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svtxsoju · 4 years

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02. morning glory fizz | dear miss soju

ღ Synopsis: College is hard. Love is even harder. Good thing the students of Mansae University can write in to Miss Soju, the campus’ very own romance advice columnist! The only problem is she’s never been in a relationship. Ever. There’s no telling what kind of chaos she may cause in the love lives of several of MU’s most eligible bachelors. Too bad no one knows who she really is! ღ Characters/Pairings: college AU! Seventeen & OC’s, Joshua x baking major!OC, and more TBA! ღ Genre: Romantic Comedy, Slice of Life ღ Warning(s): Mentions of alcohol, suggestions of sex, language ღ Word Count: 4.9k words ღ Binu’s Note: a week late but better late than never i guess 😌 i’ve been avoiding tumblr to finish writing this, but i just kept getting distracted by choi seungcheol. hit that mf like button if you relate. i’m so excited for the special album y’all the teasers and concepts are so sadkfklsj i love seventeen

anyway, i apologize not only for the late update, BUT ALSO bc this chapter is also a lot of exposition again 😔🥺 i promise i’m done setting it all up and that some real shit will go down in the next chapter!! hopefully people will still be able to enjoy this chapter huhuhu 😭💗 if you’re reading this, i love u and i hope u have a good weekend!!

《 ⊛ Author’s Note & Credits ⊛ Disclaimer ⊛ Masterlist ⊛ 》

《 Previous ⊛ Next 》

Having already completed the first half of her college career, Joohyun was well aware of the value of sleep. And yet, like most college students, she could never seem to manage a decent sleeping schedule. She had only slept 2 hours when her alarm went off at 5:30AM. She groggily rolled out of bed, mentally cursing her past self for thinking that this was a good idea when clearly, the best idea at the moment was to snuggle back up under her covers and sleep in until afternoon. Only one of her eyes seemed capable of staying open as she pulled on her clothes and got ready for the day. When she suddenly heard the front door close behind her roommate, she cursed out loud, throwing her laptop into her bag before she rushed out the door. She half-wobbled, half-hopped along the second-story walkway while she tried to get her shoes all the way on.

“Bok Bongseon! Wait for me!” Joohyun called out in an aggressive whisper.

“HOLY SHIT! You scared me, Joo!” her roommate, a shorter girl with full cheeks and pouty lips, screamed at full volume. She clutched at her racing heart and leaned against the wall while she caught her breath.

“Shut up, people are still sleeping!” Joohyun linked arms with Bongseon and dragged her down the steps leading to the street. It was still dark outside, but she could already hear the faint bustling of the mart located below their apartment. It was nice to know that they weren’t the only two people in Seoul insane enough to be awake at this hour.

“I thought you were the ghost of my grandma, you bitch! You know she visits me in my dreams to tell me how disappointed she that I’m a baker,” Bongseon said indignantly, though she still cuddled closer to Joohyun when they were hit by the morning chill. Once they reached the street, they both headed towards the train station without having to say a word. “What are you even doing up?”

“I am simply accompanying my favorite roommate to work to make sure that she gets there safely,” Joohyun crooned sweetly, and made kissy faces at the girl, who in turn pinched Joohyun’s lips between her calloused fingers. She tried to protest but could only let out pained whines until she was mercifully released. “Ow!”

“Sorry but I cannot fulfill your roommates to lovers, 12k slowburn fantasy,” Bongseon continued on nonchalantly as they climbed down the steps to the platform. “You had your chance, but I am a taken girl!”

“Oh, so you and Josh are together today?” Joohyun teased. Although it probably wasn’t the best idea, considering her lips were slightly throbbing from the girl’s attack. “I’ll just wait until tomorrow then.”

“Wow, bold words coming from Miss Fish Lips.” Bongseon raised an eyebrow and smiled tauntingly. “Understandable, considering that that was probably the most action your lips have gotten in your entire life. I could probably set it up on a blind date with my fist, if you’d like.”

Joohyun’s laughter echoed off the walls of the mostly empty station, startling the only other person waiting for the morning train (an old woman, who was still half-asleep prior to being rudely awakened by two very loud girls). Bongseon often made some colorful threats, morning or not, but Joohyun was one of the very few people who could be assured that her words were empty. “Don’t you know that it’s rude to stare, lady?” she barked at the old woman, who was openly glaring at them. Everyone else, on the other hand, was subject to Bongseon’s sharp temper.

This even included her boyfriend of approximately 4 years. ‘Approximately’ being the key word, because the two often took breaks-- a natural phenomenon when one partner was easily provoked and the other loved to do the provoking. Jihoon had told Joohyun that the two had met at the cafe in their freshman year, when Bongseon came in as a part-time baker and Joshua was merely a barista trainee. They started dating within a month and moved into an apartment together in two. That went just as well as anyone would expect. By the grace of whatever entity that was chaotic enough to keep their relationship intact, they made it 7 months before nearly breaking things off for good. As luck would have it though, a new hire and his roommate were in the same exact predicament as them. Kind of.

Joohyun shuddered to recall her freshman year when she and Jihoon somehow convinced themselves that it was a good idea to share an apartment. In principle it made sense; they had lived across the street from each other since they were in diapers. Two exhausting months into trying to irritate the other into breaking the lease first, they met Bongseon and Joshua when Jihoon started working at Smile Flower. It didn’t take long for Joohyun to suggest the switch— she would move in with Bongseon and Joshua with Woozi. Just like that, she saved both Bongseon and Joshua’s turbulent romance (temporarily) and her and Woozi’s fractured friendship (now thriving).

She and Bongseon have been roommates ever since, and Joohyun knew her life was a little easier for it.

“Joohyun, you better stop looking at me with those heart eyes before I really act up,” Bongseon warned. They had boarded the train, but hadn’t bothered to sit down since Mansae University station was only two stops away.

“But I just love you so much,” Joohyun pouted, affectionately resting her head on her friend’s shoulder. “What does Joshua have that I don’t?”

“A dick. And that’s about it.”

“Damn you, heterosexuality!”

Bongseon snorted out a laugh. “Seriously Joo, how are you awake right now? You’re only ever this lovey-dovey when you’re severely sleep deprived. I know you don’t have classes until 3PM today. You also don’t have your internship today,” Bongseon narrowed her eyes when Joohyun visibly tensed up at the mention of her current occupation. “Also, since when do you watch Youtube videos until 2am? And don’t think I didn’t notice that all of them were titled ‘Relationship Q&A’s’ and ‘I confessed to my crush and he said this!!!’. Got something to tell me, missy?”

It was so quiet on the train that Joohyun worried that Bongseon could hear all the wires in her brain short-circuit. With Bongseon’s cross-examination skills, it was a wonder why she pursued baking instead of joining her family’s firm. Come on, Joohyun, just tell a white lie. Easy, simple. Don’t need to overcomplicate things. “Oh, uh I— um— well, I j-just thought they were entertaining?” She was done for.

“Right. You thought random couples self-indulgently talking about their love lifes for 40 minutes with default iMovies effects were entertaining.”

“Y-yes?” Joohyun threw in her most convincing smile for good measure, but it did nothing to soften Bongseon’s hard gaze. “It’s my new guilty pleasure, haha!”

“Hm, interesting,” Bongseon was momentarily interrupted by the sound of the arrival bell. Joohyun eagerly pulled her friend towards the exit, hoping that the distance from the train could also get her further away from the topic. Unfortunately for her, Bongseon did not plan on dropping it so soon. “You sure you don’t want to tell me anything, Joo? About your internship?”

Joohyun began to sweat. Was she really that transparent? “Okay, don’t get mad--”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m super jazzed that you’re getting into relationships and everything, but really Joo? Youtube? You could just talk to me if you need help talking to your new crush at your job!”

“Oh.” Joohyun would have let out a sigh of relief if she wasn’t out of breath from climbing the mountain of stairs up to the sidewalk. “Right. Confessing. To my crush. That I definitely have.”

“It’s okay to admit you have one, Joo. I’m no stranger to workplace romance,” Bongseon said, her breathing completely even. A measly flight of stairs was nothing compared to eight hours of kneading dough. “Who’s the lucky bastard, Joo?”

“Well, I’m not sure I would call it a workplace romance, per se…” Joohyun laughed nervously. There was no way she could stick another clean landing if she kept talking.

“Shut up, I bet that guy is in love with you already. Who wouldn’t fall for the only editing intern at The Front?”

“Haha, I don’t know…” Probably no one, because the only editing intern at The Front doesn’t exist?

Joohyun could not be more relieved to see the small store front of Smile Flower Cafe. It was one amongst the many cafes located near campus, but Joohyun felt like nothing really matched its comforting home-like ambience. But that probably had less to do with the soft wooden floors and pastel ceramic mugs, and more owed to the three years Joohyun had spent hanging around there, usually bothering Jihoon and joking around with Josh.

The two boys already stood waiting at the cafe’s entrance, too bleary-eyed to notice Joohyun and Bongseon quickly approaching. “Hey, ugly!” Joohyun called out, snickering when both of them turned to look at her.

“What the hell, why are you awake?”

“Good morning to you too, Jihoon,” she answered, blowing him a kiss. “I’m actually here to see you, believe it or not. Don’t you feel special?”

“Oh? That’s interesting, because you told me that you came here for me,” Bongseon broke away from exchanging actual kisses with Joshua to look between Joohyun and Jihoon in a way that Joohyun did not like too much. “I guess it wasn’t a workplace romance after all.”

Joshua mirrored his girlfriend’s implicating expression as he unlocked the front door, simply because he knew it made his friends squirm. “Wow Joohyun, you woke up this early just to talk to Jihoon? You really couldn’t wait to see him, huh?”

“Uh, yes because I need his help—”

“Ah, his help, gotcha! Come on, Bongseon, I’ll go help you in the kitchen while these two help each other out here,” Joshua snickered. Before Joohyun or Jihoon could roast the couple in retaliation, they had already disappeared behind the counter.

