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http-mianhae · 1 year

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AMORTENTIA ; seungcheol

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DESCRIPTION ᝰ Being head-over-heels for the Gryffindor captain is harder than it seems, especially when everyone knows about your little crush on Seungcheol and he takes it lightly. Until when you’re partnered up and forced to be in each other’s lives on a daily basis, that’s when things take a bit of a turn

WARNINGS ᝰ fluff, angst, one-sided love, snape (LMAOOO)

PAIRING ᝰ choi seungcheol x fem!reader

WORD COUNT ᝰ 17.1k

“When will you stop looking at him?” The question sunk sharply into your goosebump-raided skin, thin as the air you were breathing.

“I don’t know, Mingyu, I don’t know.” you sighed. Truth be told, the action of sighing was intended to rid some degree of tension but it was planting more stress on you.

The shadow of the Owlery roof spread just to your knees. The remainder of your legs were under the Sun, soaking in the glow that you were defective from days and days of staying indoors.

Mingyu rubbed your back, his head heavy on your shoulder. You knew he didn’t mean to ask the question in a crude way but when you were already so sick of it, you wondered how your best friend felt witnessing it all?

“I wish he could make you happy…” he said in a hushed voice.

The sound of the way he said it touched you in a way no one could because it was pure. You wished that the person that didn’t share your feelings would look at you, appreciate you and recognise what you see in him. A hopeless romantic you were, dedicating all your heart to the impossible.

The sound of owls aloft getting in the Owlery to their cages and squawking was overheard from outside. Where you were, you could see the Quidditch field and the red-coloured uniform striking in your eye’s reflection. They were outstanding, dazzling like their Quidditch records.

He never disappointed.

All these running years of Captain, there never passed a day where Choi Seungcheol would thwart the Gryffindor team.

“I’m back!” Chan shouted excitedly, coming out of the Owlery along with Seungkwan.

“What did you deliver?” you asked, turning around to him.

You were essentially brought here by your group of friends, after all. Not that you were complaining either, because you knew Seungcheol had Quidditch practise at this time.

“Just had to get back to Sirius about some stuff.” Dino sighed.

“Oh,” you nodded.

Ever since the whole fiasco last year with the detailed escape of the said gruesome convict departing from Azkaban, your entire fifth year was filled with ups and downs and too many jumpscares to count.

Chan, the deemed Chosen One and your traumatised group of teens solved the crisis and found out he in fact wasn’t a bad guy and was there to be of assistance. Since then, Sirius Black has been in hiding and Chan kept in contact with him however he could.

“And you are…staring at him again.” Seungkwan sighed, disappointed. He took the seat beside you where your eyes sailed off into the distance to Seungcheol was yelling for the ball to be passed.

He looked so charming. And he indeed was. He knew how to respect everyone, even through your seldom communication.

“Please,” Chan muttered, slipping down to sit next to Mingyu.

Tiredness was something you guys were never used to.

The weekend was approaching in literal hours and the four of you were sleepy from the monstrous amount of homework you were suffocating in.

The only getaways you would have were the ones where Seungcheol would take a dip in your daydreams painted like an angel as he would talk to you about how he loved you back and how much he needed you in his life.

You dreamt and dreamt of it but had it even come close to happening? No.

It even went as far as nearly the whole year level knowing, yet Seungcheol didn’t react a little when he discovered your crush on him.

He just left it as so.

You were starting to doubt if anything would even happen.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Monday had boringly flooded in with you going to your Potions Class.

Of course, this was an exceedingly undesirable class for nearly the entire school except for the Slytherins. Maybe if he was nicer, you would consider changing your least preferred subject to something over the lines of Herbology.

You regretted taking that class.

You entered the Potions classroom, locating Joshua the Hufflepuff in the rear corner, waiting for you. Joshua was a mutual friend of yours and you noticed yourself hovering around him during the classes you had together.

When Joshua was quiet upon your arrival, you marked the glow of change in the mood. Snape has to be serious today for you two not to be talking in class.

Notably because of the history Slytherins has with the other houses, you get the worst punishments from Snape.

“We start your Potions assignment today.” Snape shut the door of the classroom with a flick of his wand, causing you to jump a little. “We discussed it last week and you took back the assignment sheets as well, so we will get started straight away.”

Joshua sent a concerned look your way, you nodded it out. Then, he smiled a little, teasingly to confirm. He was a Hufflepuff, but he sure was a mocking one.

“This assignment requires for you to be in partners and I have already picked them out myself.” No one made sounds of disappointment because you all know what the consequences are of that.

One toe out of the line and it was the infamous Forbidden Forest detention coming your way.

“I assume these are the fairest partners there are due to schedules so be aware that I did pick your partners with notice of you,” Snape said, whipping parchment paper out, set to read out what you could assume was the list of partners.

“Sit with your partners once I have called your names out…Seungcheol and Y/N.”

