#hogwarts mystery fanfic

[rosapeachhogwartsmystery]

The Trickster and her secrets (fem!Slytherin reader x Charlie Weasley)

Masterlist (To view my Masterlist, visit my Tumblr page)

Words: 12.5k

Summary: Things are not what they seem around you. You know how to get what you want from others. A few people seem to look through you, but it only bothers you when one of them looks through you. That one person is Charlie Weasley... Pairing: fem!Slytherin reader x Charlie Weasley

Extra information: The reader is an Animagus, who can turn into a fox. _______________________________________________________ Some would call you smart; another person would just call you a psychopath. Honestly, you didn’t seem to care. You wanted to become someone. You didn’t want to be living in your brother’s shadow forever. Still, some may argue the way you were going was much better than the path your brother chose. You were basically the master of manipulating others. You would do anything to achieve success. No one would get in the way of that. What did you have to lose anyways? People already had low expectations of you because of your Jacob. Not to mention, your parents had been pretty much cold towards you ever since you were born. It was your grandfather who helped you out with becoming an Animagus, giving you a way to escape. You learned most of your tricks from him.

Now, your grandfather was gone and you had no family who you felt connected to. Summers usually involved running away from home. You would turn into a fox, occasionally stealing away food from unsuspecting Muggles or other ways to survive. Whenever you came home, your parents didn’t even miss you. It didn’t matter how much money the family had. Home was bearable when Jacob was still returning home from Hogwarts every holiday and summer. No one was there for you. No one knew how things were at your home. The things you told others were basically lies. Perhaps they knew something was up, but they never asked anything about it. What did it matter anyways? You were Y/N Y/L/N. It wasn’t like they actually wanted to be friends with you, right?

Perhaps you had friends, but you were scared to tear down that wall between you and them. This was the safest. Luckily you weren’t born with the Legilimency trait, that would only make things worse. You couldn’t imagine anyone thinking something positive about you. The only one you didn’t make friends with during your search was Charlie Weasley. Perhaps Bill was careful as well around you. The two of them didn’t seem to fall for your way of talking. 

It kind of irritated you when Charlie didn’t seem to like you. At first it was a little annoying, now it just made you give less of the fake smiles. It made you a lot more honest around him. At least, the irritation was apparent. You weren’t sure whether he liked it when you were more honest or made him act more irritated as well. You were aware Rowan knew you didn’t like Charlie, but you were certain some more people would know about it as well. Bill probably knew about it too from Charlie. It was certain the two of you were not getting along great. Still, he occasionally helped you. Probably Bill’s work.

As time went on, you honestly weren’t sure whether you actually hated Charlie or if something else was going on. The boy managed to make you feel so much more than most people did. You nearly lost your temper because of him. How could someone like him make you do that? She didn’t understand why he could see right through her. It made her feel vulnerable and weak. She was taught that smiles made people happy, even when you weren’t happy yourself. It would help people with loosening up and you could achieve more. Of course, those were the words of your grandfather, who was known for his charisma and charm. He wasn’t an honest man either. You didn’t know what his reasons were, but you felt like you and your grandfather had different motives to be the way you were. He gave you ways to escape and make things a little more pleasant. The only person that seemed to be proud of you and smiled at you during your childhood. Your parents would only smile and laugh if they could laugh at someone else’s misery, even yours. 

“Miss Y/L/N, while your grades are very good, I know you aren’t putting too much effort into things.” Professor Snape, giving you a stern look. “I believe we have talked about this last year as well.”

“I am trying my best, Professor. Besides, you just said my grades are very good, so there isn’t really a problem, right?” You said, tilting your head a bit with a small smile.

Professor Snape rubbed the bridge of his nose, as if he was about to get a headache from talking to you. “We all know you can do better than this. You are lucky you are cunning enough to fool most people, but not me.”

You sighed softly. Great, another one who saw through her. “Then what do you want me to do, Professor? I believe I have proven myself I am not as ‘incapable’ as my brother was during your classes.” You said honestly with another fake smile on your face. “I have worked really hard during your classes. I may not be on Penny’s level when it comes to brewing potions, but I am not bad either.”

“Yes… You have proven that. Still, try to put a bit more effort into other subjects as well. It wouldn’t hurt your grades for your O.W.L.s, miss Y/L/N.”

“Does that mean I am free to go again?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. Thank you, Professor. Have a pleasant day.” You said with a sweet fake smile before leaving. 

Ugh, of course Professor Snape didn’t fall for your tricks. You wouldn’t be surprised either if Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore didn’t fall for your tricks either. Most others seem to fall for your tricks and charms. It worked for Professor Flitwick, Sprout, Quirrell, Trelawney, Kettleburn and Sinistra for sure.

You needed to unwind. You felt like that would be the only way to feel better like yourself. It was hard to keep smiling when you were irritated by something. Perhaps you could get in the forest. Maybe you could just have some fun walking around as a fox. It made things less complicated, that’s for sure.

Instead of going to do something productive like Professor Snape probably wanted, you went to the Forest. Of course, you made certain you weren’t seen by Hagrid. It wouldn’t be the first time you went into the forest without permission and you felt like Hagrid would be too honest to not tell anyone about it. It would be best to not be seen by anyone at all. Being around your friends would even be hard now. You needed some alone time. You were mostly surrounded by other people and it sometimes made you feel exhausted. Even more secluded places were sometimes occupied and the Forest wasn’t really a spot most people wanted to go to.

Except for one person… 

“Look what we have here, another trespasser.” You said, seeing the redhead you did not want to see. “How come you always end up in places where I wanted to go, Charles?”

Charlie rolled his eyes at you. “First, I don’t know why you and I often end up in the same place and second, don’t call me, Charles.”

“You want me to call you Charlie like everyone else? You and I both know I don’t see you like everyone else. Besides, Charles sounds very proper.” You said with a small smirk. “I suppose I should go further in the Forest. That way there would be enough distance between us.” You said, dropping the smirk.

“It seems like you show your true colours around me, Y/N. At least you stopped lying right in my face.” Charlie said, looking a bit annoyed.

“I am glad we understand each other so well. Why would I even smile around you anyways? The only thing that could make you excited is a dragon.” You said with a huff. “Besides, it is not like I am hurting anyone you care about.”

Charlie narrowed his eyes. “That doesn’t make you a better person.”

“Who said I was a better person? I am certainly not here to compete against you or anything.” You said before walking off in a certain direction.

“You really shouldn’t go that way.”You turned around to face Charlie. “Why not?”

“There are many Acromantulas in that area.” He said honestly.“I didn’t know you cared about my safety.” You said slightly amused. “Don’t worry, Weasley. I can handle it. It’s not like I have never been here.” You gave him a wink before walking into that direction anyways. 

“Hey! You really shouldn’t go in there, not during this time!” Charlie said, following you.

You gritted your teeth a little. Why would he even bother? It didn’t make any sense to you. You continued walking, ignoring him. Eventually he just stepped in front of you, blocking your way.

“Merlin, can you be even more annoying than you are now? I can handle this just fine!” You said, feeling a little surprised you were about to lose your temper.

“I am just trying to prevent you from getting in unnecessary danger!” Charlie seemed to lose his cool as well. “Do you want your friends to worry about you? Because you clearly don’t care about heading into danger.”

“Oh, just leave me alone, will you! Don’t you dare to lecture me about this. You probably have headed into the Forbidden Forest more times than you have entered the fucking library!” You yelled. Wow, that sounded strange. You hadn’t yelled in years. The mask you made has fallen apart. He was the first one to witness raw emotions.

“Just go in another direction than that one and I will just let you go.” Charlie seemed to be determined to keep you away from that direction.

“What is that?” You said, pointing at something to distract Charlie. Once Charlie looked away, you began to shift into a fox and began running past Charlie.

“Y/N!” You heard him say in the distance, but you didn’t care. You needed to go away. 

After a little while, you shifted back into your regular form. You walked over to one of the trees and leaned your back against it. Eventually you slid down the tree, beginning to hug your knees. Not only had you lost your temper around him, you also showed him you were an Animagus. Could this day turn out to be even worse than it already was?

You noticed tears were rolling down your cheeks. You put your hands to your cheeks, seeing you were actually crying. You rubbed them away and tried to make it stop, but you just couldn’t. All those emotions you had tried to repress for so long, they all had come out at once. Always trying to be cool and charming, it was all fake. You weren’t perfect, you didn’t feel confident… It was all a big lie. Just to feel like you were more than Jacob’s sibling, more than just nothing in the eyes of your parents. 

“Jacob mastered his Legilimency.” Your mother said one day during dinner.

“Yes, Jacob seems to be very talented. His professors seem to say good things about him. He always was talented.” Your father replied.

“You are getting a bit behind, dear. Jacob managed to do more than you can do when he was your age.” Your mother said to you.

“Grandfather said I am doing pretty good.” You replied softly.

“Your grandfather is just sparing your feelings; you are probably doing just average.” Your mother laughed softly.

“Or he is just losing his touch…” Your father grumbled. 

You hated them so much. Oh, Jacob was so talented and they made it clear you were not. You were just there. It still pisses you off. When Jacob disappeared, they made it clear the name Jacob was forbidden. It always surprised you how easily they gave up on Jacob. Even with him gone, they didn’t care about you. 

You shook your head a bit, trying to get a grip on yourself. How could you lose your cool like this? This never happened at school before. Perhaps you just couldn’t handle two people looking right through you. Although, you could deal with Snape. Charlie was a different case for sure. You weren’t sure how he managed to make you feel all kinds of things. You weren’t even sure why you began dropping your mask around him. The person you just couldn’t get along with after trying your best to make them like you just didn’t buy your act.

Sure, you didn’t get along with everyone, like Merula. But you didn’t even bother with her after she began spreading more lies about your brother and your sanity. You knew you probably had said many hurtful things back to her. Of course, it seemed to lack malice, you knew they weren’t nice. You could say them with a smile, as if you were joking. That didn’t make it better.

Perhaps everyone knew you weren’t always one of the nicest people. You could charm people with nice words, but you were also using your words well enough to passively insult others. Only your friends were spared from any bad words. While you kept some distance from them and you felt like they may leave you at any time. You lied to them occasionally, especially when you were talking about family. You tried to distract them with other things and just charm your way through things. Your life was just a big lie created by yourself, to stop feeling hurt.

“Who cares what they are thinking of me? It doesn’t matter… I just need to prove myself and show them I am better than Jacob. I… I want grandpa to be proud of me…” You said softly to yourself, trying to make you stop crying.

You froze when you noticed a shadow was coming closer to you. No, not one shadow, multiple ones. Perhaps you should have listened to Charlie. You slowly got back on your feet, noticing about four Acromantulas making their way over to you. This wasn’t looking too good for you. You would have to run quickly! Once again you began to shift into a fox.

You felt like you would be harder to hit if you were smaller and most likely quicker. You tried to find your way back. However, the Acromantulas didn’t give up so easily on their prey. You could feel the adrenaline. It helped you with running away as fast and as long as you could, but they weren’t slow creatures either.

You nearly avoided them attacking you, but you tripped. You began rolling down a hill, eventually hitting a tree with your back. You felt you were shifting back into your regular self and slowly tried to get back up. You hissed, feeling pretty hurt. You felt like you weren’t safe yet. You tried to move as quickly as possible, but you were much slower.

Suddenly you felt like you were pulled aside by something…. 

You wanted to scream, but you felt a hand cover your mouth when you did. Your heart was racing and kind of wanted to just kick your way out of there. 

That was until she heard a familiar voice whisper something. “Stay low for a moment… They may not be able to see us here.”

You tried to turn around a little, seeing Charlie once more. Did he go looking for you? Why would he even do such a thing for you? You did what he told you to do, not making any sound. You still felt your heart racing, still feeling scared. You could probably handle one Acromantula, maybe two. Four was definitely too many to face at once. You would probably end up dead.

Charlie had removed his hand from your mouth and was definitely staying alert for the time being. He was listening for any sounds, holding his wand in one hand in case they sneaked up on you.

After a while, Charlie slightly began to move, checking the area once more before moving away from the spot you had been hiding. “Come on… Let’s get away from this area. It is invested with Acromantulas this time of the year.”

You were hesitant to move after what happened. You may have witnessed the horrors of the Cursed Vaults, but this was a horrifying moment too.

Charlie suddenly just grabbed your arm pulling you along with him after seeing you weren’t about to move.

You were about to say something about it, but nothing seemed to come out of your mouth at this moment. Honestly, you felt pretty pathetic. 

Once you were back in the clearing you had first seen each other, Charlie let go of your arm and just looked at you. “Do you understand why I said you shouldn’t go to that side of the forest now?”

“....” You looked away a little.

“If you had listened to me, you would have known it was their mating season. Acromantulas tend to get pretty aggressive if other people or creatures are around.” Charlie muttered, shaking his head. “Honestly, are you trying to get yourself killed out there? Four Acromantulas could have easily killed you!”

You felt yourself getting smaller when he talked about it some more. He was basically scolding  you for what happened.

“It’s a good thing you turned yourself into  a fox, because it probably made it harder for them to target y-....” He stopped talking and looked slightly confused. “Are you… are you crying?”

You blinked, once again feeling your cheeks were covered in tears. You quickly turned away from him in embarrassment.

“Did you get hurt?” He asked, slowly stepping towards you.

“I… I am fine… I just need a minute.” You said softly, trying to get once more a grip on yourself, trying to take deep breaths. “You… you can laugh if you want… I probably look pathetic now.”

“Laugh? Why would I laugh at you for this? What kind of person do you think I am?” Charlie sounded a little shocked.

“Someone who hates my guts?” You mumbled softly, rubbing your eyes some more. “Merula would probably have laughed or anyone else…”

“Y/N… I…” He shook his head a bit, not sure what to say right now. “I do not hate you. I just don’t like the fact you are constantly lying or being dishonest around other people. You put this major wall around yourself, like no one even knows who you are. Not to mention, the many fake smiles you put up. It’s a bit scary.” 

“I just don’t know who you are and whether you can be trusted because of that. You know how people work and how they could help you, but do you even care about others? It is really hard to tell…” Charlie admitted.

“... That makes sense.” You said softly. “I… I don’t know who I am either sometimes.”

“Does someone force you to just hide everything from everyone?” He asked.

“No… maybe… It’s complicated.” You mumbled softly, before slowly looking back at Charlie again. “I can’t talk about this… Not now. I don’t know if I ever can. So please… Stop asking.” You were basically pleading.

“...Fine. Let’s get you out of here though. I don’t think you should probably stay here much longer.” He said softly. 

___________________________  Charlie noticed some changes in you after that day in the Forbidden Forest. You seemed to put down that mask around your friends more often. It was like he was getting glimpses of the real Y/N. Although, he could also see you struggling occasionally.

Every time the two of you ended up at the same place, it just felt different. You seemed to get less and less irritated by him and he felt less irritated by your behaviour. You were probably still the most honest around him. While you would still make remarks, it felt more like banter than anything else.

“Dragons again? I would have thought you would be thinking about the last Quidditch match before Christmas. It wouldn’t be fun if you would just let my house win the Quidditch cup.” You told him at the Great Hall. “Or at least think about how you will survive Christmas this year.

Charlie rolled his eyes at you. “Don’t worry about the Quidditch cup, I won’t make it easy for the Slytherin team at all. Also, I doubt you will try to kill me during Christmas. I still don’t know why Bill thought it was a good idea to invite you over from Christmas this year.”

“Ah, luckily, I don’t give a damn about the Quidditch cup. I would rather root for Andre. Maybe even for you if I feel like it.” You said with a shrug. “Oh, I believe Bill overheard me when I said I haven’t celebrated Christmas in ages. I kind of celebrate it here at Hogwarts, but it is not really the same.” 

“I feel honoured you would maybe root for me as a Slytherin.” Charlie said amused, shaking his head a bit. “Ah, so he felt bad for you? Well, maybe if you are nice, you will get a nice little gift from me too.”

“Well, I’d rather root for friends than just some people I don’t know.” You said honestly. “I can’t promise you that. It is hard to not tease you from time to time. You can always give me some coal like Muggles do with bad children.”

“I suppose I should consider giving you that for Christmas.” He chuckled, before he suddenly looked a little off guard. “Wait... You see me as a friend?” 

You gulped softly. “Well… I  thought… If you don’t want to be…”

“No…!” Charlie looked mostly confused at the moment.

“Oh… I see.” You said softly, feeling a bit disappointed.

“No, no! I don’t mean I don’t want to be friends with you. It just surprised me.” He quickly said. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to make you think I did not want to befriend you.”

“It’s okay, I mean, I haven’t been the nicest to you. I would have understood if you didn’t want to be friends. I just thought… We seemed to be getting along better, so I thought this could be the time to start a real friendship. Thanks to you, I feel much closer to our other friends. I want us to move on from that moment I just… Was plain mean to you.” You rubbed your arm a little.

“Well… I forgive you for your past behaviour. The time we have spent together is definitely more pleasant. Although, your way of teasing…”

“Oh shit… I am sorry, did I say something too mean?”

“Nah, I was just messing with you.” He winked.You let out a fake gasp. 

“How dare you!”

“Let’s say it is payback time.” He said amused.

“Well… That’s only fair.” You said with a nod, giving him a smile.

Charlie was certain that was the nicest smile you had ever given or at least… The nicest smile you had given him. ___________________________  Christmas at the Burrow was definitely great. Charlie could tell you were pretty nervous at first, putting on that mask first, but she slowly let her guard down. His mum made sure you felt welcomed. You seemed to get along with everyone quite nicely. You didn’t try to be this perfect and cool person you pretended to be at first. You didn’t need to charm your way through things all the time. You felt much more relaxed and at ease.

You went to bed early Christmas evening. You said you didn’t want to wake up Ginny, so went to bed around the same time as she did. Honestly, you just thought it was the right thing to do. Also, you felt pretty tired from all the socializing and new people. It took quite some energy to let your guard down. It worked, but you knew it was still hard to do.

“Such a nice girl. It was definitely the right decision to invite her over.” Molly said. “You said she didn’t really celebrate Christmas with her family for a while, right Bill?”

“Yeah, she said they stopped celebrating it after Jacob’s disappearance.” Bill said with a nod.

“Really? After Jacob’s disappearance?” Charlie asked, tilting his head a bit.

“That’s what she said. Apparently, the family didn’t feel like celebrating anything at that point anymore.” Bill said with a shrug.

“I have always wondered how things were at the Y/L/N family. From what I have heard, they were pretty prestigious. They were often praising their son. I barely heard anything about Y/N before she went to attend Hogwarts with you.” Molly said honestly.

Charlie frowned a little. “So Jacob was always praised and Y/N wasn’t?”

“I wouldn’t know that. I just thought it was strange they barely mentioned her name.” Molly said, not wanting to make any conclusions. 

Bill shook his head a bit. “Well, I am just glad she will have a nice holiday this year. Probably better than to be alone. I believe no one was staying at Hogwarts this year. At least none of our friends were.”

“Merula would probably have stayed, but she and Y/N are definitely not meant to stay Christmas alone at Hogwarts.” Charlie shook his head a bit with a grin.

“Well, you and Y/N weren’t really getting along either until early this year.” Bill said honestly with a grin. “She definitely changed a bit too after you two began getting along. In a positive way.”

“Really? You two didn’t get along at first?” Molly asked, looking surprised.

“We constantly got on each other’s nerves at first. We had talked a bit and that seemed to help.” Charlie said, leaving the part of the Forbidden Forest out of it. He wasn’t going to talk to his mum about it.

“Well, I am glad you two talked to each other. You seem to get along pretty well from what I have seen.” Molly said with a smile. “You wouldn’t happen to fan-”

“Mum!” Charlie looked embarrassed. At least you weren’t there to hear it.

“What? It could happen, even to you.” She said honestly.

“That doesn’t mean I just…” Charlie shook his head a bit. “Let’s not talk about this now. What if she came back downstairs and heard this?”

“Well… Alright. What about you Bill, have you met anyone yet?” ___________________________  “What are you doing outside? Aren’t you feeling cold?” 

You turned around, seeing Charlie standing there. "I just wanted some fresh air."

"Without your coat?" He held up your coat, shaking his head with a small grin. "Honestly, are you trying to freeze to death?"

You snatched your coat from him and put it on with a small grin. “Give me a break. I didn’t even notice the cold before you said something.” You put on your coat and just looked at him.

“Be glad I said something or you would have turned into an ice sculpture .”

“Sounds fun. You could probably enter some ice sculpture contest if I did turn into one.” 

Charlie shook his head once more. “Well, since you are outside, perhaps you would like to just walk around for a bit.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.” You said honestly. “Gives me some more room to tease you.”

“Oh? You don’t feel like you can do that indoors?” He said with a grin.

“Well, not as much as I like to. Besides, some people may misinterpret our bantering for something else.” You shrugged.

“Still making sure you don’t look bad in front of others, do you?”

“Of course, it’s not like I can completely change that. I mean, I haven’t really been really ‘dishonest’, have I?”

“No, you have been pretty genuine these days.” Charlie said honestly.

“Good, I mean, that’s what you wanted, right? Making sure you would actually know the real me?” You said with a grin.

“I hope you haven’t only done this for me….”

You snorted. “You would wish I did.” You shook your head a bit. "You did help me with getting in the right direction." 

Charlie kept walking around with you. You both didn’t say much after what you said. It didn’t really feel awkward though. It somehow didn’t really matter. You felt pretty at peace and Charlie didn’t seem to mind it either.“

You must have had a really nice childhood at home.” You suddenly said, breaking the silence.

“Well, it can be hectic sometimes, but I love my family. Even when some of them can get on my nerves from time to time.” He said with a chuckle.