After years of similar taunts, all Jihoon could do was shake his head. “Okay Joo, what is so important that you need my help at 6 in the morning?”

“I wrote my first response last night!” Joohyun whispered excitedly, taking out her laptop from her bag. “Well, a few hours ago. I wanted to show you before continuing on with the rest! Here, look.”

① Dear Miss Soju,

I just started my first year at MU and she’s an exchange student from New York. We met at a party and talked for two hours about comics, aliens, anything we could think of. It was perfect. She even asked me to walk her home. When the time came for me to make a move though, I kind of dropped the ball. Since we had just met that night, I didn’t want to come off too strong. Now I really regret it - I don’t even have her phone number. I feel like such an idiot! I can’t stop thinking about her, but I don’t even know if I’ll ever talk to her again. Did I make myself seem disinterested? Will we meet again? Will she even remember me?

Sincerely,

Big Cringy Idiot

She let Jihoon read the asker’s message first, then scrolled down to show her answer.

Dear Big Cringy Idiot,

You and your crush seem to have a lot in common. There is nothing wrong with being nervous around someone you like. In fact, it is fairly normal and is a good sign that you like this girl very much. She also seems open to any future possiblities, since she did ask you to take her home. You need not worry about coming off too strong in this situation, although I do admire your dedication to respecting women’s boundaries. I hope you are able to find this girl again so that you can truly tell her how you feel. Best of luck to you!

Sincerely,

Miss Soju

“Joo, that was…”

“Poetic, beautiful, life-changing?” Joohyun grinned, and nudged her best friend with each suggestion.

“Boring. It was boring.” Joohyun’s face fell, and Jihoon could only offer the girl an apologetic smile. “Dude, you’re gonna put people to sleep if you keep it up like this. I almost took out a pillow to take a nap on the floor.”

“But this is how I write my articles— Informative and concise! How else am I supposed to write it?”

“I mean, that’s great for reporting articles, but this is an advice column. It’s supposed to be fun, sarcastic maybe. Like your promo piece! That was good.”

“I wrote that as a joke, hoping they would fire me for it,” Joohyun admitted, eyes wide in panic as she looked at her best friend.

“Huh. Well, I think it would sound better than this Wikipedia article you got going on,” Jihoon shrugged. “Try to be fun!”

“I am fun!” Joohyun cried out defensively, her nostrils flaring with passion. When Jihoon responded with a doubtful look, she let out a dramatic gasp and snatched up her laptop, stomping over to her favorite corner in the cafe. “I can be fun! I’ll show you fun!”

“Atta girl,” Jihoon’s signature cackle filled the cafe, further fueling the girl’s aggressive typing.

Just another morning in the life of So Joohyun.

To the surprise of the cafe’s current occupants, a student already tapped at the glass entrance, clearly in desperate need of his morning americano. He had walked all the way from the freshman dorms after a restless night of tossing and turning. When his phone screen told him it was already 6:05AM, he decided to just give up on sleep altogether. So there he was, trying to start off his day right, at Smile Flower Cafe, only to be stopped at the door by the grumpy barista with the red hair. He always felt like the other one was way nicer, especially since he would go out of his way to sneak him free cookie samples and made pleasant small talk while ringing him up (what was his name? Jonathan?).

All the red-haired barista ever did was scowl at him when he asked for a student discount. Now, he scowled at him as he gestured at the sign that indicated that the cafe would not be open until 7AM. The fatigued freshman had half a mind to make some choice gestures of his own, but he refrained and just whipped out his phone instead. He gave the mean barista one last pout before turning around and walking towards the 24-hour convenience store on campus.

➠ [ to: vernonie 😌😎 ] Good morning king. Are you still on your shift ?

➠ [ from: vernonie 😌😎 ] gm seungkwan pls k*ll me

Seungkwan took that as a yes. It didn’t take long for him to arrive, the entrance bell ringing lightly when he stepped into the small store. At the register sat his roommate, who was clearly fighting to keep his eyes open. “Wol-cuh ‘n—” he tried to greet through a wide-mouthed yawn. “Excuse me, welcome in! Oh, hey Seungkwan.”

Seungkwan answered with a grunt and headed straight for the refrigerated coffee section, choosing the largest can.

“Uh dude, you good? You look like—”

“Like I haven’t slept all night? I am aware,” He immediately opened his coffee and took a long gulp of the beverage in hopes of feeling even a little better. When it did nothing after 30 seconds, he frowned at the concerned cashier. “Vernon, I will not be paying for this drink, because it is clearly defective. Coffee is supposed to fix everything.”

“Is this about your audition today?” Vernon asked, eyebrows furrowed. “Your monologue sounded really solid last night though. Your audition songs were great too. You totally got this in the bag!”

“It’s not just about the audition, sweet Vernon,” Seungkwan sighed. “It’s about who I’m going to see at the audition. I still don’t know what the fuck I’m going to do.”

“Oh yeah, you are probably going to see them later.” For the past week, all Seungkwan could talk about was the theater tech sophomore that he had met at the theater department’s welcome party. They had sat beside Seungkwan and had helped him through all the fast-paced drinking games, and even took some of his shots when he kept losing. Surely, this was what love felt like.

That was what Seungkwan hoped anyway, because whatever it was made him feel all warm and tingly inside (or it could have just been the alcohol). Nevertheless, he had made big plans to confess to his crush as soon as possible. His dilemma for the past several days was merely a matter of how it would be done. “Not probably! I know for a fact that they will be there, because they told me that they couldn’t wait to see me,” Seungkwan let out a wail and slumped over the counter. “They’re the sweetest, most beautiful person to ever walk the earth and I just want to tell them that I would actually jump off a bridge for them. Why is that so difficult?”

Vernon nodded sympathetically as he always did. “I mean, if you’re not ready today, maybe you could wait?”

“Wait?! No offense babe, but last time I checked, waiting didn’t get you anywhere,” Seungkwan said, patting his roommate’s arm. Vernon cringed as he was forced to remember his own romantic blunder from the past week. “Clearly, we are both in major need of help. That Woozi guy’s show didn’t do anything for us! Also, we still haven’t heard from that Miss Soju character and it’s been what? Two days? If she’s such an expert, she would know that love is time sensitive!”

“Ugh, I know. I keep refreshing The Front’s website just to see if she’s posted it yet.” Vernon sighed forlornly, which was a common punctuation to his sentences lately. “It’s getting me really antsy. What if she doesn’t even choose to answer our emails this time?”

Seungkwan quickly covered the other freshman’s mouth. “Don’t say that! The universe manifests what we say will happen. We should ask for divine intervention instead.” He cleared his throat in preparation and threw his hands up to the sky. “O Eros, god of love, please shine your blessings down upon my and Vernonie’s love lives for we are but two humble, clueless freshmen in need of romantic guidance. Send down two of your swiftest, sharpest arrows, so that those that we desire may hear your soft whispers—”

Ding. The sound of the entrance bell rang once more, stopping Seungkwan’s prayer short, much to his irritation. “Is this a bad time?” the new customer, an ethereally handsome blonde, asked amusedly. He strode into the store and grabbed two spicy tuna triangle kimbab’s before approaching the counter.

“Jeonghan hyung!”

“Ah, Vernon!” Jeonghan smiled. “I didn’t know you worked here. You should come by my and Cheol’s apartment again soon, that was fun!”

“Hyung, this is my roommate that I told you about-- Seungkwan. And Seungkwan, this is Seungcheol hyung’s roommate,” Vernon said all while ringing up Jeonghan’s food. On the side, Seungkwan bowed sheepishly after unfreezing from his previous pose. “How’s your morning going? You wake up pretty early!”

Jeonghan laughed heartily, shaking his head. “Oh no, I just finished an all-night stream. I just came by to get a snack before heading to bed. Seems like you two have been having a fun morning, though. Do you two always start your day off by praying to the ancient Greek god of desire?”

Seungkwan flushed a deep pink. “Uh no, it was more like a cry of desperation. Vernon and I are having a pretty tough time confessing to our crushes, so I figured we should just try out anything that might help us. Nothing else seems to be working…”

“Wait, that’s so cute,” Jeonghan cooed.

“Would you be able to give us some advice, hyung?” Vernon asked. He didn’t know anything about the senior’s love life, but he did give off the vibe of someone who would know… a lot.

Jeonghan’s eyes twinkled dangerously, a lazy smirk on his lips. “I mean, I could go talk to your little crushes for you, if you’d like. I’m sure I could get some sort of response out of them.”

One look at Jeonghan had Vernon and Seungkwan shaking their heads vehemently.

“No, we’re good.”

“Yeah, no thanks.”

“Mm, good call.” Jeonghan took his food from the counter, and winked at the two boys. “I really wish I could help you both more, but I’m sure you’ll get what you’re waiting for soon! Today, if you want it enough.”

There was something in the way that the senior stated those words that made Seungkwan believe him without a question. It wasn’t a naive suggestion or an optimistic prediction; Jeonghan spoke like it was the truth plainly written on the walls. He finally felt a long-awaited wave exhaustion wash over his anxieties, softening them until they fizzled away alongside the ebbing foam. All that was left behind were grains of sand. Suddenly, Seungkwan yawned, and he wanted nothing more than to curl up in his twin bed at the dorms.

“Well, I should be heading off to bed! Looks like you should be too, Seungkwan,” Jeonghan said, suppressing his own yawn. The freshman nodded in agreement. He definitely needed to rest up— this was going to be a big day, after all.

“Say hi to Cheol hyung for me when you get home!” Vernon said.

Jeonghan hummed thoughtfully as he made his way back to the entrance of the store. “I will if he’s there! He didn’t come home last night.” He turned to leave the boys with one last sleepy smile, seeming to laugh at something only he knew.

“At least one of us is doing something right.”

“Jihoon, why can’t I get this right?”

