, grass snakes, jus' figure ou' what they like." 

"First pus and now this," Seamus muttered. 

Nothing but incredibly deep affection for Hagrid could have made Y/N, Harry, Ron and Hermione quickly pick up some squelchy frog liver and throw it into the crates. Y/N couldn't quite suppress the suspicion that this was pointless, since the Skrewts didn't have mouths. 

"Ouch!" Dean exclaimed after ten minutes. "It got me!" 

"What a loser," Y/N stuck out her tongue. 

"It's end exploded!" Dean said angrily, ignoring Y/N, marching to Hagrid and brandishing his burnt hand in the man's face. 

Hagrid nodded, "Ah, yes. That can happen when they blast off!" 

"Eurgh!" Lavender yelled again. "It has a point thing! Hagrid what is that?" 

"I reckon that's it's stinger...I think it's a male," Hagrid said. "The female'have got these sucker things on their stomachs...pr'bly to suck blood." 

Malfoy scoffed, "Well, I certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," he said sarcastically. "Who wouldn't want pets that burn, bite and sting all at once?" 

"Just because they're not very pretty, doesn't mean they aren't useful," Hermione snapped at him. "Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?" 

"Herms, you're not making a very good point, because I do want a dragon for a pet," Y/N muttered lowly, making sure only Hermione heard.

Hermione nudged her with a grin, "Right...tell me that when you get your house burnt down." 

Class ended and Hagrid let them head back up to the castle. Everyone was thoroughly relieved, especially after a girl in Slytherin had thrown up all over her friend. The sight was truly sickly.

"Harry!" said Y/N. The boy turned to her, evidently content with the fact that they were far away from those cursed Skrewts. "Harry, will you buy me a dragon?" 

"Excuse me?" he asked, raising his brows. 

Y/N gave a mocking pout and glared at Hermione. "A dragon! When we're older, will you get me a dragon?" 

"That illegal," Ron sighed. Y/N ignored him.

"Of course I'll get you a dragon, Silv," Harry grinned down at her. "We can name it Silv Junior. I'll get you all the dragons you want." He slung an arm around Y/N's shoulder and pulled her close. 

"This is why you're my favorite," Y/N smiled, ruffling his already messy hair. 

They continued their walk, complaining about the wretched Skrewts. 

"At least they're small," Ron said, though he sounded dejected. 

Hermione said in an exasperated voice, "They are now. But once Hagrid figures out what they eat, I bet they'll be fix feet long." 

"Well, that won't matter if they turn out to cure sea sickness, or something," Ron said slyly. 

"Maybe they'll cure stupidity," said Y/N, glancing past Harry and giving a cheeky smile. "Ron is such a survivor."

Ron glared at her, but she gave him a bright smile. Harry chuckled lowly and Y/N thought it was her new favorite sound. His voice just...it was so...perfect. 

"You know perfectly well I just said that to shut Malfoy up," Hermione said briskly. "As a matter of fact I think he's right. The bestthing to do would be to stamp on the lot of them before they startattacking us all."

Y/N sat herself beside Harry for lunch, and helped herself to some breadrolls and potatoes. Beside her, Harry kept making jabs at Y/N's food. She lightly slapped his hand away, but he wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her close. While she was blushing and distracted, he stole a breadroll off her plate. 

"You're such a git!" she said, throwing her napkin in his face. 

He blew away the offending tissue and took a bite of the breadroll, giving her a grin. "You love me." 

"No." 

Harry pouted, "That's mean." 

"Okay." 

Across from Y/N, Hermione began shoveling food into her mouth very fast. Y/N, Harry and Ron stared at her with concerned looks on their faces. 

"Er- is this your new stand on elf rights?" asked Ron. "Going to make yourself puke instead?" 

"No," Hermione replied with as much dignity as she could, given the fact that her mouth was bulging with potatoes. "I just...wan' to ge' to the Lib'ary...!"

"What?" Ron said in disbelief. "'Mione, it's the first day back. We don't even have homework yet!" 

Hermione shrugged while Y/N severely judged her. Why would anyone subject themselves to extra learning when they didn't have to? 