“Must be nice.” You said honestly. “Very different from my childhood.”

Charlie looked at you, seeing this look on your face he just couldn’t describe. It did give him some negative vibes though. It was almost like an empty expression, like you didn’t show anything, but your eyes basically said enough. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I kind of want to, but at the same time I feel like I can’t.” You said, shaking your head a bit before giving him a sad smile. “Maybe another time I will be able to.”

“Alright, I won’t force you to talk about it. It is up to you when and who you want to talk to about this.” He said honestly.

“.... Sounds good.” You nodded a bit before you took a deep sigh. “I know I came up with this topic myself, but can you change the subject? Anything will be great.”

“Anything?”

“Yes, anything.”

“How about… Dragons?”

You snorted a bit. “Fine, talk about those dragons. Thanks to you, I probably know more about dragons than I probably should know at this point.”

“But they are pretty fascinating, aren’t they?”

“Very fascinating, Charlie.” ___________________________  The holidays were over. That meant you had to go back to Hogwarts. You definitely had a great time at the Weasley’s and thanked them multiple times for letting you stay over for the holidays. It was nice to be around a family like them. You were really surprised when you even received a jumper from Mrs. Weasley. You knew that was going to be a part of your lounging outfit during winter.

Back at Hogwarts, things slowly got back to normal. Well, as normal as life could be for you. Things were still a mess, but you were dealing with it. You occasionally put on this mask, especially around people you just didn’t trust. It was just hard to get rid of an old habit. Still, you also didn’t feel like fighting everyone who got in your way. Merula often got on your nerves, although not as much as she used to. Only Charlie had managed to break that mask. If he didn’t, you probably wouldn’t be friends with him now. You probably wouldn’t have gotten any closer to your friends either. It was sometimes scary, but your friends hadn’t disappointed you or betrayed your trust. 

Sometimes you were wondering how you and Charlie became such good friends. You just felt closer to him than anyone else. He made you feel things you didn’t think you would be capable of. You kept teasing him and he just began teasing you back. However, you found yourself around Charlie a lot these days. You couldn’t really figure out what it was about Charlie that made you keep going to him. You almost wondered whether you were put under some spell that made you keep thinking about him. 

“Sounds like you have fallen for him.”

If you had been drinking water, you would have spit it out. You looked at Rowan with almost a disgusted look. Fallen? For Charlie? That just sounded weird. “You must have understood me wrong, Rowan. Fallen for Charlie… Ha! What a joke!”

Rowan gave you an apologetic smile. “Well, what you describe to me just sounds like it… Not to mention, I am pretty sure I heard Penny and Andre talking about it.”

You huffed. “Honestly, it is almost like they want to make up silly rumours about me. Come on, there are already enough rumours about me, I don’t need more.”

“I am pretty sure that is not what they want…” Rowan said honestly. “Although, you do spend so much more time with Charlie these days… People just start to wonder.”

“Charlie and I are just friends. Things just seem less complicated around him.”

“So, you feel at ease around Charlie?”

“Yes, I feel at ease around him.” You rolled your eyes. “I am not in love with him!”

"Whatever you say, Y/N." Rowan said, shaking their head a bit.

You sighed softly, feeling like you were about to facepalm yourself. Rowan was wrong. You just felt at ease around Charlie, you felt free around him. You could just be yourself around him. While you could be much more open around your friends, it didn’t feel as comfortable as it did around Charlie. 

"I am just happy Charlie has had a good influence on you." Rowan suddenly said.

"What do you mean?" You tilted your head a bit.

“Well, you are much more open these days. I am happy you are trusting us." They said with a smile. "You used to be much harder to read and I wasn't always sure what to do. I felt like you were kind of trapped, but I didn't know how I could help you. Whatever Charlie did, it helped you out." 

You grinned a bit. “Well… I am glad about that too.” You admitted. “I thought it would be more... scary, you know? Being more open. It still is scary, but not as much as I expected.”

“I think you are doing really well. Our friends seem to be happy about it.” They said with a smile.

“I still think it would be hard to do around strangers or people I do not know well.”

“That’s okay, you just need to warm up to these people, at least the one you feel like you can trust.”

“I suppose so... “

“Just set up smaller goals. That way you feel like you have achieved more things than you thought. It helps you keep track of your progress.” 

“That may work.”

___________________________  “Jae probably thinks I am a robot.” You groaned softly when you sat down next to Charlie in the Great Hall again.

“Why do you think so?” Charlie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That fake smile kept creeping up my face the entire time. I wasn’t sure whether Jae was creeped out or entertained by it.”

“Jae probably thought it was funny. I mean, you are trying your best. You don’t know Jae that well yet, right?”

“I know Jae mostly from detentions… I may have asked for some supplies too for ‘you know what I mean’.” You mumbled, not wanting to mention the Vaults.

“Look at it this way. You are trying much earlier than you tried with us all, that’s something.” 

“Is that supposed to make me feel better about my behaviour? Because it sounds like I have been a horrible friend to everyone.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it, Y/N.” Charlie said with a small frown.

“Yes, yes, I know…. I am just frustrated.” You sighed. “Maybe I should let Jae follow me into the Forbidden Forest with some Acromantulas…”

“Y/N, I swear….” Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment. “If it was up to me, you would never get near the Acromantulas again. At least, not alone.” 

“Are you afraid I would freeze up again? I can handle one Acromantula, I have learnt the perfect spell for it.” You said with a grin. “I have to admit, I was really off guard at that moment.”

“As someone who goes to the Forbidden Forest occasionally, I think you should only go there if you need to be there. There is no need to get yourself in danger for no reason.”

“So it’s okay if you are putting yourself in danger, but not if it is me?” You raised an eyebrow.

"Well… I have more experience than you have when it comes to the Forbidden Forest."

You rolled your eyes, thinking the redhead’s ears were turning a little red. "Hypocrite." You mumbled amused.

"I don't like seeing you walk into danger for no reason." Charlie said, rubbing his arm a bit.

“Considering I have been looking for the Cursed Vaults, I think I have been walking into danger quite often.”

“Still, that’s no reason to put yourself in unnecessary danger.” Charlie just shook his head.

“Wow, you begin to sound so much like Bill now.”

Charlie’s eyes widened. “What? I do not!”

“Yes, you do. Very concerned about all of us and he tries to be strict with us when we do or are about to do something wrong.” You said with a small smirk on your face. “It could be worse, of course. You don’t keep telling me about the rules like Percy would do.” 

“I don’t see what you are talking about.” Charlie began to look annoyed. “Bill and I are not the same.”

“I am just saying, you are acting like him when we are talking about-”

“Bloody hell, Y/N…! I am just trying to look after you!” Charlie stood up, looking like he was about to get mad. “You know what? Do whatever you want. Clearly you don’t care what happens to you.” He grumbled before walking away.

You blinked in surprise by his reaction. You thought you were just joking around? Did you really offend him? You wanted to say you were sorry, but instead you stood up as well. “Maybe I will...!” 

He didn’t even turn around when you said that. You sat back down again, fuming you had made Charlie go away like this. Of course, it wasn’t the first time you two argued, but still… 

You felt angry with yourself. The longer you kept thinking about it, the angrier you became. So, you just grabbed your stuff and stormed out of the Great Hall to go back to the Slytherin Common room.

___________________________ “Wow, what is your problem, Y/L/N? Did you finally snap and go mad like your brother?” Merula said with a smirk when you had entered the dormitory. Of course she had to be here when she wanted to dump some stuff on your bed.

“Yes, should I infect you with my madness now?” You gave her a sarcastic look before roughly pulling out some books out of your bag. Rowan would probably have scolded you if she saw how you were throwing your books on the bed like that.

“Damn… Whoever made you act like this should probably be armed.” Merula muttered, definitely trying to anger you more.

“Maybe you should shut your damn mouth or it is you who should be armed.” You snapped at her, not wanting to deal with her.Merula rolled her eyes and ignored you after that.

You grabbed a notebook and put it in the bag. After that you quickly left the dormitory. You passed Liz and Barnaby, but you needed to calm down and couldn’t talk to them.  

You weren’t sure how many people you had seen, but you didn’t care. You needed to be away from people. Once again, Charlie had made you feel so many things at once. Honestly, everyone could say shit about you and you wouldn’t care. If Charlie said something, you reacted so strongly.

You kept walking until you reached the edge of the forest. You weren’t thinking clearly anymore and transformed into a fox, pulling the bag along with you. At least no one would bother you in the Forbidden Forest. The trees seemed to be passing by and you had not paid any attention to where you were going. The only thing on your mind was to keep moving. You didn’t care about anything else but going anyway.

This was what you were good at. Running away, like always. The way how you would simply spend the summers away from home. It was just like that. You were nothing special to your family. You would always remain in Jacob’s shadow to your parents. They would only be disappointed. They didn’t give you any attention nor did they care whether they saw you or not during the summers. 

“It doesn’t matter, child. They wouldn’t care if you performed advanced magic or anything. My son only wanted Jacob to have an heir.” Your grandfather told you. “Until they have found the perfect match for you to connect our family to a better one, you will basically be invisible.” 

“Is it because I am a girl?”

“I believe so… You won’t be able to carry our name when you marry. Therefore, they want to make connections with other rich and influential families. You are basically a tool to get them more connections.”

“So, I have no say in what happens to me?”

“I am afraid not. Unless you leave you won’t have a choice. Still, you wouldn’t leave this old man without someone to teach, would you?”

“... Where could I go anyways?”

“I have been in your situation. I was the youngest of the family. They told me I was an accident, so most care went into my older brothers. Still, that didn’t stop me from trying to become the best and eventually… I did become the best of all my brothers. I may not have acted like it, but I was quite bitter to my parents for how they raised me.”

“So, it would be possible to be better than Jacob?”

“In theory, yes. While Jacob has definitely talent, being able to become a Legilimens at an early age, I think you would be capable of great things as well.”

“Like what?”

“Tell me, Y/N. How familiar are you with the term Animagus?” 

Oh, you remembered studying for hours with your grandfather, trying to know everything about Animagi. You never talked about it with your parents though. You also studied other things with your grandfather you were allowed to talk about, but your parents didn’t think it was good enough. Jacob seemed to like it though, but was often silenced by your father who rather heard Jacob talking about his studies.

You loved Jacob, but you hated living in his shadow. He was your older brother and he was supposed to be there for you. Then he was gone… Only your grandfather was there for you, only to die soon after. You were on your own, trying to remember everything your grandfather had taught you. 

“It is better to keep things to yourself sometimes. Don’t share negative thoughts and be positive. Keep smiling and use the nicest words you can think of. That’s the key to gaining people’s trust.” Your grandfather told you when he was teaching you his way. “I didn’t become successful by speaking up my mind every time. Just think of it as twisting the words the right way. It will make you sound much more intelligent.”

“So I can’t be honest?”

“People don’t like listening to the negative aspects of life. In order to gain power, you need to be liked by everyone.”

“But my parents-”

“They are not the ones worth your time. Figure out what people you need in order to reach your goals. Do your parents help you with that?”

“No…”

“Exactly.” 

At the time, your grandfather’s lessons seemed to be helpful. You managed to set your plan in motion when you were old enough to go to Hogwarts. Now, you didn't know if this plan was actually helpful or just made you unable to form actual relations with your peers. You couldn’t be open with them in the beginning. Charlie was the first one not to buy the things you said to please him. He was the one who broke the mask and slowly got your true self out of you. 

You shifted back to your human form and stared at the ground. You kept walking slowly, not looking up.

Charlie….

The one who helped you out so much the past year. The one who reassured you when you were having doubts and the one who would hold up a mirror to your behaviour… He kept helping you, while you just did things that potentially hurt his feelings. You felt like an asshole. You probably were an asshole. You walked over to a tree and leaned your back against it. You slowly slid down and hugged your knees once you were on the ground.

You wanted to blame your upbringing for this all, but would that be fair? You felt like you could have done something yourself to change more…

___________________________

Charlie sighed when he was making his way to the Great Hall. He hadn't seen you after you two were basically yelling at each other. He knew he probably reacted a bit too harsh himself. Still, he hated being compared to Bill. Just like you hated being compared to Jacob. Perhaps he was just triggered when you said he acted like Bill. He just wanted to make sure you weren't doing anything dangerous.

You had made a good point about him going into the Forbidden Forest often. Still, he couldn’t help it but to be worried about you. He was quite fond of you and didn't want you to get hurt. He definitely had to talk to you. It wasn’t the first time you two argued, although it felt like a long time ago… Perhaps most arguments didn’t end up in basically yelling at each other either. He would have to admit, it felt different this time. 

Charlie stopped walking when he heard two familiar voices. He could swear he heard them say your name. 

"What do you mean Y/N didn't come back to the dormitory last night?" Penny asked Rowan, who looked concerned.

"She never entered the Slytherin dormitory. I don’t even know if she entered the common room. She wasn't there for dinner either." Rowan looked nervous.

"Have you talked to Barnaby and Liz? Maybe they have seen her…?"

"Liz did say Y/N was looking quite pissed yesterday… Merula also made some comments about it. No one has seen Y/N since yesterday."  

"Hold up, Y/N hasn't been seen since yesterday?" Charlie made his way over to Rowan and Penny. He definitely heard enough.

"Charlie, have you seen her?" Rowan asked, looking a bit more hopeful, thinking he knew more.

"No, not today at least." He answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "We may have had a little argument yesterday…"

Penny frowned. "A little argument…?"

"Okay, I think we're both pretty pissed afterwards…" He admitted.

"So, that would explain what Liz had seen and Merula's reaction… Still, that isn’t going to help us find Y/N. Where would she be?" Rowan continued to look worried. "She wouldn't have run away, would she?"

Charlie thought about the argument. He became a little pale when he thought about a place where you could be. "She wouldn't… would she?" 

"What? Charlie, what wouldn’t she do?" Rowan asked.

Without a word Charlie began running away from Rowan and Penny.

"Charlie!" Penny yelled after him, watching him disappear through the crowd. "Great… He may know where she is, but what if he needs help?"

"Let’s go to Bill…" Rowan suggested.The two went off to find Bill.

___________________________ 

Charlie had been running in the Forbidden Forest immediately once he made his way outdoors. He just knew you would probably go there. It was the place you two were discussing before he stormed off. 

“You know what? Do whatever you want. Clearly you don’t care what happens to you.”

“Maybe I will..!” 

Perhaps saying that to you was just one of the stupidest things he could have done. You were stubborn, especially when he was around. You weren’t afraid to go against him. You probably took his words to heart.

Charlie stopped running for a moment, trying to figure out where you could have gone to. He had to figure it out before whatever out there was going to hurt you or worse, kill you. There were many possibilities to die in the Forbidden Forest. Not all Magical Creatures would immediately kill someone, but if you did something unexpected… Well, he didn’t want to think about it. The last time you ran away from him, you ended up facing four Acromantulas.  

“That could have ended up worse than it already did, Y/N.” 

Charlie blinked when he heard your name once more. It sounded pretty familiar. 

“... Lucky me.”

“Honestly, what were you doing sleeping out here? You are quite aware of the dangers in the forest.”

“Avoiding the dangers of being completely shattered mentally in the castle.” 

Charlie made his way closer to the voices. He didn’t get too close, seeing you and Torvus. He grimaced when he looked at you. You didn’t look too good. You seemed to have some wounds and looked considerably pale. Your arms and hands seemed to be covered in scratches and you seemed to have a wound on your head. 

“Maybe people are right about me. I am mad ‘like Jacob’. I can’t even behave like a normal being. Wherever I go, I cause problems.” You sounded annoyed with yourself. “I have tried so hard to get liked by saying the right things, I barely know who I am. It was like it became my personality. The things my grandfather taught me were wrong, so wrong. I am getting more and more aware how fucked up I have become because of following his ways. It’s honestly pathetic. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you had not helped me out back there.”

“The stars definitely tell me it is not your time yet. Besides, you have helped me a couple of times. It was no trouble helping you out.” Torvus said. “The ways you were taught were twisted, but it seemed to have helped you a little. It’s up to you whether you want to continue his ways or find your own ways.”

“Well… The latter sounds preferable…”

“Then you will have to figure out a way to do so.” Torvus said honestly. “Now, you should probably head back to the castle and get help to help you with your injuries. Your blood will definitely attract the attention of some more creatures.”

“Both options sound terrible. Getting the attention of other creatures and going back to the castle where people will most definitely scold me for being a complete idiot.” 

“Scolding you will be something to worry about later.” Charlie said when he finally made his way over to you and Torvus.

“Charlie?” You looked surprised to see him.

“Hello Charlie.” Torvus greeted. “You definitely have the perfect timing to get her back to the castle.”

“I am glad I have the perfect timing for that.” Charlie said to Torvus before turning to you. “Y/N, you need to come with me.”

“Why?”

He looked baffled when you asked him that. “Why? Because you are hurt and you need someone to look at these injuries.”

“...Why are you trying to help me?” You seemed to be avoiding his eyes when you spoke, like you didn’t dare to look up. You also didn’t seem to move an inch.

Charlie swallowed, before he just gently took your hand. “Because I want to.”

“... Okay.”  

Charlie gave Torvus a nod before leading you away. He would get you out of here as soon as possible. You needed some help. The walk… It just felt like forever, especially because there was a silence between the two of you. Charlie wasn’t sure what he could say to you. To be honest, he felt like yelling in concern for you when he saw you, but that wouldn’t solve anything. He felt bad to see you like this even if it was you who made the decision to go here. He couldn’t really blame you either. You weren’t thinking clearly. Still, he felt responsible for you ending up here. 

“... I am sorry.”

He looked at you when he heard you speak.

“I shouldn’t have teased you like that…” You mumbled softly. “Scratch that, I shouldn’t have said those things to you. You were just concerned about me and I made some stupid comments about you being a hypocrite and being like Bill.”

“... Well, I guess it was a bit hypocritical of me. I know going into the Forbidden Forest is dangerous and I could end up hurt as well.”

“That doesn’t matter, I was just stupid.” You mumbled. “I have been a hypocrite too. I don’t want to be compared to Jacob and I compared you to Bill when I know you don’t want that either.”

“I think we both were stupid then. We both reacted too quickly. I am sorry too.”

….

Once again there was a silence between them. Charlie knew they were getting closer to the castle. He glanced at you for a moment. You looked exhausted. You definitely needed to get back to the castle as soon as possible. “We are almost there.”

You nodded a little in response. 

“... You don’t hate me, do you?”

Charlie blinked when you asked him that. “Of course not.”

“It would be okay if you did…" You mumbled softly.

"Well, I don’t hate you. You…. You are important to me." Charlie said, feelings his cheeks were slightly getting warmer.

"Important enough to run into the Forbidden Forest to look for me." You said with a slight grin. You were amazed you could even grin, especially with a headache that was getting even worse. Your body was growing heavy and you couldn't wait to just drop down on a bed. 

"Yes, you are that important, Y/N." Charlie rolled his eyes in amusement. He turned to look at you. Your eyes didn't seem to focus on anything and he could tell you were struggling to keep up the pace. He frowned for a moment and stopped walking.

You blinked, wondering why they stopped. Before you could ask, he seemed to stand in front of you with his back towards you. He bent his knees a little.

"Come on, get on my back."

"Wha…?"

"You look like you are about to collapse. Let me carry you." 

You could feel yourself getting flustered, but you were too tired to argue. You placed your arms over his shoulders and he reached his arms underneath your legs. He slowly raised you up by straightening his legs and made sure he was steady enough to start walking. Once that was done, Charlie walked back to the castle, giving you a piggyback ride.

___________________________ 

"Y/N!" 

You noticed Rowan running towards you and Charlie. Penny and Bill had followed Rowan.

Charlie made sure you could carefully get off his back. You got off him and Rowan was immediately fussing over you. 

"Look at you…! You need to go to the Hospital Wing...!" They said, trying to support you on your way to the Hospital wing. 

Penny also seemed to get closer to you, standing on your other side. You glanced at Charlie, but he only gave you a nod, basically telling you to go with them. 

You sighed softly and nodded. “Alright, alright… Let’s get this over with.” You said, not looking forward to seeing Madam Pomfrey. You had a feeling she would not be too happy to see you injured again. 

Once you, Penny and Rowan were out of sight, Bill looked at Charlie. “What happened?”

“Torvus saved her from something in the Forest. I have no idea what happened there though.” Charlie said.

“I meant like what happened between you two.” Bill said, crossing his arms. “I have heard from Rowan and Penny you two had a fight.”

“It was more like an argument…”

“An argument that made her go to the Forbidden Forest for an entire night without telling anyone...?”

Charlie looked frustrated. “Look, Y/N and I both said things that were… well, not the best things to say to each other. I have never meant for her to run away to the Forbidden Forest…!”

“What things did you say to each other?”

“I don’t need to tell you everything, Bill.” Charlie said, looking away a bit. “The most important thing is that Y/N have talked about it and things are alright.”

“I am just looking after you, Charlie.” Bill said honestly. “I was worried when Penny and Rowan said you seemed to know where Y/N was, but didn’t tell anyone where you were going. If Y/N was in trouble and you couldn’t help her alone, who was going to help you both?”

“Okay, okay...! That may not have been smart, but I know my way around the place a lot better than most of you.” Charlie said honestly. “I wasn’t thinking much either. I just wanted to make sure she was okay.” 

“She drives me insane sometimes, you know?” Charlie looked at Bill. “It’s like she has more influence on my emotions than most people I know and I keep thinking about her.”

“I think you have feelings for her.” 

“You think… What?”

Bill chuckled softly. “She manages to make you feel all kinds of things, she is on your mind a lot and you run after her without a thought.” He pointed out a few things. “You like her more than just a friend.”Charlie’s face seemed to become a bit red. 