“I’m sorry! This just sounds nothing like you,” Jihoon shrugged. It had been a rather busy morning, but things slowed down as it approached noon, giving him the chance to look at Joohyun’s fourth draft of responses. “I’ve never heard you say stuff like ‘rad’ or ‘hella’... Like are you aware that you sound like a skater from the late 90’s?”

“That’s because the reference I’ve been using is from 1997!” Joohyun huffed in frustration. She was already backspacing albeit with a little more force than necessary. “I wasn’t even born in ‘97!”

“Exactly, so stop trying to write like that. What if you tried to—”

“Eat my ass, Hong!” The sound of the kitchen door slamming open interrupted Jihoon’s (probably unhelpful) suggestion, and the two best friends watched as Bongseon stormed out of the cafe in a familiar rage. Luckily, there were no customers to witness it this time.

Instinctively, they looked to the kitchen door, where Joshua stood with a resigned smile on his full lips. “Oops,” he said, scratching at the back of his neck apologetically. “Guess it was too soon to joke about our last break. Sorry about that, Jihoon. I’ll try to call in the head baker early to finish up the rest of the pastries for today.”

He walked over to where they sat and plopped himself across from Joohyun. She offered Joshua a look of sympathy, but he responded by twisting his face up in a dumb expression, reassuring her that he was just fine. Still, she couldn’t help feeling worried for both of her friends. No matter how many times Bongseon and Joshua broke it off and no matter how much Joohyun joked about it, she knew that their strong feelings for each other meant that it hurt a little every time they got into a fight. At least, that’s what she gathered from the various nights she spent soothing Bongseon while the girl cried into a toilet bowl, soju bottle still in hand.

“It’s okay, Josh, you probably don’t have to worry too much. Knowing her, she’ll probably be back in 30 minutes to make up with you and then Jihoon will have to find someone to take over your shift,” Joohyun piped up. “But please take it back to your apartment this time, because I don’t make enough money to have every surface of my apartment sanitized again.”

Joshua let out an easy laugh, as though he were not a man in deep shit. “Thank you, Joo. You always know what to say to make me feel better,” he sighed. “I should probably go after her. I’ll be back soon, Jihoon!”

She waited for him to disappear out the door before turning to her best friend. “Wow, that’s gotta be a new record for them, right? I didn’t even know they got back together until this morning.” Joohyun was surprised to find that Jihoon had been silently staring at her for a good minute now. “...Why are you looking at me?”

“What you said to Joshua,” Jihoon simply replied.

“Oh, I was only joking about the sanitation thing. I just walked in on them once in the kitchen—“

“No I mean, how you said it. Maybe that’s how you should be writing your responses.” Jihoon grinned, watching as Joohyun gave him that look again, the one where she looks at him like he’s speaking from a third head. But he knew that this was going to be another Jihoon Genius moment, which seemed to be happening more frequently lately, much to his satisfaction. “Like you’re talking to one of your friends. I mean, it made Josh feel better, right?”

Joohyun’s eyebrows scrunched together and she mulled the idea over. Without another word to Jihoon, she began to slowly type on her laptop, gradually tapping faster and faster as she gained momentum. Her best friend giddily returned to his place behind the counter to tend to the customers that just walked in. He knew that once she got into a groove, there was no hope of stopping her.

An hour later, Joohyun finally pushed away her laptop and waited for Jihoon to finish wiping down a table before calling him over. For some reason, she was anxious to show him the final product and even when he already sat besie her, she hesitated for a beat. Usually, her writing was professional and objective, always ending with a declarative period. She had spent years perfecting her reporting style so that when she presented the facts, that’s all they were. This, however, felt personal, like it was a part of her. And even though Jihoon probably knew her even better than herself sometimes, there was something so vulnerable about showing someone a side of her that she had only just discovered.

And yet, she was curious to know— desperate to know: was it any good?

“Well?” Joohyun watched for Jihoon’s reaction closely, both impatient and terrified to hear his thoughts.

“Joohyun, this...” Jihoon started slowly. She braced for impact. “This is it. I think you’ve found Miss Soju’s voice.”

She exhaled. “R-really?”

“Yes, really. You answered the questions so thoughtfully, so you know it’s not just some generic bullshit you found on the internet. Plus, it was fun to read, like I think I’d read this even if I didn’t send a letter in,” Jihoon gushed, all while skimming over the words again. He turned to smile brightly at her, reminding Joohyun of a much younger Jihoon back in their elementary school days. “Most importantly though, it’s so you.”

Joohyun returned the smile, just as brightly. Warmth bloomed in her chest and across her cheeks. “Thanks, Jihoon, I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Honestly, me neither,” Jihoon laughed.

“Um, can I ask you one more thing though?” Joohyun scrolled down to the last two entries, both of which asked for advice on how to make things official with a guy they’ve been talking to. The two letters were extremely similar in detail, but had been sent from two different emails and two different signatures. At first, she thought that maybe her judgement was muddled by her lack of sleep, and as the day went on, she figured her inability to recognize any nuance between the two letters was thanks her lack of experience.

There was just something about the way they had described the boy. She knew that intelligent, funny, kind-hearted, and unbelievably handsome were pretty generic adjectives. But what were the odds for both letters to also mention his infectious laugh and deep, dark eyes? “Do you think these two are from the same person? I’m trying to go for a confession theme for this article, so I included them both, but I’m afraid they’re too similar.”

Jihoon read them over a couple of times, then shrugged. “They do sound pretty similar, but a lot of people go through that sort of thing. Also, so many people describe their crushes like that, but let’s be real, most of them end up being fuckboys. So trust me, both those people probably need your help. I mean, what’s the harm in publishing both, right?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Joohyun bit her lip, needing every ounce of reassurance she could get from her best friend. She read over her writing once, twice, thrice more. This was it. No more edits and no more excuses. Her finger hovered over the mousepad. “Okay, I”m going to send it in for approval now. Jihoon, you are about to witness me publish my first article for The Front.”

Joohyun took a deep breath and clicked. Finally.

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ahatintimestorybook · 4 years

Text

Coffee Shop AU- Magic Duel Part 1

So this is how this story happened! Me: *working on the next chapter of Humanity in Time and one new story* Brain: What if I wrote a duel between Hat Kid and Queen Vanessa. Me: *goes to my upcoming stories list and writes it down!*

So yeah I was going to be focusing on the OtH!AU fanfics, but my brain wants to write more Coffee Shop AU stuff. I have so many ideas, but some I want to hold off till the creator, @doodledrawsthings confirms them.

This story is also a bit shorter, only two chapters but I hope you like it!

Enjoy!!

‘Coffee Shop’ AU belongs to @doodledrawsthings

Today was the day. It was finally Summer Vacation and the kids over in Subcon can finally relax and enjoy their break. The teens over in the high school and a few from the junior high were excited as they would be spending their time camping, looking for the legendary Snatcher.

At the elementary school though, many of the kids were leaving town going on vacations or staying by town to help out their families at their jobs. “So are you going to do anything fun this summer, Mu?” Harriet asked.

Mu sighed in disgust. “I gotta help my ma at the local bakery, plus because of my cryptid hunting I’m on a strict sleeping schedule!” She complained.

Bonnie then spoke up. “Well that’s what you get for being up all night looking for the Snatcher and were found ready to crack at the drop of a hat.” She explained. Mu crossed her arms and puffed up her cheeks not wanted to be reminded of that night. Harriet chuckled thinking what happened with Mu was funny.

Mu heard her best friend’s giggles and turned to face her. “What about you Harriet? What are you doing this summer?” She asked.

Harriet thought about that. As much as she wanted to do a lot of summer vacation stuff with her dad, however due to his condition it was hard to do any fun summer stuff with him. Though she was glad MJ and Clover, her father’s co-workers offered to take her and her friends anywhere this summer. At least this would be her first summer where she and her dad are in one place, as usually summer is the time they would move again.

“Honestly just regular summer stuff like hiking, swimming, all that stuff. Can’t do a vacation like everyone else.” Harriet explained.

Mu smiled and put her arm around Harriet. “Well that’s good, we can do more camping and sleepovers at my place.” She suggested. Harriet nodded glad Mu had ideas to help make her summer fun.

Bonnie smiled glad she would be with her friends this summer, hopefully. As they walked she turned behind her and saw a black car following them. Bonnie gulped hoping it was just a car looking for a house or just passing by. She didn’t want to alert her friends because it would end up with Mu shouting at them, and probably would get the person to murder all three of them. With that Bonnie ignored the car and kept following her friends towards the Horizon, the coffee shop in Subcon where Harriet’s father, Luka worked.

Though Bonnie should of been weary of the car, and a sinister smirk appeared on the driver’s face. “I found you.” She sang as she followed the young girls towards their destination.

At the Horizon coffee shop, many of the teens showed up as their hurrah to finishing school, which made business booming at the coffee place. Luka and Clover were rushing orders as MJ was the one taking them. When Harriet and her friends arrived they were shocked with how busy this place was.

“This place is usually quiet, what happened?” Mu asked.

Clover took notice of the girls and waved to them. “Hey girls!” She called out.

“Hey Clover, what’s with the crowd?” Harriet asked.

Clover sighed. “Since its the last day of school many of the high schoolers come here as a celebration.” She explained. “Its the most exhausting day till Pumpkin Spice season.”

“Be grateful this is one day only. I mean isn’t Pumpkin Spice season like three to four months of chaos?” Mu asked. Clover glared at the blonde haired girl, not wanting to handle any sas talk today. Mu nervously chuckled and apologized before the girls sat down at a free table to just talk and hang out.

Harriet smiled and waved to her dad who just got done serving drinks to a few people. Luka smiled and waved to his little girl, which made the latter giggle. To this young girl, her first summer staying in town is going to be great! She has friends, her dad’s friends understand his curse, and she doesn’t have to leave town anymore! “This is going to be a great summer.” She said to herself.

Or so she thought.

Soon the doors swung open and Harriet and Luka felt a cold chill run through them. “Hello my love.” Luka gulped knowing that voice. He turned to see his ex-wife Vanessa entering the coffee shop with a smirk written all over her face.