But the girl shoveled her food into her mouth, then jumped out of her seat. She swung her bookbag onto her shoulder and said, "See you at dinner," to the boys and, "See you in Arithmancy!" to Y/N. Then she dashed off. 

"What's got her knickers in a twist?" Ron asked Y/N, probably assuming she knew. 

"No idea," said Y/N. "Hasn't told me anything." 

When the ball rang to signal the start of afternoon lessons, Y/N said goodbye to Harry and Ron so they could begin their trek to Divination. While climbing up the steps for Arithmancy, Y/N bumped into someone and saw the green flash of a Slytherin tie. 

"Ellie!" she greeted. 

"Elijah," one of his friends corrected from beside him. 

Elijah nudged his friend, (A tall, handsome, dark haired Slytherin boy) and gave him a look. The boy mumbled a, "Sorry..." and a, "You must be Y/N?" 

Y/N raised a brow, her eyes trailing between Elijah and this new boy. "Yes, I am. How'd you know?" 

The boy scoffed, "First, you're pretty popular, to all years - doesn't matter I'm in an older year. But second, Ellie here-" 

"-Don't call me that-" 

"-Talks about you frequently," he finished, patting Elijah on the back while Elijah glared at him. 

With a teasing smile, Y/N asked Elijah, "Oh, do you, now?" 

He just shook his head with an embarrassed look on his face. "Theo's blowing things out of proportion," he defended. "I've mentioned you." 

"Sure, Ellie," Y/N grinned at the boy. She turned to Theo and said, "Nice to meet you, Theo," in what she hoped was a friendly voice, sticking out her hand.

He took her hand and gave it a firm shake, "Nice to meet you to."

"You gonna hang with the twins and I later?" Elijah asked her. "We gotta start planning our prank." 

'Yeah, yeah," Y/N said, waving a hand. The second bell, aka the warning bell, rang and Y/N bid the Slytherins farewell. She grudgingly entered the Arithmancy classroom and sat beside Hermione, ready for an hour of listening to Professor Vector's voice. 

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

The next day, during her lunch period, Y/N was lounging on some rocks in the courtyard with Fred, George and Elijah. Sunlight rained down on them, the previous gloomy weather had subsided. As they began to plan their start of year prank...

"So...I was thinking," Elijah said. "The lake..." 

"We can levitate water, right?" 

"I'll ask Jake!" said Y/N...

Harry, Ron and Hermione joined them. So they shut up, not wanting to give anything away.

"Hey, losers," Fred and George greeted. "And Hermione." 

Harry rolled his eyes, but came over and laid his head in Y/N's lap. Sending an odd look at Elijah, he sprawled his legs across the rocks and grabbed her hand, dragging it to rest in his hair. "Better."

"Git," Y/N said, giving his dark hair a harsh tug, to which he just smirked. 

"Prick." 

"Arsehole." 

"You still love me," Harry declared, closing his eyes when Y/N stroked his hair gently, only for them to shoot open when she pulled it again.

"Do I?" Y/N asked, eyebrows raised.

"Shut up."

After a little while of talking and laughing, Fred, George and Elijah got up to leave. Y/N couldn't help but notice that the whole time, Harry and Elijah seemed to be having their own personal battles. 

The jokes they made only targeted the other and there was lots of glaring. At one point, Y/N, who was engaged in conversation with George, almost didn't notice Harry trying to slip Elijah's bracelet off her wrist.

She had slapped his hand away and threatened to take his off. That made him stop and innocently mumble that he wasn't doing anything. 

He didn't have a problem with Cedric's brotherly bracelet, so why was he always so mad at Elijah's?

But anyway, moments after Fred, George and Elijah left (Elijah had hugged her and said, "Bye, you pretty rascal!" which made Harry scoff, for some reason), they heard Draco Malfoy's voice again. 

Did that git run a fan club? 

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!" 

"Oh my Godric, why do you want his attention so bad?" Y/N asked. "It's like you're in love with him, or something."