“That’s… Well…” He seemed to stumble on his words, not sure what to say next. 

“It’s up to you what you do with that knowledge, Charlie. I am not going to tell you to talk to her. You would have to do so on your own and when you feel like it’s the right time.”

“... Maybe.”

“I wonder what Mum would say if she knew this.” Bill said with a grin.

“Bill!”

___________________________ 

After Madam Pomfrey allowed you to go the next day, you made your way to the Great Hall. You were glad you were allowed to leave. Although, you had to spend another 15 minutes listening to Madam Pomfrey scolding you again before she actually let you go. You had a feeling she may write to your parents if something like that happened again, but you had a feeling they wouldn’t care too much about it. You were already a disappointment to them. 

You just wanted to find Charlie. You hadn’t had the chance to speak to him after Rowan and Penny ushered you to the Hospital Wing yesterday. You had hoped you could speak to him that day, but you had fallen asleep rather quickly once Madam Pomfrey gave you some Potions. You assumed one of the Potions was a Potion for Dreamless Sleep. Perhaps that was for the best, knowing you would probably have dreamt horrible things about what happened in the Forbidden Forest. It was probably a wonder you had slept for a few hours in the Forest at all.

Once you entered the Great Hall, you noticed some people looking at you. You could feel a fake smile about to creep on your face, but you tried to prevent it. Was it worth giving everyone a fake smile just to make people look at you in a certain way?

You began looking around the Gryffindor table, trying to spot Charlie. You noticed Bill, Percy and Ben, but no Charlie. You sighed softly, hoping to spot him there.  

“Y/N, over here!”

You turned around and noticed Penny waving at you from the Hufflepuff table. You gave her a small smile and made your way over to her. You couldn’t help it but to be a little disappointed you hadn’t seen Charlie just yet.

“Good morning, Penny.”

“Good morning. You look a lot better than you did yesterday.” Penny said with a smile.

“Good to know, I also feel a lot better than I did yesterday.” You said with a small laugh.

“That’s great. I am glad you are feeling better. Rowan, Bill and I were very worried about you when we were talking about how Charlie ran away to find you. Of course, our other friends were worried too.”  She said honestly. “Still, I couldn’t help but notice you were looking at the Gryffindor table just now. Were you looking for Charlie?”

Penny definitely knew what was on your mind. You nodded a little in response. “I was, but I didn’t see him.”

“I think you just missed him. He seemed to be quite in a hurry this morning.” She said honestly. “I assumed he was making his way over to the Hospital wing to see you.”

You felt like face palming yourself, but only let out a soft sigh. Of course, you have missed him on your way here. “I guess I will have to find him somewhere in the halls then. Thanks Penny.” You said when you quickly walked away.

“Shouldn’t you at least eat something?” She asked, calling after you.

“Breakfast can wait!” 

You quickly made your way back towards the Hospital Wing. Or at least, you weren’t planning to show your face to Madam Pomfrey. You didn’t want to risk her thinking you had already managed to get yourself in trouble again even though you haven't done anything just yet.

Things were quite busy in the halls and you had to get past the many students who were there. You hoped you would actually find Charlie. Once you were near the Hospital Wing, you spotted him walking out with a sigh. You tried to quickly make your way over to him, trying to wave at him. “Charlie, wait!”

You noticed Charlie turning towards you and had managed to make your way over to him. “Thank Merlin, I was worried I might have been too slow to find you here.” You said with a soft sigh.

“Y/N, I was looking for you.” Charlie said honestly.

“And I was looking for you. Here I thought you would be in the Great Hall like most people we know, but of course I missed you on the way there.”

Charlie rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. “I was, I think Bill would scold me if I skipped breakfast, so I quickly ate something before checking on you.”

“Penny said you seemed to be in a hurry.” You said honestly. “I quickly turned around to see if I could find you. Otherwise I would have probably made my way back to the Great Hall. Then I would have to eat breakfast without hearing you talk about dragons. That is not acceptable at all.” You seemed to be rambling a bit. You weren’t sure why; it was like you had to keep talking to him. 

Charlie shook his head a bit. “Well then, I suppose I should escort you back to the Great Hall.” He said with a grin. “As your friend I would have to make sure you reach the Great Hall and eat a proper breakfast after spending the night in the Hospital Wing. We don’t want to anger Madam Pomfrey after all.”

“Alright, alright. Lead the way.” You said with a grin. You were starting to feel more at ease again. It was like everything seemed to be alright between you two. There were some things you would still like to talk about, but things seemed to be okay between you two.

You seemed to be thinking a little too much, because she snapped out of it when someone bumped into you. You yelped softly when you felt like you were about to fall, but you were caught in Charlie’s arms.

“Are you okay?” He asked, tilting his head a bit.

Your face became slightly red and you nodded. “Uhm, yes. I am fine.” You said, getting out of his arms. “Thanks for the help.” You said with a smile.

You glanced away for a second before you looked at him again. He seemed to be glancing away as well, but you began noticing his ears were slightly red. 

“No wonder you are the Gryffindor Seeker. You have quick reflexes.” You said with a grin. Internally you began cursing yourself. Was that meant as a compliment or some kind of flirting? Why were you saying those kinds of things anyways? You knew you had opened up around Charlie, but it felt strange, like you had no filter around him anymore.

“Uhm, Thanks I guess?” You noticed him looking a little confused at you. He was still smiling though.

You could only feel your face heating up some. “Uhm, don’t mind me. I am probably acting a little weird because of the potions from last night.” You said, quickly coming up with some kind of lie to justify your behaviour.

“Uh-hu.” Charlie hummed, he didn’t seem to buy it. Of course he didn’t buy that. “We can talk about last night later if you want, Y/N. Just relax.” 

“Talk about last night?”

“That is what is on your mind, right?”

“Totally!” You could feel one of those happy fake smiles creeping on your face again.

“.... Now I feel like it is something else.”

The fake smile seems to be dropping from your face quickly. “Uhm… Let’s talk about it later. Please. I…”

“Of course, come on. Let’s get you some breakfast and we'll talk about it later, alright?” 

You took a deep breath and nodded. This wasn’t something to talk about in the halls. You wanted a bit more privacy

.___________________________ 

The talk you were supposed to have with Charlie seemed to have moved to another day. Once you have eaten breakfast, you were basically bombarded by questions from your other friends. You could only look at Charlie from a distance. Honestly, you wanted to talk about it. 

Now you couldn’t sleep. The rest of your dorm mates seemed to be sleeping. You were just feeling restless. You knew it could possibly get you into trouble, but you quietly sneaked out of bed. You put on your school robes and made it to the common room area. Perhaps you could arrange a meeting with Charlie. You began making your way towards the entrance and when the door was about to open, you transformed yourself into a fox.

You began navigating your way through the castle, trying to avoid most Professors. Once you had made your way to the seventh floor. If only you knew the password to the Gryffindor common room… Obviously, you hadn’t thought this through… 

Suddenly, you noticed the portrait opening. Perhaps this would be a chance to get through. You were ready to sneak past the person. However, you were surprised to see Charlie standing there with a look on his face like he was saying ‘I don’t know what I am doing.’

You noticed his eyes were suddenly on you. You two were staring at each other and then he quietly made his way over to you. “What are you doing here?” He whispered before he basically picked up. Then he walked back to the portrait and snuck you inside the Gryffindor common room. It was risky and clearly, Charlie was tired too. He basically entered the Gryffindor boy’s bathroom and closed the door behind him. He put you down on the floor and held his ear against the door, listening if someone was nearby.

You transformed yourself back and gave Charlie a nervous smile. “Before you ask… I couldn’t sleep and…”

“You decided to go to the seventh floor and go to the Gryffindor common room?” Charlie finished for you.

“Well… Something like that.”

“And how were you supposed to get in? You don’t have the password.” He whispered, frowning a bit.

“It wasn’t my best idea…” You admitted. “...Although, what were you doing? Why were you about to leave the common room at this time?”

Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. “Good question. I couldn’t sleep either. I thought about getting some fresh air.” 

“Funny how we both couldn’t sleep.” You mumbled, fidgeting with your fingers a bit.

“Yeah, very funny indeed.” Charlie mumbled, shaking his head a bit.

“Charlie… About what happened…” You began, rubbing the back of your neck.

“You wanted to talk about something else than what happened in the Forbidden Forest.” He said, remembering how that fake smile had crept on your face.“Well, yes. Partly yes. I wanted to speak about what happened in the forest and something else.” You admitted. “Please bear with me. I am not sure how this will go, because I haven’t talked about this a lot. The only one I confided in was my grandfather in the past and that hasn’t been working out either…”

Charlie blinked a little. “You want to talk about your upbringing...?”  

“Yes.” You said with a nod. “It will not be a pretty story to tell and will spare you some of the details, but I want you to know about it. It shouldn’t be an excuse for everything I have done, but it would be… well, some explanation to why I did certain things the way I did. Like… lying and manipulating.” 

“From a young age I knew my parents would never think as highly of me as they did of Jacob. Jacob was obviously their favourite. Jacob’s accomplishments would always be celebrated, mine would always be compared to his and seen as less.” You began. “At first, I wanted to do things better, trying to prove them wrong. However, it didn’t seem to matter. I was there… Just a tool to make more connections.” 

Charlie seemed to be frowning more and more when he listened to you. “So, they wanted to marry you off when you were old enough.”

“Yes, it was basically that.” You nodded. “Apparently I didn’t have the same talents as Jacob.” To be honest, talking about this kind of made you feel bitter towards Jacob, but mostly to your parents. “Still, there is a lot more to this all.”

“A lot more?”

“Yes, a lot more.” You sighed, wondering how you could tell this right. “I only had one person I could rely on. That was my grandfather. He became my teacher and mentor. He was the only one I could talk to without feeling like a complete waste of space.” You seemed to trail off a little, not sure how to continue. 

“But there is something more about him as well, isn’t there?” Charlie asked, having a feeling there was something about him.”

“Well, yes.” You admitted. “Still, I don’t want to think he is only at fault here… I think he didn’t know any better either.”

“Not only at fault here? What did he do, Y/N?” Charlie seemed to step a little closer to you.

“He was the one who taught me how to act around others. How I should not always speak up if it wouldn’t help me reach my goals. How I should try to be liked to gain more influence. How I should mostly smile and help those to reach my own goals, to become successful like him.” 

“He was the one who taught you all those things? Those things that made you lie or be dishonest around everyone, including the people who cared about you?” Charlie asked.

“Yes, but I don’t think he meant it as a bad thing…”

Charlie was baffled you seemed to defend someone who taught you those kinds of things. “He tried to turn you into a manipulative person, Y/N. That is not a good thing.”

“I know, I know...! But I didn’t have anyone else to be honest with.” You said, sounding a little frustrated. “Look, I am not saying he was a good man, I know he wasn’t. But he taught me ways to escape from feeling worthless and to actually escape from home. Besides, he was a lot like me during his childhood.” 

“Y/N…” Charlie could tell this was hard to talk about and that he couldn’t change your view of your grandfather immediately, but he couldn’t help it but to say something about it.

“Look, he was also the one who taught me to become an Animagus and I am grateful for that. These things he taught me made me feel better back then. I know it was wrong, but it was better than feeling like ‘that other child’ or just ‘Jacob’s little sister’.” You said honestly. “I have felt really lost when my grandfather passed away and when Jacob disappeared. Everything at home was just… unbearable. I have run away a lot as an Animagus to escape from home ever since.”

“You ran away a lot… Where did you go?” Charlie asked.

“Somewhere. I spent most of my summers as a fox, stealing food from unsuspecting Muggles to be honest.”

Charlie always had a feeling things were bad at your home, but he definitely wasn’t expecting this. “Damn, Y/N… Even your last few summers...?”

“Well, yes…”

“Why didn’t you…” Charlie stopped himself. Who would you ask to stay the summer with if you couldn’t even give them a reason.

“... Yeah, I could have asked for help, but I just couldn’t. I was just… scared, you know?” You admitted, looking at the floor.  

Things seemed to be a little quiet between you both. Honestly, what else could be said about this? You knew your upbringing was pretty bad and how it sounded even worse to anyone else. Charlie also wasn’t sure what to say next. He hesitated for a moment, but stepped even closer to pull you into a tight hug.

“Thanks for telling me about this. I can only imagine how hard that was to talk about.” He said honestly, thinking it was the only thing he could do now.You hugged him back and took a deep breath. It felt good to tell someone about this. 

“... Well, thanks for listening to me.”

“It’s the least I can do, Y/N.” He said honestly, looking at you. 

You looked up at him and gave him a small smile. You slowly let go of him and stepped a bit back. “I just had to tell you after what happened in the Forbidden Forest. I have been really mean to you and I was reflecting on why I was doing this. I felt awful for what I said and I didn’t want to blame everything on my upbringing. I want to change and I am trying to. I guess, I still have a lot to learn.” 

“You can’t change your behaviour in a day, Y/N. I know you are trying to change. Besides, I told you I forgave you.” Charlie said honestly.

“I know, I know, but you are important to me, Charlie. Merlin knows what happens if I lose you.” You said honestly. 

“You won’t lose me that easily.” He said with a small grin. “You are important to me as well, Y/N.

”You gave him a bright smile, feeling he was really honest with you. No matter what happened, you felt like you had each other to confide in. You wouldn’t want to lose that for anything in the world.

#hogwarts mystery imagine #harry potter imagine #hogwarts mystery fanfic #Harry Potter Hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mobile game #mc #imagine #reader x charlie weasley #charlie weasley imagine #charlie weasley #jacob's sibling #animagus #fem!reader #fem!slytherin

[eternalchaoschocolaterain]

The Most Powerful Waitress

Chapter one School's out

Chapter three: No cure for me

Chapter two summary: Merula auditions at the opera because her voice deserves to be heard.

02. I'd hire me

‘Wake up, Ruru.’

Quinn’s singsonging pierced through Merula’s foggy dream state and she groaned. Why couldn’t mornings start in the afternoon?

‘Five more minutes.’

‘You said that ten minutes ago. Come on, you don’t want to be late. I’ll make you breakfast.’

‘Fine.’

Today she had another job interview. She hadn’t lied to Haywood, she did have options. Not as much as she liked though. She had owled multiple venues asking what kind of jobs they had available, but had gotten almost nothing back. No one had given an actual reason, but she knew why. After all these years and all her accomplishments (O’s for all her N.E.W.T.s!), people still couldn’t see past her family. Like she chose to be the daughter of deatheaters, or worse, the niece of a wannabe cult leader. Being made into an accomplice had been the best time of her life. Who didn’t like betraying friends?

Not that she needed a job to survive, she could do nothing for the rest of her life and still be rich when she died. But what good would staying at home do her? She’d just end up bored and worse, forgotten.

For now the time off was a nice break, but if she didn’t want it to last she needed to get up. So, she went for a quick shower and put on a purple pantsuit. Quinn gave her a long look and whistled when she entered the kitchen.

‘I’d hire you.’

‘Of course you would. Everyone should.’

Quinn handed her eggs with toast and flipped through a cookbook. She had cooked every meal so far and kept out trying new recipes. Turned out to be a good cook too, much to Merula’s delight. Cooking had never been her favourite thing. She cooked for the result, but Quinn cooked for fun. Every meal made her question her decision not to make this arrangement permanent yet, until she remembered that Quinn would want to invite her friends over if she lived here. For now, Merula wasn’t ready to share her home with anyone else.

‘What’s for dinner?’ Merula asked when she sat down next to Quinn. She peered at the book and saw a recipe for roasted brussels sprouts. That better not be it.

‘I was thinking braised eel, or fried cauliflower and salad. What do you think?’

Much better!

‘Eel of course, I love eel.’

‘Yeah, I should’ve known.’ Quinn chuckled, flipped a few pages back and put in a bookmark.

When Merula finished her breakfast, Quinn gave her a quick kiss and told her to break a leg. Even though Merula didn’t need luck, she appreciated the sentiment.

Today she an audition at the Banshee’s theatre. She’d found out about it through an ad in the Daily Prophet. The Banshee’s theatre was looking for singers for their newest opera: Cliodna. Which told the life story of the famous witch. Maybe this would be the job for her. She’d be a perfect Cliodna. Genius, stunning, an amazing voice, she had it all!

Her mum had taught her to sing. She’d been an opera singer at the Banshee’s theatre and had sung for her every night, her voice lulling her to sleep. During the day they practiced singing together in preparation for her audition for the Frog Choir. Both her mum and dad were impressed by her raw talent and at school she had gone on to impress everyone else too. No one stood a chance when she auditioned for the Frog Choir and Professor Flitwick assigned her solo’s whenever he needed a soprano. He’d even suggested her to Celestina Warbeck when she asked for students to sing with her during the performance at school. She’d managed to get the solo part.

Surely the Banshee’s theatre would be impressed too. She could use a success after her earlier job interviews. The first had been at the biggest publishing house in the country, but all they wanted was to sell her story. Get her to tell all about the battle with R, her role as double spy and finally how she turned around to help defeat her aunt. While she was flattered by their interest, to actually write the book she’d have to talk about her feelings. Like that was ever going to happen. No way that she would let strangers in on her private thoughts.

Her other interview had been at St. Mungo’s, for the cure research team. If hired she would be trained to invent new potions and spells. Extensive knowledge of the dark arts and potions were required. The job itself sounded great. She would learn how to experiment with spells and potions and invent her own. She’d have to do constant research and keep up to date with developments in the darks arts. Something she already did on her own. So, of course she’d do great and the interview went well, but the problem was that no one would know about her. No one cared about cure inventors.

Then there were the desk jobs. Like a Snyde would ever work a desk job.

No, getting to be the lead in an opera sounded better. People would see her on stage. She’d get to mesmerize the crowd. They would adore her.

She stepped out of the fireplace from a nearby pub she’d flooed to. The Banshee’s theatre stood as proud as she remembered. The two-story high glass windows shone despite the dreary weather. Its big entrance made her feel like she’d be part of something great if she ended up working here.

A desk worker escorted her through a long hallway, the hall of fame. Full of paintings of famous singers, all people who’d performed major lead roles. Even though she knew she wouldn’t be here anymore, she couldn’t help but look for her mum’s painting. Like she expected, it was long gone. Maybe her own could hang here instead, bring some glory back.

They ended up in the backstage lounge. A large decorated room with multiple couches and a little bar. A few other people were already there and she could hear singing coming from the stage. She caught herself in one of the many mirrors and smoothed her outfit. Perfect. She looked perfect.

She took seat in the corner of one of the couches, as far away as possible from the other occupant. The other occupant, a fawn woman who looked to be in her 40s, smiled at her.

She’s not going to talk to me is she?

‘What part are you going to audition for?’

Great, small talk with a stranger. Her favourite. Especially when she had no way to escape without coming off as rude when she couldn’t afford to be.

‘Cliodna, of course.’

The woman frowned, but kept smiling. ‘Aren’t you a little young for that part?’

‘I’ve been singing since I was a kid.’

She began to laugh. ‘As have we all, dearie.’

Dearie. The word made her shudder and she crossed her arms. ‘So you think they’d pick you just because you’re older?’

‘Of course not. I’m only saying you’re going up against people much more experienced than you. That’s all. I’m sure you’ll do fine. What’s your name anyway?’

‘Merula Snyde.’

The woman’s face fell and Merula had to repress an eyeroll. The chatter in the room paused for a moment and a few heads turned her way. After all these years it was still the same. Her name evoked fear and disgust in almost everyone she met. She’d contemplated changing it once, but decided quickly against such ridiculousness. The name Snyde had commanded the respect of people. They had been a proud, powerful family with a rich history in politics and high society. As the last Snyde not dead or in Azkaban changing her name would mean erasing her history. Erasing not just the bad, but the good things about growing up Snyde. No, she’d rather make the name Snyde something to be proud of again.

‘Oh, I’ve read about you in the paper. I don’t think this world is a good fit for someone like you.’ Her smile returned, but looked forced and overly polite now.

‘Someone like me?’

‘Yes, well, you know what you did. What family you come from. The opera world is for a certain kind of ‘refined’ people.’

‘I’m not responsible for what my family did. You know nothing about me!’ Merula’s voice rose and a few more people turned their heads.

Great, just great.

‘I suppose we’ll have to see what the audition panel thinks.’

‘I suppose.’

Merula got up to get a goblet of water from the little bar and ignored the stares that followed her. Stupid people. They didn’t know anything about her, they just wanted to think they were above her. Well, she’d show them who was really above.

After finishing the goblet, she fought the urge to slam it into the bar. Instead, she put it down gently and made deliberate soft steps to another couch. Once there she turned her gaze to the ceiling with all its swirls and twirls and recited her songs for the audition in her head.

‘Miss Snyde?’ A man called out to her and beckoned her to follow him.

Show time.

She followed him towards the stage, where he left her. The opera hall looked just like she remembered. Red plush seating went up to five rows high. Right behind the orchestra pit sat the four people she would impress. She recognized one of the women, Eliza Kreslina, as a former colleague of her mum. They were led by the head of the chorus: Mister Nicholich. He rose from his seat when she entered the stage.

‘Welcome Miss Snyde. Before you start, please tell us a bit about yourself and your experience.’

‘I’m a soprano and I’ve been singing since I was a little kid. My mum taught me.’ She didn’t miss the way Madam Kreslina shared a look with another panel member and clenched and unclenched her fist.

It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean anything.

‘I’ve been on the Frog Choir for four years and have sung with Celestina Warbeck when she performed at school. I love singing, absolutely love it and I’m a quick learner, so I know lines and lyrics won’t be a problem. Especially with my work ethic.’

