#Charlie was in Hufflepuff as well actually | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

beeindaclouds · 2 years

Text

Attending Hogwarts w/ the DSMP: Prologue

Includes: Dream, Georgenotfound, Sapnap, Badboyhalo, Skeppy, Quackity, Karl Jacobs, Wilbur Soot, C!Philza, C!Technoblade, Nihachu, Eret, Punz, FoolishGamers, Awesamdude, C!Slimecicle

Click Here before requesting, please ^^

Reader: GN - They/Them

A.N: I really wanted to rewrite this one, because I feel like in my previous one I just smushed a bunch of info togheter and it came put too messy. So here's a rewrite :)

For anyone who wants to read the previous ones: Part l || Part ll

[These will be just introductions for now, I'll get on with the main story later on]

❝ Hogwarts ❞

Dream

A Slytherin, which is ironic considering his zodiac sign is a leo

Comes from a family of purebloods who is, unfortunately, related to the Malfoys

But they don't like to associate themselves with that family, actually they've been "disowned" by the Malfoys

You first meet him on the train ride to Hogwarts, where he takes a interest in you in the most "love at first sight cliche" way you can think of

Sapnap

Gryffindor, born muggle

His parents noticed the very out of the ordinary things that happened around him, but they always thought it was just a coincidence

But once the letter arrived it explained a lot and answered many questions

They were all opened to a whole new world, so it definitely took some time to get too

But that's where you and Dream come in the picture

You three had met at Diagon Alley. You and Dream helping out the very confused Sapnap who had no one to guide him though this new place

Badboyhalo + P!Skeppy

Bad is a Hufflepuff and Skeppy is a Gryffindor

They both come from pureblood families, but aren't as close minded as most are

In your first year Skeppy accidentally pranked you while he was trying to get Bad; They both felt so bad (hehe) but you somehow befriended them in the end

Quackity + Slimecicle

Quackity, a ravenclaw, and Charlie, a hufflepuff, were probably the loudest out of their respective houses

You three knew eachother since you all lived in the same city

They both didn't know that you were a wizard, you promised your parents to never mutter a word about it

But it seems like you didn't have to keep that secret any longer

Because a week before school started you three received the same letter from the same witchcraft and wizardry school, Hogwarts

Karl Jacobs

Karl's is a half-blood, Hufflepuff, with only one dream in his mind

To become a Magizoologist just like his idol, Newt Scammander

And what better way to become one then to attend the same school he went to?

What he doesn't know is that there's also someone there with the same hopes and dreams as him, you

Wilbur Soot

He's the most well-known Ravenclaw in the school

Related to the flying class teacher, Professor Phil

His looks and talent attracted every person that passed him by

In the eye of everyone else he was the perfect wizard, who'd have an amazing future

You didn't buy into any of that, because you knew him better then anyone else

But both of your futures seem to be more complicated then both of you expected it to be

P!Philza

As previously mentioned, Phil is the flying class professor

Also an Animagus who can turn into a crow, that's how he kept eye on the students while they are in the air

He has three sons: Wilbur and Tommy who attended Hogwarts and Techno who attended Dumstrang

Also his wife, Professor Tristin, teaches Herbology

Nihachu

A Hufflepuff from a pureblood family

Who also happen to be a Metamorphagus

Every year she has a different hair color that attracted the eye of many students around the school

Resulting in her being hated by some of her fellow housemates

❝ Beauxbatons ❞

George

Attends Beauxbatons but transfers later in 4th year

He's a ravenclaw and is a half-blood

Your first encounter is during the Tri wizard Tournament, when you both decide to ditch it and just hang out

Let's just say he enjoyed your company, and Dream's and Sapnap's, so much that he decided to transfer

Eret

With George, Eret also transfers to Hogwarts and entered the Ravenclaw house

Everybody had eyes on them when they first stepped foot in the Great Hall with the other girls

Her veela powers were probably at fault

But you didn't give her attention until the Yule Ball, when she asked you to go togheter

From what you've heard, she had been trying to get your attention the entire time she was there

❝ Dumstrang ❞

Technoblade

He doesn't attend Hogwarts at all

Obviously, as I said before, he is related to Phil, Wilbur and Tommy

He first shows up at the school during the Tri Wizard Tournament and ends up being the chosen one to represent his school [he takes Victor Krum's place basically]

Then in your 5th year he makes another appearance as Phil's apprentice

Foolish

Him and Techno were all the talk during the tournament

They were the most eye catching of the bunch so everybody seemed to want to know them

You somehow ended up having to help Foolish during a chase with his new found fan club

But unfortunately that got you into a bit of a problem that all end up with a happy ending ;)

❝ Ilvermory ❞

Punz

Another pureblood unfortunately related to the Malfoys

While Dream was lucky enough to have parents and siblings who didn't support the Malfoys and the rest of the wizards like them, Punz didn't have that luck

His family truely believed in everything that you-know-who and the death eaters had done in the past, to which he did not agree

And once Harry Potter was back he was disowned from the family for not following in their footsteps

But Dream and his family were happy to welcome him at their home and help him attend Hogwarts as a "transfer student"

Most of the Slytherins didn't give him a heartwarming welcome tho

Awesamdude

To cover up what had actually happened with Punz and his family, Sam was also asked to attend Hogwarts as a transfer student

Being welcomed right away by the Gryffindors

To you he was like any other boy in that house, just american lol

But maybe he'll prove you otherwise

337 notes · View notes

ma-lark-ey · 1 year

Text

I feel like challenging GOD so in my first ever read of Harry Potter I will be listing all of my headcanons in one big master post and sending it into the void space of tumblr thank you goodbye. I have no concept over which of these are hottakes, which of these are widely accepted, and which of them are just me being batshit crazy because as I write this I have never once looked at the Harry Potter fandom proper and my only knowledge of it is My Immortal and the fact that TikTok thinks Harry's dad and Sirius' little brother should makeout. 1. Ron Weasley is autistic.

2. Neville Longbottom is half-Korean on his mother's side, and also probably wears goofy little frog overalls.

3. Ron is tall, Harry is Short

4. Harry's scar is smattered across his face like a lightning storm and not just one little bolt, that's pussy shit. Make that shit dramatic

5. Ron and Luna probably had a fling at one point. Autism for autism

6. No way this isn't fanon, but Luna Lovegood is autistic.

7. Ginny Weasley is the HOTTEST bitch in Hogwarts and she is AWARE.

8. In Goblet of Fire the entire little Ron and Harry arc happening there was that they had a summer fling and then broke up when Ron had his little pissboy arc and they were both babies about it and then went back to having their regularly scheduled bromance thank you goodnight

9. Harry is actually dating a new person each book, no matter how short-lived it is. Why? Comedy. It's FUNNY.

10. I think Harry and Ginny have a shotgun wedding at like, nineteen.

11. All I know is that in my brief dive into AO3 (re: I looked up this exact tag out of morbid curiosity of it was A Thing), Sirius/Snape were apparently one of the smallest ships with like only 2k fics which is wild to me, because that enemies to lovers??? Thought bitches would eat that shit up. I don't ship it, but it still was wild.

12. Sirius and Remus are in love. (post mortum: I have now dived just slightly in the fic of Harry Potter and realize this is widely accepted fanon.)

13. Hermione wears fun frilly dresses outside of school and actually really loves dressing up and being girly fuck this 'not like other girls' agenda going on with her. Put her in a pretty dress and let her frolic in a field with flowers.

14. Luna is a seer. She goes on to teach divination

15. I was gonna say something about in my little noggin Ginny raised her and Harry's kid as a single mom or whatever and it's a fic I'm gonna work on and also his name is Remus Weasley and he's a Slytherin but APPARENTLY that's just the entire plot of the Cursed Child as my HP special interest having bestie informed me. I just added in a Gryffindor pretty boy for my Slytherin Potter boy to make out with when JKR was too much of a coward to make him gay.

16. RON SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN HUFFLEPUFF.

17. Cedric Diggory lived a very long and happy life and had a lovely spouse - guy who got really attached to this dorky little dude, knowing full well how he died.

18. It takes Harry at LEAST two marriages to women to realize he's gay. The egg takes a very long time to crack.

19. Ron is straight. He's just. He's got such bi wife energy.

20. Ginny Weasley is a raging bisexual, and so are the twins, and so is Bill. And Charlie? I know in my soul that's a nonbinary.

21. Luna Lovegood? NOT a lesbian, sorry lesbians. I'm claiming her for the aromantics. That's right. She belongs to us.

22. Fleur Delacour was a lesbian. LESBIAN.

23. Harry and Dudley reconnect in their like, thirties/forties and actually become good friends I think.

24. Harry often does diy piercings in the bathrooms during fifth and sixth year, Luna helps.

25. Fred and Lee Jordan are boyfriends god bless.

26. Out of spite for JKR, here's a list of trans woman in Harry Potter according to ME: Ginny Weasley, McGonagall, Hermione, Luna, Lily Potter (her and James are t4t), Tonks (that bitch is nonbinary transfemme),

27. I will live, breathe, and die by my personal headcannon that Tonks and Remus are comphet and in a lavender marriage but they lovingly coparent their child together and regularly at parties Tonks goes "where's my husband? Oh, he's making out with his boyfriend okay cool." and moves on.

28. Draco Malfoy's patronus is that white ferret Moody Crouch turned him into in book four.

29. In my perfect world James Potter is alive and I love him most than anything, I'm holding him like a wet cat. i literally bought three stag plushes over the month I was reading this series just because I couldn't stop thinking about him.

30. I am ignoring the implications in the epilogue that Harry did not raise Teddy Lupin, because he did, actually. That was the last promise he made to his beloved Remus Lupin and if Deathly Hallows taught us anything it's that Harry Potter keeps a fucking promise <<3

31. Molly and Arthur heavily assisted Harry in his 'I'm gonna raise this god damn orphan to good y'all won't know what hit him. I'm gonna be such a good dad.'

32. I am literally IGNORING all these implications of the Cursed Child. Draco Malfoy is also a banger dad. i think he goes to counseling and sorts out his issues and tries very hard to not put such high expectations on his own kids. I think he tries very hard to undo the damage Lucius did to him, and the bad choices he made in trying to make his parents proud of him. I think he makes sure his kids know better than anything else, that all he wants for them is joy. He wants them to be good, happy people.

33. Just Lovers - Zerrazapriel says that Sirius' patronus is Moony and that's so fucking real and true of that fucking fic and I live by that now.

34. On a similar note, Molly and Arthur have matching patronus'

35. Fuck this 'hermione minister of magic' nonsense that girl is a leftist and would never join politics did jkr forget her own fucking canon of harry and hermione doing their absolute best to fuck the government over for the last half of the series? whatever the fuck. HERMIONE TEACHES CHARMS AT HOGWARTS.

36. I'm sorry I got so heated on that last one. I had thoughts. Anyways, Draco also goes on to become head of Slytherin and teaches DADA.

37. I was so anti-Draco for the entire first five books and then the last two books Happened and so now I'm just holding him so close to my chest. He needs therapy. And i think it takes him until their mid-twenties or so, but I think he does make amends with Harry and the crew and actively tries to come back from the actions of his youth, and obviously the Golden Trio and co are sympathetic because Harry himself in the books clearly could recognize Draco was acting on the instruction of his trusted adults, trusting they knew better than him.

38. this is not a headcanon but the wandlore of Draco having a unicorn hair in his wand and the unicorn hair wizards being the most difficult to turn evil and his wand ultimately being the one to defeat voldemort is sooooooo. He's such a product of grooming and I think about him. I want to study him.

39. YOU KNOW WHAT. what if I said harry trans woman who unpacks her gender after the war is over and has time to contemplate who she is as a person and her and Draco become a very cute and in love little couple in their early thirties??? what then???? (does this fic exist and if it does give me links)

40. I think the funniest mental image ever is if Harry just shows up to a party or whatever with everyone when they're like, 26 with Draco fucking Malfoy in his arm and is like "this is my boyfriend" with no further explanation or nothing and half of the group is like "no yeah this is an expected development" and the other half is like "THE BITCHBOY????" and yeah.

I will most definitely have more Harry Potter thoughts as time goes on but this is all I'll put into the world. Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight.

#harry potter #lark says #there's a lot here and i dont fully remember what all i said #but it sure is a lot of thoughts I've put into the world.

51 notes · View notes

the-al-chemist · 1 year

Text

Artemis Hexley and the Return to the Riddles

Chapter 11: Foul Play

A/N: With the Quidditch season becoming increasingly ugly, the players try to find ways to not fall foul of Marcus Flint’s schemes. Hufflepuff team members belong to @that-scouse-wizard and @thatravenpuffwitch. Warnings: description of sports-related injury, mentions of ableism.

Artemis may have missed the Quidditch match in her attempt to uncover the identity of the stranger leaving messages for the Cabal, but she didn’t mind. Thanks to Tonks and Penny, she was given a full debriefing on the game over breakfast the following morning.

“Honestly, you thought our match was bad,” Tonks muttered, shaking her violet-haired head. “I’ve never seen a game played with so many fouls.”

“Well, that’s Marcus Flint for you,” said Penny, leaning in towards them and lowering her voice. “Murphy McNully says that he’s the youngest team Quidditch Captain there’s been in over fifty years. But, Waveney Wiley also told me that Marcus’s dad threatened the previous captain so that he would be one this year. You see, originally the captaincy was meant to go to Bakari Nyoka-”

“Their Keeper?”

“He was their Keeper, but he’s quit the team. The captaincy fiasco was one thing, but after he heard Flint’s plans for the team to play as dirty as they have been… Well, that was the last quill for him.”

“What I’d like to know,” said Tonks, slapping her palm down on the table so hard she almost tipped over her pumpkin juice, “is how we stop them from taking the whole bloody Cup. They thrashed us, and now they’ve absolutely batteredRavenclaw. This new method they’re using is paying off, and we can’t stand for it. Someone’s got to do something!”

But Artemis couldn’t see what could be done. If neither their match nor Ravenclaw’s could be re-played, the Slytherins would remain in the lead for the Quidditch Cup.

However, it seemed like Tonks was not the only one trying to think of a way to stop Flint’s foul play from succeeding. As she and her friends left the Great Hall, they found all three of the other Quidditch team captains engaged in what looked like a somewhat furtive conversation at the other end of the Hufflepuff table.

“We are well and truly out of the running this year. There’s no chance of us winning the Cup now,” Andre was saying, a comment to which Murphy made a low humming noise in response.

“Technically, there’s very few things that have an absolute chance of zero,” he told Andre. “But, I see your point. With Gryffindor’s win in your first match, and Slytherin beating you-”

“Oh, darling. There’s need to beat around the bush,” Andre shook his head sadly. “They annihilated us.”

“In that case, Slytherin’s annihilation of you yesterday gives them a point lead of five hundred and forty over you. That does make your likelihood of winning the Cup incredibly slim, I’m afraid. Less than thirteen percent. Charlie’s team would need to beat us with a margin of two hundred and sixty just to put them on an even keel with Slytherin going into the final, and then they’d have to not fall foul of Slytherin’s… well, fouls.”

“True,” said Andre. “Unless…”

Charlie’s red eyebrows furrowed. “Unless?”

“Well, I heard that a good strategy was right up Murphy’s alley.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

That was exactly what Artemis, who had paused to listen to the conversation, wanted to know. Apparently, Tonks was just as curious as she was, because she linked arms with Artemis and steered her over towards the boys.

“Wotcher, lads,” she said, plonking herself down next to Charlie and squashing his chin between her thumb and forefinger by way of greeting. “What’s this? Quidditch strategising, are we?”

“Yes, actually,” said Andre. He pouted slightly. “Although this is a meeting for captains, so-”

“That’s a shame, Andre, because this table is looking rather male dominated.”

“Well, now it’s looking rather Hufflepuff dominated.”

But Tonks was not going to give up that easily. “I just think you need to have more diversity in the group.��

“I think we’re already pretty diverse,” Andre replied. “Charlie’s poor, I’m black and gay, and Murphy is in a wheelchair.”

“Precisely. If there’s going to be a strategy, he’ll have to convey it to one of us in the air, won’t he?” Tonks raised her violet eyebrows and Andre sighed heavily.

“What were you saying, Andre?” Charlie asked diplomatically, and Andre shot a sulky look at both Tonks and Artemis before replying:

“Okay, so we all agree that Slytherin simply can’t be allowed to win the Cup this year, don’t we?”

“Alright.”

“Yeah.”

“Agreed.”

“Yes, but allowing doesn’t come into it,” Murphy shook his head. “It’s Quidditch, there are too many variables over which we have no control. A good strategist allows for these variables, but even then, none of us can have complete control over the outcomes of the games.”

“Can’t we?” Andre raised his eyebrows. “Because I think we could, darling. After all, of the three matches left this season, two of them are being played by our teams alone.”

Artemis frowned. “Wait. You don’t mean…”

“Rigging the matches?” Charlie finished her question for her. “Andre, please tell me you’re joking.”

“Charlie, my love, I’m afraid that I’m being deadly serious.”

“But that’s cheating!”

“So what? It’s no less than what Flint and his lot of poorly accessorised Neanderthals have been doing all year,” Andre shrugged. “They want to play dirty, we are all more than capable of that. Some of us more so than others, I expect.” Smirking, his gaze drifted down to the knees of Artemis’ jeans, still ripped and grass-stained from her tussle with the Whomping Willow the day before. “Artemis, darling, I don’t even want to know what you’ve been up to recently.”

Artemis scowled at him, and he winked at her theatrically. Charlie cleared his throat loudly and the attention turned back to him.

“Andre, we can’t rig matches,” he said shortly. “Cheating like that, it’s just stooping to their level.”

“Okay, I see what you’re trying to say, but hear me out. Slytherin have cheated their way to a win in every single game this season. And they’ve hurt players in the process. Poor Abigail is going to have a black eye for weeks after what Flint did to her yesterday, and he’s laughing about it. The boy thinks he’s invincible, and he needs to be taught otherwise. Now, is it not our job as upstanding senior students to teach him that valuable lesson?”

“It still sounds like cheating to me,” muttered Artemis. “Right, Tonks? Tonks?”

But rather than doubtful, Tonks looked tempted.

“I mean, he has a point,” she shrugged. “Normally, I’d say no way, but Marcus is such a prat. Just look at how he was with you at the start of our match, Murphy.” She gave Murphy a sympathetic look, and he inclined his head. “I just think that if we can stop him from getting the satisfaction of winning, it might just wipe that stupid smirk off his face. I’m more concerned about how we do it without getting caught, honestly.”

“Ah, I’m already one step ahead of you there, Dora,” said Andre, looking straight at Murphy. “Thankfully, we have a master statistician in our midst. So, the next match is played by all your lot. We work out the biggest point margin Hufflepuff can beat Gryffindor by to give them a good advantage going into the final without it looking suspicious, and then, after Gryffindor play Slytherin - and hopefully win, as long as their Beaters don’t knock Charlie clean out of the sky-”

“Thanks for the confidence boost, Andre.”

“You’re welcome. Now, after your match against Slytherin, it’s us against you, Murphy. What I’m thinking is that once we know how many points Slytherin will have at the end of the season, you might be able to work out the most statistically plausible way to get enough points in our match to take the Cup from right under Flint’s nose. Sound doable to you?”

“Theoretically speaking, yes,” Murphy said quietly. “I just don’t know how I feel about cheating my way to a win.”

“Well, don’t look at it as cheating, just… making it an even ground,” Andre shrugged and rose from his seat. “Have a little think about it, darlings, and let me know the plan.”

With that, as well as a swish of his scarf, Andre left. Charlie and Tonks soon followed suit, still quietly debating the issue as they walked out of the Great Hall. Murphy, for once, was completely silent, staring thoughtfully at the mug of coffee on the table in front of him.