Draco Malfoy laughed, turning to Crabbe and Goyle, who only laughed when he looked. Then, he abruptly stopped and gave a face of disgust. "As if.

Y/N, Harry, Ron and Hermione got up, bristled by Malfoy's hostile presence. 

"Right..." Y/N narrowed her eyes at him. 

"What do you want?" Ron said shortly. 

"Your father's in the paper, Weasley!" Malfoy said, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly, so the whole courtyard could hear. "Listen to this!" 

He read out loud, 

" FURTHUR MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC 

It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office." 

Malfoy looked up.

"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he said. 

"Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. 

Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. 

Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene"

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with fury, fists clenched. Y/N supposed that if it was possible, steam would be blowing out of his ears. 

"Shut the fuck up, Little Lucius" Y/N snapped, putting a hand on Ron's back to gently lead him away.

"Yeah - get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry. "C'mon, Ron..."

"Oh, yeah. You two were staying with them this summer, weren't you?" Malfoy sneered at Y/N and Harry. His eyes found Hermione and he shot her a glare, but otherwise ignored her. "So, tell me, is his mum really that porky, or is it just the picture?" 

"Is your hairline receding?" Y/N said. "Or is that just a trick of the light?" 

She only didn't continue because Harry swatted the side of her thigh, giving her a look that made her want to comply to everything he said.

Honestly, it was a bit unfair, because he continued-

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" Harry asked - he, Y/N and Hermione were holding Ron back from attacking the boy - "That expression she's got, like she has dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it because you were with her?" 

Damn. Honestly, that was a good one. 

Malfoy turned slightly pink. "Don't you dare disrespect my mother." 

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," Harry said, pulling Y/N, Ron and Hermione with him, turning away. 

BANG! 

 Y/N felt a quick whip of air pass between herself and Harry. He hissed as something white-hot grazed the side of his face. They started for their wands, but a second BANG! rang through the courtyard, startling the other students, along with a roar of, 

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!"

If all eyes weren't on them already, they were now. 

Y/N whipped around to see Mad-Eye Moody limping across the courtyard, past a tree, towards them. His wand was out and pointed towards a pure white ferret, which was scrambling around in fear on the ground...exactly where Malfoy had been standing. 

There was a terrified silence in the courtyard. Moody got closer and placed at hand on Harry's shoulder. 

"Did he get you?" 

Harry shook his head, giving his friends an odd look.

"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted, causing Y/N to jump .

"Er, leave what?" Hermione asked. 

"Not you," he said. "Him." Moody jerked his head towards the ferret and Crabbe, who trying to pick the animal up. It seemed as though his mechanical eye could see through his head.

Moody started to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which gave a terrified squeak and took off, streaking toward the tree, trying to hide.

"I don't think so!" roared Moody, pointing his wand at the ferret again - it flew ten feet into the air, fell with a smack to the floor, and then bounced upward once more. 

Y/N and Hermione gasped. "Is he allowed to do that?" Hermione whispered. 

"I dunno," Y/N said through howling laughter. She would never forget this moment. 

"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned," growled Moody as the ferret bounced higher and higher, squealing in pain. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do..." 

The ferret flew through the air, squeaking hopelessly. "Never - do - that - again," said Moody, punctuating each word by hitting Malfoy on the floor.

A shocked voice came from behind Y/N. 

Professor McGonagall came into view, tons of books piled in her arms, shouting, "Professor Moody!" 

"Hello, Professor McGonagall," he greeted calmly, bouncing the ferret higher still.

Y/N had to shove her face in Hermione's shoulder to keep her laughter hidden.

"What are you doing?" McGonagall asked, her eyes following the ferret through the air. 

"Teaching," Moody replied simply. 

"Teaching - Teaching?! Moody, is that a student?!" McGonagall shrieked, the books spilling from her grip. 

Moody shrugged, "Yep." 

"No!" McGonagall cried, rushing to pull her wand from her robes. A moment later, there was a loud snapping noise and Draco Malfoy appeared in a crumpled heap on the floor, his robes a mess. His face was brilliantly red and he winced as he got up. 