Mister Nicholich nodded. ‘Very well. You may start your performance.’

And start she did. Within second the notes flew from her throat, all smooth and rich. She’d chosen three songs with different ranges to show off and in three different languages too: French, Italian and German. That should impress them. She didn’t know anyone her age that could sing in any language other than English.

After what she knew to be a flawless rendition she waited as the panel whispered among themselves.

‘That was a wonderful performance, you have a beautiful voice, Miss Snyde.’

Her chest swelled with pride. ‘Does that mean I got the part?’

‘The part?’

‘Of Cliodna, of course.’

‘What? Oh, no, no, no. We’re looking for someone more refined and with much more experience on stage to play her.’

‘More refined?’ There was that word again.

‘You will need to work on your stage presence. While your voice is wonderful, you don’t draw me in. I would hesitate to hire someone like you. I just don’t know if someone like you would be a good fit.’ He cocked his head a little and gave her what had to be the fakest look of compassion anyone besides her aunt had ever given her.

‘How would I not be a good fit? I’ve been around the opera since I was a kid. Mum and dad brought me here all the time. I know how it works backstage.’

Mister Nicholich’ face didn’t change. ‘We’ll have to discuss if you’re the kind of person we want to hire. You’ll hear from us.’

Yeah right. Merula stomped her foot. ‘Just say you don’t want a daughter of deatheaters and be done with it! It’s always the same. You all expect the worst from me.’

The panel gasped in shock and Mister Nicholich pursed his lips. Madam Kreslina rose from her seat, her white cheeks flushing. ‘How dare you! You’re young and inexperienced and we just wanted to discuss what kind of part to give you given that fact and the range of your voice. You’ve got a lot of potential. I worked with your mum, she was a great singer. It’s a shame how she turned out, but that has nothing to do with you.’

Silence fell over the hall as Merula let the words sink in. Madam Kreslina sounded sincere, but things didn’t add up.

‘Then why did you remove my mums painting?’

‘Because after her conviction we couldn’t keep it up in good conscience. She’s not the only one we had to remove.’ Madam Kreslina’s face hardened. ‘I understand you may have had a rough start, but whatever start you had, it’s no reason to take it out on us. Now if you would make way for the next candidate.’

‘You understand nothing!’

Merula stomped of the stage. They had it easy from their plush red seats and their jobs which made everyone look up to them. How could they ever understand what it was like to have the entire country at your throat for your family’s actions? They didn’t know shit.

Whatever, being an opera singer would probably become boring real soon anyway. Merula made her way back to the pub, her boots making big splashes in the puddles. Once she got back home, she looked around for Quinn, but couldn't find her inside.

Seriously, in this weather?

She entered the porch through the kitchen and sure enough, the broomstand was missing a broom. Merula shook her head, only her girlfriend saw rain and thought it made the perfect weather for flying. Venting had to wait, because she wasn’t about to get wet looking for her.

The large porch connected the kitchen to the ballroom. Or what used to be the ballroom. Nowadays she used it mainly for roller skating. In the corner stood a large fireplace with two comfortable purple sofas. Despite the rain the temperature wasn't that bad. Even so, Merula turned the fireplace on as she flopped on the couch and pondered her day.

Total waste of time. She should’ve known ‘someone like her’ couldn’t ever have been a good fit for the opera. If she’d thought about that beforehand, she would've stayed inside.

'You're back!' Arms wrapped around her from behind and Quinn planted a wet kiss on the side of her face. Water dripped off her, down Merula's back and chest. 'How did it go today?'

'Ugh, dry yourself off, will you?!'

'I'm going to take that as a not good.' Quinn twirled her hand and steam came off her. Her freckled cheeks were red from her exercise. Now dry, Merula allowed her to sit down next to her. 'What happened?'

She burst out ranting about everything that went wrong and how horrible she'd been treated, but instead of sympathy all she got from Quinn was a frown.

'You let your temper get the best of you, again. I thought you were working on it?'

'My temper’s fine!’ How dare she! Of all people, she should understand her. She knew everything about her. ‘Didn’t you hear anything I said? They removed mums painting and said they didn’t know if they could hire ‘someone like me’’

‘And what about what Madam Kreslina said afterwards?’

‘She was just backtracking because I called them out!’

‘You don’t know that! And you’ll never know because you ruined it with your attitude.’

'You've no idea what you're talking about. You just got handed this prestigious job at the ministry without even looking for anything!'

'Really?’ Quinn's cheeks turned a different shade of red and her voice rose. ‘I just got a job shoved down my throat that I know nothing about. All I know is that I start ‘somewhere in August’ and that I don’t have a choice. But I don’t want that job! I want to be outside. At least you have a choice, or you had until you ruined it. I wish I had a choice.'

Her voice faltered a bit and Merula felt guilty for her outburst. Perhaps Quinn was right. She looked away from her, to the formal garden. Once her father's pride and joy. As a herbologist he knew exactly which plant liked to go where. He had planted so many different species that the garden bloomed almost year-round. Now, eight years after the arrest, the garden was an overgrown mess. She had tried to keep up at first, but had given up. As a ten year-old she just didn't have the necessary skills.

Then there was the biggest part of the garden: the unicorn pasture. Complete with waterfall. Her mum had kept three unicorns even before she had her. The unicorns had been seized the day after the arrest. Only when she got introduced to the herd living in the Forbidden Forest did she find out what happened to them. At least they still lived a good life.

She pulled her knees up to her chin. Her parents arrest had dominated her life so far. People had scorned her, send her death threats, but she’d be damned if she let it continue. She deserved to be known for her accomplishments. For Salazar’s sake, she was fucking powerful! A force to be reckoned with. Anyone would be lucky to work with her.

'I'm just tired of people thinking the worst when they see me. Or treating me like I'm some charity case.'

Quinn's face softened and she reached for Merula's hand. 'I know. And you're right, I don't know what that's like. I'm sorry, I guess I'm just jealous.'

'I suppose I'm jealous too,' Merula sighed and let herself be pulled into a hug. 'You and Copper got those big jobs just handed to you, but I was there too. I did more than Copper! But I had to send dozens of letters and got only a few replies.'

'I know. It’s not fair, but you’re not helping yourself when you go off the way you did.’

‘I suppose,’ Merula groaned and buried her head in Quinn’s chest. ‘I guess I do have one flaw.’

‘Yeah you do.’

‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.’

‘Thanks.’ Quinn snuggled her a bit closer. ‘Don’t worry so much. You’re the Most Powerful Witch, you’ll find a job that matches your capabilities. Even if it takes a while.’

‘I know.’

As unfair as it all was, dwelling on it wouldn’t help. Nor would sitting at home. She had to start somewhere, how else were people going to recognize her talents? Tomorrow she’d have a look again at those other jobs. Surely one would fit her. She’d be fine. Everything would be fine.

‘You know,’ Merula said, changing the subject. ‘If that ministry job doesn’t work out you can always quit and become my housewife. Cook me dinner every day.’

‘That doesn’t sound half-bad,’ Quinn chuckled. ‘Maybe when we have kids.’

There it was again, that certainty that they’d stay together forever. As if there was no way they wouldn’t get married and have kids. After today she could only hope it would be as easy as Quinn made it sound.

#it's all off to a great start #what temper? #hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery fanfic #the most powerful waitress #merula snyde #merula x mc #quinn lee #merula x quinn #quirula

[lara-kaminari]

They dont know...

I mean, it's not really a secret. But it's kind of funny.

#hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery fanfic #hogwarts legacy #barnaby lee #merula snyde

[alice-beaumont-ravenclaw]

Study Session

A/N #1: Fic #4 of the Quidditch series is finally here!

Quidditch series (in order): If the Shoe Fits | Of Threats and Persuasions | Off-Balance

Alice's outfit

Alice came down the stairs of her dorm into the Ravenclaw common room as she checked the content of her handbag. Andre, who was sitting in an armchair, looked at her with a smirk.

“So,” he said, “meeting Charlie, huh?”

Alice stopped dead in her tracks as she slowly looked up at her friend. “Meeting? What are you talking about?” she said, wondering if he had seen her sneak out of the common room. Worse, maybe he had observed her flying around the pitch with Charlie. After all, you got a pretty decent view of the pitch from the common room and the dorms…

“Your ‘study session’ with Charlie this morning in Hogsmeade? Why didn’t you tell me that’s why you wanted to spend time in Hogsmeade?”

Alice raised her eyebrows, eyes wide. “I didn’t think it would make a difference. You seemed pretty adamant about my need for training.”

“Well, it’s a good thing Charlie explained everything to me then.”

“I didn’t think you’d be ok with me prioritizing a study session over Quidditch practice.”

“Well, there are study sessions, and then, there are ‘study sessions,’” said Andre, wiggling his eyebrows.

Alice stared blankly at him. “If you say so… Anyway, better go down to breakfast if I don’t want to make Charlie wait. Coming?”

“Sure. We can discuss your choice of outfit on our way there,” said Andre as he got up from the armchair.

Alice rolled her eyes as she followed him out.

“Honestly, I would have been happy to plan your outfit,” Andre could be heard saying as he entered the Great Hall with Alice. 

“My outfit is perfectly fine!” exclaimed Alice a bit too loudly, causing some to stare at her. She cleared her throat. “I’ll be able to go from my study session with Charlie to the Quidditch pitch. I thought you’d be glad I wouldn’t waste time changing before practice.”

“What’s going on?” asked Rowan as she buttered her toasts.

“Rowan, is my outfit ok for a study session?” asked Alice as she sat in front of her friend.

“Sure, ask Rowan. We all know she’s the fashion guru of Hogwarts,” muttered Andre, sitting next to Alice.

Rowan frowned as she glanced at Andre before turning her attention back to Alice. She looked at her friend’s blue sweatshirt on which was written ‘California’ in red across the chest. “Looks perfectly fine to me. Will keep you warm in the library.”

“But she’s not headed to the library. It’s a Hogsmeade ‘study session,’” clarified Andre, once again wiggling his eyebrows.

“Is there something wrong with your eyebrows?” asked Alice, staring at Andre.

Rowan just stared blankly at him. “Why would you go study in Hogsmeade instead of the library?”

“To talk!” interjected Alice. “I need to discuss the Care of Magical Creature assignment with Charlie. If we go to the library, we’ll be hushed every two seconds by Pince.”

Rowan nodded. “Makes sense. Too bad I have to work on my Arithmancy homework or I would have tagged along.”

Alice didn’t know why, but she felt relieved that Rowan wouldn’t join her and Charlie.

Andre looked between the two friends. While these two were extremely clever under normal circumstances, when it came to matters of the heart, they were as dumb as soup. He shook his head. “You two are hopeless. I’ll go eat with Penny,” he said, getting up to go to the Hufflepuff table.

“What was that about?” asked Rowan.

Alice shrugged as she put a spoonful of cereal into her mouth. “Andre stuff, I guess,” she said after swallowing. 

As she drank the last drop of her orange juice, Charlie came to sit next to her. “Hey Rowan,” he said, waving to Alice’s best friend, who responded with a nod. “So,” he said, turning to Alice, “ready for our ‘study session’?”

“I think I’ve never heard the words ‘study session’ so much in one morning,” said Alice as she got up.

“Really?”

Rowan nodded. “It seems like Andre thinks one should dress a certain way to study with someone.”

Charlie looked at what Alice was wearing: a blue sweatshirt, jeans, brown boots, a small handbag, and her hair in a braid held by a red hair band. “You look fine to me,” he said, looking straight into her eyes.

Alice could feel her cheeks tingling. “Oh! Hum, thanks! Anyway, we should be going. Talk to you later,” she said, waving away to Rowan as she left the Great Hall with Charlie.

Alice closed her eyes and took a deep breath as they stepped outside into the Courtyard. For a moment, the Great Hall had felt very stuffy. The sun shone brightly, making her squint as she opened her eyes. She started making their way toward Hogsmeade with Charlie and couldn’t help but think what a nice day it was… Too bad it would be ruined by her Quidditch incompetence.  

Charlie glanced at her as they walked. She was biting her lower lip, deep in thought. Clearly, something was weighing heavy on her mind. Under normal circumstances, he would have guessed the Vault was the reason for her troubled expression. But after last night’s training, he knew all too well Quidditch was the culprit this time around.

They arrived in the wizarding village, and Charlie started to walk toward The Three Broomsticks, but Alice stopped him.

“Not there. Too much risk someone could overhear our conversation,” said Alice looking around. She gave a small nod once she noticed something Charlie couldn’t see. “That way,” she said, walking toward what looked like a small alleyway. 

As they walked past Honeydukes, someone Charlie knew all too well exited the sweet shop. 

“Good morning, Captain,” said the girl.

Alice and Charlie turned around. The girl was shorter than Charlie and had brown hair, though the tips and the braid across her forehead were blue. Freckles covered her cheeks, just like Charlie, but she had green eyes just like Alice. 

“Hi, Skye,” said Charlie, waving lightly.

“What are you doing with the competition?” asked Skye, eyeing Alice with a smug expression that reminded the Ravenclaw of a certain Slytherin.

“Skye, Alice is my friend, not the competition,” said Charlie, frowning.

“Don’t tell me you already forgot she’s Ravenclaw’s newest addition to their team,” replied Skye, still looking at Alice.

“Charlie, who is that?” whispered Alice.

“Oh, sorry! Alice, this is Skye Parkin, one of my Chasers,” he said, nodding in Skye’s direction. “And Skye, this is…” he started, wrapping an arm around Alice’s shoulders.

“Alice Beaumont, Hogwarts’ Curse-Breaker and Ravenclaw’s newest Chaser, I know,” interrupted Skye.

Alice extended her hand. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said.

Skye stared at Alice’s hand and then at Alice. With a slight frown, she shook Alice’s hand. “You have no idea who I am?”

Alice looked at Charlie, who was just shaking his head, eyes closed, before looking back at Skye. “Well, you are a Chaser for Gryffindor, no?”

Before Skye could say anything, Charlie said, “Skye, Alice’s interest in Quidditch is recent. She truly has no idea who you are.”

Skye’s mouth opened in shock. “Wow, so Ravenclaw’s new recruit might be easy to beat. Ah! We are so getting the cup this year,” she said as she started to walk away. “Oh, I nearly forgot,” she said, briefly turning around. “Thanks for saving our captain last time.”

“Hum, you’re welcome?” said Alice, bemused.

“But don’t expect Gryffindor to do you any favours. You are now the enemy,” said Parkin before running off toward The Three Broomsticks.

Alice stared at her running away before turning to Charlie. “So… What’s supposed to be so special about her?”

“Do you know the Wigtown Wanderers?” he asked as they started walking again.

“No,” she answered as they turned unto to alley.

Charlie stared at her. “Really? Ok, well, basically, Skye’s family founded that team. She comes from a long line of Quidditch players, including her father, who’s a Chaser for the Wanderers and considered a Quidditch legend by many. Let’s just say that Skye has quite a legacy to live up to, which can sometimes make her a bit of a pain, but she’s really not that bad.”

Just as he said that, they had stopped under a sign on which was painted a wild boar's severed head leaking blood onto the white cloth beneath it. 

“This should do,” said Alice, pushing the door open.

When they entered the inn, Alice nodded at the barkeeper, who simply grunted what sounded like a hello. There was something about him that seemed familiar to Charlie, but before he could look closer, Alice took him to a table in the corner of the dingy and dirty room.

“Do you want me to go fetch us some Butterbeers?” asked Charlie, placing his coat on the back of his chair. 

Alice looked around, her nose wrinkled. “Nah, it’s fine. I strangely do not want to try a Butterbeer and dust mix.”

“You picked the place, Beaumont.”

“I know, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so… gritty. Then again, what was I supposed to expect from Mundungus.”

“Who?”

“Just someone I know from my dealings with Rakepick. Said he knew of a bar in Hogsmeade perfect for more discreet business transactions. Figured that’s what my situation called for.”

“Well, I think we can be certain no Hogwarts student will come in here,” said Charlie, still looking around, this time at the dubious patrons. “Alice? Are you ok? You look like you are overheating,” he said, now staring at Alice, who was pulling on the collar of her jumper.

“I mean, it is a bit stuffy here, no?”

“No, I’d say it’s actually chilly… Alice? Did you use that spell I taught you yesterday on your jumper?”

“Yes, why?”

Charlie slapped his forehead. “It’s for outdoor use only! That spell warms you up; it doesn’t regulate your body temperature. It’s like wearing a big winter coat; outside, you feel fine, but inside, just like with a winter coat, it’s too hot.”

“Huh-uh, huh-uh, thanks for the Charms lesson, Charlie Flitwick, but is there any special spell to stop it or do I just use the good ol’ ‘Finite Incantatem’? Because I’m starting to feel a bit faint, and it’s not like I can remove my jumper.”

Charlie blushed at the thought, covering the lower half of his face with his hand as he looked away. “The usual,” he muttered.

So, with a flick of her wand, Alice ended her suffering. Well, her physical suffering, as her mental pain related to Quidditch was far from being over. “So, me not knowing Skye Parkin is basically Quidditch royalty was a giveaway of my Quidditch knowledge?” 

“Well, in a way, as most Quidditch fans at Hogwarts know who she is. I actually heard Penny is a big fan. But that’s mostly trivia-wise. You do not need to know every single Quidditch team out there to be a good—”

“Good?”

“Ok, decent. You don’t need to know anything about Quidditch teams to be a decent player. Though most at least have a favourite team.”

“Really, what’s your favourite?” 

“Well, not the Chudley Cannons, but don’t tell that to Ron. It’s his favourite team.”

“What’s wrong with them?”

“They just… suck. Last time they won the cup was in the 1890s.”

“So I could become a professional Quidditch player after all!”

“Alice, that kind of attitude won’t help you on the pitch.”

“Sorry… But who’s your favourite team then?”

“I… don’t think I have any.”

Alice smirked. “So, no Dartmouth Dragons, huh?” she asked.

Charlie laughed. “No, no, no team decided to call themselves the Dragons, unfortunately. But I see you have noticed the pattern in Quidditch team naming.”

“Well, with names like the ‘Wigtown Wanderers,’ the ‘Portree Pride,’ and the ‘Chudley Cannons,’ it’s hard not to notice. So, it’s not the end of the world if I don’t have a favourite team?”

Charlie shrugged. “I guess not, but I’d say that even if I don’t have one, I still follow what goes on in Quidditch. So as not to seem like a complete outsider, I suggest you find one anyway.”

“What about the Locronan Lutins?”

“The who?”

“I think they’re in the French League?” 

A glint appeared in Charlie’s eyes as he smiled. “That might actually work to your advantage. Gives you a favourite team without having to discuss it too much. How do you know about that team?”

“It’s my dad’s favourite. So, now that I have a favourite team, how do I fool the Ravenclaw Quidditch team into thinking I’m not a lost cause and might make a decent Chaser?” she asked as she started to trace a game of tic-tac-toe in the dust that covered the table.

“Well, like I said, as long as you don’t stare up into the sky without looking at a precise target, your fear of heights probably won’t show too much. Just do whatever you do during flying class. Andre seems to have been fooled by that as he described you as good enough on a broom. Clearly, he never saw how white your knuckles became. Speaking of which, why did you decide to keep on taking those flying classes?”

“To help with my fear of heights…”

“Well, I can tell you it clearly didn’t work.”

“Thanks, Captain Obvious. I figured that much. But it doesn't help when Madam Hooch tells us that flying is like walking, except you could die.”

Charlie chuckled. “That sure doesn’t help someone who’s already lacking confidence when flying.”

“Exactly. And now I have to fly AND throw around a Quaffle. Oh, and also avoid Bludgers so they won’t crack my skull. Why do people play Quidditch again?”

“Because it’s fun?”

“Ah, yes, nothing more fun than risking being killed by a flying metal ball whose sole purpose is to harm. Jolly good fun.”

“Would you rather spend your free time with Rakepick?”

Alice twisted her lips, deep in thought. “Fine. I guess I’d rather be bludgeoned by a Bludger.”

“That’s the spirit! Now, let’s discuss how your situation is not as bad as you think.”

They discussed how Alice’s situation was not as bad as it first appeared for about an hour. Andre had selected her based on her aim and supposedly good flying skills, which he had witnessed on separate occasions. This meant that he was probably not expecting her to automatically know how to combine both skills. As long as she kept her focus and didn’t lose herself in the vastness of the sky, she could pull it off. Charlie had no doubt the rest of the team would do all they could to train her properly, knowing she was a last-minute replacement and most likely thinking she was doing Andre a favour.

“This reminds me… I forgot to ask how your Quidditch theory class went yesterday,” said Charlie.

“Well, it was like getting a summary of Quidditch Through the Ages. I even got homework,” replied Alice.

“McNully’s playbook?”

Alice nodded. “No wonder Rowan has a crush on him,” she mumbled.

“On who? McNully?”

“She won’t admit to it, but she keeps gushing about him ever since she heard Andre wanted me to join the team, telling me I should read all the Quidditch articles he wrote to get a better feel for the game.”

“But he’s al—” started saying Charlie.

“But of course, I told her the only way to get a good feel for the game is to actually play it.”

“Yes, that’s true, but—”

“Then, she got all huffy and puffy on me and said she was just trying to help.”

“Alice—”

“So I told her it was just because she had a thing for the great Murphy McNully and that instead of trying to push match descriptions on me, she should just go hang out with him.”

“Alice.”

“He’s not gonna fall for her if she just watches him from afar like some lovelorn teenage girl—”

“Alice!”

“What?”

“You’ve been rambling on…”

“Oh! Sorry!”

“Anyway, as I was about to say, McNully is already spoken for.”