Luka growled seeing his ex-wife showing up at his work of all places. Harriet got nervous ready to get out of her seat and sprint out the back door to be safe.

Despite their first time seeing her, but also hearing everything about her, Mu and Bonnie felt the cold chill as Vanessa walked through the door. MJ and Clover too glared seeing Vanessa. “Just what is she doing here?” Clover asked.

“I don’t know.” Luka replied. He left the front counter and walked up to his ex-wife. “Vanessa, what are doing here?” He asked trying to keep a calm tone, so he wouldn’t get fired or even his secret to be uncovered.

Vanessa gave a fake gasp. “Why Luke, can I visit my family during the first day of summer break for our little Hattie.” Vanessa cooed walking up to her daughter and her friends. Harriet whimpered and held on to Mu and Bonnie tightly for protection.

Mu glared at the woman as a warning that if she laid a finger on her best friend she wouldn’t be afraid to attack. Bonnie however, was scared like Harriet and hugged her tight too.

“I think we should talk somewhere privately.” Luka suggested.

Vanessa smirked, but it quickly disguised itself as a smile. She gave a clap as she said, “That would be nice Luka. Harriet would you come join us in this conversation?” She asked.

Harriet was about to speak to decline the offer, but the memories of the arguments, as well as knowing what her mother could do if she wasn’t there for her father scared her. With a sigh Harriet got up from her seat as she followed her family to the back of the Horizon Coffee Place to be alone.

MJ, Clover, Mu and Bonnie looked at one another and soon the girls ran to the back of the restaurant to check up on their friend. MJ and Clover looked at the girls and back at each other, “We should listen in on what Luka and his ex are talking about.” Clover suggested.

MJ nodded. “I agree.” He then sighed. “I’m worried for what’s going to happen to him and Harriet, especially Harriet.” MJ and Clover soon followed the girls and listened through the door, and too their surprise there was very little shouting and fighting.

“So.” Luka started. “What are you doing here, Vanessa?” He asked again.

“Plus, how did you know where we are?” Harriet added.

Now that Vanessa got her family alone, she finally showed her true colors to them. “Like what you called me the day we parted ways Luka, I’m a witch. Technically and physically.” She explained. “When I first saw you move away I had to find some eyes to keep watching over you. You guys moved so many times that I couldn’t even catch up.”

Luka glared at his ex-wife. All this time after she cursed him to become a monster, she had been following them around like a ghost to make sure she wasn’t finished with her revenge plot. “I thought turning me into a ghost was enough for you. What more do you want?” Luka asked, getting upset.

Vanessa glared. “I was supposed to make your suffer, Luka Princeston.” She scowled. “How can you be so happy with your life after what I did to you?” She asked.

“I have Harriet to take care of!” Luka shouted back. “And my friends know about the secret! Thank you very much, but they never pushed me away! Unlike what you did to Harriet!”

Not even once, did Vanessa flinch at Luka’s outburst. “Your right.” She replied in a whisper.

“What?” Luka asked, confused over his ex-wife’s reply.

“Your right. I wasn’t there for our daughter.” She answered. Vanessa turned towards her daughter, who jumped back seeing the evil sinister look on her. “But what if I was there for her now.”

Luka growled, his eyes glowing yellow for a split second as he put his arm in front of Harriet to protect her. “Don’t your dare touch her!” He growled.

Vanessa laughed. “Oh Luka, protective over a child then your first true love, your childhood friend for life.” She growled back.

“I’m protective of her because I love her. You’ll never learn to love her. All you’ll ever do is treat her horribly like the evil step-mother from Cinderella.” Luka shouted back. As he got angry his hand started to turn black showing that he was about to transform back to his monster form.

Vanessa chuckled seeing this, she just needed to push Luka a little more further. “What if I did learn to love her, care for her, treat her as you treat her.” She said walking closer. “What if I trained her to use magic make her turn into a witch like me?”

“Like HELL you would!” Luka snapped, at hell his voice echoed like usual when he was in his monster form. “My daughter will NEVER EVER TOUCH MAGIC! NOT WHEN YOUR AROUND!” He shouted.

Harriet felt tensed. If only her father knew what she had been doing behind her father’s back then this would be as bad as it is now. As she was in her thoughts, Luka was halfway into transforming till MJ and Clover came barging in.

“Alright that’s enough!” Clover shouted. She and MJ were armed spoons to protect Luka and Harriet from their former family member. “Take one more step towards the child and our friend and we’ll pummel you!” The girl threatened.

Vanessa stared at the two friends of her ex-husband before she snapped her fingers causing the spoons to wrap around Clover and MJ’s hands. Clover and MJ yelped at what Vanessa was capable of doing and feel to the ground tied up by spoons.

“Van let them go!” Luka shouted.

Vanessa chuckled. “Why Luka how rude of you.” She mocked. “I just want to meet your dear sweet friends.” She gave an evil snicker as she walked up to MJ. “You must be the Moone boy.” She said looking down at MJ. MJ just glared at his best friend’s ex-wife. Vanessa then turned to Clover. “And you must be dear sweet Clover. I’m so touched my dear Luka choose you over me.”

Clover glared wishing she could just punch Vanessa in the face, but with her hands tied up with her spoon she couldn’t. “We made it our choice to stay with him.” Clover growled back.

“Yeah after how you treated him and what you done, he’s lucky he has friends like us!” MJ shouted back.

Vanessa chuckled, and then it turned into laughter. Soon enough ice started to form around the group. “Vanessa! S-stop!” Luka shouted, now fully into his Snatcher form. Vanessa ignored her ex-husbands pleas and soon the ice surrounded the group almost trapping them in. Vanessa smirked she just needed Luka to give up and hand over Harriet to her.

However, it was Vanessa turn to be surprised.

“Mom stop!”Harriet shouted and soon a beam of white light came towards Vanessa, who blocked it with a ice shield. Vanessa, Luka, CJ and Clover turned to look at Harriet in a purple and yellow top hat with a button attached to it and an umbrella.

“H-Harriet w-what did you do?” Luka asked.

Harriet turned to her father. “I’m sorry dad.” She apologized in a whisper.

Vanessa then spoke up. “So,” she started. “You learned magic yourself too, Hattie.” Vanessa now was smiling impressed over her daughter’s skills. “I’m proud of you! Now come towards your dear sweet mommy and I can teach you mor-” She was cut off when Harriet pointed her umbrella towards her mother with a glare.

“How about a deal.” Harriet suggested.

Vanessa smirked, and soon started to loosen the ice from her ex-husband and his friends. “I’m listening.”

“We both used to be family, and we both know magic. Correct?” Harriet asked. Vanessa nodded. “Alright, then let’s duel.”

“W-What?” Luka asked surprised hearing his daughter’s deal for her mother. Vanessa smirked at this seeing Luka’s expression.

“So,” Harriet continued. “Let’s have a magic duel. You and me in the Subcon Woods, tomorrow early in the morning. If I win, I stay with dad, but if you win I’ll be with you during the summer.” She finished.

“Harriet! No!” Luka shouted.

Harriet ignored her father as her mom walked over to her. “Its deal Harriet. Tomorrow morning it be you vs me.” Vanessa said holding her hand out. Harriet looked at her mother’s hand, before reaching over to grab it and shake it.

Soon a blue aura went around their hands giving Harriet some pain. Soon the pain stopped and Vanessa let go of her daughter’s hands. Then Vanessa untied MJ and Clover and removed all of the ice from the area. Vanessa was just about to walk away, but stopped. “By the way Luka, if you stop her then I win by default.” She warned before walking away.

Luka growled at his ex-wife as she walked away leaving the group alone. Luka then turned to face his daughter upset at the fact that Harriet literally made a deal with the devil. “What were you thinking?” Luka growled.

Harriet turned to her father, frightened over his attitude. “D-dad let me explain!” She shouted.

Luka ignored his daughter’s pleas. “A-and now y-your learning magic! Like your mother!” He shouted.

“Dad please let me explain!” Harriet repeated. Rasing her voice a little.

Soon MJ defended her. “Luka please calm down and listen to what Harriet has to say.” He begged.

“Oh I sure hope Harriet has A LOT to explain to me.” Luka yelled. Harriet flinched as her father yelled. During her entire life with him she had never heard him yell at her like this before. Harriet rubbed her arm and looked down feeling like she disappointed her father somehow.

When Luka, who had to temporarily transform back into human in order to get home, MJ, Clover and Harriet were walking home after a long crazy day it was quiet. No one said a word to each other, and Harriet kept her head down not looking at anyone.

Once they made it back to the apartment, Harriet sat down on the couch and Clover came to join her to comfort her. “Your father will understand. I promise.” She whispered in a soothing tone. Harriet didn’t respond and just kept her head down.

“Alright.” Luka spoke up getting the girl’s attention. Luka faced Harriet who didn’t bat an eye towards her father. Luka sighed starting to feel calmer now. “Harriet. Look at me.” Harriet lifted her head slowly and looked up at her father. “When and how long did you know you can control magic?” He asked.

Harriet didn’t want to answer, but she knew it had to come out sometime. With a sigh she was able to tell her father everything. “A month after we moved here, I-I discovered I’m able to use magic, and sense magic as well.” Harriet started. “I’ve been training to learn and control my magic so I won’t end up like mom.” She explained. Luka soon made his way towards his daughter, which made her talk more of her training. “I-I never said anything because I know you’ll be mad, and will be scared I’ll be like mom, but this is for the good of everything!” Harriet sighed knowing nothing was convince her father. “I-If you want me to stop I’ll let Tim know.”

Luka put one hand on his daughter’s shoulder, which suprised her. “Harriet.” He started. “I’m disappointed you kept this from me for so long,” Harriet looked down giving a longer sigh then before, “but if you were doing this for good you could of told me.” He explained.

