"Fighting for Princess Isabelle's hand in marriage: Prince Draco vs. Prince Harry!"

Isabelle found herself sitting on a throne of gold wearing only the finest of silk dresses. A dress that was far outdated in new ages — it was a gown that one might find someone wearing in times of medieval.

Her favorite color was what the dress was woven out of. A beautiful violet shade of purple blended with some blue. A tiara encrusted in only the most beautiful of jewels sat atop her head of curly hair.

Her gaze rested on the two people in the middle of the medieval throne room. Draco Malfoy stood handsome as ever, his white-blond hair gleaming as he held his sword tightly glaring at Harry Potter.

Both boys wore outfits that belonged to the medieval ages.

"BEGIN!"

The two were swinging their swords at each other, going around with violent attacks.

Isabelle was not sure how she knew, but she knew that Draco's sword was coated in extremely deadly snake venom.

His Slytherin cunning did not allow him to fight fair.

Her heart beat quickly as she watched Draco Malfoy.

She wanted him to win her hand in marriage. And even if he bent the rules just a bit — she would rather have an intelligent and cunning husband than one who shouted of white nobility and chivalry.

It was only as Draco slashed Harry's arm drawing blood and effectively poisoning him that he turned to her with a smirk. Harry Potter was falling into a seizure behind him, but Draco did not care.

Rather, he waltzed up to her throne with his head held high and that dangerous smile on his lips. He stood in front of her for but a second before he was bent down so his face was centimeters from her own.

"All is fair in love and war," he barely murmured before darting forward and tasting her mouth with his own.

Isabelle gasped happily as he ran his fingers through her thick locks of curls, her tiara clattering to the stone ground of the palace. She ran her own hands through his strands which were much softer than she ever would have thought.

Draco kissed her fervently — with more passion than she would think possible for the likes of Draco Malfoy. He claimed her mouth as his. He claimed her as his. He pulled away leaning his head on her own, both their eyes closed as they breathed in each other.

He was murmuring something to her, and it took a second before she listened to his poetic confessions of his love for her.

"𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞,
𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞,
𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫,
𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞,"

Draco's voice was even more posh than normal — he was speaking in that beautiful old-fashioned medieval accent. And the words he spoke to her were even more captivating.

Isabelle recognized the words, of course. One of her favorite plays was Hamlet by Shakespeare — this was the line that Hamlet said to Ophelia when professing his love for her. It was Isabelle Lockley's dream to hear someone whom she loved say this line to her, and it was even sweeter coming from the likes of Draco Malfoy.

Before Isabelle could respond or even hope to kiss him again, the scene changed whirling away from her. It was lost to the recesses of her mind. In its place was a new scene.

A loud scene — a fun scene.

Isabelle was wearing soft bell-bottom pants with a rather sparkly tank top. Her hair was combed out, her fluffy curls even bigger than usual as she wore it in a long afro.

Bright lights flashed and a large disco ball was twirling and hanging from the roof. The dance floor beneath her was colorful and there were many people around.

She realized within a second that she was dancing, as were the many people around her, all of them dressed as though the year was 1979. A groovy song was playing and Isabelle easily moved her body in fluid motions to go along with the Motown tunes.

Isabelle was an avid dancer, she loved dancing and she could follow the beat easily. For her, dancing was like breathing and she could dance near any style. Even funky 70s tunes.

"You are the best dancer I know, my love!" She whirled around to face Draco Malfoy who was dressed in something that she NEVER thought she would see him in.

Tight bell-bottom pants and a flowy shirt. But somehow, this barely fazed her for she only grinned and continued to dance with him. Even though he looked anything but himself in such a muggle outfit.

Perhaps that was what tipped her off as to this being just a dream. Because Draco would never be caught dead in that.

"I know! We need to go roller skating for our next date!" She shouted back over the music, and Draco grinned while nodding before spinning her into him.

With his hands resting on her hips and hers on his shoulders, they leaned their foreheads against each other — silly grins having taken over their faces. They were still moving to the quick-paced groovy song.

"I love you, Isabelle!"

Before she could respond — Draco was saying her name again.

"Isabelle..."

"Yes, Draco?"

"Isabelle..."

"Yes, Draco?"

"ISABELLE!"

★✯☆★✯☆

Isabelle's eyes snapped open and she was breathing frantically.

Clementine stood above her, the girl's face only inches from her own. Seeing as Isabelle was not expecting her friend to be that close, she was taken rather off guard.