It went eerily quiet.

And you sort of stared at Snape, challenging what he said was true. Like you went dumb for a second and there was this remarkable heat on your face you, as you gawked at his features in high dismay. Were you stuck in a dream?

You were overwhelmed thinking that after Seungcheol knowing your crush on him, you would be shameless of your actions around him. But it appeared that there were still some factors that didn’t apply to that. And this was one of the incidents that had offered those factors—working together with him.

You shook your head, yet trying to make sense of what Snape just said as the whole class turned to seize your priceless reaction to talk about later.

As much as it doesn’t seem so, the gossip gets around Hogwarts fast. You were not one, but multiple examples.

Gossip, gossip, gossip.

The students loved it, it moved them, especially when it wasn’t concerning them and someone who appeared to be so easy to deteriorate and make a fool out of. Hence why your best friend is a Hufflepuff, they respect you no matter who you are.

You abruptly nodded, stepping out of your ordeal daze, finally moving. You didn’t even look at Joshua, you couldn’t induce yourself to see his reaction of pain for you—it’d make yourself feel worse.

The urge to throw yourself out the window lingered, without the stupid truth that you couldn’t because the class was held in the dungeons of Hogwarts. There was unfortunately no possible way of flying at least three stories down.

Oh, you resented it already.

You couldn’t understand if it was because of the near walk-of-shame you had to do to the open seat next to Seungcheol or the fact that you were working with your long time crush, but something agitated inside and caught you into not wanting to stick around.

However, he glanced over at you and smiled, waving at you.

Why was he acting so nice for?

And why were you smiling back at him?

It was so bad. You could feel the stares dig through your head more than they needed to. The recognition you were getting was far more than you were used to in your life and for the prime reason—your crush on Seungcheol.

Snape continued on with his list and you desired it to last longer. Long enough for the lesson to end and stall more time between you and Seungcheol. It was like as soon as you set foot near him, all those insecurities in your brain hindered you from acting who you were.

“Hey, Y/N.” he greeted you, his plump lips looking smooth at a closer perspective. As you predicted. What was more was that he remembered your name.

“Hi, Seungcheol.” you greeted back.

Students were starting to make small talk with their partners, surrounding you. And everyone looked pretty good with their pairs, focussing on the task.

You brought your attention back to your textbook, flicking through it as you tried to disregard the gaze of Cheol on you.

“Um, I think Moonstone is pretty interesting. Should we do our assignment on the properties of Moonstone and test a potion using it? Or we could do Dandelion Leaf, Rose Petals, but that seems like first-year stuff to me and I really don’t want to be doing that.”

A smile gradually coiled onto his features. “Do you like Potions?”

“I beg your pardon?” you asked, unmistakably hearing him.

But still, was he being sarcastic? Was this the normal popular kid attitude you would encounter here? You never personally talked to Seungcheol properly, mayhap, that’s why you didn’t know.

But he stopped smiling. “No, I didn’t mean to sound rude. I was just saying you looked really excited and I—”

“Oh.” you intervened, glancing down to your lap in embarrassment. Once again, too defensive for your own good. You were flustered as you looked back up at him, wanting to fix things again. “I like Potions. Just not the teacher.”

You whispered the last part.

“What Gryffindor does? Honestly—oh, there goes the bell,” he said.

Others began packing their books with the dismissal from Snape to leave the frigid dungeons that shrivelled you up on the inside.

Goosebumps were pretty much all over your skin, even with the school robes on. He got up and started picking up his books and quill.

“Um, Moonstone sound great though. We should talk about it next lesson?”

You nodded briskly.

Seungcheol smiled again, your heart racing with what you could only imagine your crush swarming your brain. He was just beyond beautiful.

“Okay,” you said.

“Sweet.”

He walked to the door of the classroom and you followed him with your books to Joshua, who was waiting for you at the door.

“Hey.” he greeted you, a teasing smile on his face. You swore you were about to burst right there if it weren’t for Seungcheol walking slightly ahead of you two.

“Hey, Joshua. Come sit at the Gryffindor table,” you told him, changing the subject. “We’ll eat lunch together.”

“Ah, sounds nice.” he agreed, his eyes squinting in teasing mode. Of course, it was Joshua out of all people that would put you in this position. “Sounds as nice as what just happened.”

“I will murder you!” you said, bumping your shoulder into him. Seungcheol was barely a few steps away from you. What if he heard you?

Seungcheol turned around a little, looking at the two of you. Joshua and you stopped and bartered a glance, eyeing each other with the suspicion of Seungcheol.

Why was he actually paying attention to those who are less popular for once in his life? Because the last time you checked, his group of friends were considered the highest and lived in their own world.

Seungcheol beamed at you, causing your heart to bounce in your chest. He had heard your playful banter.

You smiled back slowly, before taking a quick left at the corridor to bring Joshua away from it all.

“Yo, what are you doing? Kinda sus,” he said.