"Moody, we never use transfiguration as a punishment. Surely Dumbledore told you that?" said McGonagall. 

Ron frowned and said lowly, "She threatened to turn Harry and I into pocket watches, first year." 

"Are you a pocket watch?" Y/N asked.

"No?" Hermione said, putting a hand to her ear, mocking Ron. "That's what we thought." 

Moody simply shrugged again, "He might've mentioned it...I just though the lad could use a right shock." 

McGonagall scolded Professor Moody, describing how Professors were to give Detentions, or speak to the offending student's Head of House.

Malfoy, whose pale eyes were watering in pain and humiliating, stood up and glared at Moody malevolently. He turned and walked away, muttering. The words, "My father..." were clearly distinguishable, and only sent Y/N into another fit of giggles.

Moody left and Professor McGonagall looked at them anxiously for a moment, then magically collected her book and walked away with a huge sigh. 

From the courtyard, the quartet proceeded into the Great Hall for a bite of lunch.

 "Don't talk to me," Ron said quietly to Y/N, Harry and Hermione as they sat down at the Gryffindor table a few minutes later, surrounded by excited talk on all sides about what had just happened.

"Why?" Hermione asked. 

"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever," said Ron, closing his eyes.

Y/N laughed, bringing a hand up to create an imaginary banner in the air. "Draco Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret."

Harry laughed, leaning his head on Y/N's shoulder. Sometimes she couldn't help but smile at his mere presence. 

Hermione frowned, "Moody could have really hurt him, you know..." 

"Hermione," Ron said seriously. "You're ruining the best moment of my life." He had obviously gotten over the insults about his family. 

Y/N's best friend made an impatient noise, clicked her tongue and again, began eating at top speed. 

Harry sighed, his breath tickling Y/N's neck, "Hermione...you're going to make yourself hurl. Stop." 

"I appr'c'ate the tho'ght, Harry," Hermione said, mouth full. She swallowed her food and Y/N really wanted to reprimand her like she reprimanded Ron, but refrained. "But I've got to go to the Library!" Hermione said. 

"Herms!" Y/N whined. "Can't you just stay for one full meal? You did this yesterday too." 

"I'm sorry, Trouble" Hermione said, already adjusting her school bag on her shoulder. "Got loads to do." 

"You don't have any homework?" Harry said quizzically. "Professor Vector didn't give you any yesterday." 

"Not homework," she said, running out of the Great Hall. "See you later!" 

Y/N groaned, but continued eating her food, only stopping when Fred plopped into Hermione's vacant seat. "Moody!" said Fred. "How cool is he?" 

"Super cool," said George sitting beside him, next to Ron, who looked at absolute peace. 

Y/N wasn't quite sure where Elijah was - probably at the Slytherin table. As though her heart strings had a mind of their own, she glanced at his bracelet, feeling butterflies. This was odd, since she only really felt butterflies with Harry. But something about Elijah had been different, in the good way, recently...

"Beyond cool," Lee Jordan added, sliding into Ron and making a Weasley sandwich. "We had him this morning," he told Y/N, Harry and Ron.

"What was it like?" Harry asked eagerly, lifting his head from Y/N's shoulder. She frowned. He should stay. 

Fred, George and Lee exchanged looks full of meaning. 

"Never had a lesson like it, ever," said Fred, casually stealing Ron's plate of pasta. Ron barely noticed.

"He knows, man," Lee said earnestly.

Ron leaned forward,, "Knows what?" 

"Knows what its like to be out there, actually doing it!" Fred answered, an impressive tone to his voice.

"Doing what" asked Harry.

"Fighting the Dark Arts," Y/N said, holding back a scoff. "What else, dimwit?"

With an exaggerated eyeroll and a frown, Harry again swatted the side of Y/N's thigh. "Don't be smart with me, Silv," he said with the same look in his eyes as before. The really attractive one. She knew he wasn't being confident, this was just the result of four years of friendship.

"Not my fault you're stupid," Y/N muttered under her breath, trying to control her racing heart.