"YES, DRACO?!"

Clementine yelped and jumped backward as Isabelle screamed in her face. Thankfully, the other girls in their year were nowhere to be found.

Isabelle sighed in frustration.

What the hell was wrong with her? How did she manage to dream of Draco Malfoy muggle sword fighting Harry Potter to the death but also dream of them dancing in the 70s together?!

She dreamed of him wearing bell bottoms. BELL BOTTOMS!

Albeit the dreams were rather nice.

"Isabelle, what in Merlin's name?" Clementine asked with her face scrunched in confusion.

Clementine was a pretty girl with fair skin and wavy blonde hair with eyes that sparkled like the sky on a clear day. She was tall and slender — and she was even more beautiful on the inside than she was on the outside which is saying something.

The girl was a free-spirit by nature claiming that as soon as she graduated Hogwarts she would travel the world to create art.

Art was Clementine's calling in life, the one thing she was truly passionate about and loved to do more than anything.

More often than not, Isabelle would find her friend with paint splotched somewhere on her body from her constant work with it. This time was no different, for despite it being morning — Clementine had a small splotch of yellow on her nose.

As much as Ravenclaw was credited for being smart, they were also incredibly creative. Clementine tended to lean more on the creative side rather than the book-smart side.

"What the fuck, Clementine?" Isabelle cried out dramatically, falling backward on her dorm bed and puffing out her cheeks. "I was having the best dream ever!"

The blue sheets were soft against her skin luring the girl back into her tired state and encouraging her to close her eyes.

Clementine snorted. "I can tell..." she replied.

Isabelle rolled over and groaned loudly into her pillow.

"Whyyyyy..."

On the outside, it sounded like she was asking why she had to be woken up. But internally she was asking why it had to be that Draco Malfoy would never even consider going muggle roller skating with her.

Let alone wear bell-bottoms.

To be fair: Isabelle was not even sure that she was comfortable enough with the muggle world to want to go roller skating either.

"Sorry! But everyone's already gone to breakfast so unless you're planning to skip classes — which I really don't think Flitwick would approve of — you need to start getting ready." Clementine informed her, pulling her loose pajama shirt over her head mindlessly and shimming out of her shorts.

Isabelle rolled onto her side facing Clementine who was pulling on a bra before beginning to button up her shirt.

"Well why aren't you at breakfast yet?" Isabelle asked her friend who turned with a smile.

Clementine was nearly finished with the shirt buttons but still pantless.

"Oh! Well, I had this awesome idea for a painting that I just had to start!" She motioned to her easel in the corner of the room — a canvas that was splayed with random colors that blurred into a gorgeous abstract painting.

Isabelle smiled at it, running a hand through her frizzy hair. She had forgotten to put her bonnet on before bed last night.

"It is quite gorgeous," she chirped and Clementine hummed in thanks.

"What was your dream about then?" Clementine questioned Isabelle who slowly pulled herself out of her bed with a long yawn and stretch.

Isabelle's face warmed and her shoulders sagged.

In all honestly, Isabelle was embarrassed about her ultimate crush on Draco Malfoy. It was bordering on obsessive and Isabelle had no clue how to stop it. She already knew how mean of a person he was and she had never spoken so much as one word to him.

Not to mention, she was positive that he did not know she even existed.

Isabelle had no clue why her heart decided to crave Draco Malfoy. She was nearly as bad as Pansy Parkinson, the only difference being that she did not try to hang herself on him.

Isabelle could only imagine his reaction if she ever did that.

"DRACO MALFOY I LOVE YOU — LOVE ME BACK!"

"AGH! WHO ARE YOU?! AVADA KEDVRA!"

Okay, so maybe he would not go so far as to hit her with a killing curse, but still!

There was no way this was normal — it was not normal for her to take one look at someone and for her heart to become attached in such a way. Especially seeing as she knew nothing about him... other than that his favorite color was green or that he loved soups or that his favorite animal is a dragon or that his dream vacation is a holiday at some tropical island building castles in the sand or that he enjoyed green tea with a hint of mango...

Yeah, actually — the amount of information she managed to gather on a boy she had never even talked to is just downright creepy.

Isabelle groaned and put her face into her hands. "What do I do?! This obsession is getting worse — this isn't normal, and I am supposed to be acting normal!"

Admittedly, the girl was on the verge of tears and it could be heard in her voice. The number of emotions she felt was too overwhelming: to have such a strong desire for someone so out of reach and to have such a strong shame for said desire.