You rolled your eyes. “Oh, shut up, white boy.”

Joshua put a hand on top of your head playfully, smiling at you.

You sighed, “I don’t think I can do this. I rather drown myself in the lake than be partners with him.”

Just like that, Joshua had fled out your expectations. He was literally the best when it came to advice.

“Think about it this way. This assignment is only for a month, Y/N. Finish it and leave because there isn’t a way out of it. You know Snape. If you go up to him, he’ll reject you and potentially embarrass you. Everyone knows about your crush on Seungcheol.”

That was it. There was no way out of it.

You placed your forehead on the wall, giving up.

You were forced into a partnership in your least favourite class with your most favourite person.

It was as if luck had tied your strings together, attaching you for this and giving you more torturous events to go through. The rumour-spreading was bad but now, it was just beginning to get worse.

“Hey, look at it this way. You’re going to be with your hot hunk for the next month.” he encouraged, nudging your shoulder with his elbow.

“Joshuaaaa!”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

You hated how reliable Joshua was about this whole thing.

It was as if he had it all mapped out in his head to tell you like he knew you would come to him for advice or something.

Honestly, you were weakened by the time the next Potions class strung along, knowing this would be troublesome.

You remembered spending some of the night before with Mingyu, just spilling all your feelings out about it. Your younger friend didn’t let you face it all alone but with gratitude to your clinginess of his words, you found yourself feeling alone by the next class.

Claiming the seat next to Seungcheol, he greeted you softly.

“Good morning,” you replied, keeping it short. You turned to face Snape as he introduced the class and the tasks that were self-explanatory. You got to the task slowly, facing the front still.

“What are we going to do with this thing?” he asked, gaining your attention. Cheol had turned his body towards you on the high stool and you did the same, acknowledging your chances of leaving were about zero. You had to succumb at this point.

“I looked through it a little and I was thinking what if we just do a simple research essay and provide a sample of a love potion,” you suggested, finding it shocking that your voice was able to stay one tone. It was contradictory to the delusional thoughts of committing arson in the classroom flying inside you.

“A love potion?”

“Moonstone is known for being in love potions,” you informed him. Were you seriously discussing this with him? This was the last thing you wanted to discuss with Seunghceol. Love.

“Oh…I wouldn’t know. I don’t even pay attention.” he chuckled.

It was so natural how a giggle slipped through your lips and right there you wanted to go back in time and not laugh. Every insecurity you comforted yourself on was overlapping with disagreement, prominently drawing in the conversation. Almost like you put Seungcheol on a pedestal above you.

You wouldn’t be surprised if you did.

“Well, you should start paying attention now because we have to get a good grade on this,” you stated.

He nodded, taking his quill out and the parchment that was already laid on the table for him to write on. “Go ahead and tell me what I should write down for this.”

Seungcheol twisted his body back to the table, showing he was truly dedicated to the work.

“For now, I think we should figure out who’s going to do what and resources.” You were leading this assignment, much to your surprise as Seungcheol was looking up to you for instructions. He was Gryffindor captain, after all, school wasn’t precisely a sweet spot.

“I mean, sure. Does that include meeting up at the library to find resources?” he questioned.

Seungcheol made it comfortable between the two of you. Like there was no buzz flying around as he perched the side of his face on his hand, looking your way. The heartening feeling in your abdomen had to prompt you of the terrain you were in.

“U-Um, yeah. And also like, actually buying Moonstone because I doubt the ones here would be pure. I know a good place in Hogsmeade.” you clarified. He nodded, the hair that was already covering his eyes shaking along cutely on top of his eyes. “If that’s okay with you…”

“Of course. You seem to really want the good grade,” he commented.

“I just…don’t want to do bad at school,” you admitted.

To be frank, the stern list of reminders your parents would give every time you would return to the palace-like school, daunted you.

Pressure, it jostled you to the brim. If they were to hear about the rumours that were occurring at school, it would be over for you and you wouldn’t want that. So instead, you wanted to do your best in everything to avoid complications between them and you.

Seungcheol nodded and then brought his other hand out lazily to poke the skin on your hand laying on the table. “We won’t.”

Your heart was racing yet again, determining his place in you.

You were filled with the same happiness you would get whenever you saw him around school or in the common room in the middle of the night. But this time, it felt closer to your heart, cradling you like you were a child. The kind of comfort you weren’t used to but felt as if you were. He made it seem so natural.

And when you looked at his face, you could only find that Seungcheol was genuine.

The lesson continued with you pulling out a book that you borrowed from your Ravenclaw friend, Vernon and showed him the Moonstone page where there were statistics. The rest of the class consisted of note-taking, exchanging information of times that you were free from extra-curriculums and so on.

You and Seungcheol were so into it, you continued to take it outside on your way to your next classes from the entrapped dungeon.

“So, no next Friday?” you asked.