“You’re not considering this, are you?” Artemis asked him, and he said nothing in response. “Murphy, this is wrong! Think about Orion, and what he’d say about balance and fairness and… I dunno, stars or fate or something.” Murphy laughed, but it was a hollow laugh, and Artemis sighed. “You’re really thinking about doing it, aren’t you?”

“Artemis, you saw the way Flint looked at me before the first match of the season.”

“Yeah, but-”

“People have looked at me that way ever since I can remember. Like they think I’m less than them, just because I’m in this thing,” Murphy gestured to his wheelchair and shook his head. “I’ve always been ‘that wizard in the wheelchair’, and then I got this captaincy and thought that it would be different, but… Now I’m just ‘that captain in the wheelchair’. And I see people looking, I know they all think that I’m not capable, because I can’t ride a broomstick, and I want to prove them wrong. Not just Flint, all of them.”

“I know, and you will. You’re a brilliant captain, even without a broom, because you are so good at numbers and strategies and all the other stuff I’m not clever enough to understand, but you are. You’re really clever, actually.”

“Yeah, I guess I am. You know, the Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Ravenclaw.” Artemis shook her head, and Murphy continued, “I asked to be in Hufflepuff instead.”

Artemis frowned. “Why?”

“Because of what Helga Hufflepuff always said: ‘I’ll take the lot, and treat them just the same’. I thought that the chances of me being able to fit in would be higher if I were in Hufflepuff, that I’d be seen as an equal to everyone else for a change. I just wanted to be treated fairly. But life isn’t fair, is it?”

“I guess not,” said Artemis. “But Murphy, rigging Quidditch matches won’t make it any fairer.”

“No. It won’t,” Murphy smiled sadly. “Which is why I won’t do it.”

“You won’t?”

“No. If I’m going to prove that I can be a winning Quidditch Captain, I’m going to win fair and square. It’s not impossible. Nothing is, statistically speaking.”

The following weekend, Artemis and the rest of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team gathered in the changing tents, the sounds of the rest of the school echoing in through the canvas from the stadium outside. Murphy cleared his throat as he wheeled himself inside, and the team picked up their broomsticks to gather around him.

“The match should start in precisely one and a half minutes,” he told them, “so I won’t spend long giving a speech. However, I do want to make sure that you’re all clear on our strategy. I’ve been speaking to Weasley about it, and we’ve both decided that given Slytherin’s latest performances, we want to make this a good, clean game, with no fouls whatsoever from either side. Let’s show them how real sportsmen-“

“And women,” Tonks interjected, waving one hand in the direction of the majority of the team members and inadvertently hitting David Willows in the face.

“And women” - Murphy nodded - “play Quidditch.”

The start of the match was far more sportsperson-ly than that of the last match Artemis had played. Before the game began, Murphy and Charlie shook hands under the watchful gaze of Madam Hooch’s hawklike eyes, each nodding at the other in recognition as they did so.

“Good luck, mate.”

“And to you.”

Murphy went to Madam Hooch’s side and Charlie returned to his position on the starting line-up, ready for the four Quidditch balls to be released. As the Golden Snitch was freed from the box, he cocked one eyebrow at Artemis and shrugged, a small smirk playing on his face. She narrowed her eyes at him and glared stubbornly, and he laughed, immediately rising into the air as the Quaffle was released.

Artemis set off after him, as per the strategy Murphy had given her before the match; Charlie was incredibly good at slipping away out of sight when he wanted to get an advantage on the Snitch, and neither she nor Murphy intended to let him do just that.

Once the the game was in play, it was just as clean as Murphy and Charlie had promised it would be, but that did not meant that the competition wasn’t fierce. If anything, the match was faster paced than any Artemis had ever seen or played in. Barely thirty minutes into the game, goals had been scored and saved by both teams, which seemed incredibly evenly matched.

“Spectacular save there from Hufflepuff Keeper, Amelia Booth,” announced Lee Jordan the commentator. “The score remains twenty to Hufflepuff, ten to Gryffindor.” Amelia threw the Quaffle back onto the pitch and Jordan continued, “Booth passes to Costa, Costa to Haywood, Haywood to Hopper.”

Below, the Hufflepuff Chasers were advancing across the length of the pitch in formation, making small passes between themselves. Artemis watched them for almost a minute before realising that, in doing so, she had stopped marking Charlie, who had taken the opportunity to slip away unnoticed. She swore under her breath as she looked for him, and saw him several yards away from her, hovering metres above her head. She rose up to meet him, and as she did, one of the Hufflepuff Chasers accelerated towards the scoring zone, Quaffle in hand, her curly blonde hair whipping in the wind behind her.

“That’s Hopper of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle again, and she’s flying straight for the Gryffindor goalposts! She shoots, and… YES! Well done, Oliver! I mean, Wood saves the goal, not that I care as an impartial commentator. Gryffindor’s reserve Chaser Angelina Johnson picks up the Quaffle - shame she can’t pick up the hints I’ve been trying to give her all year, but that’s girls for you…”

“Jordan!”

“Sorry, Professor. Anyway, Johnson loses the Quaffle to Beatrice Haywood, what force of nature that girl is. Also a force of nature, however, is Fred Weasley… Or is that George? It’s hard to tell from here. Anyway, a Bludger from one of the Weasleys is sent straight for Haywood, but it looks like Tonks of Hufflepuff is getting ready to- Ooh, that was close!”

Several feet below Artemis, Tonks had entered the fray to beat a Bludger away from Bea Haywood, and in her enthusiasm to do so, almost hit Angelina Johnson with her bat. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Charlie dove down to see what had happened, Artemis instinctively following behind him.

“I’m so sorry,” Tonks was saying to the Gryffindor Chaser, the hand that wasn’t holding her bat pressed to her mouth. “I didn’t hit you, did I?”

The girl shook her head and after a brief discussion with Madam Hooch, it was decided that, as Tonks’ error was clearly accidental and no harm had been done, that no foul had been committed.

“Just be glad that you missed,” said Madam Hooch, with a stern glare at Tonks. “Free pass to Gryffindor.”

“We don’t need a free pass, Madam Hooch. There wasn’t a foul.”

Tonks shook her head. “Nah, Charlie. Have the free pass.”

While Charlie and Tonks were debating with Madam Hooch which team should take possession of the Quaffle once the game restarted, Artemis took the opportunity to scan the pitch for a glimpse of the Golden Snitch. As luck would have it, she caught sight of the tiny glimmer of gold flitting around the opposite side of the pitch. A furtive glance at Charlie confirmed her suspicion that he was too busy to have seen it, but whilst the time out was still in session, she couldn’t fly after the ball. However, as the Quaffle was handed back to Angelina Johnson and Madam Hooch raised her whistle to her lips, Artemis allowed her broom to drift slowly in the direction of the Snitch, ready to begin her chase.

As the match recommenced, Artemis zoned in on the tiny ball, her eyes fixed on the sparkle of gold in the distance as she pushed her broom forward to accelerate. Having drifted away from Charlie during the time out, she was a lot closer to it than he was, but she knew that her advantage wouldn’t last long. As much as she would have hated to admit it to herself or to him, she knew that he was a much better flier than she was.

Sure enough, over the sound of the wind blowing past her ears, she could just about hear Lee Jordan announcing: “Hexley in hot pursuit of the Snitch, but Weasley is gaining on her!”

But though Charlie was the better flier, she had the better broom. And though he had skill on his side, Artemis had the wind on hers; it caught the tail of her broom as she pushed forward to accelerate further and sent her flying faster still, away from Charlie and towards the Snitch.

She might beat him this time, she realised. She might actually beat him.

“Looks like Hexley’s managed to put some more distance between herself and one Weasley, but she’s heading for two more!”

In either side of her peripheral vision, bright red blurs were approaching Artemis, and as they flew closer, she was able to recognise the Weasley twins, both with their Beater’s bats raised.

On her right, Fred swung at a Bludger and it whizzed her way, and she ducked out of its path, leaving it to fly over her head and straight towards George on her left. He swung, too, and the Bludger was sent back in her direction. She swerved away from George’s Bludger, but she had now been delayed in her chase for the Snitch.

“Have you lost something, Artemis?” George called out, as Artemis scanned the pitch once more. But the Snitch was gone. Fred began to laugh, and she glared at him.

And then she saw it. Somehow, the Snitch had managed to fly back towards her without her realising, and was now hovering just by Fred’s ear. She smirked, and flew towards him, once more in pursuit of the ball.

“Stop her, Freddie!”

But it was too late, the twins had sent their Bludger in the opposite direction, and there was nothing Fred could do to stop her, not now that the Snitch was so tantalisingly close, so close she could almost reach out and-

SMACK!

A deafeningly loud noise reverberated around Artemis’ skull, accompanied by a searing pain at the back of her head. Her ears ringing slightly and white dots starting to appear in her vision, Artemis raised her hands to the spot from which the pain was radiating, and felt that her hair was damp. She pulled her hands away and looked down at her now red palms, which were starting to look fuzzy.

“Huh,” she said, as she slid sideways off her broom and fell down into a world that had suddenly turned black.

The first thing Artemis saw was a deep red light. Then she heard the voices, lots of them, overlapping with each other and with the quiet ringing noise that echoed between her ears. She frowned, and after feeling her eyebrows move, opened her eyelids to reveal a shadowy figure of a person standing over her, their face obscured by the blinding light behind them. She blinked, and another shadow appeared, and then another.

“Okay, she’s awake,” said a voice - Chiara’s voice. “Everyone give her some air, please.” The shadows moved away, and Artemis attempted to push herself up to a seated position, but a hand pressed on her shoulder, and Chiara’s voice told her, “Don’t get up. Just stay there and get your bearings, while I look at your head.”

Artemis nodded - it hurt to nod - and propped herself up onto her elbows to see what was going on around her. The rest of Quidditch players had landed their brooms, and were gathered around the pitch nearby, with Tonks and Bea Haywood at Artemis’ side, and Charlie and the Weasley twins deep in a loud and obviously heated conversation with Madam Hooch and Murphy.

“You’ve taken a really nasty knock here, Artemis,” Chiara told her.

“A Bludger?”

“Not quite,” Tonks muttered darkly, holding up a large wooden bat almost identical to her own. “Turns out the twins were so inspired by my accidental foul, they decided to give it a go themselves.”

Said twins were rushing over to Artemis, with Charlie and Madam Hooch continuing their conversation as they followed behind. Charlie was still almost shouting - or perhaps his voice just sounded louder because of how badly her head hurt - despite the fact that the twins were now at her side apologising profusely.

“We’re both really sorry, Artemis. Are you okay?” one of them asked, looking less anxious after Chiara nodded. Behind him, Charlie’s face was still tense.

“No thanks to you and your bat,” he said, in a voice that was laced with barely disguised fury.

“Hey! It wasn’t my bat, it was Fred’s. Honestly, you call yourself our brother…”

“We can’t delay the rest of the match forever,” said Madam Hooch impatiently. “Poppy, is she fit to…” Her voice tailed off and she did a double take at Chiara before asking, “Miss Lobosca, where is Madam Pomfrey?”

“She’s had to go and treat a student who’s been had a nasty run-in the Whomping Willow,” Chiara told her. “She asked me to take over here.”

“Right. Well, do you think Hexley fit to play?”

“I don’t think-”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Artemis, sitting bolt upright and ignoring the way the world began to spin around her as she did so. “I can keep playing.”

Chiara sighed. “Artemis, I think you need to sit this one out. You have a concussion.”

“No. No, I want to play,” Artemis insisted, and the small crowd around her exchanged looks of doubt. “No, it’s fine. I’m fine. And Fred and George have both apologised, so it’s all good.”

She gestured at the twins, who frowned in perfect unison. No one said anything for a moment, until Charlie cleared his throat.

“Uh, Artemis… That’s just George,” he said, stepping sideways to reveal another twin behind him. “Fred’s over here.”

It was strange, but now that Charlie mentioned it, there were two of everyone nearby: two Chiaras, two Tonkses, two Murphys, two Madam Hooches, and two of each of Professors McGonagall and Sprout, who had just arrived at the scene.

“Is everything under control here?”

“Certainly, Minerva. We were just ascertaining whether Miss Hexley was in a fit state to continue playing. As it happens, she is not.”

“I am,” Artemis protested, clambering up to her feet and swaying slightly, earning herself a fresh round of sceptical stares. “I am. Right, Chiara? Tonks? Murphy?” When none of them agreed, she turned to the person she knew would back her up. “Charlie?”

But even Charlie wasn’t on her side today, because he shrugged and shook his head.

“You’re concussed, Artie. I’m sorry.”

Furious, Artemis’ jaw dropped open, and though she tried to protest, it was no use, for everyone had already started to speak over her and she was feeling dizzy again.

“There we have it,” said Madam Hooch. “Let’s get back to business, without Hexley.”

“And without Fred and George,” Charlie added, and all eyes turned to him, with the twins protesting in overlapping voices.

“What?”

“You can’t send us off!”

“We’re family!”

“It’s Quidditch!”

“They have a point, Weasley. Sending uninjured players off the pitch is not in the rules.”

“I don’t care, McNully. You and I agreed we’d have a clean match, and I told my team as much. If they don’t want to listen to my instructions, I don’t want them on my pitch.”

Professor McGonagall tutted. “Really, Weasley. I don’t think that’s quite necessary.”

“But I do,” Charlie replied shortly. “And with all due respect, Professor, I’m the Captain of this team, not you.”

With that, he mounted his broomstick and took to the sky, leaving the others in a baffled silence that was broken by the sound of Tonks’ low whistle.

“Well, Bludger me.”

Artemis was escorted directly to the Hospital Wing, unable even to watch the rest of the match, though why she couldn’t have waited for the game to finish before she left, she wasn’t sure. Madam Pomfrey was too busy attending to her other patient to do anything but occasionally glance at Artemis and make sure that she was still breathing, and was still preoccupied when the rest of the school returned from the pitch and the sound of hundreds of footsteps echoed into the hospital from the corridors outside.

Thankfully, Madam Pomfrey being so busy meant that Chiara, Tonks, and Penny were able to sneak into the Hospital Wing without her noticing, their pockets filled with sweets, and told her about the remainder of the match in hushed voices.

“Well, Charlie obviously caught the Snitch-”

“Of course he did,” Artemis muttered with a roll of her eyes.

“- but, because Gryffindor had no Beaters to stop them, the Hufflepuff Chasers did manage to score several goals before that,” Penny continued, smiling proudly. “Bea scored a hat-trick, you know.”

“Good for her.”

“It means that even though Gryffindor won, the difference between the scores wasn’t that big,” Tonks said, popping a piece of Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum into her mouth. “Murphy said that if Slytherin and Gryffindor end up fairly evenly matched and we do well against Ravenclaw, we still have a decent shot at the Cup, at least.”

Artemis nodded, but it wasn’t the Cup that she was annoyed about. Before she could say anything, however, the doors to the Hospital Wing opened once more, and the girls were joined by Charlie Weasley and Jae Kim.

“Wotcher, lads. What brings you here?”

“I wanted to make sure my idiot brothers hadn’t done too much damage,” said Charlie, with smile that was almost a grimace.

“And you, Jae?”

“Huh? Oh, I just thought I’d come and see how Hex is doing, you know,” Jae shuffled over and peered at the back of Artemis’ head. “Hm. Looks like you’ve been pretty well patched up. Well done, Chiara. Good job. Very impressive.”

His hand flinched as if he were about to give Chiara a thumbs up, but hastily stuffed both fists into his pockets as the others stared at him.

“Right,” Chiara blinked. “Thank you, Jae.”

“You’re welcome. Any time.”

Jae cleared his throat, and Charlie shook his head at him. Judging by the awkward silence, Artemis was not the only one who didn’t know what to say.

“So, anyway…”

“What is this?” a sharp voice echoed through the Hospital Wing as Madam Pomfrey emerged from behind a curtain that was closed around one of the beds. “This isn’t visiting hours. All of you, out!” Reluctantly, Artemis’ friends filed out of the hospital. All except one. “You too, Mr Weasley.”

“Oh, I’m not visiting. I’m injured.”

“You don’t look injured to me.”

Charlie held up his right hand and grimaced. “I think it might be a repetitive strain injury. Seeker’s hand, you know?”

Madam Pomfrey sighed. “Well, you’ll just have to wait. I’m dealing with a serious Herbology-related incident at the moment.”

“I don’t mind waiting.” Charlie shrugged, and once Madam Pomfrey was safely back behind the curtain, lowered his voice to tell Artemis, “I don’t actually have Seeker’s hand.”

“I know.”

“I don’t even know if Seeker’s hand is a real thing.”

“Not in the hand you don’t use to catch Snitches with, it isn’t,” Artemis muttered, glaring at Charlie’s left hand. “I nearly caught that one today. I would’ve had it if it weren’t for Fred.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“Sure you are.”

“I am. Really sorry. I actually brought you something to make up for it,” Charlie reached into his pocket and pulled out a walnut-sized golden ball, which he held between his thumb and forefinger, smiling. “See? It’s the Snitch. They can only use them for a game once, so McGonagall said I could keep it. I thought you might want it.”

Artemis pouted.

“I don’t want your pity Snitch,” she said, her haughty expression giving way when she saw the disappointed look in Charlie’s eyes. She sighed heavily and threw herself backwards, trying her hardest not to wince as her head hit the pillow. “I just… I’ve never gotten to play against you in a proper match, only in fun games before. And every time, you’ve won. This was the first time I would have been able to beat you, and it was the last time we’ll ever get to play against each other, so I won’t get another chance.”

“Of course you will,” Charlie said, his eyebrows furrowing.

“No, because we’re all leaving Hogwarts, aren’t we? We’re going to go off and do our own things, and we won’t be all together here anymore.”

“I suppose not. But that doesn’t mean that we won’t be friends anymore, or that none of us will ever see each other again.”

“It doesn’t?”

“I mean, you’re not getting rid of me that easily, that’s for sure,” said Charlie, half-smiling. “He held the Snitch out to her once more. “Go on. Take the pity Snitch.” When Artemis hesitated, he added, “Take it, and after exams are done we can release it and race for it. Loser buys dinner once we’ve left Hogwarts, deal?”

“Fine. Deal,” Artemis said, taking the Snitch from Charlie’s outstretched hand. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Charlie sighed. “Look, I know it feels like everything is ending. It feels that way for me too, but to you it’s worse, because here… Well, Hogwarts is like a home to you, isn’t it?” Artemis said nothing, just turned the Snitch over in her fingers. “I’m not saying it to upset you, I just… I’m trying to say that you’re not going to lose anything worth losing. Not a home, not a family. Alright?”

It took Artemis a second to reply, but she nodded her head and whispered, “Yeah. Alright.”

“Good.” For a moment, Charlie looked like he might hug her, but instead he shrugged and looked over his shoulder at the curtain behind which Madam Pomfrey had disappeared before adding, “Right. I should go before Madam Pomfrey comes back from treating whoever it was that got Whomped earlier and realises there’s nothing wrong with my hand.”

Artemis froze. “What?”

“There’s nothing actually wrong with-”

“No, I mean… Someone got Whomped today?”

“Yeah, Chiara mentioned it during the time-out. I’m guessing that’s what Madam Pomfrey meant by the ‘serious Herbology-related incident’.”

“Who was it?”

“I dunno, I was on the pitch,” Charlie frowned. “Why?”

Artemis opened her mouth to answer his question, but shut it again as Madam Pomfrey emerged from behind the curtain and walked across the Hospital Wing to her office. She shook her head.

“It’s not important. I can tell you later,” she said. When Charlie gave her a quizzical look, she nodded her head at the door. “Quickly, before Madam Pomfrey gets back.”

Charlie still looked as if he wanted to know more, but he made his escape while he could. Once he was gone, Artemis glanced at Madam Pomfrey’s door before padding across to the bed with the closed curtains and pulling them open. The moment she did, Artemis’ mouth fell open.

“It was you.”