“I just didn’t want to mention magic in front of you.” Harriet revealed. “Magic causes nothing but trouble for you.”

Luka frowned knowing his daughter was right magic did cause him a lot of trouble even before him and Vanessa got married and divorced. “I know magic did cause a lot of trouble for me, but your not Vanessa.” He reassured.

Harriet smiled and hugged her father. Luka smiled and hugged her father back. She was glad Luka was understanding and didn’t disagree with this. “Now.” He started. “Your battling your mother, someone who is dangerous with magic.” He warned.

MJ then stepped up and put his hand on Harriet’s shoulder. “But, we believe in you! Kick your mom’s butt tomorrow!” He cheered.

“Yeah!” Harriet cheered. The four then shared a laugh, but Harriet stopped and looked down. “B-but what if I loose?” She asked. MJ, Clover, and Luka looked at each other. They knew the risk if Harriet looses the battle she’d have to live with her mother.

This scared Luka as Vanessa would be able to teach Harriet everything, or worse. He couldn’t show fear, he had to be brave for Harriet no matter what happens. “Will find a way to rescue you.” Luka reassured his daughter. Harriet smiled and hugged her father tight. “Now get some rest, you need it for your fight agonist your mom.”

Harriet nodded and ran to her room for some rest for her battle.

Tomorrow will be the day.

Tomorrow is the battle.

Tomorrow this battle will decide if Harriet stays or goes

#doodledrawsthings #'Coffee Shop AU'#Hat Kid #The Snatcher #The Prince #MoonJumper #MJ #the florist #Clover #mustache girl #Bow Kid #Queen Vanessa #ahit 'coffee shop au'

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liw-the-melancholic-apple · 4 years

Text

How it may have gone - Humble Beginnings

A fic taking place in the marauders era. While the political climate seems to head to a conflict, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter are still just teenagers. Dealing with typical teenage problems.

But this year their little group grows. Who would have known that more prefects would be a good thing?

Masterlist

Four: Patterns

I hated stairs. I hated floors. I hated walls. I hated windows. I hated chairs. I hated desks. I hated flitterbrick-nodules. I hated people. I hated life. Jasper who walked beside me – dragged himself beside me – was okay. Just barely. I wanted to die or at least go to bed but I had to first pad in to the Great Hall because prefects had to attend all meals. What a stupid rule! I hated rules. The fact that Jasper dealt with not having slept all night in a very similar fashion to myself offered a little comfort, which was why I had decided not to hate him on this awful, awful morning. Objectively it was probably a great Sunday morning. The wind outside wasn’t audible anymore which meant it died down and the stupid windows let in stupid sunlight that made me blink. The rest of the school would love this day. I was ready to commit homicide. Entering the Great Hall Jasper and I both groaned in mutual understanding that that was all the goodbye the other would get and scuffed to our respective tables. I purposefully kept a distance to my housemates and none of them were stupid or brave enough to close it. Still cursing the day and the world under my breath I checked my watch. It was barely seven o’clock. Who were these dumb people who already had breakfast? Why were they not in their beds sleeping? I was personally offended by their being awake because it felt like they disrespected the sacrifice I had just made so they could enjoy their time at the school. Granted, though, most of the students in the hall were first and second years who had not yet discovered the tragedies of stacking spells, 5000 word essays and drowning in tasks. They were still full of energy and enjoying life at the early hours. Poor babies, that would all change in no time. I found a fresh pot of coffee, took it and placed it under the bench. Mine. All of it. A table further I saw Annemarie McIntyre – who had been on the sixth floor all night – fall face first into her porridge. Her classmates laughed and I contemplated hexing them for the audacity but I didn’t have the energy to lift my wand. I didn’t even really have the energy to think straight. Taking a sip out of my big porcelain coffeemug I realised it was still empty and got angry that somebody put all the coffeepots far away before remembering that I had stashed one under the bench. God, I needed to get bed, and quickly.

It took me longer than I cared to admit to get the lid of the pot and pour the coffee but once I had done that and taken a sip – this time of coffee and not air – my hatred of the world shrunk a teeny tiny bit. In my peripheral I noticed somebody coming towards me and I hoped they had the brains to not speak to me. Slowly, quietly and carefully Chloe sat down next to me. I nodded to let her know I wouldn’t kill her. “And to you, too”, she answered in a low voice that hardly infuriated me. Chloe was very well trained when it came to dealing with me after an allnighter. As a token of my appreciation for her efforts I fished the coffeepot from under the bench and put it in front of her with a – hopefully friendly – grunt. She giggled. “Thank you. I know that was hard for you.” She filled her mug and got the basket with baked goods. Still carefully she placed two scones on my plate, that was still empty, and put a small jar of strawberry jam in front of me, before she silently got up to fetch some baked beans, mushrooms and tomatoes, that she loved for breakfast. When she came back I grunted again.

“You’re welcome. Least I could do after what you did for us.” Her voice had gotten back to its normal octave and she spoke quicker than normally. Although I didn’t want to be I was curious and managed to lift my head out of my hands and look at her. She looked back a moment, before realising that it was far too early to expect spoken language from me and answered my question without me asking it: “Yes, it was very nice and we might add the planetarium to the list of places one can comfortably sneak away to in order to … enjoy each other’s company.” My lips curled into what must have been a hideous smile because despite all of her training and years of experience Chloe laughed. Loudly. With a groan my had fell back into my hands, while Annmarie McIntyre placed hers into her porridge again. Chloe insisted I eat before I go to bed, which caused me some internal struggle as I was hungry but also tired and couldn’t find it in me to move to butter my scone or chew. She kept the coffee flowing steadily, shooed away all other people and instructed Magnus on what not to do around me, when he joined her for breakfast. He stifled his laughter, when he got to look at my face, which earned him some plus points but still made me growl at him. He was momentarily on the list of people I hated, that currently counted everyone but the angel that was Chloe with her heavenly patience and endless supply of coffee. At some point – I still hadn’t really moved – Magnus wished us good luck, kissed Chloe and left. I glanced at Chloe’s watch. Ten past eight. Wow. I had wasted more than an hour by just sitting here and hating life. An hour that I could’ve spent sleeping. I felt like crying. Moaning and cracking I sat up straight, which caused Chloe, who was at this point talking to Crick and his brother Jonas on her other side, to smile warmly. “Welcome back woont the living. You want some warm coffee? That iss till your first cup.”

“No, it’s not. You filled it up all morning.”

“That was mine, love. And Mag’s. And Crick’s and Jonas’. You hardly touched yours.

“Am I dying?” Chloe didn’t answer me but got a new cup, filled it to the brim with blackish goodness and put it in my hand.

“Thank you.” I could hear the whiney gratefulness in my voice and was mildly annoyed with myself. I didn’t like being like this but I couldn’t help it.

“No problem. How you’re feeling ‘bout the scones?”

“Generally or in this very moment that is cruel and dark?”

“Maybe you just try them after the coffee”, she chuckled.

In what must have been a sudden desire to die Crick came over put his arms around me from behind, kissed the top of my head, that was a mess after the knot had partially dissolved and whispered in my ear: “It’s not that bad. I know you feel like killing everybody but it’s not that bad. Lovely company, lovely weather, no classes…

“Are you suicidal?!”, I hissed and he let go of me kissing my head again.

“You’ll get through it.”

“What do my wandering eyes see? Signs of deep connections and care? A budding romance? The answer to all my prayers?” Wonderful. Nica was here. Just great.

“She already threatened to kill me, I don’t know whether you should go on singing like that”, Crick warned her and she laughed. More quiet than usually.

“Right, I totally forgot. Sorry, babe.” I grunted at her and took another sip of my coffee.

“Where on earth have you been?”, Chloe shouted at Nica without any regard for my fragile state. This was highly unusual and piqued my interest. I lifted my head from the table that I had placed it on when Nica had arrived and looked at them.

“What d’you mean?”, Nica answered. “You weren’t there when we got to the dorm. How are you asking me where I was?

“I was there until nine o’clock and no trace of any of you! When did you get back from the village?”

“Calm down, mum!” Milla spoke in an appropriate pitch and volume while she stroke my shoulder. Her way of wishing me a good morning. She and Blair sat down right across from me.

“Nica’s right, you don’t get to scold us for being late or breaking curfew. As far as I can tell you ignored it completely.” Chloe grumbled a bit.

“Nevertheless”, she then said audibly. “You at least knew that I was in the castle and that I was okay. I thought you got kidnapped by some psycho on your way back.” She lifted her chin and made that very stiff face.

“Mu-hum!”, it came from Blair in her toddler voice.

“I’m telling you you’re getting worked up over nothing. We got back from the village just in time, went to dinner directly and hung out with the boys a bit more”, Milla explained, smiling warmly and speaking in a very reassuring tone.

“What boys?”, Crick and Jonas had followed the conversation without much interest until this point but now they both sat up and stopped battling each other with the mini baguettes.

“Are you talking about us?”, a far too loud, far too awake and entirely too cheerful voice asked from right behind me. It was accompanied by four entirely too jolly expressions and four bodies that just plummeted down next to and across from me. Effectively entrapping me in this hell of a noisy, happy, awake world.

“Go away”, I moaned, head back on the table. I felt someone’s arm brush my hair.

“Whatf wif her?” Had Pettigrew just stolen my scone?

“Pettigrew, have you just stolen my scone?!”, I asked in a threateningly low voice that I was actually proud of.

The half of my breakfast that hadn’t yet made it into Pettigrews mouth fell out of his hand and landed on the table.

“She looks very mad”, he then shyly said more to himself than anybody else after he had swallowed.

“Yeah, mate, she does, doesn’t she?” Someone lifted the hood of my jumper and let it fall again.

“Go away”, I said again in the same voice I had used on Pettigrew still not ready to face those jolly faces again.

“Was your night again, huh?”, Remus had adopted the volume of my friends and spoke softly. I don’t think that I ever appreciated him as much as I did in that moment. I nodded while Chloe said: “It was. She doesn’t do well with allnighters.”