"Hey!" Clementine snapped gently, trotting over and pulling Isabelle's hands away from her face. She stared at her intensely while clicking her tongue. "First of all — there is absolutely no such thing as normal, Isabelle! And second, I know Anthony and I give you a hard time about it, but I promise we are only joking. It is completely normal to have crushes, do not beat yourself up about that!"

"I feel like I'm spiraling, Clementine!" Isabelle sighed in response. "It's too much, and I don't know what else to do. It's obviously not going away anytime soon and I'm tired of feeling like I would literally go to war for him if he so much as asked me to."

At this point, both girls knew they were bound to be late for class, but neither cared.

Clementine pursed her lips while averting her gaze. In seconds, her blue eyes lit up. "Well, why don't you just tell him?" She asked while tilting her head.

Isabelle literally froze staring at her best friend in disbelief before barking a laugh. "And be laughed at? Be on his radar of people to bully? Or worse, have him curse me into oblivion? No thanks..." she ended with a sigh, pulling away from Clementine with her shoulders sagged.

Of course, Isabelle had tittered over the idea of telling Draco Malfoy straight up that she thought he was the most beautiful being she'd come across and that all she wanted was to listen to him speak to her under the stars.

But this was Draco Malfoy that she is talking about, Isabelle cannot even imagine what his reaction would be to something like that. Again, he would probably laugh and publicly ridicule her.

But then again (and as shallow as this is) she was everything that he was raised to believe in.

Maybe she wasn't a Slytherin, but she was a Ravenclaw and that was better than Gryffindor or Merlin Forbid a Hufflepuff!

Not to mention she was the Witch Supreme! But seeing as she's not supposed to tell anyone (especially him seeing as his family sort of have a history with Death Eaters) kind of puts a hole through that idea.

She came from a rather esteemed (and powerful) pureblooded family. She was also quite well off, maybe not as rich as the Malfoy family, but the Lockley family had their own sum of wealth.

Her family is American though, she doubts Draco Malfoy has ever heard of them seeing as her family held their name in America only.

And what if he thought that the thick Southern drawl she spoke with made her sound like an uncultured hick!

Everyone thinks Southern accents sound the same no matter where a person is from. But that couldn't be further from the truth.

People from Louisiana, in particular, spoke with an almost rounded sort of regal Cajun accent. It was a deeper way of talking than other places, and when Isabelle spoke — her voice sounded nothing less than sweet sweet honey (as most people said).

She spoke like a true magical Southern Sweetheart.

"No, no, no!" Clementine shook her head. "Not actually — not to his face, at least! Why don't you write him a letter? Don't tell him who it's from or anything, you don't even need to send it. But it could just be for you, y'know? Like to understand how you're feeling — it might help with the intensity of your crush too!"

Isabelle turned over the thought. She supposed it could not hurt, and she definitely would not send it; she might even burn it when it was complete.

It would be like burning her feelings!

At this point, she was desperate, and she was willing to give it a shot.

"Honestly," and her accent got thicker with each word, "you're right — I'm just..." Isabelle scrambled toward her school bag, ruffling through it quickly, "—I'm just gonna get it off my chest, I'm going to write this letter and we'll see if it helps at all..." she released a breathless chuckle, trying desperately not to think about the dreams she just had.

"Yes! Good — good, I'll give you some space, I'll head to class and you'll have a few hours to yourself up here, uhm, and I'll also let the professors know that you're not feeling well!"

"Thank you, Clem," Isabelle sighed in relief when she found her pen, the girl tearing a blank piece of paper from her potions journal before walking to one of the desks in the dorm room.

She wore nothing but a large moomoo, her feet bare. Isabelle decided that she would get ready for the day once this damn letter was written.

A part of her knew that if she was not such a coward then rather than write a letter she would be attempting to get closer to Draco Malfoy. She was not usually such a coward, but something about the way that Draco Malfoy made her heart race and her palms sweaty made it impossible to even try.

Clementine was ready for the day and out of the dorm faster than Isabelle expected but her focus was on the blank page in front of her.

How the hell did she start this thing?

Isabelle sighed while placing the tip of her pen on the blank piece of parchment, she figured simply writing from the heart could not hurt.