#artemis hexley #hogwarts mystery #hphm fic #hphm #the hexley saga #charlie weasley #murphy mcnully #andre egwu #penny haywood #nymphadora tonks #chiara lobosca #jae kim #david willows #ellie hopper #amelia booth #beatrice haywood #fred weasley #george weasley

36 notes · View notes

justtluffythings · 1 month

Text

HOME: Book 6 - CHAPTER EIGHT

MASTERLIST

“This is the twelfth time, Ronnie. Twelfth.”

Veronica chuckled as she and Charlie turned the corner and made their way through the Courtyard. They were on their way to the Quidditch Pitch for the first game of the season, which would see Ravenclaw playing Hufflepuff.

“Yeah, but you know Percy, Charlie. He will come complaining to you if they so much as breathe in a way he doesn’t like. The twins could be doing absolutely nothing, but he’ll manage to find something to complain about.”

Charlie raised his eyebrows and nodded knowingly. “I know. But twelve times, I mean come on. And that’s just this week. I really don’t know how much more I can take.”

Veronica smiled as she shook her head. “I’ll talk to him.”

Charlie pulled her into his side and beamed. “Thanks, Ronnie! You’re the best.”

***

As Veronica stood in the tent and watched her team get ready for the game, she felt her chest tighten and the anxiety she had been feeling since the start of the year had come back tenfold. Quietly, she slipped out of the changing room tent and breathed in the fresh air as she paced back and forth, trying hard not to think about everything that could go wrong during the game.

“Oh no, I know that look. You’re overthinking again… as usual.”

Veronica had her back to the stranger, but she didn’t need to see them to know who they were. She knew that voice like the back of her hand. Spinning around quickly, she ran and jumped into Reggie’s arms, hugging him tightly. “You came! I can’t believe you’re actually here!”

“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss this for the world, V.”

“I’ve missed you so much this year. It’s been hell without you.”

“Oh hush, I’m sure you’ve been doing great.”

Veronica shook her head, but changed the subject, knowing she didn’t have much time. “Do you have anything you need to rush back to or do you have time to grab a Butterbeer after the game?”

Reggie shrugged. “I’m all yours today, so we can grab a Butterbeer, for sure.”

“Yay, I’m so excited to catch up with you!”

“Me too. And you can bring Charlie too if you’d like. I’m sure he’ll want to spend time with you after the game.”

“No, no, no. I see him everyday, but I never get to see you anymore. It’s fine. He’ll survive a few hours without me.” Veronica chuckled before turning at the sound of her name being called from behind her.

“Sorry to interrupt, Captain, but Madam Hooch is looking for you. I think we’re about to get started.”

“All good, thanks Simon. I’ll be right in.”

“Cool. It’s great to see you, Reggie.”

“You too, Simon!”

Once Simon disappeared into the tent, Veronica turned back to her friend. “Well… wish us luck, Reg. I think we’re gonna need it.”

“Don’t do that! You’ll be great! I’ll see you after, okay? Do you want me to come find you here or do you want to meet me at the Three Broomsticks?”

“No, let’s meet there. I’ll have to find Charlie and let him know.”

“So, I take it you and him still haven’t told each other how you feel, huh?”

“Oh Merlin, not this again. I’ve got to go!”

“Veronica! Why–”

“Sorry, I can’t hear you! I’m gone!”

Reggie shook his head and chuckled as he made his way into the commentary box with the professors. Those two could not be more oblivious.

***

Veronica watched as Walker Mathis raced against the Hufflepuff Seeker, each with an arm outstretched. This was it. One of them was about to end the game and win it for their team. The score had been neck and neck the whole game, so this would be the deciding factor.

As Veronica watched him, she thought about how much he had grown into the position over the years. It felt like it was yesterday when he had been the reserve Seeker and replaced Maribelle for a few games when her grades needed to be improved in Veronica’s fourth year. Back then he had been such a shy kid, but over the years, he had gained so much confidence. He had rocked the tryout and had earned the permanent Seeker position. But even the growth and improvement she had seen in him from the tryouts at the start of the season were impressive. She was so proud of him.

“Oof!” Veronica lost all the breath in her lungs as she felt something hard hit her back like a ton of bricks. Turning, she saw one of the Hufflepuff Beaters watching her with fear in their eyes and realized it had been a Bludger. That’s what I get for letting my thoughts distract me. Both Seekers had lost the Snitch, and the game had continued around her without her even noticing.

“Shit, Captain, are you okay? I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize you were distracted… I should have stopped it from hitting you.”

“No, no. My fault, Mavis. You’re doing great. Keep sending Bludgers my way, we need to get their Seeker out of here.”

***

“Yes! That’s how you do it, Walker! Hell yeah!”

Simon and Veronica lifted the small boy onto one of their shoulders each and cheered as they bounced him up and down, while the whole team jumped around them as they celebrated their first victory of the season.

Putting him down, Veronica put her arm around his shoulders and looked at her team. “You all did bloody brilliant today. Seriously, great job everyone. Now go and celebrate. And for those of you old enough, one round of Butterbeer is on me at the Three Broomsticks. Mavis, there’s always next year, love. This year, you can grab a pumpkin juice from the Great Hall.” Veronica chuckled as she walked them all to the changing rooms, and once they had all changed out of their Quidditch robes, she shooed them out. “And remember, there’s no practice tomorrow! You get a day off. See you all on Tuesday!”

As her team made their way down the path towards the school, Veronica felt arms wrap around her from behind. The smell of vanilla and the outdoors filled her senses, and she felt instantly at home. Turning in his arms, she smiled up at Charlie. “Hi.”

“Hi. Congratulations on your win, that was a great game.”

“You think so? I feel like we could have done better.”

“Ronnie, you’re the Captain. Of course, you’re going to think that. But believe me, it was great.”

Veronica sighed in relief as she lay her cheek on his chest and hugged him tight. “Thanks. It means a lot.”

“Of course, love. You wanna grab a Butterbeer to celebrate?”

Veronica cringed as she pulled away from him slightly. “I’m sorry, Charlie, but Reggie came to watch the game, and I–”

“Oh, gotcha. For sure, it’s all good. I’ll see you later then.”

“I’m sorry, Charlie.”

“It’s fine, Ronnie. Honestly, I know how much you miss him, so this’ll be good for you. Besides, I have to finish that essay for Snape anyway.”

Veronica’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened as she stared at him. “That essay that he assigned to us last week?” Charlie nodded. “The one that’s due tomorrow?” He nodded again. “The one you told me you finished already!?!”

Charlie chuckled as he scratched his head awkwardly. “Yes! Okay? I know, but I just can’t wrap my head around Golpalott’s Third Law. It isn’t clicking for me.”

“Charlie! He isn’t asking you to brew an antidote for a mixed poison. He’s just asking you to write a bloody essay about the Law. It’s not that hard.”

“For you! It’s hard for me!”

“Then forget it. I’ll tell Reggie I can’t come. I’ll stay and help you.”

Charlie shook his head adamantly and began pushing her towards the path to Hogsmeade. “Absolutely not. You go and have fun. I’m going to the library to bury my nose in some books. Besides, you’ve already tried explaining it, so maybe reading about it will help. If you finish early, I’ll be there, so you can come find me. If not, we’ll meet at dinner.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll see you later!”

2 notes · View notes

honeyteanocoffee · 2 years

Text

Oliver Wood Goblet of Fire (Pt 1)

@holyhead-harpy gave me a writing prompt about what it would look like if Oliver hadn't graduated yet in GOF. You can see my brain dump here and see my headcannon about Oliver having 2 Hufflepuff moms here, but I am finally making progress on writing the actual fic. I am an incredibly wordy person and this prompt gave me so many ideas that I'm going to split it up into multiple parts. I am just finishing my senior year and I have alot to plan so please be patient, but here we go

word count: 3.2k

warnings: I accidently wrote 3.2k words worth of angst but I promise it's not that bad and it's mostly context so stick with me

Finding Out He Isn't Quidditch Captain

Oliver Wood lived in a cute two-story house in what you might call a “wizard’s suburbs.” As magical beings, wizards built and lived in different types of neighborhoods. The Weasley’s, for instance, lived in an isolated neighborhood. There were other families that lived in the area, but the neighborhood was greatly distanced from other towns and communities. However, wizarding suburbs aren’t distanced from muggle neighborhoods. A good Muggle-Repealing Charm tends to do the job and, if there happen to be any wanderers, the neighborhood doesn’t look any different than a typical muggle community.

Kathy and Bridget Wood opted to live in a wizard’s suburbs when they first settled down together. They had already been living in the neighborhood for three years before they decided to get pregnant and have Oliver. It was important to both that they have a large front and back yard. Kathy, so that she could teach Oliver how to play quidditch in the comfort of their own home, and Bridget due to her career as an Owl Trainer. Oliver certainly loved the neighborhood he grew up in.

Growing up in a neighborhood surrounded by other wizards, he didn’t need to hide his magic or love for quidditch. He made several wizarding friends before he even began at Hogwarts. He and the other kids used to tumble and fly around his backyard. As he sat on his porch, waiting for his school letter, he tried to ignore his racing, intrusive thoughts by remembering his favorite memories on that very yard. The times he used to watch his mother practice her “seeker” skills, the first time he got to fly on a broom, the time he and his moms sat on the porch eating ice cream after he fell trying to catch the snitch. He had all these lovely memories, but it was nonetheless impossible to recall any of them as he waited for his letter.

It was Oliver’s last year at Hogwarts. His last year on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. His last year…his last year as Team Captain. That is, if his letter included the pin and letter of congratulations.

He leg continued to bounce incessantly, his right hand gently rubbed the blades of grade between his fingers, but his eyes were set on the sky. That damn, clear blue sky.

He was the logical choice for quidditch captain. Right? He continued Charlie Wesley’s legacy by keeping the Gryffindor Quidditch scores up. He had been captain for 3 years already. He worked himself to the bone practicing on his own and studying plays from old quidditch matches. He pushed his team to the brink of breaking so that they could improve, as well as himself. It was logical that he be captain this year. Right?

This cycle of nervousness wasn’t new to Oliver. Every year since his third year, he would get anxious before opening his letter. The gentle, nearly silent flap of Bludger’s wings suddenly pulled Oliver out of his thoughts. He rushed to his feet, stumbling on the wooden steps of his porch. He said a silent prayer as he waited for the clumsy owl to get closer, and the letters floated down to Oliver’s hands. A couple of letters for his moms, one from Percy, one from you, and a last one from Hogwarts. Oliver’s knees almost gave out under him when he recognized a distinct lack of weight in that last letter. He tore the envelope open before Bludger even landed on the porch’s rail. His heart sank when he realized that the only thing in the envelope was a list of school supplies.

In a moment of shock, he stuffed the letter into the envelope and slowly made his way into the house. His chest was tight, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe, yet he was suddenly sensitive to every little noise. The hinges of the front door squeaked as he gently pushed it open, and he winced as the floorboards creaked while he tried to sneak back into the house. He tried to avoid his mothers’ eyes while they worked in the kitchen so that he wouldn’t have to talk about this. He dropped the letters on the dinner table. Unfortunately, the noise it created was louder than he intended, and his moms turned to look at him.

Bridget closed the kitchen cupboard to pick up the mail and Kathy looked up from chopping carrots and smiled at Oliver.

“So, what’s the word bug?” Both Kathy and Bridget were well aware of Oliver’s anxieties and how seriously he took his career as a quidditch player. He wrote to his moms every day when he was at school, so they were more than aware of how much his time on the quidditch team meant to him. They’ve been supportive of his love for quidditch since he was able to hold a broom. Especially Kathy, seeing as she was the one to introduce him to the sport. They were ecstatic when he received his first letter pronouncing him the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. Oliver had been scouted the previous school year and the scouts from several teams enjoyed his passion and intense love for the sport.

Unfortunately, Oliver found that he couldn’t even take a breath without shaking and bordering tears. His breath hitched and, when he turned to face his mom, he couldn’t even look in her general direction. Kathy set down the knife, wiped her hands, and made her way towards Oliver. She gently cupped his face in her hands and forced him to look at her.

“Ollie?” Her voice was hardly louder than a whisper. Oliver took his first whole breath since opening the letter, and his whole body shook. He finally looked his mother in the eye and his eyes quickly swelled with tears.

“Oh…honey,” Oliver turned his head slightly to look at his mom who was holding his school letter in her hands. Kathy also turned and quickly put two-and-two together when she noticed the lack of a pin in the envelope. Oliver closed his eyes; a silent tear fell down his cheek and Kathy wrapped her arms around him. His head fell to her shoulder and Bridget came to his side to hug him as well. He let out a sob as one of his moms held him close and the other slowly stroked his hair and back. The three of them stood there quietly until Oliver was able to take steady breaths. He took a small step out of the embrace from his moms, but he still held Kathy’s hands in his and touched his forehead to hers. Bridget cupped his face in her hand and wiped his last tear with her thumb.

“You know we’re still proud of you,” Bridget tilted her head so that she could look her son in the eye, “Right?” Oliver managed to smile. He opened his mouth, as if to respond, but all he could let out was a shaky breath.

“I think…I think I just…need to be alone right now.” He looked at the floor and continued to slowly step away from their embrace, but Kathy wouldn’t let go of his hands. “Hey,” Kathy squeezed his hands as if to remind him that they were there for him, “We love you.” Oliver smiled slightly at his moms, “I love you too.”

Bridget pressed a kiss to his temple and Kathy squeezed his hands once more before finally letting them go. He slowly made his way up the stairs to his bedroom. His moms shared a concerned look before returning to the kitchen to finish dinner.

Normally, quidditch was Oliver’s stress reliever. The way his body floats off the ground when he first pushes off the ground, the way the wind whistles by his ears when he does laps, even watching the different balls soar in the air is oddly calming to him, like watching a waterfall. But now, he couldn’t help but feel his eyes tear up again at the very sight of his broom leaning against his wall. He laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling his sheets, still unsure that this wasn’t all a bad dream. He turned on his side and saw the clutter of photos on his nightstand. He took a deep breath, sat up, and grabbed the closest frame.

It was his favorite photo of the two of you. Ollie loved to spend time on the quidditch field, so picnic dates on the field were common. One evening, Oliver surprised you with a picnic and made plans for a nighttime flight to look at the stars. Unfortunately, the twins decided to crash your little date. Before Fred jumped out from behind the stands, George managed to get a cute photo of you. For Oliver’s birthday, Georgie framed it and gave it to Oliver.

He held this photo in his hands but looked up at the others on his nightstand. There was a photo of him and the other Gryffindors raising the Quidditch cup after last year’s win. I had taken the photo and McGonagall printed an extra to give to Oliver. There was another of him and Percy lounging in the Gryffindor common room. You had just finished the last of your exams and were enjoying your other hobbies that had been neglected. Percy’s eyebrows were furrowed, and he was hunched over his Advanced Transfiguration book. Oliver was stretched out on a long couch and gently flipping through a book about different quidditch plays. The last of the photos was one of Oliver with a bass in his lap surrounded by other Gryffindor boys. Fred and George both had guitars, Dean was fidgeting with drumsticks, and Seamus was spinning on the drummer’s chair. The boys were laughing at something, and it was nice to remember the happier and cozier memories at Hogwarts. A hesitant knock at his door stopped Oliver from getting lost in his thoughts.

He took a deep breath, “Come in.”

Bridget peaked her head into the room and gave Oliver a small smile, “Dinner’s going to be ready in 10 minutes.”

Oliver smiled back at his mom, “Ok.”

He looked back down at the picture of us, and Bridget slowly made her way to sit by her son. “What are you thinking about?”

Oliver’s eyes were focused on the photo. He couldn’t bring himself to look at his mom and her eyes filled with concern and pity. He took a deep breath before responding, trying to stop himself from crying again.

“I don’t know,” he whispered back to his mother. He was filled with so many emotions. So much so that he felt almost numb to it.

“Did y/n get her pin?”

Oliver ran his finger over the wooden frame, “I haven’t heard anything.”

“Maybe you should open these then.” Bridget handed Oliver the letters from you and Percy that he had left on the kitchen table when he came in the house earlier.

“You can open them later. When you’re ready.” Bridget moved off the bed and knelt in front of Oliver. She brushed his hair out of his face and cupped his face in her hands. Oliver looked up at his mom and she smiled back at him.

“We love you so much Ollie. And we are so proud of everything you have done these past few years. So proud.”

Oliver took a shaky breath and tried to avoid eye contact, but his mom moved her other hand to hold his face steady.

“You are an incredibly talented quidditch player. Hell, you are more passionate about the damn sport than your mother,” Oliver let out a small laugh and Bridget smiled, “If McGonagall thinks that someone else could be a better captain, then maybe transforming into a cat has messed with her brain. You have worked so hard to get to where you are and everyone in that school knows. I know it, your mother knows it, and those scouts from last year definitely know it.”

Oliver opened his mouth to retaliate against what his mom was saying. Almost everyone at Hogwarts saw Oliver as this composed, competitive, quidditch obsessed, proud Gryffindor. The only people at school who knew that Oliver was actually an incredibly anxious, overthinking, and secretly stressed person was Percy and you, and maybe McGonagall. But, before Oliver could say a word, his mom interrupted him.

“No, Oliver. Somewhere in you, you know that I’m right. Your mother and I could not be prouder of you and next year. You could play on any team that you want and next year, when you’re training on the reserves, your mother and I will be there in the stands cheering for you. The only person who might be louder than us is y/n.”

His mom stood up and kissed the top of his head, “We love you so much Ollie, and not being quidditch captain for this year is not going to change that or anything else you have accomplished.”

Bridget started making her way out of Oliver’s room, “Remember, dinner’s almost ready.”

Oliver put the frame back on his nightstand and began to open the letters from me and Percy. Oliver and Percy had one of those relationships where they never necessarily mentioned their emotions but they both knew they were there. Percy helped Oliver study so that his grades wouldn’t fall so low that he would get kicked off the team. Oliver kept Percy grounded and reminded him to take breaks. Percy was also kind of the reason Oliver and you got together in our 5thyear.

As the Slytherin Quidditch captain, you had a bit of a rivalry (naturally). Unfortunately, Percy was your closest friend. Percy was the one who basically facilitated your rivals to lovers love story, which is ironic seeing as he hated when the two of you would even sit on the same couch.

Percy didn’t write letters too often. He only wrote to invite (tell) Oliver to family events (often to keep Percy sane) or to give him some big announcement. On the other hand, you wrote Oliver once or twice a week, unless we had spent the day together.

Percy’s letter was mainly a “check-in” letter, letting Oliver know that he was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts. There was a little line about how he had received his Prefect’s badge. It was so simple and short that Oliver could practically hear Percy shrugging his shoulder and saying, “Of course.”

But Oliver’s breath hitched when he read the end of that paragraph.

“I got my Prefect’s badge with my letter today. My mom is overjoyed, but it’s nothing special at this point. Who else would they make Prefect? I’m sure you’re excited about your Quidditch Captain’s pin (even though everyone knows that you’re going to be captain this year). Here’s to hoping this last year of quidditch doesn’t distract you from your academics too much. Who am I kidding, y/n will probably strangle you the moment your work is anything less than perfect. I do see what you mean when you call her an angel, she makes my job of making sure your quidditch obsessed ass doesn’t forget about the other things in your life.

Best,

Percy”

Oliver sniffed and turned your letter in his hand. He gently pried the envelope open and took a deep breath before pulling the parchment out. The two of you took pride in your houses, but you tried not to let them define our personalities. Nonetheless, Gryffindors and Slytherin often overlap in their strong sense of pride, and it was definitely true in your relationship. When you started dating, you had to set boundaries in terms of our quidditch wins. If you had a match against one another, you would each spend time with our teams before partaking in any sort of interaction more than a hug or smile (or the occasional kiss). It gave you the time to calm down and then appreciate and celebrate the other’s accomplishments. But the position of quidditch captain was more serious than winning a match. Oliver was scared to open the letter. What would happen if you were named the Slytherin quidditch captain while he wasn’t?