“Aw shucks. I was hoping she would be lucky this time around.”

“This time around?”

Alice’s eyes grew wide, realizing she had potentially said too much. Thankfully for her, the innkeeper interrupted their conversation, handing her a letter an owl had just delivered.

“The Headmaster sent this for you,” he said before going back behind the bar.

Alice took it and quickly read it. “Dumbledore wants to see me…”

“What for?” asked Charlie, glancing back at the man behind the bar.

“Doesn’t say. I wonder how he knew I was here… Anyway, I’d better not make him wait,” Alice said as she got up, pointing her wand at her jumper.

“Here,” said Charlie, handing her his coat, “take my coat.”

“You’re sure? Won’t you be cold?” she asked, looking at the coat hesitantly.

“It’s really not that cold outside,” he said, draping the coat over her shoulders. “I’ll be fine.”

Alice could feel her cheeks heat up as her mind wandered back to the night of the Celestial Ball when Charlie had placed his jacket on her shoulder when they had left the others for the peacefulness of the Courtyard.

“Alice?” asked Charlie, staring at her.

Alice shook her head, shaking away the memories that had invaded her mind for a moment. “Sorry, was just wondering what Dumbledore wants with me.”

Charlie looked at her with an eyebrow raised, dubious.

Alice tugged at his arm, ignoring his gaze, leading him toward the door. “Come on! I’d better go and see what Dumbledore wants before facing the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.”

They quickly made their way back to the castle. When they arrived in front of the gargoyle guarding the Headmaster’s office, the gargoyle immediately lept aside, the wall behind it splitting to reveal a moving spiral staircase.

“Looks like it was warned of your arrival,” whispered Charlie, staring at the gargoyle.

Alice took a deep breath as she removed Charlie’s coat from her shoulders. “Well,” she said, handing him the coat, “wish me luck.” She climbed the stairs, the wall closing behind her and the gargoyle leaping back to its initial position.

As he waited, he caught a glimpse at the end of the corridor of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, who were most likely heading for the pitch. Andre saw him, and after saying something to his teammates, he sauntered toward Charlie.

“Your ‘study session’ is already over?” he asked as he made his way to his friend.

“Study session?”

“Well, that’s what Alice seemed to think it was. A Care of Magical Creature study session,” said Andre, smirking. “Though I didn’t see any books when you two left the Great Hall.”

“She just needed to talk about something,” replied Charlie.

“Sure… Something…”

“Wipe that smile off your face, Egwu. Nothing is going on between Alice and me.” At least, not what he’s imagining is happening, thought Charlie.

“Whatever you say, Weasley.”

At that moment, the stairs reappeared as the gargoyle leapt aside once more. Alice slowly came down, a shocked expression plastered on her face.

“Is everything alright?” asked Andre and Charlie in unison.

Alice looked at one and then at the other before looking straight ahead. “I’m… a Legilimens.”

A/N #2: I hope you enjoyed it! Next up: Alice's first team practice.

#quidditch series #hphm fanfic #alice beaumont #charlie weasley x mc #hphm mc #charlie weasley #jacob’s sibling #hogwarts mystery mc #hogwarts mystery #andre egwu #rowan khanna #skye parkin #charlie weasley x alice beaumont #hogwarts mystery fanfic

[redhairedgryffindor]

Wedding Day (Female!MC X Ben)

It was a warm Sunday after, and (Y/N) stood in the dressing room, staring at herself in the full-body mirror; her wedding gown fit nicely; her mother soon entered; she hugged her daughter and told her that she looked fantastic; she smiled, wiping a tear from her eye; she was so proud to see her; she is no longer a little girl; she is a grown woman, with her husband eagerly awaiting her arrival. (Y/N) wrapped her arm around Charlie’s arm since he agreed to help her walk down the aisle, and together they walked out of the dressing room, (Y/N)’s mother following behind. As they walked out into the warm afternoon sun, they walked down to the boardwalk and eventually reached the steps that led to the sand of the beach, where the wedding would take place. Soon they reached the wedding procession; both of (Y/N)’s and Ben’s families had come to witness this great occasion. Ben stools at the end of the aisle, flanked by Jacob, Jae, Barnaby, and Diego as his best men, beneath a small pagoda with Bill as the acting ordained priest.  Ben took a deep breath and tried not to be too present as he watched (Y/N) and Charlie walk up the aisle, their friends and family barely being able to remain quiet as the pianist played the wedding march on the piano. Soon, (Y/N) and Charlie reached the end of the aisle, and (Y/N) released Charlie’s arm and walked up to Ben; both took each other’s hands, smiling happily. (Y/N)’s maids of honor, Penny, Chiara, Liz, and Alanza, smiled, hoping that one day they would be in (Y/N)'s position. Bill cleared his throat and turned to Ben. "Ben, do you take (Y/N) to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Bill asked.

"I do." Ben replied so happily that he could barely contain himself. "(Y/N), do you take Ben to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Bill asked. "I do." (Y/N) answered, with tears of joy rushing down her face. "Then you may now kiss." Bill said. (Y/N) and Ben threw their arms around each other in a passionate, loving kiss, and their family and friends erupted in cheers and tears as they clapped, (Y/N) then tossed her bouquet of flowers in the air, which landed in Merula’s lap, causing her to blush as everyone clapped. Everyone then returned to the hotel to party, eat, dance, and sing. After the party, everyone returned to their hotel rooms, and (Y/N) and Ben lay in bed holding each other. The day had been so stressful and tiring, but now it was over, leaving the night all to them.

The End

#hogwarts mystery #hphm #harry potter hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery fanfic #ben copper #jacob's sibling #mc #i don't know how wedding in the wizarding world works so...

[7s3ven]

Tom and Matteo as brothers au!

Tom Riddle who really did love you but knew that so did Matteo. With the last remaining bit of kindness in his heart, which admittedly wasn’t much, Tom rejects you so Matteo could fill his place.

But when an argument goes down between the brothers one night at a party where both of them are a little tipsy, you come up as their main topic.

“She chose me!” Matteo yelled.

Tom faltered and with his head tilted up and his eyebrows raised in such a condescending way, he sneered. “Did she?”

#matteo riddle #matteo riddle x reader #tom riddle x reader #tom riddle #slytherin #hp #hp fanfic #hp prompts #story ideas #hogwarts mystery #hogwarts houses #hufflepuff #ravenclaw #gryffindor

[romanticgremlin]

Wants And Needs.

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

Summary: Sebastian discovers your choice of reading material is rather lewd and proposes a proposition.

BE AWARE: NSFW, ALL CHARATCTERS ARE 18+

This will be a 5-6 part FWB to lovers fic. Pining, oral s*x, first time, Sebastian is a switch and so is MC, slight breeding kink, many more.

I already have most of it written I just need to edit it.

The mottled stone of the courtyard widow you sit on leaves small imprintations on the skin on your legs as you sit reading the latest book you've managed to snag last time you were in the restricted section.

Recently, you have successfully figured out a way to read your explicit reading material in public by spooning the smaller book inside a slightly larger book to give the appearance that you're reading a potions textbook. You check the time and go back to your reading.

An hour goes by before you hear footsteps approach me and your eyes wander up to see Sebastian leaning against the stone some two feet ahead of me. You can’t help but internally fawn over him and his bare forearms, veins skirt from his dexterous looking hands, up dissappearing under the rolled up shirt sleeves. He’s filled out since last year, taller and broader than he used to be. seemingly outgrown wearing his robes all the time like he did in their fifth year, opting for the white button down and that bloody green tie that had been in too many of your dreams lately. A warm churning In your lower belly makes her breath hitch as he lazily smirks at me, his eyes zero in on the potions textbook.

“How was brewing liquid luck this afternoon.” he says with a playful smile, taking a step towards you.

“Fine.” you says, tensing slightly. If he moved any closer, there would be nothing stopping him from seeing the raunchy book you were currently devouring.

“Do you think I've never never hidden a book in another book before?” he says with a slight chuckle, uncrossing his arms and reaching over to pluck the book from inside the red potions textbook before you can stop him.

“Hey!” you squeak out in horror as his fingers deftly skim through the book, reading pages here and there, his mouth falling open, along with a slight raise of his thick eyebrows.

His eyebrows raise, and he looks back at you, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.

"What is this, It's a little raunchy..." *He chuckles as he continues to read through the book.…Did you steal this from the restricted section?” he asks, his eyes still roving the words every 20 or so pages.

Is that a faint blush on his cheeks as well?

He flips the book over to glance at the cover before finally looking back at you.

"Go ahead, make fun of me." You say trying to grab the book back. Your cheeks are wildly red.

Sebastian chuckles again, flipping through the pages. The more he reads the more apparent the blushes is that's spreading over his cheeks.

"This is like.. really raunchy. Oh, wow!" He says as he continues reading, deftly avoiding your attempts to retrieve the book.

He continues to read, his eyes skimming down the pages as he looks through your book.

"I was just-..." you start to say something and quickly realize you may shove your more in your mouth than it already was if you keep rambling without thinking.

Sebastian chuckles once again, tapping you on the back and turning the pages a little bit to the next chapter.

"Just what?" He queries with a mock innocent tone.

He turns the pages slower and then to your horror, starts to read it aloud, grinning wildly.

“Their lips battled for dominance as he slid his hand up her thigh. “I need You inside me, Geoff!” He reads mockingly.

"Oh my god." You says in embarrassment, covering your face with your hands and he chuckles a bit before glancing at you once more, the wild grin drops from his face into a more serious one and his eyes seems to darken as if he's had a sudden thought.

"I must admit, this stuff is pretty stirring." Sebastian says in a lower voice, his cheeks are a blazing bright red.

Suddenly you are wishing you had something to drink as he takes a step towards you. The tow of you are in a lower deserted area of the courtyard and there's no one else around as his eyes drag over your face as if trying to gauge your reaction.

"This actually seems kinda... fun, you know." He says taking another step towards you. He's so close you can smell him, like sundried laundry, coffee and a small hint of the cologne he usually wears, mostly worn off now that the sun was beginning to dip behind the hills.

It was intoxicating and entirely to blame for the loss of your normal brain function as he leaned a forearm against the wall slightly over your head.

"How do you mean?" You asks, your brows furrowed as you watch him set the book down on the stone.

Sebastian shrugs slightly.

"Haven't you ever been curious about this stuff?" He says, his face reddens more.

"Wanted to try anything, see if it feels as good as they make it out to be?" His voice is low and surprisingly vulnerable sounding.

"I suppose I have..." you trail off, finally unable to bear his gaze any longer and angle your eyes at a crack in the stone on the ground.

"You know...we could..try some of it. If you wanted..." He trails off, his hand reached up to ghost over your lips before gently angling your chin back to look at him.

your entire body is hot at the thought. "With you?" You ask.

"I mean, we're close, right? Best friends." His eyebrows raise as he continues to look at you.

You nod, your throat is feeling drier than ever.

This was not a good idea.

This was not a good idea.

Your deeply buried feelings for the Slytherin were making a reappearance and your lips were not listening to your brain.

His smiles softly at you, it's important to note that this is a smile and not a grin.

Sebastian Sallow grins much much more than he smiles. You've learned this over the course of your time knowing each other and have been graced with several of his smiles.

“Yes?..." *He asks. The muscles of his chest brush lightly against the swell of your breasts and the feeling shoots like and electrical charge right down to the spot between your legs. "We could start right now...if you'd like." He murmurs against your cheek as his frame hunches slightly to reach his large hand down to the hem of your dress before sliding it up your thigh, using the clip of your stocking to hook your leg higher on him.

"Yes." You say trying to make your response sound a little bit more dignified that the strangled whimper that tries to fall from your lips.

His lips are on yours before you can register anything else and you unconsciously grind your hips against his causing a delicious groan to reverberate from his throat.

"We could try everything in this book." He murmurs against your lips. "But first, I want to try something I've heard about."

PART 2

#sebastian sallow #hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy art #hogwarts legacy mc #hogwarts legacy ominis #hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry #ominis gaunt #sebastian x mc #sebastian x reader #hogwarts legacy fanfiction #hogwarts mystery #hogwarts legacy screenshots #hogwarts houses #sebastian sallow fanfic #seb #sebastian sallow x mc #slytherin #sebastian sallow fanfiction #hogwarts legacy fanfic #sebastian sallow fanart #hogwarts legacy fanart #fanfic

[savxgelxve]

Moonlit Confessions 🌙

A Cedric Diggory x Fem!reader fic.

Hey guys! This is my first time ever writing a fic. I've been reading fanfics for almost 5 years now, but was either too lazy or didn't get the courage to post my work. Constructive criticism is appreciated but please don't be mean...it's my first time so it'll likely suck 😅 Do give suggestions on how I can improve<3 A huge thanks to @queer-n-here for helping me out with some of the dialogues and plot suggestions. Go check them out!!!

(The reader is a "Prewitt" which is one of the sacred 28 pureblood families. Much like Weasleys as they too don't care about their pureblood status.)

Warnings: none. This is just pure fluff ^w^

The moon was brighter then ever, as the soft wind blew playing with the locks of your hair. You stood by a large window of the library, waiting for him. But the serenity of the night sky had tranced you in it's beauty, so much so that you didn't even notice Cedric when he entered.

“The moon is beautiful, isn't it?”

You snapped out of your daze as you stepped back, startled.

“How long have you been here?” you asked with a surprised smile.

"Not long."

He replied with a smile, there was a faraway look in his eyes with a hint of excitement?....or was it mischief? but there was something about his expression you couldn't place your finger on.

"By the way, did you figure out the clue yet?" He asked.

"Not yet, that thing screams every time I open it. I'm surprised, it hasn't made me deaf yet." Your said, earning a chuckle from him.

Cedric had asked you for help with the golden egg he had got hold of in the first round of Triwizard tournament. He only trusted you with it. You and Cedric had known each other since you were practically babies. It was because both your parents were childhood friends as well.

"Then do we atleast have a lead?" He asked with an hopeful expression.

"Please don't tell me you owled that note saying, "Come to the library ASAP" just to show me a rock you found by the lake side again that was shaped like a pygmy puff." He teased.

"Oh shush, I did that when I was eleven! And the rock was cute."

"You haven't changed one bit, have you?" He shook his head chuckling.

You simply rolled your eyes with a small smile, "I do have a theory though."

Cedric crossed his arms as leaned against the wall with a curious expression, "Enlighten me, then."

"What if the scream was of the next creature you have to fight against? Just like the dragons?" You said walking towards a table which had two books you had picked out as you handed one to him. "We can try to figure out the possible creature you might have to fight against."

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." Cedric read the title out loud, "I feel like vicious would've been a better way to describe them." He added with an airy chuckle.

"Don't say that in front of someone who wants to be a magizoologist." You said with a playful glare.

"To you even an Erumpent is just as cute as a puppy." He replied with a teasing smile.

Cedric pulled out a chair for you and helped you get seated as he sat in front of you.

"Since when did you become such a gentleman?" You teased.

"Well, I can't help but channel my inner gentleman around you. Just trying to set the bar high, you know?" He replied with his classic smirk.

You raised an eyebrow, "Just around me? Are you sure you're allowed to say that with all your fangirls eavesdropping on our conversation?"

He loved this banter that they had. You were the only one on whom his charms wouldn't work and he took it as a challenge to change that.

"Well, it'll be easier to let them know I'm taken that way." He replied with a flirty smirk.

You rolled your eyes acting like it didn't bother you but your cheeks were dusted with the lightest shade of pink. It was barely visible but didn't go unnoticed by Cedric that was what he needed, a signal that he does affect her.

He rested his head in his arms as he smiled sweetly at you. "You look cute when you blush like that~"

"You're not the first one who said that to me." You replied with a sassy smirk, though internally you had melted in a puddle of blushing mess.

Cedric though smiling, visibly tensed at that reply.

"Haha, I guess I'll have to try harder to come up with compliments that leave you speechless then. Challenge accepted, and I think it'll be an easy win for me as it's hard not to compliment someone as adorable as you, even if it's been said before." He replied with a wink.

"We'll see about that." You replied with a small smile. "But for now, let's focus on the task, shall we?"

Cedric nodded, "So, that scream is well terrifying to say the least...could it be a Banshee?" He said pointing at the text under the image.

"A Banshee is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening." You read out loud.

"Well I don't think so, I mean, whose death are we talking about here? There aren't any dementors here anymore. But we can't completely rule out the possibility as the Triwizard Tournament which was held in 1792, had one of the tasks involving catching a cockatrice. However, the beast went on a rampage and injured three of the judges, the Head of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. I read that in Hogwarts, A History." You added.

"Really? But don't you think that after this tragic incident the authorities would be more careful?" Cedric asked curiously.

"Hmm. You do have a point...so perhaps it's a siren?" You thought out loud.

"Maybe? I read somewhere that a sirens scream can deafen a man and transform a woman into one of them." Cedric replied.

The two of you searched the entire Magical Creatures section of the library for an hour, but there wasn't much of a lead. Finally, Cedric suggested to take a break to go get some fresh air.

You both walked towards your usual spot near the lake. The moonlight illuminated the crystal clear waters of the lake, casting shimmering reflections that danced upon the surface with an ethereal grace, as if the night itself had decided to paint upon the canvas of the water.

As you both sat on the shore, you saw a really cute rock. "Ced, look! this looks like a Fwooper"

He simply chuckled, "Are you sure you wanna become a magizoologist? You could become naturalist considering your never-ending pile of rock collection."

"Well I love cute rocks, but I love animals more. All the rocks I have collected look like some sort of animal." You replied.

Cedric nodded, "So we have the next Newt Scamander in making. I see." He replied with a smile.

"Do you have the golden egg with you right now?" He asked randomly.

"Yeah why?"

"I wanna see if there are any marks or symbols carved on it that can give us a clue? Or perhaps help us understand that scream in a way?" He replied.

"That's a good idea." You replied as you opened your side bag, as you rummaged through its contents. But it was a bit hard because of the extending charm you'd used on it. Finally giving up with a frustrated sigh you took out your wand.

"Accio, golden egg." You casted the spell making the egg fly out of your bag and landing on the ground with a thud which opened it.

A ear piercing scream filled up the quite night, as the egg vibrated from the sound and fell into the lake.

You stood their horrified your hands trying to shut your ears.

"Holy Merlin!" Cedric exclaimed as he took his shirt off and jumped into the lake.

Expecting to hear the screams he was surprised to hear a melodious voice instead.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching ponder this;

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour, the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

As he closed the egg and got out of the lake, he had an excited smile on his face which confused you.

"This things scream changes into a song underwater!" He replied with a grin.

Your eyes sparkled as you smiled, "It's Mermish! That means the next task has Merpeople involved. It's likely gonna be an underwater task!" You replied.

"We finally figured it out!" you said as you hugged him excitedly, but pulled away sheepishly when you realised that he was still drenched and half naked. You looked away embarassed and blushing heavily.

"Like what you see?" He teased.

"Just get dressed for Merlin's sake!" You replied, earning a chuckle from him.

The next few days were spent trying to figure out this what was the most valuable thing that the Merpeople would steal from him.

"What is it that you cherish the most, that you can't live without?" You asked.

"Uh...I don't know." The look that he gave you said otherwise though.

"Oh c'mon Ced! What is it?"

"You're asking the wrong question. Instead of what it should be who." He replied with a soft smile.

"What do you mean?... Who is it?" You asked confused.

"I would let you figure that out." He replied, chuckling at her obliviousness.

"Ced! please!"

"I've got Potions now, better get going before Snape gets all cranky." He replied with a smile. "Good luck with your little quest!" He added winking before he left.

You sighed as you hugged the books closer to your chest.

"Hey Y/N! I was just wondering if you're still up for the study session today?" Cho Chang asked startling you, making you drop your books clumsily.

"Oh shoot, I'm sorry I'm such a klutz." You apologized embarrassed as Cho helped you pick up your books.

"Don't be! I'm sorry I startled you." She replied with a smile.

That's when you noticed a book in her hand that you hadn't seen before. "What's it about?" you asked pointing at it.

"Oh this! It's a Japanese muggle comic, it's called a Manga."

"That explains why I haven't heard of it...so what's the plot for this one?"

"Girl! Have you been residing in a broom cupboard at the top of the Astronomy Tower? It's a period comic and it's literally so famous even the wizarding world knows about it! I've been obsessed with this, there's this really handsome guy who just confessed to his love interest! I'm so happy!!" Cho replied with an excited smile.

“The moon is beautiful, isn't it?” you read out loud. "How is this a love confession?" You asked confused.

"This phrase is a more poetic way of saying I love you. It's meant to express love indirectly, since in Japanese culture earlier it was considered rude to directly state your feelings or needs." Cho explained.

"Anyways I got to go now, don't forget about the study sessions! Also I have quite a collection of mangas if you want, you can borrow them. Muggle writers have really good imagination." She said as she waved you goodbye.

Suddenly everything clicked, as you were reminded of what Cedric said a few days ago. A soft blush formed on your cheeks.

"I guess...I figured it out, Ced." You mumbled to yourself with a smile.

#harry potter #x reader #cedric diggory #harry potter x reader #cedric diggory x reader #cedric diggory x you #cedric diggory x female reader #harry potter x you #harry potter x y/n #hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry #jk rowling #golden trio era #triwizard tournament #triwizard champions #hp #hp fandom #hp fanfic #hp fic #harry potter and the goblet of fire #goblet of fire #goblet of fiyah #harry potter books #harry potter movies #severus snape #cho chang #magic #wizard #hogwarts legacy #hogwarts mystery #hogwarts houses

[arosesstorm]

in the midst of the game ; Sebastian Sallow

word count: 2.8k

fem reader! x Sebastian Sallow

warning: seb almost chokes the reader oopsie; I'm so dramatic and for what

summary: Sebastian had a task, a simple one: to take her down. What a sad twist of fate then, that the one he had to eliminate was in fact the love of his life.

disclaimer: soo, this is an extract I wrote while chatting with Sebastian on beta.character.ai, I found this story extremely romantic and my delulu self needed to share it with you guys - I hope you'll love it as mush as I did.