"Silv," Harry said in playful warning. "If you don't sto-" 

But he was interrupted by the loud clang of a goblet falling over as Ron reached for his bookbag to pull out his class schedule. He scanned over it quickly. "We haven't got Moody 'til Thursday!" he said in a miserable, disappointed sort of voice.

"Tough luck, little bro."

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

That night in her dorm, Y/N lay awake in her bed, listening to Lavender's soft snores, knowing all the girls around her were asleep. Yet, the sway of slumber hadn't enticed her, leaving her staring at her scarlet Gryffindor canopy.

Feeling as though she should make use of this alone time, Y/N threw her covers off quietly and drew her curtains back, emerging from the confines of her four-poster bed. 

Yesterday, she had replied to the letter Remus had sent her, and at this point, she was just waiting for a response. She'd told him that she'd keep Ron and Harry out of the tournament and that she was "A-Okay!" with seeing her parents on the weekend. 

It actually terrified the shit out of her, but she wouldn't tell him that.

She'd been thinking about it a lot. Maybe this was for the best - maybe they could be present in her life again. Obviously, they could never be her parents in the way Remus already was, but maybe a...bond...would be nice.

Not knowing what to do, and not wanting to think about the topic any longer, Y/N suddenly remembered something from the summer. 

Tip-toeing to her trunk, Y/N creaked it open and searched around manually for her Herms and Trouble scrapbook, too lazy to retrieve her wand from under her pillow. Usually, she'd always keep her wand close. It was a habit she picked up from Remus, who was always able to whip his wand out at the slightest threat. Whenever Y/N asked how he was so quick, he gave her a sad smile.

It reminded her about all he'd been through. 

Y/N sat on her bed and was about to pry open the scrapbook when she heard a soft tapping on the window. She quietly walked over and unlocked the window, letting her barn owl, Bandit, inside.

He hooted softly through the letter clutched in his mouth and Y/N brought a finger to his beak to shut him up. She didn't want to wake her dormmates - especially not Hermione, or the girl would be cranky in the morning.

Bandit understood, gave her a tiny nip on the hand, then gave her the letter and swooped onto her bed, waiting patiently.

When Y/N sat down and unfurled the letter, she read Remus's reply to her reply thoroughly. 

"Hey, kid :)" 

(He'd added the smiley face because she sent one.) 

"I'm sure everything will be fine, Dumbledore's age line, like you said, will keep unwanted contenders out." 

then, the handwriting changed abruptly, and Y/N found herself staring at a messy scrawl of cursive that she was sure she'd seen before.

"Hello, Y/N - Moons let go! - we're in a dingy cave - oh, c'mon, she won't know where, yes, if it gets intercepted everything will be okay - anyway, just wanted to say hello. Okay, fine Moons. You can have the stupid quill back." 

Y/N chuckled aloud. She and Sirius were truly alike in many different ways. The little bit left her wondering why Remus was in a cave, but she decided it was because Sirius couldn't come to their house - he had hidden in the forest near them when he sent Harry that letter on the train - so Remus went to Sirius. 

In a cave. 

"This is Remus again. Sorry about him, I gave him a dog treat while he was in dog form and he got a little hyper. 

I wanted to tell you that St. Mungo's rescheduled our meeting. The staff didn't say much besides, "We're...busy."

It's set for December 18th, two days after your Christmas holidays start. Is the time okay with you?

Anyway, I love you, kid, write back soon, 

- Dad." 

Y/N stared at the date. It burned itself into the back of her eyelids. She blinked the imprint away. 

Maybe this was good. It gave her more time to think about it. 

But on the other hand, that was more time to overthink about everything that could go wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. What if they didn't recognize her? What if- 

Lavender gave a particularly loud snore, which snapped Y/N out of it. Quickly, she wrote back, saying Hello to Sirius and confirmed the meeting date.

She sent the letter with Bandit, watching as her owl flew through the night sky, the moon illuminating him.

Picking up the scrapbook, she flipped through to the page where she and Hermione had spoken about enchanting it (they could have real-time conversations, because Hermione had spelled the book). Y/N skimmed over everything she needed to know, then closed the book and grabbed her wand. 