Would it change the way you looked at him? Would it change your relationship dynamic? Would he be jealous? Angry? Would he get over those negative emotions? Would this drive a wedge in your relationship? Was he an awful boyfriend for secretly hoping you weren’t the quidditch captain?

Oliver gently unfolded the stationery and scanned the letter. He smiled at the loving greeting you always started your letters with. He could practically hear the smile in your voice, and that was enough to make him forget the devastating news from today. There was nothing too special about the letter. You started it with a cheerful greeting, gave a recap of the past couple of days, asked him some questions, and signed the letter loving as Leannan. The only special news in the letter was about receiving your prefect’s pin, but there was no mention of quidditch. No mention of being captain, no mention of the sport anywhere on the paper. Oliver couldn’t help but be a little bit relieved.

He dropped the letters on his desk before making his way to the dining room so that he would remember to write back before the night fell.

He walked down the stairs, ever so slightly happier than when he walked up them. Bridget was bringing out the plates and silverware. Ollie went into the kitchen to help his mom carry the plates of food to the table. He lifted a heavy bowl of stew from his mother’s arm before she could start walking towards the dining room. Kathy smiled at her boy and thanked him before helping her wife get the drinks. Oliver sat down and started serving the plates. Everything felt perfectly domestic. As if he hadn’t just gone through a “career crisis.”

The family sat down and began eating before anyone spoke.

“Y/n says ‘Hi’” Oliver pushed the food around his bowl instead of looking at his moms.

Kathy smiled and took that as a cue that this was a green lit topic to talk about.

“How’s she doing?”

Oliver couldn’t help but smile before he began talking about you once more.

“She’s good. She’s been playing around with different arts and crafts. She’s hoping to show them to some of the kids at the daycare someday.”

Bridget let a second pass before speaking, “…any quidditch news from her?”

Kathy flashed her wife a warning look, but Bridget was determined to hear what Oliver had to say.

“She’s been practicing with some of the other Slytherins, and she visited the Weasley’s a while ago. She didn’t get a pin either. Actually, I don’t know that. But if she did, she didn’t mention it in her last letter.”

Kathy looked a little shocked at the news, “So, do you feel a little better now?”

“A little bit. I feel awful about it, but y/n is an amazing quidditch player and she works herself to the bone. She got her prefect’s pin though.”

“You and y/n are amazing quidditch players. There has to be something going on that you don’t know about, and you’ll figure it out,” Kathy reached her hand out towards Oliver, “But for now, we need you to remember how great you are.”

Oliver smiled and reached out to meet his mother’s hand.

#oliver wood #harry potter #writing #slytherin #fanfic #fanfiction #headcannon #hp #oliver wood headcanon #oliver wood fluff #goblet of fire

15 notes · View notes

carewyncromwell · 2 years

Photo

Cedric 🤝 Carewyn

Requested by Anon

Cedric Diggory had heard all sorts of stories about Carewyn Cromwell, prior to meeting her. Just about everyone in his year had plenty to say about the infamous Cursebreaker who had broken the curses on the Vaults endangering Hogwarts, and unlike a lot of the stuff circulated among Carewyn’s year and older when she first arrived, a lot of it was positive. Fred and George Weasley, for instance, were fond of telling the entire class that Carewyn was actually a Weasley, using her ginger hair and their older brother Charlie calling her his twin constantly as proof. Many first years also really looked up to Carewyn as a Prefect, since she -- unlike some other Prefects, who were most focused on following the rules and earning house points -- had a very protective affect and would frequently mentor younger students in dueling so that they could better protect themselves, even if it was technically against school rules.

Cedric, for his part, was kind of flustered when popular Hufflepuff sixth year Penny Haywood introduced him to Carewyn. Not only was he kind of overwhelmed by the positive attention he’d received so far for his flying and work ethic, but being introduced and talked up to one of the most well-respected older students at school? Yeah, um, Cedric felt simultaneously thrilled and nauseous, spiced with a huge dosage of inferiority complex. Carewyn had such a cool air about her too that it was hard not to be intimidated by her, however much Cedric didn’t have to literally look up to her that much, thanks to his gangly height.

Fortunately, along with being daring, protective, and intimidating, Carewyn was also incredibly modest. She even offered him some comforting words.

“I know this place can be overwhelming…but at least it seems like you’ve already seen how fun it can be too – how many awesome, talented people you can meet. Just take things at your own pace and do your best, okay?”

Cedric was definitely very encouraged by Carewyn’s kindness. It even encouraged him to -- after gathering up his courage -- approach her for help with his charmwork. He’d heard Carewyn and Ben were the best Charms students in their year, as well as that Carewyn had also occasionally tutored the Weasley twins in advanced charms, and he really wanted to improve his magic in all areas, Charms included. And considering Carewyn also was well-regarded as a duelist, he knew she’d also know a lot about defensive charms in particular. Considering their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Huxley Meyers, largely used his first-year classes as an excuse to bully his youngest students, Cedric knew he wasn’t going to learn much of anything of value from him.

Carewyn asked Cedric to meet her on the Dueling Grounds Saturday morning. When Cedric arrived, Carewyn had him assume his dueling stance, but instead of getting ready to duel herself, she took a position beside him, facing the training dummies set up to the side.

“First things first,” she said in a very business-like voice, “what defensive spells do you know already?”

Cedric flushed. “Well, um...I do know Ebublio, the Bubble Charm -- and Impedimenta, I learned those, watching people at the Dueling Club. And I know the Tickling Charm! Fred Weasley taught me that one...or was it George? I have trouble telling them apart sometimes...anyway, Penny suggested I study Expelliarmus -- she said you used that in a duel, in your first year -- ”

Carewyn smiled. “I did. And I’d say that one’s a very good one to know...most witches and wizards are helpless without their wands. It’s a good way to stop a fight before it gets out of hand.”

Cedric looked down at his own wand hand uncomfortably.

“I have been having a bit of trouble with it,” he admitted. “I think I have the wand movement down, but...well, it’s not working right, for me.”

Carewyn considered this. “Show me your form, on the dummy.”

She inclined her head to the dummy in front of them. Cedric took a deep breath, turned to the dummy, and tried to focus.

“Expelliarmus!”

His spell materialized and even hit the target, but his red spell didn’t disarm the dummy. Carewyn, however, didn’t look disappointed -- instead she was nodding slowly.

“I think I know the problem,” she said. “You’re moving your arm a bit too much.”

She held up her own wand beside him, her focus solely on the dummy as well, so as to demonstrate.

“The wand movement is a sharp, upside-down, backwards ‘L’ -- you’ve got that right. But your body shouldn’t be moving so much, to create that ‘L.’ You should be locked in place, except for your wrist. Hold your ground, with your body. Pretend you’re physically intimidating your opponent’s wand. Make it run and hide, with just your confidence. Expelliarmus!”

With only a flick of her wrist and seemingly no effort at all, Carewyn successfully knocked the dummy’s wand out of its hand, chucking it a good five feet in the air and across the grounds. Cedric was left staring and smiling in awe as Carewyn quietly summoned the dummy’s wand and reaffixed it to its hand.

“Your turn,” she said with an encouraging smile. “Stand your ground and make that wand run away.”

Cedric didn’t get it on the first or second try. This discouraged him greatly, not just because he felt like he should be able to do better, but also because he hated messing up in front of someone cool like Carewyn.

The Cursebreaker, however, being very perfectionistic herself, was incredibly kind in her counseling of Cedric.

“A lot of people don’t pick up these sorts of things right away,” she said patiently. “You’ll get better at it, the more you practice.”

Cedric smiled self-consciously. “I hope so.”

He paused. Then he asked, “Hey, Carewyn...may I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Will you tell me about that duel? The one where you used this spell, in your first year?”

Carewyn raised her eyebrows, a bit surprised. “What would you like to know?”

“Well...it was your first duel, right?” Cedric said awkwardly. “And you were my age, when you did it...so I reckon you had to be breaking some rules, at the time. How did it happen? Why did you duel...well, whoever it was you were dueling?”

Carewyn’s lips curled up in a very slight, almost absent smile as she turned her gaze onto the castle.

“It’s not much of a story to tell,” she said slowly. “Some of my friends and I was getting bullied by one of our classmates and I didn’t know that many spells...so I asked Professor Flitwick to help me defend myself.”

Cedric blinked, taken aback. “You were bullied?”

Carewyn’s red lips spread into a huge, amused grin. “Well, sure. I was ‘that delinquent Jacob Cromwell’s’ little sister. Just about everyone assumed I’d be trouble back then.”

Cedric frowned deeply. “...I guess I have seen people get bullied for worse reasons, but...that’s really rotten, Carewyn. I’m sorry that happened to you.”

Carewyn’s expression softened slightly, clearly approving of the younger boy’s sentiment.

“It was nothing I couldn’t handle. Regardless...that classmate had attacked one of my friends in the Courtyard for his ancestry -- he was a Muggle-born, see -- so I went over and told that classmate to back off. She attacked me with a Knockback Jinx -- her one trick, at the time -- so I defended myself.”

“It must’ve been a great duel,” presumed Cedric.

Carewyn gave a light huff. “Hardly. It was over in about ten seconds -- I chucked a potion bottle at her head and then disarmed her.”

Cedric burst into laughter -- so much so that he ended up letting loose a loud snort, after which he hurriedly rushed to stifle his laughter. Carewyn’s expression grew softer again, and Cedric chuckled a bit more self-consciously.

“...Hold on...” he said, as he considered this. Then his face lit up. “...that’s why Penny told you about me helping Aaron in Charms class -- because of this! You stuck up for people weaker than you, even when you were still my age...”

Carewyn gave a light shrug. “I suppose so. Penny was there that day, in the Courtyard. It’s after that whole thing that she first approached me, and we became friends too.”

Cedric beamed. “That’s awesome...you and Penny being friends, of course, but...well, why you became friends. She saw you protecting your friend...and it made her want to be your friend too.”

Carewyn’s eyes drifted up toward the towers overhead idly. “...I guess you could put it that way.”

Cedric’s brown eyes and smile looked a little more confident than before as he turned to face the training dummies again.

“Expelliarmus!” he cried, more loudly than before.

With a burst of red light, the dummy’s wand was knocked right out of its hand.

Cedric grinned excitedly, his face looking more boyish than ever. “I did it!”

Carewyn’s face burst into a proud smile too.

“Well done!” she said, coming over to rest a hand on his shoulder and give it a supportive squeeze.

Cedric turned to her, still beaming from ear to ear.

“I pretended that...I was protecting somebody too,” he admitted. “And well...it was easier -- to stand my ground, I mean -- if I just pretended there was somebody behind me. Like my dad, or Aaron -- even someone younger.”

His smile grew so much that it actually made him close his eyes.

“I think that’s what I want to do with any of these spells, really,” he said as he opened his eyes again. “Protect other people -- not just myself.”

Carewyn’s expression grew warmer, prouder. “I think that’s a very noble dream, Cedric.”

Cedric flushed, clearly both pleased and touched by Carewyn’s approval.

“...Say, um, Carewyn? Do you think you could...maybe...show me the Stunning Spell? I feel like that one could be really useful...”

Carewyn raised her eyebrows, her red lips curling up in a wryer smile. “Another time, maybe. For now, let’s duel properly, and see if we can work on perfecting the other spells in your arsenal.”

Friendship Drabble Prompt!

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #friendship drabbles #cedric diggory #carewyn cromwell #penny haywood #fred weasley #george weasley #amos diggory #my writing #yup cedric is kind of starstruck by cursebreaker cromwell XD #but hey mama bear sees an excuse to mama bear! so she does hahaha #carewyn definitely inspires cedric enough to become a prefect #charlie is the person who inspires him in becoming quidditch captain #in the books cedric's described at one point as 'strong and silent' and in the game we see him being a bit awkward #so yeah I actually see this poor kid secretly being a bit self-conscious and people-pleasing #and yet he does end up knowing more spells than the entire rest of his class combined in just his first year XDD #hence why ben taps him for the circle of khanna

7 notes · View notes

justmoreocs-writing · 11 months

Photo

As Luce is the character that started my little foray into the world of Peaky Blinders fanfiction, I’m going to answer these for her.

Luce is a protagonist, she wouldn’t necessarily fit into the role of hero, but she certainly isn’t a villain. She’s a little on the shorter side with fiery red hair that makes her stand out, especially in the darkness that is Birmingham in the 20s/30s/40s.

Tell us, in one sentence, what your character’s ultimate goal is.

Luce’s ultimate goal is to experience things; she wants to live life to the fullness, no matter what horrors there are in her past, or what people might think she can’t do because she’s a woman.

What actor could you envision playing your character in a movie? (faceclaim)

I think Ellie Bamber would play her in a movie.

What is their theme song?

I’m not really sure on her theme song, however at the very beginning of her story, Run Boy Run by Woodkid fits for her. There’s an urgency to get away in that song that is very much a part of her journey.

Which character trope do they fit the best?

Plucky girl is the trope that she fits best; even when the world throws everything at her, Luce ploughs on through in the hopes of protecting and caring for the people that she loves the most – or at least, the people that mean something more to her than nothing.

Are they physically fit? What sport would they play?

Luce is reasonably physically fit, mostly from her work on the boatyard with Charlie, and because she’s never really sitting still and doing nothing.

She’s not really a sporty person in general, but she does like roller skating.

What is their spirit animal?

I took a test for this, and Luce got butterfly.

The butterfly is one of the most emblematic totem animals symbolizing personal transformation. If you see the butterfly as your totem or spirit animal, pay attention to the areas in your life or personality that are in need of profound change or transformation. Perhaps, this animal totem guides you to be sensitive to your personal cycles of expansion and growth, as well as the beauty of life’s continuous unfolding. An important message carried by the spirit of the butterfly is about the ability to go through important changes with grace and lightness.

How about their Hogwarts house?

I took a test for this, and Luce got Gryffindor.

You Are 31% Gryffindor, 29% Hufflepuff, 23% Ravenclaw, and 17% Slytherin!

You have all the loyalty of a Hufflepuff, but your affinity for Gryffindor ensures that that loyalty is fierce: You would do almost anything for your loved ones, even if it has a negative effect on you personally. This means that your friends and family members often come to you when in need, but it’s also important to remember to spend time taking care of yourself. You wear your heart on your sleeve, and impulsively act on your emotions without fear of the consequences.

Your slight compatibility with Ravenclaw house hints at an appreciation for knowledge and wisdom, though they are not priorities for you.

What is their greatest character flaw? How does it affect their journey?

Luce’s greatest flaw is probably her recklessness. Luce is very good at running into things and going with her heart instead of thinking things through.

This affects her journey by Luce finding herself in dangerous situations all because she went rushing into things when she really shouldn’t have. She doesn’t think the consequences of things through; it is something that she tries to get better at, but usually when her actions will obviously affect others.

What scene with them are you looking forward to writing the most?

There’s actually a few scenes I’m excited for, but I’m really looking forward to writing the scene with her and Michael dealing with the Italians. It was one of the first scenes I ever really thought about with her story, so to finally get there – with the rest of her story and information behind me – I think is going to be really interesting.

Have they undergone any emotional trauma? How does it affect them/their choices?

Given that she was young throughout the First World War, and living in London when bombs were going off, Luce has gone through a lot of emotional trauma. Not just through her own lived experience, but also because of what she’s seen happen to the people around her. Not just the changes in her brother and father when they returned from the War, or the loss of her best friend even when he wasn’t old enough to sign up, but also the community around her.

This affects her choices by making her slightly more impulsive with things because she doesn’t like being in situations where she can dwell on the sadness. It’s actually because of this history that her whole story begins.

Do they use magic? What type is it and why is this the magic you chose for them?

Luce doesn’t use magic.

I didn’t give her magic because of the world that she’s in.

#Repost #Made By Me #Answered Questions #Writer Things #Peaky Blinders OCs #The Piccola Rossa Series #Lucinda Turner #Luce Turner

0 notes

ben-copper-appreciation-club · 1 year

Text

A Copper Christmas

Summary: To keep Quinn from having to spend Christmas alone, Ben invites him to spend the holiday with him and his mum in his muggle village.

Pairing: Quinn Campbell/Ben Copper

Part: 1

Takes places during 6th year

Quinn reclined on one of the many couches in the Hufflepuff common room in front of the fire, resigning himself to a Christmas spent at Hogwarts. He had gotten an owl that morning telling him his father had come down with the flu and his mother wanted him to stay away so as to not catch it himself. They had promised to send him his presents from them and his relatives in America and wished him a happy Christmas. He sighed, scratching Altus behind his ear as the orange maincoon loafed on his lap.

Quinn had been looking forward to spending the winter holiday with his family, but it never seemed to work out. Last year he was lucky enough to spend it with the Weasley’s and Merula, the ladder once again tagging along for a family Christmas. Quinn had declined the invite, having some class work that needed finished. Between all the curse-breaking and quidditch practice he had fallen behind in class and needed to catch back up. Thankfully it wasn’t a lot and could still relax during break.

An echoing knock on the common room door drew him out of his thoughts. He carefully moved Atlus from his lap and stood. Most of the students had left already and the professors usually just let themselves in so the knocking perplexed him on who it could be. Opening the door revealed Ben standing there, his trainer claned feet nervously shuffling against the stone floor.

“Ben, what are you doing here?” Quinn asked. “I thought you went home already.”

“I was helping professor Flitwick clean up the charm classroom. My train leaves in about an hour though.” He answered. He rubbed the back of his neck, something clearly on his mind but looking anxious to ask about it. It reminded Quinn of the old Ben. “Charlie said you were stuck here for the holiday and I was wondering… do you want to tag along and spend Christmas with me and my mum?”

“I’d love to,” Quinn smiled but it quickly turned into a frown. “But I have some class work to catch up on.”

“Bring it with you.” Ben said like it was obvious. “I can even help you with it if you want. Not to brag but I’m top of my class in Charms and Astronomy.”

Ben had a smug look on his face and Quinn affectionately rolled his eyes. It was a well known fact to Quinn that Ben was first in their class in Charms, even helping Flitwick grade papers from lowerclassmen. Quinn was second in their class and the two had a playful rivalry going on.

Quinn shook his head; “thanks but no, I don’t want you to spend your winter holiday playing professor.”

Ben slung his arm around the other’s shoulders; “come on, we’ll get it done in a day and spend the rest of the time having fun. I’ll show you around the village and finally set some things straight about muggle stuff.”

“I know about muggle things.” Quinn crossed his arms with a huff. “My mum’s side of the family are muggles.”

“Love, you once asked me if fairy lights had actual fairies in them.” Ben deadpanned. “It was both adorable and also gave me the urge to throw you.”

“It’s not my fault my cousins lied to me.” The Hufflepuff grumbled.

Ben shook his head with a laugh; “Well I won’t lie, so come on.”

Quinn sighed; “Okay, fine. It would be nice to have some company.”

Ben smiled and pushed Quinn towards the dorms to go pack while he went to sit on the couch with Atlus. With so few people in the castle, no one was around to catch the Gryffendor in the Hufflepuff house. Quinn was quick, packing enough clothes for the trip along with cat treats and a few bits and bobs. He finished with enough time to catch the train.

On the way to Hogsmead station, Ben explained after they take the Hogwarts Express they’ll need to take a second muggle train out of London and into the countryside. Quinn had a benny hat ready to avoid any unwanted attention towards his ears.

As they waited for the Hogwarts Express, Quinn stopped in at a bank to exchange his sickles for pounds to use while in the muggle world. He had saved some of the money his parents sent him for school and field trips and walked out with a decent amount. The exchange rate brought it down a bit but it was still enough for what he needed it for. He tucked the paper money away as he rejoined Ben on the platform.

The train ride went by quickly and they were soon stepping onto the train platform just outside Ben’s home village. The station was surrounded by a meadow and rolling hills. Even covered in snow it was beautiful to Quinn. Ben glanced around a more graveled area where some of those muggle cars were parked before turning back to Quinn.