“I have practice but I can do Saturday morning—woah. Are you okay?”

Someone collided into your left shoulder as you were rising up the granite stairs. As if on beat, one of your quills dropped to the ground. You bent down to pick it up, not looking at the person that nearly knocked you down yet. However, you had the opportunity quicker than anticipated when a high voice played in the thin air. You stood back up to look back at the two girls, draped in the same tie as you.

They were glaring as they talked to each other, walking down the stairs without a respected apology you deserved.

“Oh, look. It’s just what everyone was saying.”

“I bet she’s thriving off of working with him.”

You looked away. They seemed younger than you, not older than fourth year and here they were, participating in gossip like the rest of the Gryffindors. You stole a quick glance at Seungcheol, who was suddenly busying himself with a parchment that was sticking out of one of his books.

He was good at acting like nothing happened, you realised. You sort of didn’t like it.

You climbed up the stairs, furrowing your eyebrows in frustration. “Saturday morning is fine, thanks, Seungcheol.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“Chan, seriously! Sometimes I don’t want to be seen with you.”

He dramatically gasped, causing a loud laugh to erupt from you. The hallways were empty, you were free to act how you wanted around. Even the moving portraits were minding their own business.

“How dare you say such a thing about the Chosen One?” he sulked

You slung your arm around his shoulders, a smile plastered on your face. Feeling light and easy, it would always come around your friends. The weekend, what a break you were waiting for the whole tiring and damaging week.

“I’m just joking, Chan. You know that!” You pulled your hand away, grasping his skills in taking a joke were good. Some people just couldn’t take your jokes the way your inner circle—Seungkwan, Mingyu, Vernon and Chan—could. It was sad that Mingyu had a Quidditch practice to go to and Seungkwan was busy at his debate club. Chan always warned him about not being emotional when debating but he never listened.

With that, Chan and you happened to be free, so you decided to wander around the school’s palace floors, making lots of sounds as you go around like little kids exploring.

“I’m glad I have you in my house.” you sighed, reminiscing that he was the only other Gryffindor in your friend group. Chan stuck with you like glue since he came, thanks to that one time you saved him, Vernon and Mingyu from a troll a few years back. It was like you were their older sister.

“Me too.” he sighed, pushing his circle glasses against his face. He stopped right in front of two double doors, made of oak, momentarily staring. And you would’ve called out a staring problem when a Ravenclaw slipped through, leaving with a bunch of parchments and books, halting you. “Do you want to go to the library?”

“…I mean, why not? It’s not like we’re doing anything.” you shrugged nonchalantly. You were up for anything.

Chan took it as a yes and pushed the door open to which you followed in. It wasn’t busy just because most were still occupied with having lunch downstairs in the Great Hall. You nodded in greeting at Madam Pince as you followed Chan in, who appeared to be leading the two of you, different from how it should be.

The quietness was more as the passings of blue robes were considered the norm around here. Ravenclaws were so involved in their studies. You still wonder to this day why you got into Gryffindor instead.

You had no business in the library as you already came last night to finish all your weekend homework with Seungkwan by your side, making jokes as people were emphasising on tests the next week.

Chan found something though.

“Vernon.”

You searched over to where he was looking and a smile painted your face. A small table of four near the entrance of the library, Vernon sat with his nose in a thick book.

Chan slid into the seat beside him and you took the other side, wary of not knocking over the vast number of books piled up on his table. You could still reminisce the day that you brought him in here out of his mere curiosity and since then, you two would often study together. And now, he was here out of his own will.

He really did grow up.

“Hi.” he greeted the two of you, voice soft.

“Hey, you got homework?” you asked.

“Yes.”

“DADA?”

“Yes.”

“Need any help?”

“No.”

“Want us to leave?”

“No.”

“Like studying here?”

“Yes.”

“One plus one?”

“Maybe—”

Chan and you exploded into quiet fits of laughter. One of your hands came to smack Vernon playfully on the back, seeing as he was too concentrated for his own good.

He smiled a little at his mistake before pouring himself back into the knowledge in front of him.

“Have you eaten though?” you asked, worried. You knew Ravenclaws had a notable habit of not taking care of themselves and it was your rightful duty to make sure that your underclassmen did eat and eat well, it was natural for you to take care of them that way.

“Yes, I have. I just got here five minutes ago,” he replied.

“Oh, we never saw you,” Chan said, gazing over at you to agree with him. You nodded, a little bewildered that he was apparently here for a short amount of time and how had he got that many books in that time?

Opening your mouth, you were about to question him further about his schedule that appeared way too overworked to you but Chan gasped, interferingly.

“Hey, how come you’re here?”

Abruptly, you turned your head to the right at the well-known voice, goosebumps and heat evident to you in a short amount of time. Is he talking to me out of his own will? was your first thought when you met Seungcheol.

“Oh, hey.” you smiled nervously. “I was just wandering around.”