“So, no talking until ten? Or are there different rules in the weekends?”

“GO AWAY!” Potter had not picked up on the very sensitive ways of my friends and practically shouted at me with that cheery tone . I could hear his stupid grin and I hated him for it. Someone banged something warm against my hand. I opened the hand and found it was another mug of coffee. Merlin bless Chloe!

“Thanks”, I finally did look up – only at Chloe – and my voice was actually nice and grateful which surprised me.

“Wow, you look like death!”, Black shouted in a barking laugh.

“You are still here”, I noted.

“Look at the bags under her eyes. They’re huge!” In response to his insults I downed my coffee and burned my lips, tongue and throat in the process but felt finally capable of dealing with life again. At least for a bit.

“You. Are. So. Not. Living. Up. To. Your. Reputation.” With all the strength I could find I spoke calmly and looked at his irritating grinning face.

“Excuse me?”, he laughed.

“The whole entire castle goes on about Sirius Black the master charmer. ‘Oh, look out he’s gonna smooth talk you out of your knickers!’ No girl can withstand the flirting skills of Sirius find ‘em, love ‘em, leave ‘em Black. And what do I get? ‘You look like death.’ Very disappointing.”

Black’s dumbfounded face was pretty entertaining and to my annoyance the others noticed and laughed. Loudly.

“I told you she went back to hating us!”, Potter said, still snorting but with serious eyes.

“I don’t hate you, Potter”, I surprised myself, getting a strong sense of deja-vu and a round of very confused looks.

“At least not more than I currently hate stairs, students, school, teachers, breakfast and life itself”, I clarified.

“How do you not hate us?”, Potter looked at Black first, then back at me. I made a guttural sound I didn’t know I even could produce to express my unwillingness to answer that utterly dumb question. The message didn’t get through.

“Huh”, he notched me with a fork.

“Can we maybe do this when I’m not homicidal?”

“You really heard no girl can withstand me?”, Black’s crooked grin had returned to his marble-statue-pretty face.

“Again, can we do this when I’m not homicidal?”

“Well, I got some pepper-up-potion in my bag. Two drops in a cup of tea should do the trick”, he suggested non-chalantly.

“You want me to use doping to tell you what the girls think about you?”, I couldn’t help bursting into laughter. “You’re ego seems to be just fine.”

“Now, she’s lost it!” Crick looked me up and down.

“You feeling alright, Tea?”, he then asked resting his eyes on mine.

“Of course I’m not”, I chuckled, incapable of stopping to laugh. “I’ve never been this tired in my entire life and now those clowns wanna drug me”, I screamed, laughter reaching a high pitch I had never heard come out of my own mouth.

Crick turned to Potter and hissed at him: “Great, you broke her!”

“Did you just call her Tea?”, Potter responded unfazed and very curious. “I thought her name was Jette.”

“What’s it matter to you how I call her?”, Crick hissed again.

“ Whoah, calm down.” Jonas pulled his little brother back down onto the bench and raised a warning hand at Potter. I found the whole scene hilarious and nearly hyperventilated as I collapsed onto Chloe.

“You have broken her. This is not normal. Jette?”

“Eeh, eeh, eeeh, yeah?” I now actually struggled to breathe.

“Do you wanna go up to bed?”

“Of course I do! I’ve been begging you to let me go, remember?”

“Let’s do that then. I could use some extra sleep, too.” Chloe looked at our friends. “We’ll take a late lunch and then meet up?”, she suggested.

“Are you not gonna let us tell you about yesterday?”, Nica yelled as Chloe already dragged me out the Hall.

“Afternoon”, she shouted back and minutes later I got to fall into the softest blankets I had ever felt and was asleep before Chloe had even closed the dorm door.

♠♠♠

I looked at my watch. It was getting late. If we wanted to catch good seats we had to leave within the next five minutes. Most of the Gryffindors had already left and the Ravenclaw table was getting very empty, too. The Slytherins and Hufflepuffs took it all a little more relaxed but I knew that Sian and Irving had left for the stands about twenty minutes ago.

Normally, a match between two other houses wouldn’t cause my girls and me to hurry to get to it. But that fateful last Saturday had forged some weird kind of alliance between Nica, Blair and Milla and the Potter-posse. Chloe and I couldn’t escape it and had found ourselves just going with it, listening to the stories about pranks, Lily Evans, their general hatred for Slytherins and, of course, Quidditch.

I didn’t have a problem with it, Potter and his friends could be entertaining and friendly as long as somebody kept them in check and reminded them of their limits every now and again. Usually, that job was done by Remus, so much I had learned but he wasn’t friends with them for nothing. When he told us how in their third year they had covered all of their classmates in maplesyrup whenever they would walk through a doorframe for two days straight, his enthusiasm was unimaginable. I did actually remember those two days quite vividly, because Crick had been cursing continuously but I – as well as the rest of the school – had never found out who was behind the syrup attacks. While listening to him talk I made a mental note not to underestimate Remus – or Pettigrew for that matter – just because they weren’t as loud and egocentric as Potter and Black.

Within the last week – and after I had recovered from my night shift – a couple of patterns had developed that were probably going to stay throughout the entire school year. One of those patterns was that Milla and I took our after-meal-smokes with the Potter-posse, which was the reason for my current standing in the door and waiting. Obviously Potter and Black had already left the Great Hall to put on their robes and warm up for the match but Remus and Pettigrew had stayed behind enjoying a rather lavish breakfast. In fact, they were the last two Gryffindors even still present at the table and had at some point decided to join us at ours.

There they now joked around with Nica and Blair while Milla and I had told them thrice already that we’d prefer smoking and heading for the pitch. They nodded, said they’d be right there and continued to chat.

“This is getting ridiculous! Miracle Nica isn’t already sitting in the front row waiting for James to woo her”, Milla said, blowing her fringe out of her face and going back to our table. Without warning she approached unsuspecting Remus from behind, shoved both her arms under his and attempted to lift him. Given his height she failed miserably and nearly catapulted herself into a half eaten muffin but at least Remus and Pettigrew got the message.

One hand against Milla’s forehead to prevent impact with the baked good Remus politely smiled at the girls and said something I didn’t hear. Then he let Milla get back up and he and Pettigrew followed her to the door where they met me and we finally left.

“How come you aren’t in the seats since sunrise?”, I asked after we had reached our favourite spot under the passage. “I would’ve thought Potter and Black force you to start chanting ‘Gryffindor’ as soon as they enter the changing rooms.”

“I know you keep reassuring James that you don’t hate him but it doesn’t sound like you like him much”, Pettigrew commented ignoring my question. I was taken aback a bit by that. Was I not nice to him? I figured I treated Potter like I did anybody else of their little group.

“Doesn’t it?” Pettigrew shook his head.

“Well, I don’t think anybody will ever rival any of you for the title of best friends but I would consider all of you friendly faces. Including him. Maybe I’m just a little hung up on that ego of his.” I shrugged.

“He and Black both have a lot of that”, Milla confirmed.

“Is that not a good thing?”, Pettigrew pulled up his nose in a very unflattering manner.

“There always is too much of a good thing”, I explained. “Don’t get me wrong they have no reason to doubt themselves or have low selfesteem but every now and again they get obnoxious. It’s just too much…” I searched for the right word to describe what I meant but Remus found it for me:” Show.”

“Exactly!”, Milla agreed. “They like being the center of attention and it seems that whenever not enough girls look their way they put on a show”, she pointed at Remus, “just to get that attention.” Pettigrew still had that silly face.

“It’s not a bad thing by definition”, Milla said a little calmer. “But it creates certain expectations and reputations.”

“Like how you were upset that Sirius called you death?”, Pettigrew turned to me.

“Sort of. The way he uses his looks and sweettalking skills to get out of trouble or get favours has me expecting some sort of flirty comment all the time. He has the reputation of a lady’s man and in that moment he didn’t live up to it. Though, I will say that I probably couldn’t have dealt with any smoothtalking. At least he was honest, eh?”

“Where does that image actually come from?” Remus threw away his cigarette and nodded towards the Quidditch pitch. We could have easily smoked and walked over there but that was not part of the routine we had established and so we now had to powerwalk over in order to catch the beginning of the game.

“What do you mean? We just told you”, Milla laughed a little out of breath as we crossed the wet grass.

“Is it just that he can flirt?”, Remus answered. “’Cause he obviously does but nothing ever really comes of it. I mean have you ever seen him kiss a girl? He’s got the image of some serial snogger while I don’t even know if he…” Remus wisely interrupted himself not betraying his best friends trust completely. Milla and I grinned at each other, half surprised, half amused.

“The point is more that he could get at least two thirds of all the girls from third year and upwards to go out and snog with him. That’s obvious”, Milla answered his question and as he raised an eyebrow in confusion she added:” Not just to us but him as well. He knows what effect he has on girls and he plays that to his advantage. So, yeah, it might just be that he really knows how to talk a girl's index week. And he does. He really does.” I nodded.

We caught up to Nica, Blair, Chloe, Magnus and Crick who had passed us a little earlier waving and pointing at their watches.

“So, that reputation is why you think he’d want us to sing fan-chants long before the game begins?”, Remus got back to my original question that I had already forgotten.

“More or less. With their egos it wouldn’t surprise me if they wanted that. But then again, I’ve known all of you for about ten days. My idea of who you are might be off.” Remus laughed and held the door to the wooden towers of the quidditch pitch open, so first us five girls could walk through and then the sixth year boys.

“Think you have a shot, Pete?”, asked Magnus.

“That we have!”, Pettigrew beamed back. “James hasn’t let them off easy these past weeks. I’ve never seen Furling so focused.” It was dark under the tower and I walked in front of him but I heard the pride and a big smile in his voice.

“Better not tell Glassock that”, Mag mumbled. “She’s crazy enough as it is.” Their conversation turned to a homework assignment that Remus agreed to help Mag and Crick with and I stopped listening. At the stairs we waved at each other, Remus and Pettigrew taking their first row seats in the Gryffindor corner, us seven squeezing through the Hufflepuffs.