𝚃𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚜
𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔,
𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚘 𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚏𝚘𝚢,

𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝙸 𝚍𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚘 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚊𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚜𝚝. 𝙾𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚊𝚞𝚕𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚢𝚢𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝, 𝙸 𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚙𝚒𝚍 𝚌𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚑. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝; 𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚘 𝙻𝚞𝚌𝚒𝚞𝚜 𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚏𝚘𝚢 — 𝙸 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞... 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚕𝚢, 𝚒𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚊 𝚛𝚞𝚍𝚎, 𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚘𝚢. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚍𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚏𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚎.

𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 — 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚙 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜 𝚜𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚕𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚛. 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚊𝚍𝚖𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚞𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚘𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛.

𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚘 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚢 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚍𝚖𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚘𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐.

𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝, 𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚘 — 𝙸 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝, 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚊𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝙸 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝙸 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚊 𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝙸 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝.

𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚎 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚌𝚎 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞.

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏, 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚖𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚜 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚍: 𝙸 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎. 𝚂𝚘 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 — 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢.

𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚘 𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚏𝚘𝚢, 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 — 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝙼𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝙽𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛.

𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖,
𝙰 𝙶𝚒𝚛𝚕 𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝙳𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝
𝙺𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙴𝚕𝚜𝚎
𝚃𝚘 𝙳𝚘 𝙰𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙷𝚎𝚛
𝚂𝚝𝚞𝚙𝚒𝚍 𝙸𝚗𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

Isabelle breathed out, her shoulders relaxing and the girl feeling as though she no longer held any weight. Immediately, she started to giggle.

She was surprised that writing the letter actually did make her feel better. It was not the same as having actually confessed to Draco Malfoy and having him return those feelings (because we all know that would never happen). But it was still something.

And for the first time in what felt like forever, Isabelle had hope that this crush was going to go away in time. At that moment, Isabelle decided that she was going to make a full effort to stop crushing on Draco Malfoy and focus even more on doing the things that she loved to do.

Things that included practicing hoodoo magic and reading sappy novels of adventure and love. Perhaps she would teach Clementine and Anthony (and Padma if she wanted) how to salsa finally.

Isabelle stood up from the desk.

She shared a dorm room with exactly six other girls — the fourth-year girls' dormitory came in the form of a large circle with an extensive window that showcased an excellent view of the school grounds. From the Ravenclaw common room, one could see the Black Lake, the Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch Pitch, and the school gardens.

From Isabelle's dorm room, they had a beautiful view of the Black Lake.

The window was hung with bronze and blue silks, and the floors were covered with midnight blue carpet adorning various galaxies and constellations. Similar to the window, the beds that were formed in a circle around the room had satin blue star-covered silks hanging.

Silks that hung around the beds alike canopies. Isabelle quite enjoyed closing her canopy and covering the length of her bed in darkness — it was just about the only privacy one received at Hogwarts apart from the rare times such as now when no one else was in the dorm room.

Walking to her school bag, she picked through her things until she found what she was looking for.

A blue envelope.

Isabelle excitedly folded the letter into the envelope neatly, using the general Hogwarts stamp to seal it closed. And in the swirliest handwriting, she could muster, the girl wrote a swooping "𝒟𝓇𝒶𝒸𝑜 ℒ. ℳ𝒶𝓁𝒻𝑜𝓎".

"Perfect," she murmured, placing the letter on her bedside stand before beginning to get ready for the day.

In theory, by the time she was fully ready, Herbology should just be starting. And Professor Sprout was not the strictest teacher, she probably would not even ask why Isabelle was walking into class late.

Quickly, Isabelle pulled her curls back into a ponytail — choosing to braid the front pieces of her hair.

Isabelle was African-American. It's why there was such tension between the Lockley family and muggles — racism against skin color for no-majes has been prevalent for centuries in America.

Living in the Southern states did not make this any easier, and it was absolutely terrible during the times of the Civil War and when slavery was still active.

Seeing as it is now the 90s', racism is not as prevalent as it once was and most muggles were more accepting of people of different cultures but that did not make the Lockley family any less cautious around muggles.

Not to mention (while this was centuries ago) the no-maj people were burning witches and wizards at the stake. They attempted to burn their ancestor Abigail, but it ended with Abigail choosing to burn them instead.

Finishing her hair, Isabelle quickly performed a teeth-cleansing spell before putting her uniform on. Tucking the button-down shirt into her skirt, Isabelle was quick to roll on her dark stockings.

"Screw this tie," she muttered after struggling for a good five minutes and choosing to ditch it.

Hopefully, no one would notice. Soon, she was haphazardly putting her robes on before grabbing her backpack and sprinting out the door — the letter to Draco Malfoy was left forgotten on her bedside table.

Sealed and ready to be delivered should she ever choose send it.