He took a fleet glance at Vernon, who didn’t bother looking up as he was active in his learning and you thought Cheol would’ve left after saying his ‘hi’ but his eyes caught a double-take at Chan sitting across from you. The Chosen One, you were used to it. He stole the attention all the time with that lightning scar prominent on his forehead.

Seunghceol drew out the chair in front of him and sat down.

“Hey, sorry you didn’t make it into the team, by the way,” he said to Chan.

Chan straightened up quickly.

You couldn’t see an ounce of sloppiness coming from him, except the fact that his face was detailed with nervousness for the Gryffindor captain. If not, more than you.

You thought you were the person that got the most nervous when seeing your crush but it appeared that Chan was more nervous about seeing Seungcheol than people were about seeing Chan─the Chosen One at that.

“I-It’s fine! There’s always next year!” Chan assured, not wanting Cheol to feel bad at all. You clamped your lips shut, remembering that the orphan had cried about how he hadn’t made it in the team—Vernon, Mingyu, Seungkwan and you were all there reassuring him and then teasing him for his crying.

Cheol nodded at him, understandingly. “I hope so. If you need help improving, you can always ask me or the Weasley twins.”

His eyes lit up with what you would call the pure excitement of a child. He grinned widely at the assistance he got from the Gryffindor captain that he clearly found unexpected. This was their first time directly conversing as far as you knew. Which was why Chan grabbed your hand under the table as you talked, making you stifle a laugh.

As if you had gotten off from the pedestal of being noticed by Cheol because of it.

“Did something happen?” he questioned you. The hold the younger Gryffindor had on you had relatively loosened as you took in the view of Seungcheol glancing in your direction.

“No.” you dismissed nervously. “I’m—”

“I’m just joking.” he laughed, seeing the way your face had grievously frozen for a second because he called on you. It took you a second to realise and start smiling yourself, dismissing other intrusive thoughts. It was hard sometimes because of the way he looked so easily cold, but a completely different person when you got to know him.

Chan eased into small laughter too. “She’s always nervous.”

You glared in his direction. “Weren’t you just holding my hand under the table?”

Vernon vented with laughter this time from the small banter you two were making. However, it didn’t seem like banter now that the two of you were glaring at each other.

Seungcheol looked at you, making brief eye contact.

“You guys are pretty chill…I’m gonna go downstairs now to eat though. So I’ll see you guys,” he laughed, standing up to leave. Before he turned back around to you. “See you in class.”

And he grinned at you.

Doesn’t he get tired of it? Making your heart race. Because you sure were getting tired of it.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“That’s not fair! You can’t just make me dissect it just because you don’t want to,” you screamed, the tweezers in your hand shaking. But not because of the open frog in front of you, but because of the fact that Choi Seungcheol was right behind you, his hands tightened on your shoulders unexpectedly as he peeked over to get a closer look at the frog.

You were grossed out, of course, though you were more curious about what it looked like on the inside. With its guts spilling out and the dead eyes edging you, you admitted to yourself that this was a once-in-a-lifetime luxurious opportunity that you would get with Cheol.

Although you sixth years had a crucial assignment to complete, Snape decided to take one lesson each week to go through other stuff as a break from the random potion ingredients and today’s break was dissecting a frog and seeing how crushed frog intestines get delivered and used as a prominent component for memory potions.

Cheol had been scared from the start and begged for you, distinctively, to do all the work.

So you did.

“No, no, no. What are you doing?! What are you doing?! Don’t bring it here, yah! Y/N, pleaseeeee~!” He moved off, just as you pulled up the frog by the hand with a pair of tweezers.

You grinned at Seungcheol, closing your eyes. “It looks so cute!”

“Cute?! Are you out of your mind?! Put it down! I said, put it down!” he yelled, picking up a book and nearly hitting you with it. Had it not been Vernon’s book consisting of mentions of Moonstone, you would’ve teased him further.

“I honestly don’t get why you’re so scared.” you sighed, placing the frog, like a patient during surgery on the baking paper. To be fair, shrieks of excitement and terror were heard throughout the whole room as students experimented with the frogs, so Seungcheol wasn’t the only loud one.

Unfortunately, Snape was far too busy with his paperwork at the front of the classroom to pay any mind to sixth years, except with the telling kids to be quiet or else. Consequently, the classroom was securely made your territory.

“I honestly don’t get why you’re not!” Seungcheol said, disgusted by the way you were poking it. You could see it all from the way he scrunched his nose and then, how his fingers had pinched together the fabric of your robe which settled on your shoulder. You had to show that your heart wasn’t beating a hundred times faster than it was already. The close proximity was such a blessing, even if you were dissecting frogs.

“Look at it! Ewww!” Seungcheol continued.

“Seungcheol, you might as well turn green,” you said, rolling your eyes at him. He clawed on your shoulders, a small smile playing on your face. Then, you shook your head, snapping back into the lesson. You guys were literally dissecting a frog. “Will you at least write the results?”