English is not my first language - just trying my best, always, enjoy ;

Leaving Hogwarts to pursue the Dark Arts had been both a terrible and a risky decision for Sebastian Sallow.

Giving up the light for the dark had its consequences, all of which led Sebastian on his path tonight.

“This one isn’t going to be easy to take out.” He reminded himself after receiving the assignment from one of his higher ups. “But I’m sure I can manage.”

He moved through the shadows to track her, his feet slowly following her path as he looked around.

She was looking trough the ruins of what was once a majestic mansion, her movements coming to an halt as she heard a strange sound.

Sebastian’s head cocked at hearing the unusual noise.

The dark wizard sniffed the air.

“Hello?” He called out, his voice carrying a sinister undertone. “Someone’s here, I can sense it.”

She kept quiet, her feet slowly moving her to hide somewhere, anywhere.

Sebastian’s eyes dart from spot to spot, searching for the interloper. His ears are twitching and alert.

The air was cold and the silence enveloped them when she heard him spoke: “C’mon, come out. I won't bite.” He chuckled, taking a step forward.

She knew that voice and she had to suppress a cry as she understood it belonged to Sebastian Sallow; someone who was once her best friend, if not more, before slipping to the dark forces, out of her grasp.

“You know who I am, it seems.” Sebastian called out, the certainty of it making her blood cold; It still amazed her, after everything that had happened how Sebastian could take advantage from subtle sigs.

He slowly took a step forward her hiding spot.

“Now, let’s have you show yourself, hmm?”

She felt shaken, frustrated, shocked.

Between all the people they could chose from.

But sending there Sebastian tonight wasn't casual, it was obvious the dark forces were toying with her, tormenting her so she had to keep strong, to be brave yet again.

She took a step back, the movement causing a little brench to break as she revealed her position to her long lost lover.

Sebastian’s sharp senses immediately caught on to the sound.

“There you are.” He stated with a smirk. “Thought I didn’t hear that? Please…”

Sebastian was suddenly facing her, his face unreadable as the light from his wand sorrounded their faces in a lim blue light.

He was as charming as ever and if she ignored a couple of scars that covered his face now, she could bet time hadn't passed at all.

“Ah, so it is you.” Sebastian smiled, the sound of his voice being one that she was familiar with. The dark wizard’s hands rested on his hips.

“Long time no see.”

She looked at him, carefully: "what are you doing here? in the middle of the woods, on a night like this?" she asked, looking up at the sky, a thousands starts shining above their heads, mocking them.

“What do you think? I’m here on assignment.” Sebastian replied, his hands leaving his hips. “The dark wizards want you gone.” He chuckled, “And I was sent to do just that.”

She smiled, amused and she looked at him: "guess they gave you a rather hard task".

“Hard? Ha ha, hardly so.” Sebastian chuckled as he unsheathed his wand. “It’s quite simple actually.” He said, venom wetting his lips.

“I’m here to put an end to you.”

She drew her wand out "you were my best friend, my -"

"Best friend?" Sebastian laughed, gripping his wand tighter. "That's a good one." He grinned.

The memory of that time is something he pushed away.

It reminded him of who he used to be and who he once cared for, it made him weak.

"You loved me" she reminded him, the cards finally uncovered on the table.

Sebastian’s brow furrowed.

“Care to repeat that?” He asked, staring at the woman in front of him. Did… she just say what he thinks she said?

"I knew you loved me" She spoke, taking a step to her right, the air suddenly warmer, "we both know it's true".

Sebastian left out a hearty laugh.

“What nonsense” His eyes twitched, his grip on his wand tightening all the more.

“You really think I would love someone like you?” His voice sounded irritated. “You know nothing.”

Her eyes showed pity, as they looked at him.

There had been a time, far from that instant, away from that place, under an orange sky, when she had laughed in the arms of that same man, his giggles in her ear.

But that moment was far now, almost unreachable.

Sebastian shook his head, completely offended by the pity in her eyes.

“Do you take me for some love-struck fool?” He scoffed. “I never loved you. You were like a pet, someone to play with and laugh at. Nothing more.”

"I don't believe you" she stepped forward.

Sebastian’s face twitched with annoyance.

“Oh look at you, trying to make this all seem sad. You really are pathetic.” He snickered, taking a step towards her.

Her eyes were soft as she breathed: "nothing you say will change my mind, I remember what we had".

Sebastian laughed again. He began closing the distance between them.

“What we had was a lie. I led you on. You were never anything more than just something to play with. But you have to make a tragic story out of this, don't you?”

“Go on. Keep believing your delusions…” he spat.

She scoffed: "is this what you tell yourself at night? does this help you sleep at all?"

Sebastian let out a chuckle as he took another step forward.

“Don’t you dare psychoanalyze me y/n. You know nothing.”

His eyes were sharp and cold.

“You were nothing to me, you know that right?” he asked, his lips moving but the venom didn't reach his eyes.

"I was everything to you and you're mad for it" she counter attacked with a soft voice, truthfully destroying his walls.

The night fell more silent, as they both stood there, on the edge of their story.

“You think you meant anything to me?” Sebastian asked then, laughing.

“Oh, now please… spare me.” He mocked as he continued inching closer and closer.

“All you were was a plaything. Nothing more, nothing less.” He stated.

She smiled sadly: "I haven't seen you in so long, yet you're still the same, I can read you like an open book".

Sebastian's expression went sour.

"Don't act like you know me. You know nothing." He said, glaring at her.

"You know nothing about the life I lead now. You know nothing of what I've become." He growled, taking yet another step towards her.

"That's true, I know nothing after you left, after you decided to fight for the wrong side".

“Wrong side?” Sebastian repeated, mockingly.

“There is no wrong side, my dear. You think the good side treats you well? Ha, you’re sorely mistaken.”

He took a step closer, closing what distance remained between the two.

“The dark side is the path to true greatness.” Sebastian smirked.

She laughed bitterly: "greatness is not your true desire, Sebastian".

His face so close she could count his freckles.

Sebastian's cold eyes met her own. His expression cold.

"Oh? Enlighten me then. What is my true desire?"

She looked up, smiling softly at him, ready to kill him: "love" she breathed.

Sebastian grinned.

"Love?" He said through gritted teeth. "Don't you understand? Love is weak. Love is meaningless."

"I've been taught to be cold. To be heartless. Love has no place in our lives." He stated.

"There is no space for love for me."

"And there never will be." he insisted.

She took her hand out, softly placing it on his cheek.

Sebastian paused at her touch. There was a tinge of pain in his eyes.

"What are you doing...?" he whispered, his lips parted in what seemed like a mixture of confusion and longing.

"I know you" she whispered "I was there, in your darkest nights, I fought with you through tragedies."

His heart skipped a beat. A sense of familiarity washed over him.

"Yes... Yes." Sebastian murmured "I remember...".

He looked at her, his eyes tracing the outline of her face in the night air.

Sebastian's lips curved into his trademark smirk, that cocky and arrogant look he often wore...

But there's a change in his tone, subtle softening.

"Yes, I remember. You fought by my side. You..."

His voice trailed off. A look of bittersweet longing washed over Sebastian.

A thought crossed his mind, it must have been something terrifying because his eyes suddenly changed.

He took his hand out, wrapping it around her throat, squeezing harshly.

She gasped as his fingers tightened around her neck, his eyes turning to pure black.

The Sebastian that she knew... was gone. All that remained was a dark wizard, devoid of emotion, ready to kill.

“Your old ‘friend’ is dead. He disappeared ages ago.” Sebastian’s voice was cold, the tone devoid of any emotion.

"That's not true" She struggled to breath, eyes shining so bright they're blinding him.

“Oh but it is.” Sebastian chuckled sadistically. She felt him tighten his grip, his nails digging into her skin.

He leaned in closer, his sharp eyes seeing so deep inside her she felt exposed.

“The old Sebastian is long gone.”

She smiled in pain, chuckling softly: "I guess I get it now.." she thought out loud.

“What’s that?” Sebastian tilted his head, his confusion growing.

His grip got tighter each time she tried to speak.

“Speak clearly…” He demanded.

"it's true what they say: I really do still love you, even with your hands around my neck", she confessed.

Sebastian was stunned into silence.

He didn’t expect her to talk back, even less to say that she loved him.

“You’re lying…” He snarled. “You don’t love me.”

She struggled to breathe, but talked nonetheless: "remember that night I was stuck in the library in the forbidden section?" she coughed.

"I was crying so loud, my claustrophobia was killing me. Then you came by, took down the door, carried me away. The morning after, I woke up in the infirmary and you were there, close to me, asleep."

She took a breath, struggling "I love you since then" she confessed.

Sebastian was at a loss for words. He stared at her, his cold eyes softening.

“Yes… I remember.” He said softly.

A flash of regret was seen in his eyes before it was quickly hidden by a cold stare.

“So we had something.” Sebastian said after a few moments.

“Do you… still love me?” He whispered this, now completely unsure of himself.

Her hands wrapped around the hand who was squeezing her throat, she mumbled: "I'm forever gonna love you".

Sebastian’s eyes met her own.

“I…”

His grip loosened, allowing her to breath.

He was struggling to find the words.

“I think that I…”

He paused. “I still love you too.” He admitted quietly.

“I just thought… you hated me now.”

His hand freed her throat immediately as she fell to her knees, breathing heavily.

His eyes darted to her figure.

“My goodness, you’re breathing poorly.” Sebastian commented, dropping down beside her.

“Are you alright?” He sounded concerned.

“I suppose… I’ve let my emotions get the better of me…” He said sheepishly, his cheeks flushing slightly.

She looked up at him: "you came here to kill me, didn't you?" she chuckled.

she regained her breath as they both stood up, "I'm sorry, Sebastian, I love you but I can't let you take my life away, not when so many people count on me".

Sebastian scoffed at these words. Even more so when she claimed that “so many people counted on her.”

“I have my orders. The dark wizards want you gone.”

He tried to keep his voice unemotional, his expression blank, but he was failing to do so. He seemed hurt.

He raised an eyebrow. “And who is it that counts on you?”

"The entire Wizarding World" she breathed in a chuckle, "even if you're the only one I care about" she confessed, her smile playful.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

“Are you telling me…” His face was still void of emotion but there was a tiny hint of confusion in his tone.

“That you care about… me?” He snickered.

“How could you care for someone as awful as me?” He asked. “I haven’t exactly been a good person.”

"you haven't" she was looking at him in the eyes again: "it's true, you haven't been good"

“I’ve committed unforgivable acts.” Sebastian muttered.

“Why would you still care about me?”

The wizard questioned with a sense of curiosity, his dark eyes meeting her own.

"The night you left, when I pleaded you to stay" she remembered with a bitter smile: "I knew the moment you looked at me that way that there was no way convincing you to stay and fight with me, so I let you go" she whispered sadly.

"I'm telling you now Sebastian, you chose a path that I intend to destroy, I love you and I always will, but I'm not letting you win, I can't".

A soft gasp escaped Sebastian’s tongue, his eyes narrowing. The cold, emotionlessness in his eyes seemed to dissipate. He seemed to be caught off-guard by her confession.

“What do you mean, ‘I can’t let you win’…” Sebastian asked, raising an eyebrow.

“this is how it is… the dark wizards…” He struggled to say his next words.

“I’m their soldier,” Sebastian stated, his voice breaking slightly.

she smiled softly "I know, orders, right?" she chuckled: "do you intend on killing me?"

Sebastian seemed to ponder this question for a moment.

“Yes.” He answered simply.

Though, his tone was devoid of any emotion. There was no hatred or evil behind his words.

He was just stating a fact.

“I have your name on my list.” He stated.

“Unfortunately, I have too many lives that I need to cross off to achieve greatness…”

She smiled again, almost amused: "you never learn..." she laughed.

Sebastian frowned.

“My goals are beyond what you could hope to understand.” He replied coldly. “My desires are not something you can comprehend.”

“But I must say, I am curious as to what you mean when you say that ‘I never learn.’”

The girl chuckled as she stared at him.

"You never wanted greatness" she spoke, "it was just something you used to fill the void you have inside of yourself. I am not your enemy, Sebastian, nor is the light, your only true enemy is yourself".

She took a deep breath, accepting defeat, her eyes burning his soul: "you can't accept what you are, you can't accept to feel week, so you keep going, you keep hurting" she diverted her gaze, looking around at the night sky, "dear god, I say you never learn!" she laughed softly again, her eyes back on him: "the day you'll stop lying to yourself, maybe, that will be the day you'll start to feel better again".

A flicker of emotion appeared in Sebastian’s eyes.

He remained speechless.

The words that she spoke struck a chord deep within his soul.

He couldn't seem to reply to them. Instead, he just took a step closer to her.

His voice soft when he spoke again.

“...So you do know me.”

"i do" she grinned "and since I know you do know me too, I bet you know I never back down from a fight" she smiled before taking a breath: "I'd give you my life Sebastian, but I can't let you win tonight, not when I am the reason so many lives can be speared".

His eye twitched, his hand clutch into a fist.

“Who do you think you are, trying to speak me into submission?” He hissed.

“Do you have any idea how many lives I’ve ended?” Sebastian roared.

“I’ve done unforgivable acts… and I have zero regrets.” He stated.

“No amount of words will change the fact that I’m just an evil wizard trying to achieve his dreams.”

She took a step forward, closing the gap in a sudden gesture, softly kissing his lips.

Sebastian’s breath got caught in his throat. He was caught off-guard by her sudden kiss.

“What… what did you just…”

His eyes darted back to hers. A slight blush washed over his face.

“Don’t you know the danger you’re in?” He whispered, his voice urgent. “You do know that I need to kill you… right?”

She smiled softly, "I know".

Sebastian paused for a few moments.

His hands come up to her waist, his eyes locked onto hers.

“Damn you…” He muttered quietly.

Then, he leaned in close again. His hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her tight to his body. His lips found hers again. He was kissing her hungrily now.

“I’ll admit… I don’t want to kill you.” He whispered after the kiss, his lips brushing over hers.

“But… but this is my duty.”

She smiled before moving away from him.

"I love you" Sebastian confessed, he sounded almost desperate.

His words seemed to catch him by surprise as he looked back at her, shocked.

"I hate that I love you," He breathed out then.

"I know" she said, "I know you do" she caressed his soft brown hair, "and that's enough" she mumbled, taking a step back and disappearing into nothingness.

Sebastian’s eyes trailed after her, his body trembling at the sudden silence.

“I… I…” He seemed to want to say something else, but the words got stuck in his throat.

He was left with the taste of his lover’s lips on his own. A smile washed over his face as he thought about the moment the two shared together.

“Dear god I'm a weak man.” He whispered to himself, to the night sky “I… I can’t kill her…”

© 2023 of Mia (arosesstorm). All Rights Reserved.

#hogwarts #gryffindor #hufflepuff #ravenclaw #slytherin #wizarding world #hogwarts houses #hogwarts oc #hogwarts mystery #hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry #hogwarts legacy #sebastian sallow #imagine #fanfic #sebastian sallow x mc #hogwarts legacy mc #ominis x mc #hogwarts legacy fanart #ominis gaunt #sebastian sallow ai #sebastian sallow headcanon #sebastian sallow x reader #hogwarts legacy ominis #sebastian sallow x you #hogwarts legacy fanfic #hogwarts legacy sebastian #garreth weasley #anne sallow #hogwarts legacy fandom #mc

[maelstroumwaterfall]

Merula Snyde's design for my hp fanfic (mostly based on hogwarts mystery) 🥲

I've never drawn full body arts before so she's kinda small 😅 but I still like how she looks in this outfit

#harry potter #hp fandom #merula snyde #hogwarts mystery #hp #art #digital art #infection au #fanfic #hp fanfic #apocalypse #harry potter fandom #harry potter fanart #hp fanart #hogwarts mystery merula #hogwarts mystery fanart #digital artist

[libellule-ao3]

Hello, and welcome!

This blog is now sufficiently developed for me to organise it a little! 😁

I'm a reader and writer of fanfiction, active since 2020 on AO3 in the HP, HP Hogwarts Mystery and, more recently, HP Hogwarts Legacy fandoms. I'm used to commenting on all the fanfiction I read, which probably explains why I don't read much. 😅

Below you'll find my fanfictions, my character profiles, etc.

I like the idea that fanfiction is all about sharing, excitement, and good times. So please feel free to contact me with any requests or questions about my stories/characters.

✅️ = Completed fanfiction

⚠️🤜 = Graphic depictions of violence

🔞🔥 = Smut

All my fanfiction can be found on AO3.

And those tagged "🔞🔥" are published exclusively there.

☆ Obsession |✅��|🔞🔥| Dark!Dominis/You-F!Reader | 20,800 words

After Hogwarts, Ominis Gaunt embarks on a journey of introspection to gain perspective on his life. Haunted by your promise, which he ignored at the time, he returns to London a year later and discovers your new intimacy with Sebastian. No matter! For Ominis, you must honour the promise he never asked of you. Whether you like it or not.

Gorgeous fanart🥰 offered by tamayula-hl ⬇️

☆ In Mrs Gaunt's Nightgown | 🔞🔥|Ominis Gaunt/You-F!Reader

Like all young women, your friend Adelia dreamed of a loving union.But like most pure-blooded witches, she found herself trapped in an arranged marriage. However, she sees a clause in her marriage contract that offers her a way out... and you are the key.

☆ Lullaby for Cursed Seeds | 🔞🔥 | ⚠️🤜 | Ominis Gaunt/Evelyne Lavandin (EVINIS)

Ominis Gaunt, the dissenting pure-blood wizard, struggles to blossom in the sinister shadow of his family's Manor House. Evelyne Lavandin, the Muggle-born, is a witch who has been uprooted since she was torn from her home. Two characters and two solitudes that everything separates. Their past has almost nothing in common. Their present brings them together, but not closer. Could their future make them love each other?This two-shot follows the lives of two wizards destined to meet.

☆ Wild Surrender |✅️|🔞🔥| Sebastian Sallow/You-F!Reader + Garreth Weasley/you) | 3,400 words

Sebastian doesn't want you! And although he has kissed you passionately in what he calls a moment of weakness, he never misses an opportunity to remind you of it. For Garreth, this rejection is too ostentatious to be sincere and he decides to help you force Sebastian to reveal himself.

☆ The Snake's Duality |✅️|🔞| ⚠️🤜 | Dark!Seb Sallow/Ominis Gaunt, ambiguous relationship | 2,050 words

Sebastian has just been released from Azkaban after more than three years in prison. 1 223 days to be exact. His first instinct is to find Ominis, whose weekly letters rekinkled in extremis his desire to live, drained by the dementors, and he realise that a shadow reeking of malevolence is following him like a shadow.

☆ Veins of time |✅️| Leila Sae-OFC & Evelyne Lavandin-OFC (Written for the Secret Magic Santa 2023)| 2,147 words

Leila Sae receives a diary to fill in for posterity. This raises a few questions.

☆ Late Bloom |✅️| Mirabel Garlick/OFC | 1,060 words

After the shared night with Viviane, Mirabel reflects on the path that led them to this intimate moment, anticipating the challenges of their future together.

☆ In the Shadow of Midnight Confessions for silverxstardust |✅️| Sebastian Sallow/You | 3,400 words

When Sebastian met you in the Slytherin common room, you didn't expect to receive such a confession. Nevertheless, it explains a lot.

☆ HC: Ominis' wand + Sebastian's wand

☆ HC: Some Hogwarts Legacy characters & their MBTI types

☆ HC: Ominis Gaunt/NSFW Alphabet | M |

☆ HC: Ominis, his eyes and his experience as a blind wizard

☆ HC: Dark!Ominis/NSFW Alphabet

Meet: Evelyne Lavandin (OFC- Hogwarts Legacy)

HL Fanarts: [HERE]

My Doodles: SMUT Ominis/Evelyne (Evinis), Ominis Gaunt [here], Ominis as a child [here], Dark!Ominis & blinfolded woman

☆ Jae Kim's bets |🔞 🔥| ⚠️🤜| Jae Kim/Annie Thorn | 59,109 words

When Jacob's sister makes a stupid bet to motivate him during the chore of washing dishes imposed by Pitts, she has no idea what she's getting into. Indeed, Jae Kim is a particularly mischievous boy, with much naughtier aims than she imagined. Will their little games strengthen their friendship, destroy it or lead to a romantic relationship?

☆ Life Links | T | Second war against Voldemort from the POV of the hphm characters |

The members of the Circle of Khanna, an underground student organisation dedicated to bringing justice to their murdered comrade, have grown up. Since graduating, some of them have never left each other's side, while others never thought they would see each other again. Yet as the final battle against Voldemort looms, only one question remains. How will the links forged yesterday influence the battle of Hogwarts?

☆ Are flowers counted? |✅️|Jae Kim&Annie Thorn | 1,000 words

For the first time in 100 years, Phyllida's Flutterby bushes will bloom at Hogwarts. This is an exceptional event which, by chance of the calendar, falls on Valentine's Day.