Y/N pointed the wand at the book and whispered, "Temporalisa Reducio - I am complete...I need you." 

She completed the spell, smiling in satisfaction when the book glowed softly, then shrunk to the size of an acorn. Instead of the usual title, Herms and Trouble, it was a swirly, pretty symbol. Protruding from the top of the front cover was a little golden hook.

Y/N gave a small smile - that was probably Hermione's doing, since she found and altered the spell properly. Y/N had only remembered to perform the spell because she'd seen the book dangling around Hermione's neck earlier. 

The girl glanced at her nightstand, spotting a spare piece of parchment. Quickly transfiguring it into a silver chain, since she'd like to keep all her jewelry the same color, she looped the chain through the hook and brought it around her neck, clasping it. 

One thing, done.

She might as well knock out all her jewelry alterations now, right? Right. 

So, from her trunk, Y/N pulled the bouquet of flowers, Flos Lunaris, that Harry had gotten her for her birthday. It was the sweetest thing. The flowers were so...beautiful and calming and-

"You didn't blow anything up, I'm surprised," came a whispered voice through the darkness.

"Hermione!" Y/N hissed back in the direction of Hermione's bed. "What are you doing awake at this time?" 

The curtains drew back to reveal a Hermione with bed-head. "I dunno. Had a bad dream - Ron was being difficult again," she yawned.

Y/N scoffed playfully. "You mean he was being a dick." 

"Yeah, that." 

Suddenly, Y/N frowned. "What do you mean you're surprised I haven't blown anything up?! I'm not Seamus!" 

Hermione giggled, "You're also half asleep. I was worried for my life, hearing you mutter that spell." 

"I love you too, Herms," Y/N grumbled. "Go back to sleep, I'll get in bed inna sec."

"Thinking about Harry?" 

Scrunching her nose, knowing Hermione couldn't see because of the lack of light, Y/N said, "How'd you know?" 

"You've been staring at those flowers for the past five minutes. I can see, you know. Moonlight." 

"Shut up and go to sleep," Y/N said firmly. When Hermione gave a teasing hum of rebellion, Y/N sent sparks at the girl with her wand. Hermione groaned, rolling over, so Y/N magically closed the curtain.

Quickly, but carefully, Y/N undid the bouquet, hoping she hadn't ruined everything. She used a shrinking spell on the flowers, then twined their stems around the bracelet from Harry. Setting them up nicely, she stuck a permanent sticking charm, freezing them in place, attached forever to the bracelet. 

She barely even glanced at the bracelet from Elijah.

Now, she'd have her flowers with her everywhere she went. 

She'd have Herms with her everywhere she went. 

She'd get something from Ron eventually. He would be the next to fall. That sounded dramatic, which made her giggle to herself as she lay back down. 

Y/N shoved her wand under her pillow, her hand lingering on the wood for a moment. Before she knew it, Y/N drifted off to sleep, the smell of the Flos Lunaris filling her nose and calming her entire being.

─── ☆: *.⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ .* :☆ ───

hi  :) 

lowkey this chap...nothing happened but i had a huge writers block writing it???? idk but it's here nowwww!! 😍

question!! 

who's ur fav character !! CAN NOT be harry, ron, hermione, sirius or remus OR DRACO OR SNAPE. I SEE U. choose a side character 🤭🤭

okok ngl thats all i gotta say 

OHOH AND 

harry's p.o.v. WILL make reappearances i js didn't wanna write it bc taking scenes directly from the actual hp book is so boorrring i physically couldn't!! 😋

his p.o.v. WILL BE BACK!! js..like..when theres drama, we won't see his side, bc y/n (you) cannot know his feelings bc then..like..no miscommunication and ik its super cliche but ill try not to make it cringy 😚

(every hp fanfic has miscommunication don't flame me for this 🙏🙏🙏🙏)

ok guys NOOOWWW im done i hope ur not getting tired of these longass a/n's (u prob are LMAO)

as always, don't forget to vote n comment! chapter is UNEDITED!!! so point out mistakes if u find any <3

bye troublemakers 😘

- dizzy :)