“Mum’s not here yet but should be soon.” Ben sat his suitcase down on the platform next to him.

Just as he finished speaking, a red car turned onto the gravel and stopped. A woman stepped out at the resemblance to Ben was obviously, down to the same shade of dirty blonde hair.

“I hope you two weren’t waiting too long.” She said as she came up onto the landing.

“We actually just got here.” Ben replied as he accepted his mother’s hug. He pulled away after a moment to stand next to Quinn. “Mum, this is my boyfriend Quinn.”

“Oh Ben’s told me all about you. All good things I promise.” She smiled. “It’s great to finally meet the famous curse-breaker.”

“You told her about the vaults?” Quinn whispered to Ben.

Ben went sheepish as he whispered back; “Just a bit, mostly just stuff from first or second year. You try being frozen in cursed ice and not panic write your mum about it.”

Quinn shook his head; “It’s great to finally meet you too, Ms. Copper.”

“Oh please, call me Emma.” She waved her hand dismissively with a smile. “Now let’s get going before we catch hypothermia.”

She was looking directly at Ben as she said the last part. He was shivering despite the many layers he was wearing. Ever since he was frozen in cursed ice for half of second year, Ben was much more susceptible to the cold.

The trio left the platform then and made their way to the car. Ben and Quinn packed their bags into the boot before Quinn climbing into the back seat while Ben took the front passenger seat.

Quinn was usually extroverted but in this situation, he was shy. He let Ben lead the conversation and talk back and forth with his mother. They talked about the previous school year and Ms. Copper asked what Quinn’s favourite class was; Herbology.

The car soon turned onto a cobbled road, crossing a stone bridge over into the village proper. Quinn looked out the window at the people going about their days and children bundled in coats and scarves running around as they laughed. Heading further down the road became caught between two stone fences and led up to a farmette.

The home was fully stone with a chimney on the left side and what Quinn assumed was a small barn with chickens and little goats milling around the front garden.

“You have goats and chickens?” Quinn lit up. “Ben, you never told me!”

Ben raised his hands in mock defence; “You never asked.”

“Now, Bennet.” His mother laughed. “Quinn, would you like to be introduced?”

“Yes please!” Quinn answered. “I rarely see animals like this. Hogwarts and the native creatures around my house are all magical ones.”

“Well come on then!” Ms. Copper grinned.

Quinn excitedly hopped out of the car to the chorus of his companions' laughter. Ben unlocked the gate and stepped into the garden with Quinn close behind. A tan and brown patched goat in a quilted vest came speeding over and rammed its head into Ben’s calf.

Ben grunted and knelt down to ruffle her head and long ears. “Hello to you too, Millie-Mae.”

“Is it normal for them to attack?” Quinn tilted his head as he watched.

“Attack? She’s just saying hello and playing.” Ben laughed. “Millie here is just sassy and always had an attitude.”

Millie-Mae bahhed and head butted Ben again in the chest who scooped her up. Quinn reached out and brushed his hand over her head, being careful of her small horns.

“She’s so soft and cute.” He smiled.

“Oh she’s spoiled.” Ms. Copper jokes. “Ben’s doing. He treats her like his baby.”

“She is.” Ben gave the goat a quick kiss on his head. “I’ve had her since she was born. Her muma didn’t make it so I had had to bottle feed her and look after her.”

“No wonder you’re so good in care of magical creatures.” Quinn smirked.

“You mean when Professor Kettleburn isn’t losing the animals on school grounds?” Ben joked.

“What is he doing?” Emma chimed in with a concerned tone.

“Nothing!” The boys said in unison.

She hummed; “Let’s get in and I’ll put on some hot cocoa.”

Ben placed Millie-Mae back on the ground and she scampered off to chase another goat around. The trio crunched through the snow up the path to the front door.

“Make yourself at home.” Emma gestures to Quinn as they stepped inside.

The interior of the home was spacious but cosy in decoration. The entryway had a mat with shoes and wellies with a shelf and hanging rod over top for coats and bags. There was a rattan runner rug going down the center of the hall. Off to the left through an archway was the kitchen and dining room. After removing their shoes, they moved through the arch way on the right into the living room.

The room smelt of pine from the garlens hung on the fireplace and along the large bay window. There was an empty area in the far corner with some boxes laid out in the area.

“I was waiting for you two before getting the tree.” Emma said.

“So you can make me carry it?” Ben crossed his arms.

“Got to have a big strong man to carry it.” Quinn smirked at him.

“How strong do you think I am?” Ben raised a brow at the shorter male.

“You started playing quidditch, I know you’re strong.” Quinn retorted.

Emma laughed as she disappeared to the kitchen. Ben pulled Quinn over to the couch to sit. He leaned forwards to look out to the kitchen before slipping out his wand and casting incendio at the fireplace. The wood and paper caught and a fire was quickly crackling.

“Mum’s real strict about the rule of no magic outside of school until I’m eighteen so shhh.” Ben explained, putting a finger to his mouth. “I’m too lazy to do it properly right now.”

Quinn shook his head with a snicker. Emma soon returned with a tray of three mugs and a plate of cookies. She sat the tray down on the coffee table in front of the couch.

“Ben’s nana dropped off some gingerbread cookies this morning.” Emma explained.

She sat down in an arm chair across from them. She took a mug as she glanced over at the fireplace.

“Oh, you lit the fire.” She smiled before giving Ben a suspicious look. “With the matches right?”

“Of course.” He said as he stuffed a cookie in his mouth.

“Then why do I have the matches?” She pulled the box out of her pocket. “They were in the kitchen.”

Ben got a panicked look before quickly pointing to his boyfriend. “It was Quinn!”

“No it wasn’t!” Quinn yelled back. “It was all you, you liar!”

Ben crossed his arms as he sunk back into the couch; “This is entrapment.”

Emma shook her head and took a sip of her cocoa.

“Since it’s the Christmas season, and we have a guest, I’ll let you off the hook.” Emma said. “This once.”

Ben looked like he wanted to say something but didn’t push his luck. Instead he took his mug and sipped from it.

The rest of the night was spent talking about Quinn and Ben’s time at school and what their plans were for break.

#harry potter hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm mc #quinn campbell #hphm ben #ben copper #ben copper x mc #fanfic #christmas fanfic #copperbell

1 note · View note

helnjk · 3 years

Text

A Brief Glimpse - C.W.

Charlie Weasley x fem!reader

Word count: 2.5k

Summary: there’s nothing like the rumors that students can come up with about their favorite teachers. especially when one of them is adamant on keeping her private life, well, private.

Warnings: brief mentions of meals, one curse word but that’s it

A/N: a purely self-indulgent, fluffy fic inspired by this ask from kendall ( @lupinsclassroom ) who said that if i taught at hogwarts, i’d be the COMC professor! and i love me some good charlie content. this is also kind of a different style that i’m used to, i hope you guys like it! x

–

The top three favorite professors at Hogwarts were as follows: Headmistress McGonagall, Professor Longbottom, and Professor L/N.

While most students would argue that Professor L/N could potentially overtake Professor Longbottom on that list, there was just so much they didn’t know about her. She was practically the perfect professor; she loved what she taught (Care of Magical Creatures), she was considerate and understanding with students who were struggling with the subject, and her office doors were always open to anyone who wanted to chat.

Still, she kept her personal life very private and of course, the more she refused to answer their prying questions, the more intrigued the students became. All they knew was that she was one of the top students of her year, she was a Ravenclaw, and she fought at the Battle of Hogwarts years prior.

There were many rumors going around the student body of Hogwarts about who Y/N L/N was. The most popular ones were that she was actually Headmistress McGonagall’s secret daughter, because of how close the two seemed to be. In reality, Y/N was just one of Minnie’s favorite students. The headmistress often joked how she should’ve been in her house instead of Filius’.

Meanwhile, Neville was always open with the students, answering whatever questions they had for him, as long as they weren’t crossing the line between professional and personal. They often loved to ask him questions about his friendship with the Golden Trio or his stories of the war.

“They’re getting more creative with the questions they ask me,” he shook his head, smiling slightly one dinner, “They’re trying to see if I’ll slip up and mention anything juicy about you.”

Y/N laughed slightly, eyes glimmering, “What sort of questions have they come up with now?”

“Today Chapman asked me if I’d ever spent the holidays with other professors around my age,” Neville mused, “Or if Hannah was ever jealous that I was working with a girl so close to my age.”

“Oh please, Longbottom,” Minerva tutted, and the two younger professors turned their heads in her direction, “At least your questions still have some sort of delicacy. Griffiths has actually asked me, point blank, if Y/N’s spent her summers with me.”

The collective guffaw of the professors at the head table caused the majority of the student body to shift their attention to them. Of course, the authoritative looks that they sent at the house tables were able to convince them to get back to their own conversations, but now the Great Hall was abuzz with trying to figure out what made the professors laugh so loud.

“I wonder when they’ll stop trying,” Y/N mused as the crowd of students began to slowly shuffle out of the Hall.

“Don’t count on it, L/N,” Minerva smirked.

–

“Professor L/N?” a meek voice sounded from the door to Y/N’s office on Wednesday afternoon.

The middle of the week was rather free for her, therefore she used it to catch up on grading and, if she had time, a little light reading. This afternoon, though, she was in the middle of writing an important letter.

Her owl, Athena, perched at the edge of her desk and her scrutinizing eyes darted towards the fourth year Hufflepuff who stood by the door. Eloise Abbott, a shy young thing with a penchant for Care of Magical Creatures and one of Y/N’s best students, sent the intimidating owl an uneasy glance.

“Come on in, Eloise,” Y/N smiled as she slipped the ink and parchment she was using into one of the empty drawers of her table, “Don’t mind Athena, she’s just impatient to get this letter out.”

The young girl shuffled towards the professor as Y/N asked, “Is there anything you needed?”

“Erm, I was just wondering if you could check my Defense paper,” she mumbled, pulling out a parchment from her school bag, “It’s on Grindylows and other creatures we could encounter in the Forbidden Forest, and I know it’s not really part of your syllabus, but I just wanted to make sure I didn’t get anything very wrong.”

Y/N smiled and held her hand out for Eloise to place the essay. It was silent as she read over what was written, that silence only broken when Athena let out soft hoots or ruffled her feathers.

“Erm, professor,” muttered Eloise after a while, Y/N’s eyes glanced up from the parchment, “I don’t mean to pry, but why does your owl want so badly for you to finish that letter?”

A soft chuckle came from Y/N’s mouth before she answered, “She just loves the person I’m writing to, and I honestly think she would rather be in his care than mine. Even if it were just for a few nights.”

“But you’re wonderful with animals!”

“And he is too, I assure you. Maybe even more so than me.”

Eloise nodded her head slowly, and Y/N could see the gears turning in her head. It perplexed the young student, who could ever be better with animals than her professor? She knew it couldn’t have been Hagrid, as he still lived on the grounds and Athena could visit him any time she wished.

Maybe her favorite professor was friends with the Scamander family. Rolf Scamander definitely had ties to Hogwarts and seemed about her age.

Before her thoughts could go any further with hypothesizing, Professor L/N handed her essay back, “It looks great, Eloise. I have no doubt you’ll get high marks on this essay.”

Eloise could spot a professor’s dismissal anywhere, so she merely nodded as she took the parchment back. As she hurried out the room, she expressed her gratitude over her shoulder, catching Y/N pull out the letter she was writing with a soft smile on her face.

–

The end of the school week came with a surprise visitor to the castle. The students could not stop discussing the presence of a dragon tamer on the school grounds. He had arrived later in the morning, trudging up the pathway from Hogsmeade and making his rounds around the school.

Headmistress McGonagall greeted him at the gates with a smile and a hug before she took his arm and the two of them had tea in her office. Of course, as the students weren’t used to seeing an adult that wasn’t the faculty or the staff in the castle, his presence sparked many conversations.

“I saw him knock on Hagrid’s door!” said Neil Chapman to anyone who would listen to him at lunch, “He had some burn scars all over his arms and really bright red hair. He seemed really cool.”

It was as if the whole Gryffindor table was gathered around him as he told and retold how Hagrid’s booming voice announced that Hogwarts’ resident dragon tamer was back. Rumors floated around the school for the rest of the day, each student having something to say about the mysterious man.

“He’s gorgeous though, isn’t he?” sighed Daphne Griffiths, as she and her best friend roamed the hallways on the way to their next class, “All rugged and handsome. I caught sight of him walking towards the quidditch pitch after Transfiguration.”

All the professors had to stop themselves from full-on grinning at the different things they had heard about Charlie Weasley gallivanting around the grounds, but none of them as amused as Professor L/N.

“Hurry along then!”

Y/N stood next to a small paddock at the edge of the forest, next to its open gate. At the center of it, a cluster of fluffy creatures rolled around and play fought with each other.

“Alright class,” she clapped her hands together, “We’re having a little bit more of a relaxed class to end the week. A crup of one of the Hogsmeade villagers just gave birth about a month ago and her owner’s graciously allowed us to spend an afternoon with the puppies.”

The second year students cooed at the litter of small dog-like creatures with two tails. As soon as she finished her sentence, the group of them rushed to get inside the paddock, each one wanting a turn with the small puppy-like things. Once all the students were inside, she shut the gate and joined them as they congregated around the tiny crups.

Y/N was grateful that her last class of the week was with younger students. They were much easier to please and sometimes more eager to learn. Of course, almost anyone would be enamoured by the litter of puppies running around.

With her wand pointed at her jugular, she began the small spiel she had prepared for the lesson, “Now, as most of you might know, crups are basically magical dogs…”

Most students weren’t really paying any attention to her little lecture, but she told herself that at least she tried. She understood the need to coo over cute little puppies, she could let it slide just this once.

From where she stood towards the other end of the paddock from the gate, she had a panoramic view of the class, just in case anything happened. She doubted anything would, but at least that way she could keep everyone in sight.

“Of all the magical creatures in the world, you chose to teach about crups?”

A strong voice rang through the open space and caused many of the students to turn their heads at the sound. Somehow, Charlie Weasley had made it to the gate of the paddock without Y/N noticing. Upon seeing the redheaded dragon tamer so close to them, murmurs spread among the young students.

Y/N rolled her eyes, taking in the sight of him with his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face.

“Oh wipe that smile off your face, Weasley, you try teaching these kids all week,” she replied, raising her voice slightly so that he could hear what she had said.

“I guess they are quite adorable,” he caved, leaning his forearms against the paddock and seeming as if he was going to observe them their whole class.

The students observed their playful and easy banter, in awe that their professor knew the ever mysterious man.

As her wards were still distracted by him, she said, “Pay him no mind class, he’s harmless. The crup puppies need your undivided attention!”

As soon as the prying eyes were off of him, Charlie sent Y/N a cheeky wink. She couldn’t stop a smile from growing on her face at the gesture, but she shook her head to indicate that they could talk after her class was over.

“Professor L/N?” a young girl walked up to her, sending a furtive glance over her shoulder to where her friends were gathered.

The group of them gestured to her to carry on and Y/N’s eyes lit with amusement, “What’s up?”

“I-er, we wanted to know how you know the dragon tamer guy? The other professors haven’t said much about him when asked.”

The young student fidgeted nervously, picking at the hem of her sweater as she glanced up at Y/N. Despite being in the rather early years of her journey at Hogwarts, she knew that Professor L/N enjoyed her privacy. She didn’t want to overstep.

Y/N sensed this apprehension and gave her a soft smile, “We were in the same year at Hogwarts. He was a Gryffindor and I was a Ravenclaw, but we managed to have a few common classes.”

“Cool!”

Before anything else could be said, the girl scurried off to meet her friends with the small tidbit of information she was able to gather from the otherwise close-lipped professor.

Thankfully, the rest of the hour passed by rather quickly.

As soon as the bell rang, it was obvious to Y/N that the students were stalling. She had dismissed them fairly quickly and had already begun her process of cleaning up. Meanwhile, the majority of the class was still situated inside the paddock, shuffling around in groups.

Inwardly, she sighed, knowing that there was nothing she could do about it, it was the end of the school week and they were free to roam (or stay) in any part of the grounds and the castle they wanted.

Inevitably, Charlie had gotten impatient waiting for them to clear out. Instead, he strode confidently through the gate and towards where Y/N was directing the puppies to stay.

“Charlie? What are you–”

The remaining students, who had been not-so slyly watching the redhead stride through the paddock, all collectively gasped as he pressed his lips firmly on their professor’s.

Y/N began to weakly protest, the logical side of her brain screaming at her that this was definitely unprofessional, but the emotional side took over as she was surrounded by the scent and the presence of her boyfriend. Her boyfriend whom she hadn’t seen in months and made a special trip to Hogwarts just to see her in her element.

Thankfully, Charlie pulled away fairly quickly, his arms still firmly wrapped around her body, a dopey smile on his face.

Once Y/N gained her bearings, she slapped his chest, “Charles Weasley!”

“What?” he grinned.

“You’ve just kissed me in front of my students!”

–

Despite the–shall we say scandalous?–first encounter between the couple, the rest of the afternoon was quite lovely. Y/N showed him all of the creatures under her care and in the section of the forest that was relatively safe. They also borrowed some old brooms from the shed and raced each other out on the pitch until their cheeks were painful from laughter and their noses were red from the cold.

By the time dinner rolled around, of course the whole student body was aware of what transpired between the handsome dragon tamer and their favorite Care of Magical Creatures professor.

This was the first piece of juicy information that they had gotten on Professor L/N, and while they were highly amused at what had happened, they were also not surprised that she was dating someone who worked with dragons on a daily basis.

They also couldn’t deny the fact that she practically lit up in his presence. They had never seen her so at peace and so happy as when she was with Charlie. Anyone with eyes could tell that the pair of them were in love.

Minerva had also graciously allowed Charlie to sit at the Head Table with the rest of the faculty at dinner, which caused quite the stir.

Practically all sets of eyes were trained towards the couple as they ate their dinner fairly normally.

“You two seem to be the talk of the whole school,” the headmistress teased.

Charlie sent his favorite teacher a shit-eating grin, “Must be my dashing looks that’s got them all interested.”

“Please, Weasley,” Y/N tutted, “They’ve just gotten a huge piece of information about me. This is basically their Christmas.”

“Maybe they’ll finally stop hounding me with insane questions now!” Neville chirped happily, and the table erupted in laughter.

–

General taglist: @expectoevans @george-fabian-weasley @gxthsanrio @slytherinscribbles @harpyloon @nuttytani @mesmerisedangel @amourtentiaa @sarcasticallywitty15

Charlie taglist: @pinkypurplemagic

#charlie weasley #charlie weasley imagines #charlie weasley imagine #charlie weasley fics #charlie weasley fic #charlie weasley fanfiction #charlie weasley x reader #charlie weasley x y/n #tw meals #tw meal mention #tw cursing

2K notes · View notes

annabellelupin · 3 years

Text

Perciver (Percy x Oliver) Headcanons

They first met on the train ride to Hogwarts after Percy tripped over Oliver's luggage that he left out in the aisle

After a short argument, Percy went to find an empty compartment, only to find they were none and didn't have much of a choice but sit with Oliver

He was very annoyed to hear that he was more interested in quidditch than actual studies

"I can't wait until I can try out for the quidditch team next year"

"You know there's a lot more to Hogwarts than just quidditch right?"