It took me about six minutes to get why Pettigrew was so confident in the Gryffindor victory. They. Were. On. Fire. The only change in the team had been the keeper, as their Captain Urlington had left school last year making room for Potter to take over. The new keeper was a girl I thought was in fourth year and although she was no match for Urlington she was really good.

Combine that with a team that had been playing in its current line-up for two years and a fanatic strategist as Potter in charge and you got yourself a nearly unbeatable squad. The formations they flew could have killed them if they weren’t executed with perfect timing and the chasers threw the quaffle in the most impossible ways. After those six minutes it was 30:0 for Gryffindor.

Magnus groaned a bit further down the bench and I saw that he watched Sian who got positively worked up over the topform of Potter’s team.

“That will not end well for us”, Mag whispered to Nica and Milla who both looked impressed and anticipating torture.

“You think?”, Milla asked sarcastically.

“Don’t worry”, Nica gestured for both of them to sit back down so she could watch the game. “I got all of his strategies for this game, remember? I’ve already given them to Sian.”

“And here I thought you just wanted to flirt with Potter”, Blair smirked.

“Well, I’m still determined to get him out of his robes, but Crick was right”, she shrugged. “He’s head over heels for Evans. More than some good old-fashioned fun won’t be in it for me. But that I want!”

Her last word was drowned out by the announcer and the crowd as Gryffindor scored yet again with a spectacular dive from Potter himself. The longer I watched the more I realised that Potter’s ego didn’t translate to the pitch. He played for the team and not for the glory. In several situations when he could have tried to score he passed the quaffel on to Bryant or Marchant who were either in a better position or ignored by the Ravenclaw defence. It wasn’t what I expected from him but it definitely helped the game. 60:0 Gryffindor.

“Oh, and there comes Clearwater, passing to Smith, back to Clearwater, he goes for it aaaaand Johnston gets to corners of the rings she shouldn’t be able to get to folks! Potter made a smart choice letting her guide those this year. That Siobhan Jonhnston is one to watch out for.

But the game continues ,now the quaffel is back with Bryant he builds up speed, ah there comes a bludger … but Black manages to protect Bryant! Bludger via Black to Midgeon aaand Ravenclaws Atila has to leave his post at the rings to not get hit… 70:0 for Gryffindor!” ze

“Furling gets some distance between him and Chimes, folks I think he’s going to crash into the grass, cover up your eyes if you have weak stomachs, oh god, there we go, prepare for impact…But no no no!! Furling is alive and well, spiralling up to his teammates the snitch in his hand! Gryffindor wins over Ravenclaw 320:80. Marvellous!

I’d say this was a worthy start to the season. We have a clear favourite for the cup this year and three teams who now know what they’re up against. Have a save trip home. I’m out!”

Nobody listened to what the announcer said. The moment Furling had the snitch all hell had broken lose. The Gryffindor block had erupted in triumphant cheers, the Ravenclaw block had fallen back onto their benches in despair and the Slytherins and ourselves had been clapping and cheering moderately, mainly to pay respect to the extraordinary performance by Gryffindor. The grass beneath the stands had turned scarlet and gold with all the fans congratulating the team.

We were trying to reach the stairs to run back into the warmth of the common room when a broom shot up from the pitch, carrying an exhausted looking boy with glasses.

“I told you it would work!”, he screamed and Nica sighed.

“Yes, you did, James. I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“It worked! It worked! I’m the best Captain ever!” He flew a couple of loops before he landed back with his teammates to be carried on the hands of Gryffindor house to the changing rooms. I had to laugh at that. Was he way too arrogant? Yes. Did his ego deserve to be taken down a notch? Absolutely. Had he been a strategy-genius and possibly given Gryffindor the best start to a quidditch season in years? Yes. Yes, he had. And because of that I wasn’t even mildly annoyed by his cockiness.

A quick look at my watch informed me that lunch would be served in about thirty minutes. Enough time for a quick pit stop in my dorm to change into warmer, dryer clothes. Generally speaking, I liked the May and June matches a lot better than those in November and December. As an onlooker those warmer months just made for a more pleasant viewing. But the cool thing about the winter matches was the way you went into snuggle-up mode instantly after. I didn’t expect a single student to show up in normal clothes to lunch. It would most definitely be joggers and jumpers all over. Maybe one or two girls would wear tights with cosy dresses or long pullovers. But nobody would show up in jeans. We had just watched a November quidditch game. The unwritten rules dictated comfortable clothing for the rest of the day.

Dreaming about the fire in the common room and my ever so cosy Hufflepuff joggers I didn’t even realise that I started shivering. Only when an additional jacket was draped around my shoulders and I got a bit warmer I noticed how cold I had been. I looked up. Crick smiled at me.

“As cool as that coat might be I think it’s time you brought out the warm jackets.”

“Are you not freezing? I will not be held responsible for your tragically early death!”, I yelled while looking him up and down. He only wore a jumper now.

“I’ll be just fine. You were shaking like the whomping willow and that drove me nuts. This is better for both of us.”

“Thanks”, I mumbled, pulling his jacket closer.

“Got any plans for the rest of the weekend?”, he asked. We had made it out of the stadium and waited near the door for his and mine respective classmates.

“I don’t think so. There’s the obvious homework that still needs to be done but other than that I can’t think of anything.” Magnus and Chloe walked out, saw us and came to stand beside us. Both gave us a curious look. I ingored it.

“She was shivering like it was winter in the arctic”, Crick commented making Magnus smile and Chloe bite her lips.

When Nica, Milla and Blair finally showed up, accompanied by Sian, Joe and Irving, we followed the crowds back up to the castle. Nica snuck away from the heated discussion about the match that our team had and came to walk beside me, holding me back just a moment, grinning widely.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice”, she chirped.

“Sorry?”

“You’re wearing his jacket!”

“Oh, that. Yes, yes I do. I’ve told him to keep wearing it because I don’t wanna be the reason he freezes to death but he insisted… And it is rather better than before.”

“So cute!”, Nica cheered and I rolled my eyes.

“There’s nothing cute about it, Nic. He’s a good friend with a more reasonable approach to outer wear than me. Don’t make it something that it isn’t.”

“I can already see the invitations to your wedding. God, it’ll be so perfect!”

“There won’t be any wedding.”

“Why won’t you just admit it! You are made for one another. Just find the thirteen-year-old within yourself and go with it!”

“Nothing to admit, Nica. I’m over him. We’re friends and we care for one another. That’s it.” I could see by Nica’s epression that she didn’t believe me and so I dropped the subject.

I did tell the truth, though. My crush on Crick had just been that: a crush. It had started halfway through my third year and I had even told him about it at the last game of the season. He was very weird about it saying he didn’t know what to do or say. He saw me as a friend and didn’t want to hurt me. But I shouldn’t get my hopes up.

And just like that I was okay again. Not right away, I moped around for two weeks convinced I’d never be happy again, but before the school year had ended I was fine again. I’d come to the conclusion that I just needed him to say “no” and after he did I could move on. That summer holiday I met a rather greatlooking Frenchman in Orléans, who made any thoughts I might have still had on Crick disappear. By the start of fourth year everything was back to normal and it took Crick only a week to notice. We were both happy just being friends but for some reason Nica wanted more.

Ever since I had confessed my crush to her and the other girls she had planned our lives for us. Why she was so obsessed with Crick and me I didn’t know. Chloe and Magnus had never been annoyed with wedding dresses and babynames and they were actually a couple. Neither had Milla and Joe in the brief period of their mutual affection last year.

I sighed one last time and jogged to the rest of our friends to say my piece about the match. At the stairs to the big portal I gave Crick back his jacket and thanked him again.

“Anytime”, he grinned before he was pulled towards the staircase by a bunch of his classmates.

“Where are they going?”, Milla asked.

“No idea. But Chloe should know.”

We didn’t dwell on the mystery of the sixth years and ran down the modest staircase to the kitchens and our common room. Twenty minutes in front of the fire had warmed us up sufficiently, we quickly changed into the after-winter-quidditch-game-uniform of house branded joggers and jumpers, threw on some thick socks and comfortable shoes and went to lunch.

The Ravenclaw table looked sad and melancholic, the team still dripping from the rain, brooms lying across the floor. None of them were eating. The rest of their house kept respectfully quiet to not upset the team.

The Gryffindor table on the other hand was celebrating. As far as I could see the team hadn’t gotten to lunch yet but everybody else had walked up from the pitch together. Mud and puddles framed the table and the fan chants were still audible.

“Idiots”, Milla laughed looking the red table up and down, smiling and giving someone a thumbs-up. Someone had to have reacted because she rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue before pulling me on to our seats.

“Idiots”, she said again. “Can you pass me the spaghetti?”

We were just discussing pudding choices when the doors to the Great hall flew open and the Gryffindor table erupted in applause. The seven victorious players – all decked out in house branded sports clothes – walked into the hall as if they had defeated the huns. Bowing over to their table, blowing kisses into the masses. It was the most dramatic entrance I had ever seen anybody make and it was hilarious. I spotted Jasper at the Ravenclaw table giggling while I myself had to hold on to the table to not fall of the bench.

We joined the Gryffindors in their applause and got blown a couple of kisses ourselves before the team said down, let the cheering go on for just a moment more and then dug into their food.

“Can you please do that for us when we win our game?”, Milla asked still laughing, looking at Chloe, Blair and me.

“I mean we can try”, Blair answered. “But I think you need a certain Gryffindor disposition to get everybody that estatic.”

“As long as you try.”

I decided on chocolate éclair for pudding, stuffed my face with it and was pulled off the bench by Milla. Following Crick’s advice I had put dad’s leather coat back into the wardrobe and gotten out a wintercoat that was much warmer. When I had it on I padded the pockets and realised my case was still in dad’s jacket.