“F-Fine.” Seungcheol’s iron grip on you was gone and he slipped to your side where there was a parchment with neatly drawn tables by him.

“I don’t have a quillll~” he whined cutely, stomping his feet to the ground. When you laughed, he snatched yours off from the top of your pile of books.

“Hey. Be careful with that, it’s my favourite one.”

“Yeah, yeah.” he bantered. You began telling him all the results and he scribbled it down, neatly, because you had forced it upon him to write it nicely.

You had continued to do so until Snape stood at the front of the classroom, gaining attention efficiently. The bell rang at the same time. “Please leave after packing up all your things.”

“Shouldn’t you dispose of the frog, Seungcheol?” you questioned teasingly.

“Nope, nope, nope. Don’t even think about it!” Cheol shook his head and moved a few steps back as you smirked slightly.

Maybe it was hanging around Joshua and Seungkwan too much or how your friends were mainly younger than you, but seriously, you loved the sight of Seungcheol scared of something as simple as frogs.

You wrapped the frog carefully with the baking paper it was with its guts and all, letting him sigh in relief and brought it to the crate Snape had instructed you previously to put on.

A line of students were waiting their turn to put in the experimented frogs before it was your turn. You noticed the smile on your face hadn’t left but it dropped quickly when your ears peeked at something else. The girl in front of you was whispering with her friend and you had accidentally caught your name coming from one of their lips.

“She literally thinks she’s got him now.”

Your heart fell to the pit of your abdomen, shattered at the thought it was still happening.

You forgot for a second how much you hated it, the situation you were in.

“She’s not even close. I bet he talks behind her back.”

He doesn’t.

“But if I was her, I would switch partners because if I was caught with someone I was talking about for a long time, damn, that’s not even shooting your shot anymore. It’s just embarrassing.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Was it embarrassing? Were you not even allowed to get along with him as a classmate? Not even a friend…what did you do wrong? Was it a crime to like Seungcheol because as far as you knew, it wasn’t. Also, it wasn’t your fault that someone was backstabbing enough to spread rumours about you.

You sat in your bed, the canopy curtains drawn in, though the sun was plastering through the windows. All-day, yesterday, you were harassed with the frog dissection with Seungcheol in Potions. Girls begged what it was like, others were just inadvertently teasing you. You should’ve gone to a Muggle school, you thought.

Another weekend had come and you were here, in the morning, dreading everything.

It’s been a little more than a week of being his partner and the stress that crowned on your head was already too much. You had literal trauma from people talking about it, you almost could trust no one.

“Are y'all awake?” Isabelle, one of your roommates asked. A hum of agreements sought through the room from everyone but you. You refused to talk to anyone for the day and you didn’t want anyone to come to you either. You felt like being by yourself, possibly be with Mingyu.

“I think so. Y/N’s still sleeping.”

“…she’s been acting different, huh?” Isabelle asked.

The room went still for a second.

You lifted your head from the pillow a little, quirking up an eyebrow.

Were you acting differently? You didn’t find that you were, in fact, you were trying to not act out of line since you became partners with Seungcheol.

You didn’t want any more assumptions than there already was in the air.

“Since she’s been partners with Seungcheol, she’s been acting like she’s someone else. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. We’ve all been trying to comfort her since Jade outed her, but she seems so egoistic or she thinks she’s better than us because she actually started talking to him. Like, we get it, you’re actually getting attention from a boy─”

You jerked open the curtains of your canopy, wielding your legs over. The light blinded you for a second as you adjusted your eyes to their faces. The girls were all situated in getting ready for breakfast but when they saw you were awake the entire time, they paused.

“Did I ever say that I’m better than you, Isabelle?” you queried.

For you, it had gone a little too far than you anticipated. You still remember the day that you saw one of the boys from his team tell him about your crush and how his eyes had met yours.

Since then, you knew you were screwed and your respect for the year levels, had disappeared just for a simple crush on Seungcheol.

He had a girlfriend at the time too.

Messy.

“It’s started again─no. I mean, please don’t touch me.” you sighed, brushing Ophelia off.

She was the kindest of them all, although she didn’t talk as much so you weren’t fully comfortable with her despite the many years of knowing each other. It didn’t mean that you guys liked each other necessarily, you just knew about the other a lot.

Their eyes trained on you, the feeling of sinking into uncomfortableness coming again. You despised all of this with tears. The bad attention, the assumptions, the threats─you needed Mingyu.

Your best friend.

Standing up to your feet, you swept past the girls to open the door of the dorm. Your heart sank when you saw that Seungcheol was standing right at your door, a fist up as if to knock on the door but you had already reached it and at the worst time too.

He was clothed in his practice clothes and a big smile on his face.

“You just woke up?” he asked.

“Could you move?”