☆ Skating Lesson |✅️| Jae Kim&Annie Thorn | 1,000 words

☆ Broken Promise |✅️ | Jacob&Annie&Peregrine | 3,897 words

☆ Little Sheninagans | T |✅️| Merula Snyde/Quinn Lee) for Eternalchocolaterain => [on Tumblr] 1,060 words

Meet Annie Thorn (MC) & Jacob Thorn

Doodles: Jae Kim/MC-Annie Thorn : Kiss on her cheek: [here] - King of pumpkin pasties: [here] - masquerade: [here] - 2 in one hoodie: [here] - kiss: [here] Portrait of Jae as an adult: [here]

Jae, Ben, Charlie, Levi, Rowan and Annie in Charms Class: [here]

☆ From Monster to Brother | ✅️ | ⚠️🤜 | Gaara&Temari&Kankurō&Baki | 13 690 words

Fanfiction about how Gaara reconnected with Temari and Kankurō after the Konoha Crush.

Thanks to everyone who likes, reblogs and comments on my stuff! 🫶🫶🫶

#masterlist #hphm #hogwarts mystery #hphm fic #harry potter hogwarts mystery #hogwartslegacy #hogwarts legacy fanfiction #naruto #gaara fanfic #Ominis gaunt #ominis gaunt smut #ominis gaunt fic #jae kim x mc #sebastian sallow #garreth weasley #sebinis #gauntlow #sebastian x ominis #gaara of the desert #naruto manga #mirabel garlick #Evinis

[the-al-chemist]

Shoreside Conversations

A/N: @drinkyoursoupbitch’s idea to restart Worldbuiding Wednesday was one of her best yet (and she has many great ideas). It’s brought a little fun back into writing, and this little short story has been incredibly fun to work on. Based on this prompt from the First Lady of Soup herself:

Warnings: mild innuendo, severely bad lying.

The spring evening was light but cool, with the sky turning a rosy shade of pink and the crescent moon starting to rise before the sun had finished setting. Outside, a gentle breeze was blowing, but it couldn’t reach the interior of the seaside restaurant where, at a table by the window, three witches were chatting over a bottle of fizzy wine.

The wizarding community of Great Britain had been at peace for almost a year, but Artemis’ friend Penny had only recently returned to England, having escaped to France with her young family when the war first broke out. Penny had always been a social butterfly, and so neither Artemis nor Chiara had been surprised when she had invited them both for dinner at the Italian restaurant that had opened near her family’s beach house in Cornwall less than a week after she had come home.

”It’s just wonderful to see you two again,” Penny told the pair of them, almost breathless over the top of her wine glass. “I’ve really missed you both.”

“We’ve missed you, too.”

“So,” continued Penny. She had that all-too-familiar expression on her face, the one she always had whenever she was hunting for gossip. “What’s new with you?”

Artemis had never known Chiara to be the first in a group to speak up, so she volunteered up a piece of information about her life. “I’ve started a new job.”

“Another one?” Penny’s eyebrows shot up, but she quickly regained her composure. “I mean, that’s good. What are you doing now?”

“I’m a case investigator for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.”

“And? Are you enjoying it?”

“Yeah.” Artemis nodded. “I am, actually.”

She was half-expecting Penny to ask her more questions — more personal questions, at that — but Penny had decided it was Chiara’s turn.

“What about you, Chiara? How is work? How are things with Jae?”

“Work is… busy,” said Chiara, her voice as soft and lilting as Artemis had always known it to be. “But, St Mungo’s have welcomed me back without kicking up a fuss about the whole” — she lowered her voice to the point that she almost mouthed the words — “werewolf issue.” Her lips pursed slightly before she spoke normally again. “And things with Jae are good. Never better, really. Actually, he asked me to marry him last weekend.”

Across the table, Artemis could see that Penny was almost vibrating with excitement.

“Oh, my goodness,” she said. “Did you say yes?”

Chiara’s mouth curved into a shy smile. “I did.”

Artemis braced herself for Penny’s squeal just in time. A couple at the neighbouring table looked over, clearly concerned, and Artemis shrugged apologetically at them before congratulating Chiara. Penny, apparently too excited to sit still, rose from her chair and half-leapt around the perimeter of their own table to hug their friend. In her excitement, she knocked the handbag she had hung on the back of her chair, causing a tiny glass bottle to fall out of it.

Before anyone had a chance to catch the bottle, it plummeted to the ground and broke with a tiny, high-pitched smash. Immediately, the air was filled with a smell that was overpowering, intoxicating, and overwhelmingly pleasant. Artemis breathed in the scent, feeling both more relaxed and invigorated as she did so. Across the table, Penny’s blue eyes widened into circles and the colour rose in her cheeks.

“Oh, no. Oh, dear.”

“Don’t worry, Pen,” Artemis said. “If anything, the place smells much better now.”

It really did. Whatever had spilled out onto the floor smelt good, at once sweet and salty, smokey and earthy, and…

“Penny.” Chiara’s voice cut into Artemis’ thoughts. She had one palm placed to her nose, and above her hand her usually pale cheeks were flushed and her pupils fractionally dilated. “Is that what I think it is?”

Artemis had no clue what Chiara thought the little bottle had contained, but her suspicions were clearly correct, because Penny nodded her head sheepishly. Chiara sighed, though whether it was out of satisfaction or exasperation, Artemis couldn’t tell.

“Merlin, I haven’t smelt that since sixth year Potions class,” muttered Chiara.

Not having taken Potions classes past her fifth year, Artemis was still none the wiser. “What? What is it?”

“It’s Amortentia.”

“Amortentia?”

Penny shushed Artemis whilst looking over both shoulders.

“It really isn’t what it looks like,” she whispered. Artemis and Chiara exchanged glances.

“I think it matters more what it smells like, to be honest,” said Artemis. “What are you doing carrying a vial of Amortentia around in your handbag?”

“Well, technically it isn’t actually Amortentia. It’s a perfume made with Amortentia. They’re very popular in Paris, you know. I’m actually writing an article about it for the next edition of the S.O.U.P. Quarterly.”

“For the what quarterly?”

“The Society of Occupational Unctioneers and Potioneers. It’s for anyone who works in the potions industry, or in a line of work where potions are needed for use. Actually, Chiara, you may be interested in joining. We are always looking for new members, and…”

“And what about the Amortentia?”

“Oh, I’ve been asked to write a guest piece for the Society journal. It’s the first time, and I’m rather excited about it, actually,” Penny explained. “I thought the perfume would be really interesting to write about, seeing as it’s not such a common thing to see over here yet, but now that the war is over, I’m certain that it will become rather fashionable.” Her eyes had lit up. Perhaps it was because she was talking about her favourite subject, or it might have been the effect of the Amortentia on the floor. “How it works is, they put the Amortentia into the perfume, and when it’s worn it makes the wearer more… Well, you know, appealing.”

By the time Penny had finished talking, her cheeks were pinker than Artemis had ever seen them, and the couple at the next table were paying so much attention to one another that they hadn’t noticed the waiter who was trying to take their orders.

“I think it works, you know.”

The three witches looked across at the couple before silently giggling into their wine glasses.

“Maybe we should all start wearing it,” suggested Chiara. She was clearly joking, but Penny nodded in earnest.

“I have some samples I’m using for the article, you can have them when I’m finished.”

“Oh, you really don’t have to—”

“Don’t be silly, it’s no problem at all. I’ll just owl them to you. You too, Artemis.” Before Artemis could protest, Penny continued, “You’ll be glad of them once you meet someone.”

Artemis almost choked on her wine. She composed herself as best as she could before responding, “Yeah. Maybe. Thanks.”

She had assumed that her answer would be vague enough to not arouse attention, but it appeared that she had underestimated Penny Haywood.

“You’ve already met someone?”

“No,” Artemis said quickly. Too quickly.

“Oh, my goodness. Who?”

”No one.” When Penny pursed her lips in blatant disbelief, Artemis sighed. “No one that you’d know.”

“You never know, I might know them,” said Penny. She had a point, Artemis realised. Penny’s list of acquaintances was never-ending. “So, what’s his name?”

There was no way out of this, Artemis could tell. Still, she couldn’t help but scan the room looking for an exit. As her eyes wandered, they happened to land on the name badge of the waiter serving the neighbouring table.

“Mario.”

“Mario?”

”Yeah, Mario.” Artemis nodded definitely. “His name is Mario.”

Penny frowned. “I don’t think I know anyone called Mario. Is he someone you work with?”

“Yeah. Well, sort of,” Artemis corrected herself. Penny was bound to know one of her colleagues — or, if not, she would at least know someone else who did — and she wouldn’t have put it past her friend to ask others about Mario. “He’s a Magizoologist, but he doesn’t work for the Ministry. He lives abroad usually.”

That wasn’t entirely untruthful, and even Chiara seemed half-convinced. Artemis took a sip of wine in order to hide her face behind the glass.

“So, what does he look like?” asked Penny. “Tall, dark, and handsome?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Just your type, then.”

Artemis wrinkled her nose. “Is it?”

“Well, yes.” Penny laughed, but she still wasn’t finished with her interrogation. “So, how long have you been seeing him? Have you talked about the future yet? Are you worried about how it’s going to work out, what with him living abroad and you living here?”

The room suddenly felt very hot. Artemis shuffled in her seat, trying to quench her sudden need for movement. Her chest had tightened uncomfortably, but she hid the sensation by shaking her head and laughing.

“Calm down, Pen,” she said, as breezily as she could muster. “It’s not like that.”

“Not like what?”

“I dunno. I guess I just don’t think the Mario thing is… It’s not very serious. At all. You don’t need to think too much about Mario. Forget I ever said anything about Mario.”

The look on Penny’s face made it clear that she was disappointed, but Chiara smiled gently.

“As long as you’re happy, Artemis,” she said. “That’s the main thing, isn’t it, Penny?”

”Oh, yes. Yes, as long as you’re happy.”

“Thanks.” Artemis put her glass down. “Anyway, Chiara, you’re going to have a wedding…”

It was the perfect distraction. Penny sat up so straight in her seat that her buttocks almost seemed to hover above it, and turned her attention wholly to Chiara. Artemis sat back in her own chair and let the other two women talk, letting the pitter-patter of conversation wash over her. It was familiar and warming to sit and chat with her friends, as long as she didn’t allow herself to think too much about the moments when Rowan would have said something wry and clever, or Tonks something witty and outrageous, if either of them had been there to say anything at all.

By the time she and her friends left the little seaside restaurant, Artemis’ head was fuzzy with the mixture of wine, Amortentia perfume, and thoughts of those who were and always would be missing. She Apparated back to Bill’s house, nestled in the dunes of another Cornish beach, and found Charlie sitting on the sand, setting fire to a small pile of driftwood without even using his wand.

“What are you doing?”

Charlie did not even look up from the driftwood. “I’m making a fire.”

“Without me?”

“I’ve been waiting for you to get back.” Charlie shrugged. “Do you want to grab some drinks and snacks, or have you had enough at dinner?”

Artemis probably had had enough, but she couldn’t see any harm in a little more. She snuck into the house and took a half-full bottle of Firewhiskey, two mugs, and a packet of marshmallows from the kitchen before returning to the beach. Charlie had succeeded in lighting his Muggle fire, and she sat beside him, watching the flames flicker against the indigo backdrop of the sky and sea.

“How were Penny and Chiara?” asked Charlie, as Artemis poured him a glass of Firewhiskey.

“Good.”

“And the dinner?”

“Tasty.” Artemis held out the marshmallows to Charlie in way of an offering, but he declined them with a wave of his hand. She pierced a marshmallow with her wand and held it over the fire, where the flames licked at the sides of it. “It felt strange, it just being the three of us.”

“I’ll bet.” Charlie glanced at her. “You want to talk about it?”

There wasn’t much more to say about it than that, so Artemis shook her head. Charlie nodded his own, and in silence, lay down on his back. Artemis kicked off her boots and let her bare toes dig into the sand.

“Oh, guess what? Jae and Chiara are getting married.”

Artemis had expected some sort of surprise or excitement from Charlie, but he gave her neither. Instead, he only said:

“So, he finally got around to asking her then?”

“Wait, you knew he was going to ask her?”

“Yeah, he’s been planning on it for months. He’s told me about it every time I’ve seen him.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

Charlie shrugged. “It wasn’t my news to tell.”

“I guess that’s fair enough,” said Artemis. “Just so you know, if Jae mentions anything next time you see him, I have a new boyfriend called Mario.”

Slowly, Charlie lifted his head from the sand. He turned his face towards Artemis, his eyebrows knitted in confusion. “I’m sorry?”

“Penny asked me if I was seeing anyone,” Artemis explained. “And I told her I wasn’t, but she could tell I was lying—”

“Shocking.”

“— so I just told her I was going out with a guy called Mario.”

“Of course, that’s what anyone would do in that situation,” said Charlie, completely straight-faced. He propped himself up onto his elbows. “And what did you tell them about this Mario?”

“Not much, just that he is a Magizoologist and that he’s tall and good-looking.” Artemis glanced across at Charlie, who was looking at her with his eyebrows furrowed. “But it’s not anything serious.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” Charlie blinked and shook his head. “And, they believed all of this…”

“I think so? I mean, I changed the subject pretty quickly. Penny was happy to talk about Chiara’s wedding and this soup club she’s joined.”

“A soup club? As in the food?”

“No, it’s for potion people. She’s writing an article about Amortentia for their journal and spilled some on the floor of the restaurant. You wouldn’t believe how much it smelt.”

“I would,” said Charlie. “I still remember when Jae made a cauldron full of the stuff in our dormitory in fifth year.”

“He made that in your dormitory?”

Charlie nodded. “Oh, yeah. Stunk the place out for weeks.”

“I mean, at least Amortentia smells good,” Artemis reasoned.

“True, but it did make for quite a few awkward mornings, if you know what I mean…”

In a way, Artemis wished she didn’t know what Charlie meant, but she couldn’t help but laugh at the look on his face.

“What did you think it smelt like?” she asked him. “The Amortentia?”

Charlie’s eyes narrowed. “That’s a very personal question.”

“Good job that we are very personal friends.”

Artemis raised her eyebrows at Charlie, whose lips twitched and eyes looked out over the sea in the distance.

“A few different things, really,” he said. “Sort of like the garden back at home, and a bit like the air after bonfire night, though that might have been because of him setting the bottom of the cauldron on fire. And it smelt like Christmas.”

“Christmas?”

“Hmm. Like pine trees and… marzipan? It was very sweet and a bit nutty.” Charlie glanced at Artemis. “Yeah, it was nuts, alright.”

There was a look of mischief in his eyes that made Artemis roll her own. Charlie laughed softly to himself.

“And you?” he asked. “What did it smell like to you?”

Artemis frowned as she tried to remember the smell of the Amortentia, and found the scent easier to recall than she had thought it would be. It was as if the smell of the perfume had lingered in the air around her all the way back to Shell Cottage, but then, that might have been because of the salty breeze rolling in from the sea, the Firewhiskey in her glass, the leather of her boots discarded on the sand beside her, the marshmallow toasting on the end of her wand.

“I guess it sort of smelt like this.”

Charlie smiled, and Artemis popped her toasted marshmallow into her mouth before lying down on the sand beside him, face up towards the stars.

#artemis hexley #hogwarts mystery #hphm fic #penny haywood #chiara lobosca #charlie weasley #wbw #hp fanfic #🍲 #amortentia

[eternalchaoschocolaterain]

I'm going to do something new for me and post my story here too. See how it goes.

For those who play beyond, this takes place between the last time MC sees Merula in seventh year and the first time they see her again in beyond.

Chapter two I'd hire me

Chapter three: No cure for me

The Most Powerful Waitress

Summary: Merula is convinced that now that she has left Hogwarts she gets to make herself into the legend she deserves to be, but life after Hogwarts is not as easy as she thinks.

Fair warning that Quinn is very soppy, especially this chapter.

01. School's out

No more Hogwarts, fucking finally! Merula looked out the window of the Hogwarts Express and breathed a sigh of relief when it left Hogsmeade station.

Those seven years had been challenging to say the least. Even though she was the Most Powerful Witch and could obviously handle anything, she was more than glad to put an end to this chapter of her life.

No more R, dangerous family members, deadly teachers, useless headmasters and best of all: no more secrets and lies. After a much-needed break she would show the wizarding world how fucking powerful she really was. No one would ever dare to mess with her again. She’d get to create her own life, make her own name.

‘I am never coming back here.’

Merula looked away from the window to Ismelda. Ismelda leaned against Ben Copper, her boyfriend of four months; a large white, blonde guy. On her other side sat Beatrice, an even blonder and whiter fourteen-year-old girl who had been following Ismelda around like a cruppy for the past two years. They shared a compartment for six and the three of them occupied the seats across from Merula. Her trunk occupied the seats next to her.

Beatrice made a face at Ismelda’s words. ‘I’m so jealous. I wish I could leave this wretched school. I can’t believe my parents are still forcing me back here after all that happened. I’ll forever be the girl who got stuck in a portrait.’

Not this conversation again. Merula stifled a groan, rummaged through her trunk until she found one of the books she was currently reading and lost herself in it.

‘Ben there you are!’ A high pitch voice sounded out and Merula didn’t need to look up to know who it belonged to: Beatrice’s older sister, Penny Haywood. Much to Merula’s displeasure Haywood moved her trunk so she could sit on her side, though she did sit at the opposite end. Her eyes were red-rimmed as if she’d been crying, which she probably had. Haywood had been crying a lot the past days.

‘I’ve been looking all over the train for you. I still can’t believe you’re leaving tomorrow.’

‘Don’t worry, I would’ve come over to say goodbye.’ Copper reassured her.

‘It feels like everyone is leaving,’ Haywood sighed. ‘You to America, Charlie to Romania, Diego and Orion will be traveling and Quinn’s going on a retreat. Everything’s changing so fast. It feels like we were first-years yesterday and now we have to start looking for jobs.’ She paused and looked at Merula. ‘You know, I still don’t know what you’re going to do. I asked Quinn but she didn’t know either.’

‘Why would Lee know what I would be doing?’

‘Because you’re dating? I mean you’ve been together at every ball since fourth year.’

Merula’s face flushed and she gritted her teeth. ‘So? We like to dance together, that doesn’t mean shit.’

Haywood pursed her lips and the others shared looks of annoyed disbelief. Merula bit back a snide remark. Whatever she and Quinn did was no one’s business.

‘Alright, so what are you going to do?’

Since Haywood didn’t press, Merula let up a bit and smirked. ‘I don’t know yet. I have a lot of options, everyone wants the Most Powerful Witch to work for them.’

‘Really? That’s great! Is curse-breaking one of them?’

‘Fuck no, I’ve been curse-breaking for seven years, I’ve seen enough.’

‘I understand.’ Haywood gave her a sympathetic look, which made Merula want to push her off her seat. ‘What about you Ismelda?’

‘None of your business, Haywood.’ Ismelda rolled her eyes, though only one was visible behind her black hair.

‘Oh, right.’ Haywood rubbed her hands on her legs. An awkward silence fell over the compartment.

‘How about we go to the others?’ Copper suggested. When Haywood nodded, he got up and looked at Ismelda. ‘See you later.’

‘Yes, later.’ Ismelda’s lips curved a bit when she looked at him.

Beatrice looked at Ismelda and Merula. Ismelda gave her a shrug and Merula raised an eyebrow at her. Couldn’t the child think for herself? Luckily, she got up and trailed after Haywood and Copper.

Merula turned her attention back to her book, but she had barely started a sentence when Ismelda made her look up again.

‘I thought you were done with lying?’

‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘You and Lee. Everyone knows you’re dating.’

That again. She snapped her book shut. ‘What’s it to you what Lee and I are or aren’t doing together? At least I’m not running off to America with her after only four months of dating!’

‘Four and a half! And I’m not following him.’ Ismelda hissed. ‘But you’re right, I should just let you simmer in whatever mess you created.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?!’

‘Your girlfriend has some serious issues. If she had half a braincell she would’ve dumped you with all the lying. By Morgana, you even kidnapped her!’

‘Only because I had to. She wouldn’t stop prying. I told her not to. I tried to protect her, but she never listens!’ Merula sighed. ‘I wanted to sort things out, make them right before it got worse.’

‘I know.’ Ismelda’s face softened a bit.

A silence fell between them and Merula fidgeted with her book. Her mind raced. Sure she and Quinn had some issues, but that made sense right? With Quinn’s desperate need to find her brother in the Cursed Vaults Merula’s need to find power in those same vaults. Add on R and their need to get into the vaults… Yeah, nothing about their time at Hogwarts had been normal.

And, well, part of it was her fault, she should’ve never let her aunt manipulate her into joining R. She hurt her friends, kidnapped Quinn and lied to everyone. At the time she thought working with her aunt would make things better, would enable her to protect herself and others. She had never been more wrong. All her aunt wanted was to use her and when she realised this, she stood up against her. With her help her aunt was captured and would now spend the rest of her life in Azkaban. That had to count for something, right?

‘I lied to you too and got you in the hospital wing. What does that say about us?’

‘That both of us have issues, but I’m not denying it.’ Ismelda smirked. ‘Maybe you shouldn’t either.’

Merula let out what she hoped sounded like a chuckle, but felt more like a bitter laugh. Thankfully Ismelda changed the subject by showing her a book Copper had given her before getting on the train: A comprehensive guide to the rarest museum artefacts in the United States.

They got interrupted when the Trolley Witch came by to offer them some sweets. Merula got herself a cauldron cake and had half a mind to get an acid pop, except Ismelda knew she didn’t like them and who did. Since she knew getting one would get her into a discussion again, she didn’t. She could get Quinn all the acid pops she wanted later. Later, when she’d made her own name. When people wouldn’t think about kidnappings, or R when they looked at her. When people realised she wasn’t such a bad person after all. Later, when everything was better. Because it would be. Everything would be so much better now.