“Looks like I gotta scrounge from you”, I gave Milla an apologetic smile.

“Fine.” We pushed and pulled ourselves through and along the celebrating Gryffindors when a hand grabbed mine.

“What d’you think you’re doing?”

“Congrats on the win! That was excellent, Potter”, I answered.

“Why thank you, De Witt. Where are you going?”

“Outside.”

“Without us”, Black had turned around and looked up at Milla and me with big puppy eyes.

“Well”, I waved at their overflowing plates, “yes.”

“But what about our thing?”, Potter asked.

“We have a thing?”, smirked Milla.

“That’s what I thought.” Remus finished his treacle tarte.

“Hey, your Felix’ sister, right?” The new seeker sat next to Remus and looked me up and down.

“Yeah.”

“You have a brother?” I ignored Pettigrew.

“Why d’you ask?”

“Do you think he’d help me out in potions? I suck at it and Slughorn loves him.” It seemed she was a third year, not a fourth.

“Sure, I think he would. Just ask him. He’s takes an unhealthy pleasure in potionmaking.”

“Oh cool. Thanks”, she blushed a bit and I grinned to myself. Felix, Felix, Felix…

“None of that is the point”, Black brought my attention back to the sixth years.

“Peter here very much needs routine in his everyday life and you have been smoking with us after every meal this week, which constitutes a routine. You cannot sent him into madness by going without us now”, his eyes were darting between Milla and me, very strict expression on his face.

“You could run down and get the case”, Milla suggested. “I’ll wait here. When they’re done after you come back Pettigrew doesn’t have to go insane.”

“Great plan, Milla”, Remus nodded and shooed me away.

I knew that I had no chance and made my way down into the common room and then my dorm. I grabbed my cigarette case and the trusty zippo lighter from my wardrobe . Before heading back out I also took the vintage quidditch scarf my mum had sent me right after my sorting in first year. I had learned my lesson about the weather after all.

When I was unwillingly taking the stairs back to the foyer yet again my brain waved at me with an observation it had made. Remus had called Milla Milla. He normally referred to all of my friends by last name just like I did with his. Milla usually was either Scribe or Scribe-Anderson to Remus.Not first, though. Odd. But then again, Nica had instantly called all of them by their first names and maybe that just rubbed off on him. I returned to the Great Hall and found Milla sitting between Siobhan Johnston and Remus, laughing at something Pettigrew had said. Behind Potter and Black who were – to my dismay – still eating stood Nica and Blair laughing as well. Chloe and Magnus still sat at the table having a conversation with Crick and Jonas.

“Thought you had left.” Crick pointed at the free seat next to him. I hesitated only a second then sat down. I wasn’t gonna get between the boys and their food anyway.

“I had. To get these.” I waved the silver case.

“You don’t smell like smoke”, Jonas commented.

“Haven’t been yet. Those clowns wanted to come along but they’re still eating”, I sighed.

“Since when are you hanging out with Potter and his blokes?” Jonas looked at the last cup of cherry jelly, tilted his head and stuck his spoon into it.

“Since Nica decided that she wants Potter.” Crick, Magnus and Jonas started coughing.

“What?”, Mag managed after Chloe had forced some pumpkin juice down his throat.

“How’s that surprising?”, she asked him.

“It… was a very direct statement…”

“Anyways she got him to talk to her about quidditch last week in Hogsmeade and his friends took Blair and Milla to the Broomsticks to wait for them”, I finished my explanation. “And they seemed to have had a lot of fun and now I don’t get to smoke when I want to because Pettigrew likes routines.”

“Sure. Of course.”

“Why don’t you just go if you want to?” Crick handed me the case with which he had played.

“Smoking alone is significantly less fun. And I always go with Milla…”

“We could accompany you.”

“You’ve done enough accompanying for one day don’t you think?”, Magnus smirked causing Crick to fiddle with my case again.

“Do tell”, Chloe and I both more sang than said. Crick was clearly not having this conversation, but luckily the four of us were. And because Magnus knew that true best friends tortured Esch other every now and then he told us.

“Sixth year went up to the prefects’ lounge after the game”, he started and I remembered having seen them run up the stairs right after we got back to the castle, whisking Crick away.

“Elaine had suggested to lighten up the gloomy day with a spontaneous round of spin the bottle and we had to oblige.”

“Of course, who could withstand Elaine.” Jonas’ eyes went a little glazy. Elaine Finnigan was an absolute sex bomb. She looked just like every boy’s wildest dream, had a gorgeous smile and was nice. Like genuinely nice. Not that superficial politeness, that girls had perfected who spoke ill behind your back, but genuinely nice. Jonas by far wasn’t the only one who got that look in his eyes when he thought of her.

“That’s what you’ve run off to?”, Chloe asked Magnus.

“Only to watch, obviously”, he answered reassuringly.

“Oh, I didn’t think you’d participate”, Chloe answered. “You’re smart enough to know that I’d hex you into the next century if you cheated on me”, she smiled.

“Damn right, I am. However, not all of us are happily unavailable for Spin the Bottle. And some of us got lucky enough to accompany Elaine Finnigan to the Archives.” He winked at Crick.

“Shut up!”, I yelled raising my hand for a high-five that Crick ignored. I pointed at it with my other hand but to no avail, so I let it fall on the table again.

“You got into it with Elaine?”, Jonas sounded insulted and impressed at the same time.

“No…Yes…Sort of. Look, we played for like fourty minutes before we got down here and Elaine and I got picked as the second to last couple. We didn’t have much time to get into it.”

“What did you get into then?”, Chloe wanted to know, painting circles in the air in front of his face with her fork.

“Nothing. Nothing special.”

“Nathaniel Gabriel Cricket you tell me right now how far you got with that goddess of a woman!”, his brother demanded, insult disappeared from his voice, pure curiosity leaked from it.

“Well, Jonas John, we got not quite far enough to say it was more than snogging.” His eyed didn’t glaze over, they started to twinkle as he smirked. Jonas was incapable of reacting to that. His mouth was a little opened and his eyes focused on something in the far distance.

“Well done you!”, I shouted, attempting another high-five, that this time I got.

“Thanks?”

“No, she’s right! Be proud of that. I hear she isn’t that easy”, Chloe, too, raised her hand. Magnus laughed at Crick’s slightly confused and Jonas’ utterly shocked faces, when a hand fell onto my shoulder.

“How long have you been sitting there?”

“Couple of minutes.”

“I thought you wanted to get to smoking as quickly as possible.”

“You hadn’t finished eating yet.” I shrugged and let Potter pull me from the bench.

“Well, Casanova, thanks for the offer, but it seems I’m covered. See you in the common room?”

“For Merlin’s sake don’t start calling me that!”

I waved the boys and Chloe goodbye and took the arm Nica offered me.

“Why on earth would you call him Casanova? Did you too just get it on in a broom closet?” Her entire face lit up in anticipation.

“No. He played Spin the Bottle with Elaine.”

“Finnigan?”

“Yep.”

“Oh my. I didn’t think he could pull her.”

“Well, the bottle probably helped.” We both giggled.

“Remus, will you stop that!?” Milla’s cry brought my attention over to the passage where the rest of the group already stood. Remus had placed his elbow atop her head. Now, Milla really isn’t short – no Nica by any means – but given that Remus was a giant she was just the right height for him to use her as an armrest.

“Stop what, exactly?”

“Take an educated guess!” Nica and I reached the passage, pulling down our hoods now that we were out of the rain. Before I could even reach for my cigarette case Black grabbed me by the elbow that Nica had just let go of. He pulled me a bit away from the rest, offered me a smoke from his pack, which I gratefully accepted, lit me up, pulled me a little further away from my friends and his.

“What’s up with those two?”, he then asked. Flipping his head toward Remus and Milla, a new kind of smirk on his lips. This one wasn’t flirty, it was entertained, knowing and just the tiniest bit suspicious.

“Come again? Thanks by the way.”

“What? Oh, sure.”

“What do you mean, what’s up with them?”

“Have you not noticed them calling each other by their first names?”

“I noticed he stopped calling her Scribe.”

“She just screamed ‘Remus’.”

“Huh.”

“I think that they will see a lot more of each other.” He looked back over to them, still bickering with each other, both smiling brightly. I examined the situation for a moment.

“You know what, you might be right.”

“She better not break his heart.” His eyes bore into mine again. I swore I could see myself in that steel grey. But he meant what he said and it was clear that he held me responsible for her behaviour.

“He better not break hers.” I held his stare intending to convince him that now he was responsible for Remus’ being a respectable gentleman.

“Fair enough. You hear anything solid, you tell me, yeah.”

“If you’ll do the same.” He extended his hand and I shook it.

After that was cleared up Black guided me back to our friends, offering me yet another cigarette as if to seal the deal we’d just made. Normally, we only ever stayed a maximum of ten minutes in that passage, chatting and smoking. But that Saturday afternoon we stood in the nasty weather for one and a half hours, telling stories about the last couple years, sorting out family relations and favourite subjects. We only ever went back inside because the cold had crept into our bones. In the foyer Pettigrew asked if we had plans for the evening and if we were up for round two of secretspilling. And up for it we were. We decided to meet up right after dinner and then check if there were free rooms in the prefects’ hall. The one problem this school had was that interhouse friendships had no common rooms to be nurtured in. The prefect’s hall really was the only chance we had of hanging out. And given that we had two prefects amongst us we would probably not get caught or at least nobody would tell on us.

The moment we stepped through the fake barrel that was the door to our common room we sprinted towards the fireplace and plummeted down on the grey carpet in front of it. The first years who sat on the chairs around it looked a bit intimidated. “What happened to you?” Chloe threw a couple of blankets at us. We recounted our after lunch adventures while snuggling up to one another trying to get warm again. “Next time I’m coming with!”, Chloe decided. “Next time is after dinner”, informed Blair.

#marauders fanfiction #marauders era #harry potter #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #peter pettigrew

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