When the train arrived at the station, Percy was more than happy to leave the compartment and the "annoying quidditch boy" behind

Unfortunately for him, the hat sorted them both into Gryffindor, meaning he would have to deal with and share a dorm with the obnoxious and impulsive jock for the next 7 years

Most of their first year, they completey ignored each other, finding the other extremely annoying

In their second year, Oliver became the Gryffindor quidditch keeper after he did amazingly at tryouts, which Percy wasn't too happy about

He thought that he wasn't taking anything that wasn't quidditch seriously, and he wasn't exactly wrong

Oliver always seemed to insist on putting off homework to practice quidditch

Percy tried to convince Charlie, the current quidditch captain, to kick him off the team multiple different times

"I agree that he should focus more on his studies, but he's the best Keeper Gryffindor has had in years. I can't just kick him off the team. We need him. Maybe you could just try to help him out a bit, you know, encourage him to study more,"

"He'd never listen. He's a complete moron and doesn't care about anything that isnt quidditch,"

"Well you're a complete moron that doesn't care about anything besides your studies but I'd still help you out if you needed it,"

Percy decided not to go Charlie's suggestion to help Oliver out, thinking that it would be a waste of time and continued with his earlier plan to simply ignore him completely

However, half way through third year Mcgonagall offered Percy a chance at some extra credit, and of course he agreed before she even explained what it was all about

She explained to him that Oliver wasn't doing very well in transfiguration and if he continued doing poorly, he would have to be removed from the quidditch team so he could focus more on his studies and when she had discussed the matter with Charlie, he suggested having Percy tutor him

If it wasn't for the fact that he'd hate to go back on his word and disappoint Mcgonagall, he wouldn't have done it at all

Although he didn't hate the idea of tutoring such a moron much less

He tutored him for the rest of third year, and neither of them were too happy about having to associate with the other as much as they did

Fourth Year, Oliver was appointed quidditch captain by Mcgonagall (and just as Charlie had requested)

Percy continued to try his best to ignore him, although it was becoming harder and harder to do since they had most of the same classes

One night a few weeks before the first Gryffindor quidditch match of the season, he found Oliver alone in the Gryffindor common room with rolls of parchment and quills everywhere

"Finally decided to do a bit of studying?" Percy asked in a mocking tone

"No actually. I'm working on strategies for the quidditch game. Not that you'd understand," Oliver retorted as he took out another roll of parchment from his bag

Percy grabbed one of the pieces of parchment paper and examined it closely

After he took a look at a few others, he quickly realized how well Oliver was at strategizing

"These strategies-"

"Let me guess, are terrible and not as good as your brother's?"

"I was going to say genius,"

Oliver quickly looked up at him to try to see if it seemed like he was lying or not

"You really think so?"

"Of course I do, we both know that if i didn't think they were good I'd just tell you,"

"Thanks" Oliver replied awkwardly

"Might I offer a few suggestions,"

"I don't see why not,"

For the rest of the night, the two boys continued to discuss quidditch strategies for the upcoming game

After that night, they started to talk to each other a lot more, slowly realizing the other wasnt so bad after all

Percy even agreed to tutor him once again, as long as he actually tried to put forth the effort

They quickly became friends and often stayed up late into the night, talking about quidditch and exams and helping each other when ever they needed it

Their fifth year was definitely a bit more complicated than that with Percy being busy with prefect duties and Oliver with quidditch

It seemed as if the less time they spent together, the more they both realised how much they actually liked each other

About half way through fifth year, Percy's good friend, Penelope Clearwater, asked him if he was seeing anyone

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No"

"Perhaps a boyfriend then?"

"Nope"

"Well what about Wood? You two seemed awfully close last year,"

"He's just a friend"

"Mhm sure he is,"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean just friends, don't look at each other the way you two look at each other,"

Percy thought about what Penelope said a lot over the next few days, slowly becoming more and more confused as to how he felt about Oliver

He also kept thinking about how even if he did like him, there was no way Oliver felt the same- or even liked boys for that matter

It seemed like Oliver had a new girlfriend every few weeks, never sticking with one for long

Percy began ignoring him on accident, and Oliver was quick to notice but chose not to say anything, worried that he had done something to cause Percy to be mad at him

The silence continued between the two for the rest of that school year, and wasnt addressed until the beginning of their sixth year

"Percy, we need to talk,"

"About what?"

"Did- did I do something that upset you last year?"

"Of course not. What would make you say that?"

"Well its just that you kept ignoring me is all,"

"I'm really sorry about, I wasn't meaning to its just-" Percy took a deep breath in and decided to be honest with him "It's just that Penelope suggested that I liked you and then i started thinking about it and slowly realized that what she said was true so I accidentally started ignoring you,"

"Wait, you like me?"

"I know it's stupid and that you don't feel the same,"

"What do you mean? I've had a crush on you since fourth year,"

"What?!"

"I thought I had made it so obvious,"

"I- I never realized once. But if you do like me, then why do you keep dating so many different girls?"

"I was trying to make you jealous. I honestly don't even like girls,"

"Wow. I feel so stupid,"

"Me too,"

After that they decided that they wanted to be in a relationship together, but wanted to keep things a secret for the time being

The rest of their sixth year went pretty smoothly, and everything went really well until seventh year

During their seventh year, they weren't able to talk much during the day since both were really busy (Oliver with quidditch and Percy with head boy duties)

They still always tried to make time for each other tho

After losing the match to Hufflepuff, they snuck out of the castle and got some butterbeer and Percy attempted to cheer Oliver up (it did work in the end)

Later on after Gryffindor won the house cup, the two ended up just cuddling and kissing in their dorm room instead of joining the other Gryffindors in the common room party since Percy wasn't fond of all the noise

Once the two left Hogwarts a few weeks later, they both decided to keep in touch by letter and meet up when they could

When the Quidditch world cup was announced, Oliver offered to buy Percy a ticket for the seat next his, but he respectfully declined, already planning to sit with his family

Despite this, they spent a lot of time together while there

Almost immediately after the quidditch match ended, they snuck off together and ended up snogging by a lake not too far from where they were camping

Unfortunately Charlie found them kissing when he went to go look for Percy, and both of them became extremely flustered

"I uhh, we were just, umm, Oliver what were we doing again" Percy stammered, getting redder by the second

"Umm well weren't you just trying my butterbeer chapstick" Oliver replied, not trying to make eye contact with either of them

"Yes of course, and now that I have, I'll just leave" He tried to walk away but Charlie grabbed his arm before he could

"Wait just a minute Perce. I know that you and Oliver are dating,"

"What?? Why didn't you tell me that we were dating Percy?" Oliver lied, trying to act like he had no idea of what's going on

"You're not helping," Percy scolded his boyfriend

"I just saw you snogging him, if you're going to lie to me, at least try to do it well" Charlie mumbled

"I don't mind you two being together, and I promise I won't tell anyone" he added

"Thanks," Percy sighed

"So wait, you're not going to kill me for kissing your little brother?" Oliver asked jokingly

"Of course not" He laughed. "Bill probably would've though,"

"Well I'm just going to go back to camp now. I assume dad's wondering where I am," Percy attempted to walk away again

"One more thing,"

"What is it?"

"I just wanted you know that I think he's a keeper," Charlie laughed loudly

Oliver quickly joined in on the laughter and Percy groaned out of annoyance

I'm just going to leave this off here since its already really long but if you want me to write some more post Hogwarts Perciver hcs or any ship or character hcs, let me know (you can comment on this post if you want me to make more Perciver hcs and tell me through asks or dm for other character hc requests)

#im sorry about how terrible this is but i tried #percy weasley #oliver wood #perciver #harrypotter #harry potter headcanon #harry potter marauders #harry potter fandom #harry potter

191 notes · View notes

sunflowerdarlingx · 3 years

Text

Fred Weasley - “Fred doesn’t date”

Hi everyone, how are you all?

Here is another Fred imagine, I planned on writing a smut but I enjoyed the direction this took, please let me know if you would like another part to this!

I think if I write a second and third part it will lead to a bit of a steamy chapter.

Female Reader

Warnings: None

----------------

Fred Weasley wasn’t the kind of guy to catch feelings. He had his fun with girls who were up for it, but after a few fucks he’d cut them off and move on to the next. The cycle had done him good the last two years, and he didn’t intent to break it during his last year. But boy, was he in for a shock.

Fred was stood on the platform saying goodbye to his mum when something caught his eye, well, someone caught his eye. She was beautiful, her hair was tied up into a cute messy bun, her glasses stood on the tip of her nose, her small hand moving to push them further up as she smiled at the woman she was with. Her smile was gorgeous, and Fred couldn’t help but smile whilst he looked at her.

She definitely wasn’t in Rons year, or Ginny's, but she didn’t look younger than them. He moved away from his mum whilst she wrapped her arms around George, standing with Harry, Ron and Hermione he thought he’d ask them if they knew her.

“Hey Hermione, who’s that girl over there, with the glasses”, Hermione turned her head in your direction, “Oh, that’s Y/N Y/L/N, she’s a year above us, Hufflepuff I believe, why?”.

“Just wondering”

“Oooo, Fred’s got a crush” Ron laughed loudly.

“Fred’s got a crush, Who?” Molly said loudly as she looked around the platform.

Fred groaned before shoving Ron, “No one mum, we better get on the train before it’s too late. Love you mum, c’mon George” he made his way on to the train, checking behind him for Y/N but she was nowhere to be seen.

The majority of the train ride to Hogwarts was spent catching up with Lee, Angie, Kaitie and Alicia. The time during the ride came where they had to get into their robes, George and Fred went first down towards the changing compartments on the train, they went a bit earlier than normal so not many people were waiting. They were stood outside discussing their first prank of the year when Fred noticed Y/N walking towards him.

“Yeah mate, I got the map off Harry so we should be....” Fred stopped mid-sentence when he saw Y/N, mesmerised by the way she moved so gracefully down the train. George looked behind him, following Freds’s eyeline and smirked when he saw her.

“You’ve not got a chance mate” he laughed and snapped Fred out of his daydream.

“oh yeah? Whys that?” he said, a bit more aggressive than he should have.

“Well look at her and then look at you Freddie, that pretty much sums it up” George ruffled his hair.

“Are you remembering that we are identical twins”

“Oh, fuck, yeah, so we are” George laughed “point proven even more, because I definitely wouldn’t stand a chance”.

Fred shook his hand and smacked his shoulder when you got closer. They both turned to look at Y/N as she got closer, “Hi guys” she smiled, raising her hand giving them a soft wave.

“Hi, you alright?” George asked, returning her smile, “yeah I’m not too bad thanks, yourself?”.

“I’m good thanks, I’m George Weasley” he held his hand out for her to shake, “I’m Y/n Y/L/N” she peered over George's shoulder towards Fred, “and you are?”

Fred tried to speak, he really did but he was distracted by her. Her doe eyes staring up at him and her lips were slightly glossy, he wanted to feel those lips against his, her hand was held out to shake his and Fred couldn’t get over how soft they looked.

“ech hem” George cleared his throat and shoved Fred.

“What..shit sorry, I’m Fred” he placed his hand in hers, they were even softer than he imagined. The door to the changing compartment opened and Cedric Diggory walked out.

He nodded at the two boys before spotting Y/N and wrapping his arms around her, “alright trouble, how was your summer?”.

George slipped into the changing room and Fred stood awkwardly beside them, “it was good thanks Cedric, how was yours?”, “Eh yeah it was alright thanks babe, spent a couple weeks in Italy” he smiled down at her fixing his tie.

Fred couldn’t help but listen in on their conversation, the way Cedric called her babe made him a bit uncomfortable. How had he never noticed her before today? Surely, they’ve seen each other around schools or at parties?

“I’m jealous, I’d love to go to Italy, I’ve seen pictures, it really looks beautiful” Fred loved listening to the way she spoke, her voice like silk.

“You should definitely go if you get the opportunity, I’ll maybe take you one day if you want” he winked at her and Y/N laughed lightly “I'll hold you to that Diggory”.

“You better, I better get back to the boys but find me during the feast yeah?” he said and walked off down the train when he got a nod from her.

Y/N turned her attention back to Fred, “so how’re you Fred?” she turned her body and tilted her head up to look up at him.

Fred was shocked that she was starting up a conversation with him “I’m good thanks yeah” his voice came out a bit squeaky to start with, he cleared his throat, blushing, internally smacking himself “how about yourself?”.

Y/N grinned up at him and his blushing state “I’m good thank you, excited to get back to school, I’ve kind of missed it”.

“I know what you mean, trust me when you live in a house with a family as big as mine, the space alone at Hogwarts is enough to have you craving being back” he laughed.

“I’ve heard there is a lot of you Weasleys, how many of yous are there?” she fiddled with clothes in her hand.

“Well, there’s mum and dad, and then my older brothers Bill, Charlie and Percy, then myself and George and then Ron and Ginny” Freds face lit up slightly whilst he talked about his family, Y/N couldn’t help but smile up at him when she noticed.

“I’ve met Ginny before, she’s lovely” Y/N said, “actually I think I’ve met your brother Charlie before, does he work in Romania?” she questioned, and Fred raised his eyebrows, curious as to how she knew Charlie.

Just as Fred was about to answer George came out of the compartment, “all yours brother”, “eh yeah mate, I’ll meet you back at the compartment.”

George raised his eyebrow, the stare he got back from Fred was a clear ‘fuck off’, he smirked and said goodbye to Y/N before heading back down the train.

Fred turned back to Y/N “yeah Charlie does work in Romania, how’d you know that?”.

“My brother Thomas works there too, you’ve maybe met him, they’ve been good friends since school”. Fred did indeed know Thomas; he’d met him a few times actually.

“No way? Yeah, I know Thomas, he’s a good lad” Fred said and noticed a group of first years coming towards the compartment. “You’d better go get changed, first years are coming down”. It was well known that groups of first years often stopped older students who were at the compartments and bombarded them with eager questions about Hogwarts.

Y/N turned behind her and groaned, “it’s okay, you go first, you were here before me”.

“Trust me, you go first, more likely to ask you questions with you looking all cute and innocent than are with big old me” he laughed not realising that he had called her cute.

Y/N blushed slightly before nodding and making her way into the compartment. She couldn’t help but smile to herself as she got changed, of course she knew who Fred and George were, they were the famous Hogwarts pranksters. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t have a crush on him, she’d fancied him since her third year and the fact he just called her cute had her blushing.

She pulled her knee-high socks over her legs, she looked at herself in the mirror and she was quite excited for Fred to see her when she walked out, not that she thought he’d have any interest in her, she just thought she looked hot.

She had on her usual white shirt with the top three buttons undone, her black skirt which was a bit shorter than last year, her yellow and black tie was wrapped loosely round her neck, her socks stopped just above her knee and she had simple black pumps on.

As she opened the compartment door, Fred couldn’t help but look her up and down, not only did she look beautiful, but she also looked so fucking sexy. Her hair was a bit messier than it was on the platform but he kinda liked it even more and her glassed were resting on top of her head. She pulled them down onto her nose and looked up to Fred. He bit his lip to stop himself from smirking down at her. Y/N winked at him, mouthing a thank you before making her way back to her compartment.

During the first two weeks Fred had been noticing Y/N all over school, he may or may not have been using the map to see where she was. He’d often see her out by the lake herself or in the library and would ‘just so happen’ to find himself in those places when she was there. Fred wasn’t a stalker, he wasn’t even close to it, he just really enjoyed her company and as time went on, he learned that she enjoyed his company to.

They got a lot closer and soon they were even arranging to meet, Fred often keeping her company whilst she studied or them spending time out in the gardens having little picnics or watching the stars at night.

Now I know what you’re thinking, they sound like dates, but they were not dates. Fred didn’t date.

Fred had noticed that he was starting to care about Y/N, quite a bit actually, but he didn’t act on it. He figured it was just because he hadn’t gotten laid in a while, that was mainly due to the fact that all his attention was on Y/N.

In all honesty Fred was starting to fancy her, he loved spending time together, he loved their deep chats and flirty banter, he loved the way her nose scrunched up when she laughed and the little snorts she would make when she found one of his jokes particularly funny. He also found himself getting a bit jealous, watching her throughout meals laughing with the idiots in Hufflepuff or when she had to cancel her plans because one of the prefect boys needed a partner for their patrols.

On this particular day, Fred was stood waiting for Y/N to meet him, they had planned to go for a swim down at the lake with George and Lee. He heard footsteps and looked up, only to see Y/N walking down the steps with Cedric.

She was in a little sun dress which highlighted all the beautiful curves of her body. Her hair was in two braids and her regular glasses had been swapped for a pair of sunglasses on top of her head.

She jumped from the last step and wrapped her arms around Fred, he gripped her hips tightly “Hiya Freddie, ready for a swim?” her cheerful voice mumbled into his neck.

He put her down on the floor and grinned down at her “of course I am.”, he looked over at Cedric “you alright mate?”.

Cedric frowned slightly “yeah thanks, yourself? Didn’t realise you were coming swimming”.

Fred couldn’t help but smirk at his reaction, “yeah I’m good, better now this ones finally ready for a swim”, he winked at Y/N before wrapping his arm around her shoulder, “better get to the lake before George and Lee get bored of waiting”.

Freds smirk quickly left his face while he watched Y/N and Cedric in the water, she had her arms wrapped around him, trying to push him under the water but Cedric just laughed as he dunked them both under the water.

“Stop being a moody git and ask her out” George splashed Fred, “sitting there with a face like a slapped arse isn’t doing anyone any good, and if I'm honest, Lee and I are getting fed up with that frown on your face. Plus, you can’t keep leading her on forever”

Fred wiped the water out of his eyes before splashing George back, “I don’t ask girls out” he stated bluntly “that’s how things get complicated and what do you mean leading her on?”

“You know exactly what I mean” George raised his voice slightly before lowering it again “You’ve heard the rumours going round about how the ‘famous prankster’ Fred Weasley is actually settling down, all these little dates you have just lead her on”.

“We don’t go on dates, we hang out”

“ha sure, nights under the stars and romantic walks into Hogsmeade aren't dates. You need to decide what you want with her, if you don’t want anything serious then you need to leave her alone to flirt with Cedric”, George swam away over to Lee and wrapped his arms around him to get a piggyback.

Fred moved to sit on the grass beside the lake, did he want something more than a friendship with Y/N? It was clear they fancied each other, was he really leading her on?

He made his way back up to the castle, leaving them at the lake, he needed some time to decide what he wanted.

Y/N was splashing around the lake with the boys when she noticed Fred was missing, “Hey George, where's Fred gone?” he shrugged his shoulders and started splashing Lee again.

Cedric pulled Y/N closer to him by her waist “I wouldn't worry Y/N, he’s a big boy” Y/N frowned at Cedric before giggling when he tickled her sides.

“Come with me to look for him?” she asked and started walking back towards the grass, Cedric groaned but followed anyway.

“Why don’t we go grab a snack from the kitchen and get changed and then you can find him at dinner? I wanted some time alone with you today..if im being honest”

“Fineeeeee” she dragged out her words as she wrapped her towel around her.

Fred was laid in his bed, thinking about everything that had happened over the last few weeks, George was right, it wasn’t fair to lead her on, but Fred knew for sure that he wanted her to be his – the thought of her being with someone else made him sick to his stomach.

He thought it over and decided that the only difference would be the labels and he kind of hoped that if lads knew she was his then they’d stop flirting with her. They already went on dates and the thought of finally getting to kiss her and hold her just made the idea even more appealing.

He stood up off his bed deciding to make his way back to the lake. When he reached the corridor by the kitchen, he turned the corner and he saw Y/N against the wall with Cedric in front of her. His elbow resting on the wall above her head as his other hand pushes some of her baby hairs out of her face. Her little giggle echoed through the hall and Freds heart broke at the sight, crumbling when Cedric placed a soft and delicate kiss to her cheek.