Seungcheol’s eyes widened, not expecting that you would shoot him, out of all people like that. Of course, that’s what you imagined he was thinking. You were in the mindset that the world was against you except Mingyu, who you badly wanted to see.

“I just came to return your quill─”

You tsked and brushed past the guy, distant from the mood of talking to anyone except your best friend.

Your mind felt obscure and you just wanted to talk your feelings out, potentially cry about why you were crying and the humiliation that was dripping from everyone’s lips.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“─and I just feel so tired from everyone.” You hit your face onto his shoulder hard, feeling your face get hurt but still, you were persistent in hoping that one hit may as well change everything.

“That’s really bad. What sucks is the fact that if the roles were reversed, he wouldn’t have to be shameless.” Mingyu said, picking the grass on the ground and aggressively throwing it to the ground again in a system of fury.

That’s why you liked telling him about things, he would always feel with you.

“Right?!” you smiled, lifting your face off of his shoulder.

He sighed harshly as if nothing had been in his favour. But you knew the truth was everything was in favour of Mingyu except the fact that his best friend was a total douchebag that won’t stop caring about what other people think about her.

Sadly, this was all because of what your parents gave you—the public humiliation with the relatives, the degradation, the pressure of messing up all started with them.

“Petition to expel Isabelle?”

“I’d sign it, no doubt.”

“Hey, but for real, if you do feel uncomfortable to work with Seunghceol, you’re not exactly obligated to,” Mingyu suggested.

The thought had accuracy up to one disappointing point of it. “I think you forgot who my teacher is.”

Mingyu made a face. “True. It doesn’t hurt to try…still.”

You broadly accepted the case, finding no other way there was in this situation. Despite being younger than you, the kid really knew how to give advice like a free newspaper. He was your guidebook, your breath. How were you to live without Mingyu?

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“So you’re definite about this?” Joshua asked firmly. Why was it so surprising to everyone that you were ditching Cheol on this project? Was it that hard to believe?

It had to be the perplexing deceptions that said you were super obsessed over Cheol that made Joshua draw to this kind of conclusion.

However, a group of gossipers made it obvious that your choice wasn’t your choice.

“She’s seriously obsessed with him. I heard that’s all she talks about—Choi Seungcheol.”

“I don’t think I need to explain,” you told him with a fake smile plastered on your face. You didn’t know that there was anything else you could do about this except forgetting it afterwards. This was going to be a power move. After this, you didn’t need to think about Seungcheol.

Though, it did hurt.

The one golden opportunity you had, you were giving it up to the fates to someone else that was going to be equally blissful to work with him. You were grateful that you got to work with Seungcheol, even if it was for a little over a week but now, you wanted someone who wasn’t going to sidetrack you from your work neither were their presence around you going to bring up old gossip stories that you didn’t want to hear.

“You don’t.” Joshua agreed, walking into class with you.

After Snape introduced the lesson to the class, you moved over to Seungcheol. He showed nothing from the last visit between the two of you. You were thankful, you didn’t want to bring it up again because you were embarrassed.

You wouldn’t have to be for long though. It was just this period to go through and then, you’d break the news to him that you were switching.

Class did go by fast and you found yourself getting nervous. You twisted your returned quill in between your fingers as you glanced a little towards his way. He was concentrated on scribbling down more notes like you had previously instructed him to.

Seungcheol did everything you asked him to, no questions asked. It was going to be difficult to let go.

“Hey, Seungcheol…” you began slowly when you heard the bell go. He was still writing, wanting to finish the work you told him to do.

“Hm? Did something happen? You’ve been quiet the entire lesson.” Seungcheol said, turning your way. His quill remained on the parchment, the ink bleeding through the same spot.

You nodded, nibbling your bottom lip “I hope you don’t mind if I do this but―”

“Wait. Did I write something wrong? Just tell me.” he interrupted sharply, looking at his work.

“No. It’s not that. I was just…you know what? Seungcheol, I’m thinking of changing partners. You’re a great person, but you’re not as free as I need you to be and that’s not your fault either.” you told him, straightforwardly.

He stared at you and then blinked a couple of times like he was puzzled.

You didn’t expect this at all. You thought that Seungcheol would be super understanding of it and agree that your schedules weren’t in your approval but he just stared.

“I don’t get it. I’m working with you on it during class time and we met up in the library two times already to work on it? Isn’t that enough?” You couldn’t help but detect the daintiest frustration in his voice.

“I know but I just don’t want to work with someone that’s not going to be available when I need them and you don’t need someone that’s going to be calling you to do an assignment when you’re busy.” you lied.

The bell rang and you stood up, sweeping your books off the table in one go. Then, while everyone else was trying to leave the classroom for lunch, you were on the way to the front of the classroom to ask Snape for permission.

“Another question I presume?” Snape asked, removing his eyes from the form he was looking at. His eyes looked as cold as ever and you felt as cold as overdoing this. Seungcheol resembled a sad puppy earlier and you couldn’t do anything about it, except give in to your needs.