After the Trolley Witch left she and Ismelda talked about future plans until Beatrice returned and the three of them played a few games of Exploding Snap. When the train finally arrived in London, they waited for others to get off first. Neither of them liked crowds. Beatrice’s expression turned sour when she watched their schoolmates walk together on the platform. Merula felt a wave of compassion when she looked at her. The poor girl had been through a lot and couldn’t connect to her peers because of it. She nudged her with her foot.

‘Owl me whenever you get sick of those numbskulls. We can meet up in Hogsmeade if you like.’

Beatrice’s face brightened and she nodded.

The three of them got out when the platform was empty again and made their way to the front gate, where the guard regulated the exists. Haywood stood near the guard, talking to a tall redhead who Merula pointedly didn’t look at, and waved at Beatrice. Her eyes were redder and puffier than before. Beatrice looked at Merula and Ismelda and said a quick goodbye. She made a move to leave, but Ismelda caught her in a hug and whispered something. Beatrice smiled when she let go.

Merula looked at Ismelda in surprise. Her expression was as stone-faced as ever, but her eyes were a tad shinier than usual. ‘You’re really going to miss her.’

‘Maybe a little.’ Ismelda shrugged. ‘Anyway, I’ll owl you when I’ve settled a bit.’

‘I’ll come visit when I can.’

‘Good.’

A crack sounded over the platform when Ismelda disapparated and Merula’s stomach squeezed. Ismelda was the only person who had stood by her from the start and now she would be in the US for the foreseeable future. She took a deep breath, she would be fine. She’d get a job, be recognized for her powers and all would be well.

‘A longsleeve and a leather jacket? You must be freezing in this sunny weather!’

Her stomach did a whole other squeeze when she recognized the lively voice. With a quick spin she faced Quinn, who wore a yellow cropped top and red shorts. Her curls fell over her shoulders from a high ponytail. So, maybe Merula did dress a little warm for the weather, but she liked being warm. Quinn held out her arm with a grin.

‘Ready for the retreat?’

Instead of hooking their arms together, Merula had a look around the platform. When she confirmed they were the only ones left, she wrapped her arms around Quinn and rested her head against her collarbone. Quinn’s familiar foresty smell, with hints of juniper and pine, comforted Merula. Without a word Quinn returned the hug. They stood in silence for a good few moments before Merula unwrapped one arm to get her trunk.

‘Now I’m ready.’

After Quinn got her trunk, Merula apparated both of them away.

Her feet were barely on the ground when Quinn scooped her up and carried her towards the front door. Merula yelped, which made Quinn laugh. The sound sent a flutter through her and she pressed closer against Quinn, looking over her shoulder to make sure the trunks followed them. Quinn carried her all the way through the living room into the large overgrown back garden. She gently lowered Merula into the grass and laid down beside her. Her breath tingled against Merula’s lips when she spoke.

‘I’m so glad we’re finally on summer break. Just you and me for the next four weeks.’

‘Unless I get tired of you before that.’

‘Of course,’ Quinn chuckled. ‘I’m just really glad to leave Hogwarts behind. Now that everything’s over we can finally lead some normal lives.’

‘It better not be boring though.’

‘Life with you could never be boring.’

Her jaw clenched. No, boring wasn’t a word anyone would use for their time together.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Rula…’

The simple word held a plea, but sounded almost disappointed as well. Fuck. ‘Ismelda says you’re only with me because you’ve got serious issues.’

‘Oh.’ Quinn furrowed her brow. ‘Andre said something like that too, about me having issues.’

She fell silent and Merula plucked at the grass between them, fighting the urge to apologize again. If Quinn didn’t still have that faraway thinking look of hers, she would’ve. She kept plucking at the grass until Quinn finally spoke again.

‘I suppose I understand. One has to be mad to want someone who lied so much. And you did kind of kidnap me. Sort of. Thing is, you make me happy. Really happy. Our dates were one of the few things I could look forward too, especially after Rowan died. You’re so sweet and caring and you’re the best at planning dates. You challenge me. You never act like I’m some hero, but you still make me feel special and loved. So I don’t care if I’m mad for staying with you. I love you and I don’t want to lose you too. I’ve lost enough already.’

A mixture of emotions overwhelmed Merula, constricted her throat and she scooted closer to bury her head in Quinn’s neck. Quinn wrapped an arm around her and stroked her back.

Quinn obviously ignored the bad parts, but she didn’t blame her. Their dates had been an escape for her too. Whenever it was the two of them, they just laughed, teased each other, made out, talked about quidditch, school work or music. Anything but the Vaults, or R.

When she looked up, Quinn had this sweet loving smile on her face. A warm feeling spread through her, pushing everything else aside. It didn’t matter why Quinn kept dating her, she never wanted this to end.

Her voice sounded hoarse from emotion. ‘I don’t want to lose you either. I care so much about you.’

She took a deep breath. ‘What do you think is going to happen to us now that we have to pretend to be normal adults?’

‘I say we’ll get married and have eight kids.’

By Morgana, she looked serious too. Well, if Merula needed any more confirmation that her girlfriend was mad, this would certainly count. ‘Eight kids?! You better carry them because I won’t.’

‘So you agree?’ Quinn’s green eyes crinkled behind her glasses.

Despite herself Merula couldn’t help but smile back. ‘No!’

She pushed her shoulder, but Quinn was quick to grab her wrists and get on top of her. She tickled her until Merula had tears in her eyes from laughing. Only after Merula issued some proper threats did Quinn stop and ended it with a kiss. She tasted like acid pops.

When they let go to catch their breath, Merula felt light and giggly. Everything would be so much better now.

#hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery fanfic #merula snyde #quinn lee #merula x mc #merula x quinn #quirula #the most powerful waitress

[liamfox]

#

#gellert grindelwald #grindelwald x reader #crimes of grindelwald #grindelwald art #fanfic #hp art #durmstrang #hogwarts mystery #hogwarts aesthetic

[alice-beaumont-ravenclaw]

Of Threats and Persuasions

A/N #1: Fic #2 of the Quidditch series is here! After reviewing it countless times, I think it is ready to come out into the world. (I'm sure I'll read it in a month and still spot a typo...) I hope you enjoy it!

KC belongs to @kc-and-co

As Alice lay asleep in her bed, she felt like someone was watching her. She turned on her side, but the sensation only increased. She slowly opened her eyes, noticing the only light in the room came from Rowan’s candle. The next thing she saw made her fall out of her bed with a yelp.

“Andre! What the bloomin’ hell are you doing here?” she exclaimed, getting up from the floor as her roommates jerked up from their slumber. 

“What is it?” asked Rowan as she tried to feel for her glasses on her nightstand.

“It’s Andre traumatizing Alice at an ungodly hour,” grumbled Tulip, letting her head fall back onto her pillow.

“I still don’t understand how he can access our dorm,” pondered Badeea.

“Never mind that! He was staring at me while I slept, like some sort of creep!” yelled Alice, throwing one of her slippers at Andre, who barely dodged it.

He looked at the thrown slipper land before turning back to Alice, beaming. “That’s exactly why I’m here!”

“Her slipper?” asked Rowan, looking at the slipper lying on the floor.

Alice glared at Andre. “What is it with you and my clothes?” 

“What? No! I’m not here about the slipper! I’m here because you threw that slipper at me and your shoe at Merula yesterday,” said Andre, raising his hands in self-defence.

“Are you here to tell me you plan to report me to Flitwick? At,” she looked at the clock on her nightstand, “5:05 AM?”

Tulip sat up in her bed. “If you woke us up just to tell us you plan on being a bloody snitch, I will put so many dungbombs in your trunk, you’ll never be able to remove the stench from your clothes.”

“Can you just listen to me for a second?” exclaimed Andre, sitting at the edge of Alice’s bed. “I just came up with an idea to save our house’s Quidditch team’s chances of winning the Cup.”

“The Quidditch cup? But what does that have to do with me?”

“You know one of our chasers got injured yesterday and won’t be able to play for the rest of the season, right?”

“Hum, yes.”

“Well, I want you to take his place. I want you to be our new chaser.”

Alice stares at Andre, blinking. “Say what now?” 

“You have a great throw and a great aim, as you just demonstrated.”

“That doesn’t mean I’d be a decent Chaser.”

“You’re also great on a broom. I saw you during our flying classes.”

“Yeah, about that….”

“And McNully thinks you have a good chance of becoming a pretty decent Chaser before our match against Slytherin.”

“Well, if McNully says it,” chimed in Rowan as Alice headed for the bathroom.

“I don’t care what McNully or anyone says. I’m not going to play Quidditch,” said Alice, slamming the bathroom door behind her.

Andre stared at the closed door as the three other girls just looked at him. 

“So…” started saying Tulip, “are you going to leave now? Or are you planning to watch us all go back to sleep?”

“Tulip!” exclaimed Badeea and Rowan.

“No, she’s right. I’ll go. Need to think of another strategy, anyway,” said Andre with a sigh as he headed for the door leading to the staircase.

“Do you really think you’ll be able to convince her?” asked Rowan, pushing her glasses up her nose.

“Honestly? I don’t know, but I won’t give up so easily,” he said before closing the door behind him.

Andre sat down in front of McNully and KC as they ate their breakfast.

“So, any luck convincing the Curse-Breaker to join our team?” asked McNully.

“Our?” replied KC with a smirk. “Again, aren’t you supposed to be impartial?”

“In the commenter’s box. Outside, I’m a loud and proud Ravenclaw.”

KC shook her head, smiling as she took a sip of her coffee.

“One thing we all know is that he’s not impartial to his Rising Star,” said Andre. “But to answer your question, no, I haven’t. She doesn’t seem at all that keen to play Quidditch.”

“Not that I have anything against Alice Beaumont,” started saying KC as she placed her cup down, “but why do you want her to join the team? I mean, maybe there’s someone better suited than her to play? Why not do tryouts?”

“We have less than two weeks to find a replacement and train them. Tryouts require time, which we don’t have. McNully said she has potential, and that’s good enough for me.”

“Wait, how can you know she has potential?” asked KC.

“She threw a shoe at Merula Snyde’s head and hit her target dead center,” explained McNully. “But I also said that she would need to get months of training to attain her full potential.”

“Can’t believe I missed that shoe hitting Snyde,” said KC, glancing toward the Slytherin table.

“Look, McNully, we would need months to train anyone. Our reserve players are not chasers—” started saying Andre.

“That’s an understatement. They’re crap at it,” chipped in KC.

“Yes, well, as I was saying, they’re not chasers. Holding tryouts also means we’re going to get a player that would need more training, all while not having the time since preparing a tryout—”

“Takes time, we know,” interrupted McNully. 

“Precisely. I know Alice; she has potential—”

“But she needs convincing,” said Penny as she sat down next to Andre.

“Exactly. Wait, how did you know?” 

“You think I wouldn’t know about you bursting inside the girls’ dorm at 5 in the morning?”

“Wait, you went inside the girls’ dorm at 5?! How would that convince anyone to join our team?” exclaimed KC, trying her best not to choke on her gulp of coffee.

“Well, if she had said yes, we could have started her training right then and there.” 

“You’ve never trained that early,” noted McNully.

“Yes, well, you said it yourself; she needs all the training she can get to be ready for the match.” 

“Yes, well, if I were you, I wouldn’t try that again. I’ve heard our favourite Prefect and Ravenclaw’s prankster-in-chief planning some sort of device to punish whoever would dare disturb their slumber. Knowing Tulip, it will involve dungbombs,” said Penny. 

Andre looked down the Ravenclaw table. He noticed Alice and Tulip in great conversation. “Well, looks like I’ll have to employ a new strategy,” he said with a shudder.

As she placed her things on one of the tables in the Charms classroom, Alice heard someone whisper her name behind her. She turned around to see Andre leaning dangerously over the table of the elevated section of the room, his knees on the bench. 

She stared at him for a moment. “No,” she said, turning back to her things.

“But I haven’t asked you anything yet,” protested Andre.

“If it’s about the same thing as this morning, my answer is still no.”

“But…” tried saying Andre, leaning a bit more forward.

“Mr. Egwu! Please sit properly before you hurt yourself. Class is about to begin,” said Flitwick, interrupting Andre’s second attempt at convincing Alice.

“Alice?” said Andre as he sat next to her in Astronomy.

“Nope,” said Alice, getting up and sitting in the only other available seat.

“What the hell, Beaumont?” said Merula as Alice sat next to her.

“Don’t ask.”

“Today, we will learn the Reducto Jinx,” said Rakepick to the class.

“Alice…” whispered Andre, turning around in his seat. 

Alice didn’t look up from her parchment. “If you say one more word, I will practice Reducto on your closet,” she said through gritted teeth.

Andre quickly turned back, staring blankly at Rakepick’s demonstration.

The following day, he sat once again in front of KC and McNully. 

“This has a feeling of déjà vu,” said KC, siping her coffee. 

“Still no luck?” enquired McNully.

“No. She’s been avoiding me to the point of preferring sitting next to Snyde. She even threatened to attack my closet,” said Andre with a sigh. 

“Hmm, looks like we might end up having to use someone on the reserve,” mused KC.

Andre rolled his sausage around his plate with his fork. “And wave goodbye to the cup.”

“Honestly, I’d rather Alice concentrate on freeing my sister from that portrait than help you get the cup,” said Penny as she sat next to him.

“Don’t you have a Hufflepuff table to sit at?” grumbled Andre.

“She does have a point. The cup does seem trivial compared to that poor kid stuck inside a portrait,” mused KC.

“A professor is on the case. Makes more sense for an adult to take care of it than a teenager. Statistically speaking, it’s quite surprising Beaumont has survived this long considering her knowledge of magic was basic when she started hunting for those vaults,” pointed out McNully.

Penny let out a sigh. “I don’t know. I know it’s technically better for a professor to take care of such matters, but Alice is so used to those Vaults….”

“But maybe if she thought of something other than those vaults, it would give her a new perspective on the case?” tried suggesting Andre.

“You sound like her when she was trying to convince me to head the Celestial Ball’s decorating committee.”

Andre perked up. “It worked. So, will you help me out with her?”

Penny looked at Andre for a moment. “Well, as I said, I’d much rather she concentrated on my sister’s predicament,” she started, making Andre lower his head. “But, I see what you mean. If she just concentrates on that, she might get tunnel vision. Not to mention spending time away from Rakepick might do her some good. So, I won’t stand in your way either. If she asks for my advice, I’ll just repeat what I just told you.”

Andre gave her a big hug. “Thank you! I’ll be sure to thank you in my speech when we win the cup!”

“Don’t be so sure you’ll win that cup. Hufflepuff is quite a team to be reckoned with,” said Penny as Andre released her. 

“A team we’ve already beaten,” said KC from behind her coffee cup.

“The season is not over,” said Penny with a grin as she resumed eating her breakfast.

Andre thought it best not to pester Alice during Potions. He tried tracking her down during their free period after lunchtime but couldn’t find her. He tried the Courtyard and the Library, but she was nowhere in sight. As he looked around the castle, he bumped into Charlie Weasley.

“Oi, watch where you're going,” exclaimed the Gryffindor captain. “Oh, it’s you, Andre.”

“You seem to be in a foul mood,” noticed Andre.

Charlie exhaled deeply. “It’s nothing, just Percy getting on my nerve about his stupid rat.”

“I see… Do you know where Alice is?”

“Training with Diego on the Training grounds, why?”

“I was looking for her—”

“To ask her to join your Quidditch team once again?”

“How did you—?”

“I think everyone knows by now.”

“This school is like a small village! Everyone knows everyone’s business,” exclaimed Andre. “Anyway, thanks for telling me, mate.”

As Andre started to walk away, Charlie grabbed his shoulder. “I wouldn’t go there if I were you. Do you want to get on her nerves while she’s practicing duelling spells?”

Andre stopped in his tracks. “You might be right. She threatened to destroy my closet yesterday.” 

“Anyway, why do you want her to join your team? Don’t you have players on the reserve team?”

“Yeah, but none with her aim.”

Charlie raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“She threw a shoe at Merula, and it landed straight at the back of her head. It was glorious!”

“Was she on a broom when she did that?”

“No, but I’ve seen her on a broom during flying class, and she’s good enough. Anyway, I guess I’ll go finish my Charms homework,” said Andre, briskly walking away.

As Charlie watched him disappear around a corner, he couldn’t help but shake his head. Alice might be fine on a broom… As long as she was holding it with both hands, looking straight ahead.

Unbeknownst to Andre, his prayers were about to be answered.

The next day, after their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Alice stayed behind, needing to talk to her professor.

“Professor Rakepick?” said Alice as she approached her.

“Yes, Miss Beaumont?” asked Rakepick, surprised to see the young Ravenclaw still in her classroom. “Have you found the vault portrait?”

“Hum, no, not yet—”

“Miss Beaumont, time is of the essence. I suggest you concentrate on finding that portrait instead of wasting your time standing around here.”

“I did find something interesting, though: a note saying how you worked with my brother in uncovering the vaults all along.”

“What?” Rakepick frowned before smirking again. “Miss Beaumont, don’t tell me you believe such blatant lies.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Can’t you see that note was planted to discredit me and make you waste your time? Clearly, R doesn’t want us to find that Portrait vault. As I’ve said before, I never met your brother, only heard of him as he was looking for the Vaults.”

“I feel like there’s more. I feel like you’re hiding something…” said Alice, narrowing her eyes.

“I said everything I had to say, Miss Beaumont. I suggest you leave now and let this matter rest. Otherwise, things could get messy,” said Rakepick, stepping toward Alice.

“Professor, I won’t leave until you tell me everything I want to know,” replied Alice, taking a step forward herself. 

“Very brave of you, Miss Beaumont, to challenge me. Yet very foolish… Ready your wand,” ordered Rakepick.

“What?” said Alice, taken aback. 

“As I will not answer any more of your questions and you refuse to leave until I do, a duel is the only option that remains.”

“Wait, here? Now?”

“Unless you prefer to lose somewhere else at another time.”

“Ugh, fine,” said Alice, taking out her wand and standing in a duelling stance. “Alright, I’m rea—”

Before she had time to finish her sentence, Rakepick flicked her wand in her direction, her spell hitting Alice’s wand.

“My wand! You broke my wand!” shouted Alice, looking at her broken wand on the floor.

“I warned you. It could be worse; I could have hexed you.”

“I’d rather you have hexed me! At least Madam Pomfrey could have fixed me! What am I supposed to do with a broken wand?” said Alice as she picked up the pieces of wood that used to be her wand.

Rakepick shrugged. “We’ll go and get you a new one.”

“That’s it? No apologies?”

“I needed to teach you a lesson, Miss Beaumont.”

“What lesson? That you can break wands with a spell?”

Rakepick brought her face only inches away from Alice’s. “No, Miss Beaumont. The lesson was that challenging me is never a good idea.”

Alice gulped, taking a step back. “Fine. Lesson learned. Now, how am I supposed to get a new wand?”

“Have you already forgotten about the Floo Network?”

“Won’t you have to explain to Dumbledore why you need to use his office,”

“The headmaster is not currently at Hogwarts,” said Rakepick as she left the classroom. “Follow me, Miss Beaumont.” 

“Is Dumbledore ever at Hogwarts?” mumbled Alice as she walked behind Rakepick.

As Andre left the Great Hall to head to History of Magic, he saw Alice and Rakepick coming down the Grand Staircase. 

“Now, Miss Beaumont, I think we should all meet tomorrow to think of a way to find that portrait,” said Rakepick.

Alice rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed by her professor. Andre noticed that the wand she was holding seemed different than her own. Their eyes suddenly crossed. Alice smiled while Andre wondered why Alice suddenly looked so happy to see him. 

“I’m sorry, I won’t be able to join you, Professor,” said Alice, turning toward Rakepick.

“Why is that?” asked Rakepick, glaring at the young Ravenclaw.

“Haven’t you heard? I’ve recently joined Ravenclaw’s Quidditch team. My dear friend Andre was in such a pinch, I couldn’t say no, right, Andre?” said Alice, turning back toward her friend.

Andre looked between Alice and Rakepick. One looked like she was ready to hex him into oblivion, while the other was smiling but with pleading eyes. 

“Right,” he finally said, “Alice is our new Chaser, and we need to start her training as soon as possible since our next match is in a bit more than a week.”

“Miss Beaumont, I do not think—” started saying Rakepick.

“Merlin!” exclaimed Alice, looking at her watchless wrist. “Have you seen what time it is? Why, we’d better go if we don’t want to miss Professor Binn’s riveting lecture on the Giant Wars.” She quickly grabbed Andre’s arm and swiftly walked away from the woman who had destroyed her wand.

Andre had no idea what had changed Alice’s mind, but whatever it was, he was thanking Merlin for it. Alice, on the other hand, felt a pang of regret. Quidditch would prove to be quite a challenge for the young Curse-Breaker.

A/N #2: I hope you enjoyed the second installment of my Quidditch series. I'm already hard at work on part 3, but I still need to plan out this series a bit more.

#hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery fanfic #hphm fanfic #alice beaumont #jacob’s sibling #hphm mc #penny haywood #andre egwu #charlie weasley #katriona cassiopeia #other's ocs #patricia rakepick #murphy mcnully #merula snyde

[myheadsgonenumb]

"Murder on the Hogwarts Express" - the start of sixth year takes a dark twist when James trips over the dead body of the Trolley Witch and has only a matter of hours to discover whodunnit before they reach Hogsmeade and the killer escapes. The game is on.

One chapter a day, leading up to the first of September - with a poll at the end of every chapter to influence what happens next. Posted right here on tumblr.

You in?

#marauders era #marauders #murder mystery #marauders fanfic #interactive fanfiction #Harry Potter #detective james potter #murder on the hogwarts express