Part Two

#Fred weasley imagine #fred weasley smut #fred weasley x reader

492 notes · View notes

twilightdruig · 3 years

Text

help?

pairing : george weasley x fem!reader

summary : “hi i’m your neighbor and while i know we’ve never spoken but you’re a single parent of two and my sister recently died leaving me to raise her infant and i have no idea what i’m doing, help?” au

warnings : swearing , mentions of character deaths , fluff , au where george lives alone with his two children in a cottage near the burrow , au where fred and cedric live.

words : 2.6k

a/n : this is my first fic so it’s probably gonna be shit (as you can probably tell i’m not good with titles either) but yeah hope you enjoy :> and i might do a little part 2 on this soon

holly l/n was loved by multiple. a sweet hufflepuff student who was favored by all the teachers and students. her sister, y/n was a scary and intimidating gryffindor who hung out in the library.

ever since the battle of hogwarts death eaters have been imprisoned in azkaban. but, that didn’t mean all harm was gone.

now here y/n l/n was, standing in the heat of the summer, her nephew connor l/n mourning the death of a family member.

the service was beautiful. a few hogwarts students came including luna lovegood and neville longbottom and professor sprout and professor flitwick decided to pay their respects. headmistress mcgonagall sent her condolences through a letter as well.

conner wasn’t old enough to go to hogwarts yet. there was no one else for holly to leave connor with. her husband, ronan died during the war, all connor’s grandparents died and the only appointed godparents were holly’s best friend cedric diggory and her sister y/n.

cedric diggory was now teaching first year flying at hogwarts and is married to cho chang.

y/n was currently doing nothing with her life. she wanted to live alone in a cottage, reading, stitching, picking apples and getting drunk on fruity cocktails. but now? she had to take care of her sister’s spoiled son.

y/n hated children more than she hated the people in her own hogwarts house. more so, she didn’t know how to take care of them.

she had to enroll her nephew in hogwarts, teach him basic life skills and other stuff like that. there goes her life goal on being that cool stoner aunt that hates love and children.

—

“shit, connor!” y/n exclaimed as her 3 year old nephew accidentally ate a ton tongue toffee made by the joke shop in diagon alley owned by the weasleys.

“sorry aunty y/n”

she was never close to the weasleys. all of them, stereotypical gryffindors, loud and chaotic and always the main characters.

the only thing she knew about them is that one of the twins live next to her. y/n didn’t know how to shrink his tongue and thought it was quite the convenience that he lives next door. he was a single dad with two daughters, maybe he could help her control her nephew and technically her adopted son, now.

she sighed. “put on your coat, we’re visiting our neighbors, ok con?” the little boy nodded in response

—

went the small cottage came into view, there were two little girls picking flowers on the front yard and a tall red-headed man on the porch watching them.

“hey! weasley!” she yelled with a small smile as she approached the small gate.

“l/n? what are you doing here?” george asked

y/n gestured to her nephew who was holding his now 3 foot long tongue. “he accidentally ate one of your products and i’m not entirely sure how to fix it”

“right, right” he laughed “come on, connor right? i’ll reverse that”

y/n felt a tug at her oversized cardigan. she looked down to see two identical ginger twins.

“hi there!” one smiled.

“hello!” y/n tried to sound as nice as possible. looking back at her teenage years she remembered laughing at kids who fell of their brooms their brooms when she’d watch first year flying. she remembered laughing at seamus finnigan when something blew up in his face. or when she’d laugh at any kid accidentally getting hurt.

“these are for you! they’re pretty just like you” the other twin exclaimed.

“i’m charlotte and she’s billie” charlotte giggled.

“how do u know our daddy?” billie asked

“oh! um, we went to school together and i live just next door” y/n replied

“do you know our uncle freddie?”

“i know all your uncles and your aunt ginny, aunt hermione and uncle harry. they were all famous when we were in school”

“wow!” they both exclaimed

george and connor came back out. “look aunty y/n! my tongue’s normal again!”

“aunty?” george questioned. “holly. she died quite recently.”

“oh! i’m so sorry. i heard about her. yeah. i believe mum sent some flowers for the service”

“yeah we received them”

“i’ll see you around?” george inquired

“yeah, yeah. and i might need some parenting advice? you knew how i was back at hogwarts”

“i am flattered, dear l/n”

“oh hush. and they get along.” she pointed to the three children running around.

“they do. and yes, i would love to help you tame that little rascal” george laughed.

“thank you, george. really.”

“i’m just next door, yeah?”

“yeah” y/n smiled “come on, connor. we’re going home. but we’ll definitely be seeing these lovely ladies soon.”

“bye pretty lady!” y/n heard two young voices call after her

“daddy, who was she?”

“is she gonna be our new mommy?”

—

george and y/n had been hanging out for the past weeks. he had given her advice on taking care of connor and how to deal with children. they also spent time talking about family and their time back at hogwarts. she was told about the attack of death eaters at one of his brothers’ wedding and how his daughters were named after his brothers bill and charlie.

a knock at y/n’s door interrupted her reading.

“oi, l/n!” she heard a familiar voice on the other side of the door.

“weasley” she muttered.

connor recognized george’s voice and the twins’ giggles, he decided he would take matters into his own little hands. connor knew how stubborn his aunt was at the young age of seven.

“hi billie! hi charlotte! hi uncle george!” the little boy squealed.

“hey there, con!” george ruffled his hair while billie and charlotte ran over to y/n.

connor and the twins were two years apart. connor was going to hogwarts the next year. no doubt would he be trouble to professor mcgonagall but everyone knew they were always her favorites.

“aunty y/n! uncle george brought cookies!” connor yelled excitedly. y/n was never the type to bake or cook. she did try to but it always ended in almost burning the house down. she usually fed connor fruits or store bought food.

“you didn’t have to” y/n responded while taking the plastic box.

“oh yes i did” he teased “i heard you’ve been starving this poor little fellow”

“daddy didn’t bake those cookies” charlotte stated “grandma did” billie continued

“oh” she smirked at george then turned to the twins “tell your grandma i say thanks!”

“uncle george! i wanna show you something outside! the twins can come too!”

“connor, what are you gonna show them?” y/n grumbled.

“your paintings! they’re amazing” her nephew jumped.

“paintings, eh?” george smiled “okay, let’s go, champ. see those paintings of your aunt.” the two scurried outside, two redheaded girls following after.

y/n groaned and fell back into the couch, finishing her book.

—

it’s been a few days since george and the twins came with cooking to y/n and connor’s cottage. she wanted to throw connor a little surprise birthday party.

connor has loved the twins and george so much, he thinks of them as blood relatives. y/n decided to call up cedric and cho to look after connor while she’d do some errands.

the two arrived exactly on time as y/n was preparing to go out. she had on a simple cardigan and loose denim pants.

“ced! cho! hi, how are you guys?” y/n greeted as she saw her old friends apparate into the cottage.

“hi y/n!” cho greeted “hey nerd” cedric snickered.

she sent cedric a small glare before connor jumped at the two.

“uncle ceddy! aunty cho! you’re here” he shouted.

“yeah buddy! your aunt’s gonna run some errands and visit your uncle georgie?” cedric winked at y/n. she had been owling cedric about george and how he’s been helping her with connor.

“are you going out with uncle george?” connor asked, eyes twinkling.

“i don’t know, actually. i might check him out next door.”

“george weasley?” cho teased.

“yes, cho,” y/n rolled her eyes “but on that note, i have to go”

“bye, connor! behave okay?” she crouched down and squished his cheeks.

“bye, ced! cho!” her voice faded when she dashed out the door.

—

y/n passed george’s cottage to see if he actually might want to come with her and do errands.

she was standing outside the small gate, hesitating. ‘maybe he was busy’ ‘he wouldn’t want to do errands with me’ ‘maybe he would if i told him it was for connor’s birthday’ she thought. y/n didn’t know why she was overthinking her choices. the first time she was standing right outside the gate she bursted in and demanded george to fix whatever happened to her nephew. now, she was nervous. her palms were sweaty and clammy.

she pushed herself in and walked to the front porch. she knocked a few times and was met with a head of messy brown hair.

“hermione?!” she squealed

“y/n!” hermione jumped to hug her old friend.

there were overlapping voices in the background and when they pulled away she was met with multiple mops of ginger hair, a head of blonde hair and another with black hair behind hermione.

“l/n?” ginny weasley asked, quite shocked what she would be doing outside george’s door.

“oh! did i interrupt something? i am so sorry!” she said feeling a bit nervous.

“oh! you must be the dearest y/n george keeps talking about!” an old woman she thought was mrs. weasley approached her from behind her children.

“hi there!” y/n said feeling a little embarrassed she might’ve barged in on a family reunion.

“ah! l/n? i have heard of your family! muggle-borns right?” arthur weasley joined his wife.

“uh, yeah!” she pursed her lips “i am so so sorry i interrupted! i should go. tell george i’ll swing by next time”

“oh it’s absolutely alright, dear” molly reassured her.

“george! there’s a really pretty girl! get your arse out here!” fred yelled to george who was probably inside the house.

“is she here?” charlotte and billie ran to the door.

“hi girls! tell you dad i was here yeah? say i’ll come by next time” most of the weasleys came back in. she took it as her time to go on with her day.

“oi! y/n! wait up” the voice she recognized as george’s called after her.

“george, hey”

“where’r you off to?” george pointed to the small bag that was swung over her shoulder.

“errands. connor’s birthday is coming up so i thought i’d prepare something for him. first birthday without his mum, you know”

“his birthday’s coming up?” george looked as excited as a child on christmas morning.

“yeah. why?” she smiled

“you’re talking to one of the best party planners there is. you also did talk to another one of them… i think”

“fred?”

“oh yeah”

“i wanted to ask if you wanted to come but seeing as to your family is in your house… i’m gonna take a wild guess and say you aren’t available right now” she giggled.

“maybe if you went another day” he said sympathetically. george really wanted to go and prepare connor’s party with her. he treated him like his own and boy did he remind him of how fun it was to be a kid. he loved his aunt so much it was adorable.

“george. seriously, it’s okay. spend time with your family” she laughed.

“yeah, yeah. i’ll see you when you get back” he waved.

—

connor’s small birthday gathering was in full swing. y/n became acquainted with george’s siblings. bill, charlie, percy (whom she was actually friends with back in hogwarts), fred, ron and ginny. hermione was a very good friend of hers and so was harry. she recognized fleur from that day in the cottage as beauxbatons triwizard champion.

connor had quite a bunch of guests for his birthday. cedric, cho, luna, neville, fred, percy, ron, harry, hermione, bill and fleur and their little victorie. of course, billie and charlotte helped george and y/n fix up the party. mr. and mrs. weasley sent a small cake for connor when they heard about y/n not knowing asingle thing about cooking.

fred offered to take care of the twins and connor while george and y/n ran off somewhere. the two found themselves near a small creek. y/n explained how the cottage was where she’d go off exploring and the only person who knew was holly. she was overjoyed when her sister got the cottage she used as a hideaway.

george was surprised when there were lights and blankets and everything. the soft sounds of running water was calming.

the two were pretty intoxicated when they sat down; stumbled onto the picnic blanket. y/n was sober enough to not spill her deepest darkest secrets. george on the other hand…

“have i ever told you how pretty you are?” george mumbled next to her. y/n only snickered and blushed.

“um, can i hold your hand?” he continued, taking a look at the girl next to him.

“sure” she winked.

“you know” he started again “i actually fancied you a bit back in school”

“yeah?” she rolled over to her side “i wonder… what did you like about me?”

“i don’t even know. my heart just felt so full with you. still does, right now, holding your hand, under the stars by a stream.” he had this glint in his eye when he looks at her.

“hey,” she brushed some hair out of his face “these past few months have been great. and you’re a huge help with connor. you know i’ll always be there for you, right?”

“yeah darling,” he yawned “yeah”

“wait, george!” she sat up “no. don’t fall asleep!”

“fuck” she groaned before falling back down on the blanket.

“i think i love you” she whispered.

—

morning rolled around and they were still lying somewhere in the forest behind the cottage. some childish chatter and laughs were heard from where they were still sleeping soundly.

until, a red ant bit y/n and george’s intertwined hands. “ah shit!” y/n woke up from the bite. her yell also woke up the sleeping man next to her “what?! what happened?” he jumped.

“oh. did i wake you up?” she asked.

“no. it’s honestly no worries” he said “but i do have a killer headache”

“an ant bit me” she muttered, wanting to scratch it.

“hey, no don’t scratch! i’ve had a lot if experience with insect bites” he explained “want me to kiss it better?” he teased.

“oh, ha-ha” she rolled her eyes but blushed.

“we should probably head back” he checked his watch while standing up.

—

“ah! there the lovebirds are!” fred exclaimed.

everyone was cleaning up from last night. there were children running around while chasing balloons and each other.

“yeah,” george started “we, um, fell asleep”

“sure ya did” this time ron teased the two.

“i’m gonna clean up here,” y/n offered “you guys should go home. you know, get some rest”

cedric gasped “y/n l/n! are you kicking us out?” he said in mock offense.

“technically, yeah. i doubt connor got any sleep”

“maybe we should,” fleur said with her accent “victorie was very excited for the party she is very worn out”

george snuck behind y/n “i think i love you too” he muttered under his breath. he wasn’t sure if she heard it. she did.

“i’ll see you later, y/n!” he yelled “come on, princesses, we’re going home. we’ll see connor and y/n later”

connor and the twins hugged while y/n said thank you’s to all the guests.

maybe it wasn’t such a bad decision to ask for help.

#george weasley #george weasley x reader #harry potter #hogwarts #george weasley imagine #george weasley x fem #george weasley x fem!reader #george weasley x y/n #george weasley x you

232 notes · View notes

the-al-chemist · 2 years

Text

Artemis Hexley and the Circle of Khanna

Chapter 7: The Lady by the Lake

A/N: Artemis’ first attempt at investigating the final Cursed Vault does not go to plan, thanks to an incident involving a certain gatecrasher. Warnings: violence, mild injury, mild horror.

The teachers may have wanted to keep their conversation in the Hospital Wing a secret, but by Monday evening, the entire school was buzzing with the news about the student who had been turned into a statue.

“I’ve got some bad news,” Penny told the other Hufflepuff girls, having returned to the Common Room pink-cheeked and wide-eyed. “The boy who’s been cursed… Well, it’s Corey Hayden.”

Artemis turned to look at Rowan, who was frowning deeply. Artemis reached across to squeeze her hand. Though she did not know Corey at all well personally, she knew that Rowan was fond of him, the two of them being occasional study partners. They had even spent Valentine’s Day together in their fifth year, and attended the Celestial Ball together in their fourth.

Rowan squeezed Artemis’ hand back before she spoke. “Does anyone know how it happened?”

“No one knows. He went to revise in the library on Saturday morning, and never arrived for dinner in the evening. Everyone was out watching the Quidditch, so nobody saw a thing. They’ve closed the library, just in case.”

“The teachers seemed to think it might be the next Cursed Vault,” whispered Artemis, choosing to ignore the fact that Rowan looked even more horrified at the news of the library being closed than her former date being turned into stone.

“So, does that mean that more people might become statues?”

“Does that mean that the library will be closed until the curse is broken?”

“Does it mean you’re going to start poking your nose around in the Cursed Vaults again?” Tonks asked.

“I dunno. Dumbledore said at the end of last year that Jacob would be doing it.”

“But no one knows where he is at the moment, except for the Weasley twins thinking that they saw him in the forest,” Rowan pointed out.

Artemis nodded. She still hadn’t her friends about the letter Jacob had left for her, and now that a couple of weeks had passed since then, it seemed pointless to tell them now.

“I guess it couldn’t do any harm to try and find out some information,” she said, and her friends all exchanged glances. “Well, it couldn’t! Not if it helps Jacob find the Vault sooner.”

“But how are you going to find out information?” asked Rowan. “The library’s closed!”

“Well, Flitwick said that they found a load of Rakepick’s research in her office. All about mermaids and grindylows. And Hagrid told Charlie that the grindylows in the Black Lake have been acting strangely since we got back from the holidays.”

“So, you think the lake might have something to do with the Vault?”

“It might do. That would make sense, wouldn’t it?” Artemis nodded. “Right. I’ll go down there later, have a look to see if I can find any clues.”

“Is that a good idea?” Behind her glasses, Rowan’s brown eyes were filled with concern. “Dumbledore said that he doesn’t need your help, and with Rakepick still on the loose…”

“We should at least all go together,” Tonks suggested. “It’ll be safer, if we are all there.”

It wasn’t so much the idea of dragging her friends back into the dangerous riddles of the Cursed Vaults as it was the mention of Rakepick’s name that made Artemis shake her head.

“No,” she said, definitely. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not.”

“Because of… Because if all four of us go down there, someone’s bound to notice. At least if it’s just me, it’ll be less obvious. It will, Rowan!”

“I didn’t say it wouldn’t,” Rowan muttered, but she kept her lips pursed. “At least tell me you’ll be doing this in the daylight.”

“Well, actually…”

“Why am I not even surprised anymore?”

The other girls had tried to dissuade Artemis from her nighttime trip to the lake, but their attempts had not succeeded. Artemis’ mind was made up, and her plan was - in her eyes, at least - flawless. Even Rowan had agreed that it was probably the most sensible way to investigate the lake with no one noticing.

“I just wish you’d wait until the morning to go down there. It would be safer, what with Rakepick still-”

“Rakepick doesn’t know that I’m an Animagus, Rowan,” Artemis reassured her. “Loads of cats go out around the grounds to hunt at night, Fergus does it all the time. And it’ll be harder for people to see me in the dark, but just as easy for me to see them. Look, do you want to be able to study in the library with Corey again, or what?”

Rowan raised her eyebrows and sighed heavily, but got into her bed without complaint and started to read. Judging by the stubborn look on her face, she would not be going to sleep until Artemis was back in the dormitory.

When the corridor outside was completely silent, Artemis crept out through the common room into the dark dungeon corridors, using her wand to illuminate the magical map of the school she had borrowed from Fred and George Weasley earlier in the evening.

From the looks of things, Dumbledore was pacing in his office, Madam Pomfrey was pottering around the Hospital Wing, and Filch was all the way up on the seventh floor, presumably trying to clear up after the mess that some students or Peeves the poltergeist had made during the day. The other teachers were all in their offices. Artemis’ path to the lake was clear.

“Mischief managed,” she whispered, and shoved the now-bare parchment into the pocket of her jacket, keeping her wand lit as she made her way up the staircase that led from the dungeons up to the entrance hall. As she reached the main door of the castle, she lowered her wand and prepared to transform into her cat-Animagus form.

“Are you going to the lake now?” came a small voice from behind her.

Artemis turned around to see Beatrice Haywood walking across the entrance hall towards her, wearing a thick winter coat over the top of her pyjamas.

“Bea! What are you doing here?”

“Following you. I heard that you wanted to sneak out to look for clues, so I decided to follow you,” said Beatrice. “I want to help you.”

“You can’t,” Artemis told her. “Go back to bed, Bea.”

“No. You can’t make me.”

“Beatrice, please. You shouldn’t be sneaking out at night.”

“Neither should you.”

“Yeah, well,” Artemis shrugged. “That’s different.”

“How?”

“It just is, that’s all.”

“You’re as bad as Penny,” Bea’s eyes narrowed and her chin jutted forward. “You say everything is too dangerous for me and that I can’t do anything.”

“Well, it is too dangerous. And you can do some things, Bea, but not-”

“If you don’t let me come with you, I will scream, and then everyone will wake up and see that you’re trying to sneak out.”

“Don’t do that,” Artemis said. Beatrice opened her mouth to take a deep breath, and Artemis quickly backtracked. “No, Bea! Please.”

“So, I can come with you?”

Artemis really didn’t want Beatrice to come with her. She sighed deeply, and shook her head.

“I’ll only sneak out by myself another time if I don’t go with you now,” Beatrice said, completely changing tack. “It’ll be much less dangerous for me if I’m with you.”

Realising that there was no way she was going to win this argument, Artemis relented.

“Fine,” she hissed. “But you have to do exactly I say, yeah? If I tell you to run back to the castle, you do it. Straight away, and without arguing. Got it?”

“I’m not stupid, Artemis.”

Artemis said nothing, and walked out into the courtyard with Beatrice trailing behind her. This was not not going as she had planned.

“Why do you want to come with me so badly anyway, Bea?”

“I just want to go on adventures, like you,” Beatrice replied, and Artemis looked at her sceptically.

“And?” she asked, sensing that there was another reason. Bea sighed, and looked up at Artemis with a pleading look in her big blue eyes.

“Promise you won’t tell Penny?”

“Sure,” Artemis agreed.

“I keep having nightmares,” Beatrice told her. “Ever since… Well, I don’t know if it started when I was inside the portrait or after I came out. Sometimes I think I dream about the lake, you see.”

“The lake?”

“Yeah, that’s why I wanted to come with you. I overheard what you said about the lake being the next curse, and I wanted to help you find out about it. And I wanted to see it for myself, to see that it’s not so scary. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

“It makes perfect sense,” Artemis nodded. “Bea, if you don’t mind me asking, what happens in these dreams?”

“Well, it always starts with me thinking that I’m in the portrait again,” Beatrice’s white front teeth gnawed at her lower lip. “It’s hard to explain it, but it’s like everything is there, but it seems really far away, and not quite real. I guess that’s normal for dreams, but that’s how it felt inside the portrait, too.

“Anyway, the dream starts like that, and then I’m in this room, and the room keeps changing. At first, it’s all cold, like really icy cold. And then all these shadows come and I feel so scared, more scared than I’ve ever felt before in real life. Then after that, the walls turn all dirty and I can hear howling and all these other horrible animal noises, but when I try and see the animals, all the walls disappear, and suddenly it’s like each of them turns into another room, and they go on and on forever.”

Artemis frowned. “Beatrice, does this room have seven walls and a glowing column in the middle of it, by any chance?”

“Yes! How did you-”

“Those aren’t rooms, Bea. They’re the Cursed Vaults,” Artemis told her, and Beatrice’s eyes and mouth turned into perfect circles. “There should be one more after the one that goes on forever. What does that one look like?”

“I don’t know,” said Beatrice, a quiet tremble in her voice. “But that one is the worst one of all.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just black, completely black. You can’t see anything, but… but it feels horrible. Like you’ll never be happy again. I try to scream, but there’s water everywhere, and I can see the shadow of Hogwarts over the water - like you can from the lake - but every time I try to swim towards it, it’s like I’m being pulled back under the water into the darkness. And then I wake up.”

“That sounds horrible, Bea,” Artemis whispered, reaching out and taking Beatrice’s tiny hand in her own. “Really, really frightening.”

“That’s why I wanted to come with you. Because I want to help break the curses so no one else has to get hurt,” Beatrice held on tightly to Artemis’ hand so that she couldn’t let go of it. “And because I want to go and see the lake. I’ve been too scared to, but… but if I’m with you, then I know it will be okay, because you won’t be scared.”

“I think even I would be scared of those dreams, Bea. Have you told Penny about them?”

“No. She would just be even more fussy over me.”

“She’s just worried because she loves you so much.”

“Sometimes I wish she didn’t love me so much. Then I could just do what I want all the time.”

“You don’t want that,” Artemis said, quietly. “Trust me, you don’t.”

By now, they were at the bottom of the cliff, where the narrow winding steps opened out to the shore of the Black Lake. In the summer months, the lakeshore was usually packed with students revising, relaxing with their friends, or jumping off the wooden jetty to swim in the water. It was normally one of Artemis’ favourite places in the whole of the school grounds.

Tonight, though, it looked different. Perhaps it was the cold November night air, or the reflection of the crescent moon on the surface of the inky water, or Beatrice’s words echoing in Artemis’ ears, but right now, there was an eeriness to the lake. Though the water was completely still, there was the distinct sense of something stirring in their murky depths.

“Let’s look around quickly,” Artemis told Beatrice. “I want to get back to the Common Room as soon as possible.”

She made to walk forward, but Beatrice - her hand still tightly gripping Artemis’ own - didn’t move. She was staring, stock still and horrified, at the lake’s edge.

“Come on, Bea. It’s just…” Artemis’ voice tailed off as she followed Beatrice’s gaze with her own eyes and saw exactly what - or rather, who - Beatrice was looking at.

Standing ankle-deep in the water, bent over as if she were extracting something from the shallows, was a woman. Though the light was dim, and the woman’s face was half-obscured by her red hair, Artemis recognised her immediately.

It was Rakepick.

Her heart beating wildly in her chest, Artemis ripped her left hand free from Beatrice’s, and raised her wand with her right. She bent down slightly, and lowered her voice to a whisper.

“Bea, remember what I said about doing as I told you? I’m telling you now to run, okay? Go back to the castle as fast as you can, and don’t stop or even look back until you’re inside. Bea? Beatrice, go. Now.”

But Beatrice didn’t move. Artemis’ throat turned dry. She wanted to get Bea as far away from both Rakepick and herself as possible, but she couldn’t shout, not without drawing Rakepick’s attention. She shook Beatrice gently, hoping that it would bring her back to her senses, but it didn’t work.

As Rakepick stood up straight, Artemis’s blood ran cold. Instinctively, she took a step in front of Beatrice, attempting to shield her from view, and Rakepick turned agonisingly slowly to face the shore.

“Well, well,” said Rakepick, her eyes brightening as she caught sight of Artemis. Her mouth twisted into a sinister smile. “Fancy seeing you here, Miss Hexley.”

Rakepick’s hand went to her hip, and Artemis shuffled her feet into a duelling position. Every fibre of her body was telling her to run, but with Beatrice still frozen to the spot behind her, she couldn’t. She was going to have to fight.

“NO!”

A voice echoed across the lakeshore, and although the voice was familiar to Artemis, both she and Rakepick looked to see who had shouted. Appearing from behind the boathouse and running along the shore was Jacob.

“Two Hexleys,” Rakepick said, stepping out of the water and edging closer towards Artemis, who readied her wand. “I am spoiled for choice.”

“Don’t hurt her,” Jacob panted, his arms raised as he intercepted Rakepick’s path towards his sister. “Please, I beg of you. There’s another way - a better way - I promise.”

Rakepick folded her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows at Jacob, who took a step towards her.

“Go back to the castle, Artemis,” he called over his shoulder.

“What? No!” Artemis shook her head. “I’m not leaving you with-”

“She won’t hurt me. Go.”

Jacob didn’t turn back to look at Artemis, instead kept his eyes fixed on Rakepick. Rakepick, however, turned her gaze towards Artemis and raised her wand.

“No!” Quick as a flash, Jacob had his own wand in hand, and had deflected the jet of light that Rakepick aimed at Artemis. “Artemis, run!”

This time, Artemis did as she was told. Not because of Jacob shouting, or because of Rakepick raising her wand again, but because of the small hand that suddenly reached out to take hold of her own. Beatrice. Artemis grabbed hold of Beatrice’s hand once more, and cast a shield charm over her shoulder as the pair of them ran back up the path towards the castle, leaving Jacob duelling Rakepick on the lakeshore behind them.

Artemis was a much faster runner that Beatrice, and found herself half-dragging the girl back to the castle, only stopping once they were back, not just inside the castle walls, but in the Common Room itself.

“Are you okay?” Artemis asked her, noticing that the little girl was limping slightly. “Maybe we should get Madam Pomfrey to check you over.”

“No!” Bea shook her head, her eyes wide. “No, we’ll get into trouble.”

“But you’re limping. You’re hurt.”

“I’ll be okay.”

Beatrice looked up at Artemis with a forced smile, the pain visible in her eyes. Artemis sighed, and put her arm under Beatrice’s to support her weight.

“Fine, but someone needs to check you over. Come on, I know who will be able to help.”

Artemis took Beatrice down the the tunnel-like corridor of the girls’ dormitories, walking past her own to a door at the very end of the corridor and knocking on it gently. Behind the door there was a shuffling noise, then the door opened slightly to reveal the pale hair and features of Chiara Lobosca.

“What’s wrong, Artemis?” she asked, before looking down at Beatrice. There was a flicker of realisation in her eyes. “You’re in pain.”

Chiara opened the door wider, and gestured for Artemis and Beatrice to come inside. Chiara’s room was similar to Artemis’ own, only far smaller and much barer, with just one bed - one without four posts and curtains - and one set of furniture. The walls were decorated with star charts, and the bookshelf contained multiple pots of herbs and potion vials.

Beatrice sat on the end of Chiara’s bed, and Chiara quietly and gently pushed up the leg of her pyjamas to reveal her puffy-looking ankle. After feeling and moving the joint for a few minutes, Chiara smiled.

“It’s not broken, just badly twisted,” she told Beatrice, standing up to fetch a potion bottle from the bookshelf. “Have a sip of this now and again in the morning, it will take the pain away. Just be sure to rest it for the next few days, or you’ll make it worse.”

Beatrice sipped the liquid Chiara gave her, and immediately the colour returned to her face.

“Thanks, Chiara,” said Artemis, more relieved than she cared to admit. “Sorry for waking you up. I’d have taken her to Madam Pomfrey, but-”

“But you didn’t want to get into trouble for being outside at night?”

“I was going to say that you were closer, actually.”

“Yes, but that’s not true, is it?” Chiara asked, in her softly lilting voice. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.”

“Thank you.”

“What happened?”

“We went down to the lake,” Beatrice said, before Artemis had the chance to tell Chiara anything. “Professor Rakepick was there, and this man came and they were duelling, and then we ran back. That’s how I twisted my ankle.”

Chiara’s pale eyebrows furrowed, and she was silent for a few moments.

“You know, Artemis,” she said, thoughtfully. “I understand that you don’t want to get into trouble for breaking school rules, but if Rakepick’s been seen on at the school - actually on the grounds - Professor Dumbledore ought to know about it. It’s not my place to tell him, but you really should. She might be dangerous, after all.”

“You’re right,” Artemis nodded. “I’ll go to his office first thing.”

“Me too.”

“Bea, you really don’t have to. I don’t mind getting into-”

“I don’t mind getting into trouble, either,” said Bea, shaking her head. “I wanted to come with you, I made you take me with you, it’s not fair if I don’t get into trouble, too. And I can tell him about my dreams. It might help him break the curses.”

Artemis considered it for a moment before nodding her head. Beatrice had a point there. And perhaps a detention session would make her less likely to break the rules in future, though she doubted it.

“Fine. We can go before breakfast. Thanks again, Chiara.”

“Thank you,” Beatrice smiled at Chiara before frowning and asking, “You won’t tell Penny I got hurt, will you? I don’t want her to worry.”

“Of course not. Patient confidentiality,” Chiara said, with a wry smile. “Besides, I’m good at keeping secrets.”

The following morning, Artemis and Beatrice went to Professor Dumbledore’s office before breakfast and told him of the previous night’s events. He listened intently, his twinkling eyes giving away no clues to what his thoughts might be, before holding up one hand to silence the two girls.

“So,” he said calmly, “it is my understanding from what you have told me that you both broke school rules in order to investigate the Black Lake, suspecting that it might be the location of the final Cursed Vault because of the unusual activity of the Grindylows in the previous few months.”

“And because of Beatrice’s dreams,” Artemis said, choosing not to tell Professor Dumbledore about the conversation she had overheard in the Hospital Wing.

Dumbledore bowed his head. “Whilst at the lake, you happened to see Professor - or, I should say, Madam - Rakepick, also investigating the lake-”

“Yeah, she was in the water, looking at something. We couldn’t see what.”

“Very well. Rakepick moved towards you, but she was stopped by your brother, and that is when you returned. Is that correct?”

“Yes,” Artemis nodded. “I didn’t want Bea getting hurt, and Jacob said Rakepick wouldn’t hurt him. I would’ve stayed with him otherwise.”

“I am certain that you would have,” Professor Dumbledore stood up and walked around his desk, closer to Artemis and Beatrice. “In this case, however, I am glad that you chose to escort young Miss Haywood to safety rather than placing yourself in further danger by remaining with your brother and Madam Rakepick. I am also pleased that both of you chose to risk getting into trouble by telling me the truth unprompted, when this matter affects the safety of the school.”

“Does that mean we can get out of detention?” Beatrice asked, hopefully, and Dumbledore shook his head.

“I am afraid not,” he said, his voice and face turning stern. “As honourable as your honesty is, both of you broke school rules and placed yourself in immense danger by venturing to the lake at night. You will both serve an evening in detention.

“As for your dreams, Miss Haywood, I will be writing to Madam Pomfrey later today. I think that she will be able to brew you a potion that will help to relieve you of your nightmares.”

“Thank you, Professor Dumbledore.”

“You are most welcome. Now, I’d appreciate it if you would return to the Great Hall for breakfast. I have matters that I wish to discuss with Miss Hexley alone.”

Beatrice looked hesitant, but she left the headmaster’s office without complaint. Once Bea had left, Professor Dumbledore turned to Artemis.

“Did Madam Rakepick make another attempt to harm you, Artemis?”

“Sort of,” Artemis frowned. “Jacob got in the way. He said that she wouldn’t hurt him, and then he told her not to hurt me. When he told me to run and I said no, she cast a spell and he deflected it.”

“I see,” Professor Dumbledore stood up and walked across to the cabinet in which he stored his Pensieve. He opened the door, and the blueish-white glow of his Pensieve shone across the floor of his office. “So, your brother asked Madam Rakepick not to harm you, and she hesitated before making her attack?”

“Yes, Professor. He said that there was another way, and she stopped to listen to him. For a few seconds, at least.”

Dumbledore inclined his head, and put his wand to his temple, and a stream of silvery white light followed his wand as he pointed it from his head to the Pensieve.

“What are you thinking, Sir? What does this mean?”

“It means that both the Cursed Vaults and Patricia Rakepick still pose a great threat to our school, and to you in particular,” Dumbledore told her. “It means that I will need to inform the Aurors of the situation, and that there are likely to be new measures put in force to try and keep everyone inside this school safe.” He gave Artemis a hard and meaningful stare before adding, “It means that you of all people should be adhering to these measures, Miss Hexley.”

“I understand, Professor.”

“For all of our sakes, I hope that you do.”

#artemis hexley #hogwarts mystery #hphm fic #hphm #beatrice haywood #chiara lobosca #jacob hexley #patricia rakepick #rowan khanna #penny haywood #nymphadora tonks

31 notes · View notes

justtluffythings · 1 year

Text

HOME: Book 2 - CHAPTER TWELVE

MASTERLIST

As Veronica set her quill down, she glanced over to her right where Charlie sat writing frantically. While she rather enjoyed the year-end exams, Charlie absolutely despised them. She had no idea why; he was so smart, and he always did well. But for some reason, he would spend much too much time stressing about them and would rush to finish, worrying he would run out of time. And each time, he would complete it with plenty of time to spare and would always be pleased with the outcome. Veronica could tell Charlie was on the last few questions of his exam, so she quietly made her way to the front of the Great Hall, which had been cleared of the long house tables and turned into an exam room with many rows of individual desks and chairs.

Snape knew without even looking up from his work that it was Veronica coming towards him; she was always the first to finish. Taking the parchment from her, he smiled warmly at her, taking advantage of the fact that all the students were distracted, and nodded. Veronica returned the gesture before turning and making her way out of the Great Hall.

As Veronica leaned against the wall of the Entrance Hall right outside the doors, she beamed as Bill came strolling casually towards her. He opened his arms for her, and without hesitation, she fell into them. She loved Bill’s hugs; they were very brotherly and protective.

“Hiya Ronnie, just finished an exam?”

“Yup, Potions. I’m waiting for Charlie, but he looked like he was almost done.”

“Nice, do you have any more left or is this it for the year?”

Veronica shook her head against Bill’s chest. “That’s it. Just in time for the big game next week. Emily is planning on working us to the bone everyday leading up to it, so I’m not gonna have time to do much of anything else to be honest.”

Bill shook his head and sighed. “I hope she’s planning on at least giving you Friday off. She can’t bombard the team with practice up to the last minute and expect you all to perform well. You need at least one day to rest.”

Veronica chuckled. “Oh yeah, don’t worry. Friday’s off, but she’ll be sure to make up for it the rest of the week.”

“That was way easier than I thought it would be!”

Veronica’s eyes crinkled as she smiled and shook her head softly, pulling away from Bill and turning to look at Charlie. “I told you! You always freak out for no reason!”

“I do not ‘freak out’.”

Bill and Veronica exchanged looks as they rolled their eyes, but chose not to say anything; this conversation was a lost cause.

As the trio made their way to the courtyard to get some fresh air and enjoy the weather, Veronica couldn’t believe it was already the first week of June. The last five months were a complete blur. She had continued to work on phase three until finally mastering it a week earlier. She could now perform non-verbal wandless magic perfectly, and she was so excited. As for Quidditch, both the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams had gone on to win their respective games against Slytherin and Hufflepuff, which meant that the final game of the season, the game that would decide the winner of the Quidditch cup, would be between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Veronica was not looking forward to competing against Charlie, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. Sooner or later, she would need to accept the fact that she had to put her friendship aside when on the pitch and treat Charlie like any other player. That, of course, was easier said than done.

Throughout the following week, Veronica found herself more and more glad everyday that Dumbledore had ensured exams finished a week early for students to enjoy the week leading up to the Quidditch final stress-free, not that it was very stress-free for the players. Veronica had practice for hours multiple times a day, often causing her to miss meals and return to her dormitory exhausted and muscles aching. If it weren’t for the house elves, who started leaving her actual food along with the desserts on her bed, she probably would have starved to death.

Charlie and Bill had been very worried about her, but she brushed them off, saying she was fine. But she knew the lack of sleep and food was getting to her, which was why she was relieved when Friday rolled around, and she could finally sleep in and eat meals with her friends in the Great Hall. Charlie and Bill made sure she ate, and Charlie held her against his chest as she lay between his legs under their tree on the shore of the Black Lake and napped with the giant squid that they had begun calling Squish lounging in the sun nearby.

It was all Veronica needed, and when she awoke on Saturday morning, she felt rejuvenated and ready to take on the world. She was confident Ravenclaw would win the Quidditch cup, and despite Gryffindor putting up one hell of a fight, they were no match for the Ravenclaw team. Once Veronica managed to put her friendship with Charlie aside and play to her full potential, there was no stopping her, and Charlie couldn’t be prouder.

That evening, the students and staff gathered in the Great Hall to celebrate the awarding of the Quidditch cup. The hall was beautifully decorated with the Ravenclaw colors and the crest adorned every wall. There were Ravenclaw banners hanging from the ceiling, and all four house tables looked like they could be the Ravenclaw table. It was wonderful, and the celebrations lasted late into the night. Veronica’s favorite part by far was getting to accept the Quidditch Cup from Dumbledore with her team; their smiles lit up the room.

After a relaxing Sunday where Veronica met with Snape and Dumbledore for their final meeting of the year and the end of year feast on Monday evening where Ravenclaw also won the House Cup, Veronica, Charlie and Bill awoke on Tuesday and made their way to Hogsmeade station and onto the Hogwarts express by 11 AM sharp. The summer break had finally begun, and they planned to make the most of it together.

However, as soon as they stepped foot into the Burrow, they knew that would be easier said than done. Arthur had picked up the trio from King’s Cross Station and drove them home, using magic to send their bags straight up to their rooms so they could be free to go inside. Once the Weasley children heard the door open and spotted Veronica, they rushed at her all at once and began pulling her in a million different directions, arguing over who would get to spend time with her first. Ginny was ecstatic to have another girl around and wanted Veronica to braid her hair and have a tea party with her and her stuffed animals. Ron was eager to hear another one of her stories with the funny voices she always made. Fred & George were thrilled to have someone to bounce prank ideas off of as she was the one that taught them about pranks after buying them a book about harmless pranks for Christmas and got them hooked. And Percy was delighted to have someone around that liked learning as much as he did and wanted to conduct experiments with her on the gnomes in the garden.

As Veronica was pulled into the house, she could hear Charlie yelling behind her. “Guys, stop! She’s MY best friend, I should get to hang out with her first! Can I please just- I never get to see her! You guys don’t let me- Bill!”

Veronica couldn’t help but giggle at the defeated look on Charlie’s face as Bill patted him on the back and smirked before climbing the stairs to his room, leaving Charlie alone in the doorway to sulk. This was going to be a hectic and crazy summer, just as it always was at the Burrow, but Veronica wouldn’t have it any other way.

2 notes · View notes