“Actually, a request, sir,” you said. “I was wondering if I could change partners.”

Snape set the parchment in his hands on the table. For once, he actually looked surprised. Had the gossip spread as far as to the teachers of Hogwarts?

“You better have a good reason, L/N. I took time out of my own day to select partners.” Snape answered and it would be a lie if you said that you weren’t intimidated by it at all. In fact, you sort of froze there, fixated on his face. You didn’t expect Snape to ask for a reason as to why you desired a switch. Thinking about it in the present moment, it seemed kind of dumb for Snape to just let you off the hook without a reason.

He already had mighty hate for Gryffindors. To make them go through absolute torture in their years was another one of his goals was foreseen by many.

You stood there, powerless to meet his eyes.

“I―”

“It’s because I bailed out on her last minute on the assignment yesterday. We were meant to meet in the library and I had a practice to go to.” Seungcheol interrupted, stepping up to save the day. Or more so, make it worse?

Ah, the white lie. You gritted your teeth inside your clamped mouth, endeavouring not to say something. Another clean save from embarrassment, but did it have to be him?

“Yes.” you answered. “He missed out and now I want a new partn―”

“We’ll talk through it together.” Seungcheol interrupted. You glanced over at him, eyes widening. He was demolishing your plan and wasn’t even looking at you for it. “And if we have anymore issues, we’ll come over. Thank you, professor.”

Parting your lips hadn’t done justice for you as Seungcheol grabbed your wrist and dragged you towards the exit quickly. You couldn’t glance back at the stone-cold eyes almost resembling the dungeons nor had you had any permission from what you wanted.

This is what the staring had to mean from earlier. He was devising a plan as soon as you revealed to him that you didn’t want to work together.

Seungcheol didn’t seem that way but you were persistent of an ulterior motive behind it. Not that you needed to know that either because you severely didn’t want to be stuck with him.

“Why did you do that?” you questioned him once you were outside the classroom. The hallways were quiet, enough for you to raise your voice to ask him why.

“You should’ve just told me the reason, then and we could’ve worked out something.”

He had the sheer audacity to roll his eyes at you, making you scoff that this was the guy you liked. Seungcheol had to know then. There wasn’t going to be any excuse except if he knew what you were going through and he owned up to it.

“Y/N.”

“What, Seungcheol? What more do you want from me?” you asked, annoyed as you walked away. You were prepared for another three weeks of torture.

“If you be my partner, I’ll make sure the rumours go away.” he negotiated.

You froze in your steps and then swung to face the captain who seemed to have been serious rather than playful because his facial expressions were telling you so.

“Why do you want to be my partner so badly?”

A smile settled on his face as his orbs ensued to the ground. You were bewildered at the set of eyelashes, yet from a distance.

“You push me to work,” he answered truthfully.

It was scary how quickly you grinned too, recognising how deep you fell for him. However, just hearing that made you feel better about yourself.

“You’re kinda bossy―not that it’s a bad thing! I kinda need it, you know? To be focused and know that Quidditch isn’t the only thing I need in my life. You made me learn that…I don’t think everyone is capable of doing so.” Seungcheol resumed, looking up at you.

The words took seconds to digest. Then, you stopped smiling and turned around, walking away. Suspense, you thought. Do it for the suspense.

“Are you still going to switch?!” he called as you reached the bottom of the staircase. The smile hadn’t left your face, neither was that heated feeling on your face that you wish would just leave. Relief had rid of the anchor in your stomach that you thought was rooted in the spot forever.

You twisted your head to the side, where Seungcheol was standing meters down the soulless hallway. He was grinning your way. Charming.

“No, Cheol. I’m not.”

You walked away with heat kissing your cheeks, not able to see the smile that had to be sculpted flawlessly on his face. You didn’t want to see it, it would make your heart beat faster. Leaving the dungeons, you went to the bathroom straight away to fix up.

He complimented you for goodness sake―that he wanted you to work with him and that you made him concentrated and he needed that. He said he would make the rumours go away too.

You fanned your face with your right hand as you walked into the girls’ bathroom, not bothering about the fact that you would be late for your next class. You were already far ahead in Charms so it wouldn’t be a problem to catch up.

Right now, you just processed the events again.

Now you knew the sensation of being wanted. Was it the love you were feeling for Cheol that had you feeling this way? It had to be, what else could counter for it?

You recollected the memories where you would gaze out into the pale moonlight at the perch of your windowsill, wondering when the chance of being with him would come.

“Snap out of it,” you whispered to yourself and as if by instance, your face modelled into seriousness. Your next class was awaiting you. So you left the bathrooms to go to Charms.

You had class with the quiet Ophelia and found her situated near the back of the classroom when you got in. You beamed her way, acting as if nothing had happened previously. She was notably good at finding things out through simple facial expressions.

But today, she kept staring.

Were you slipping?

“What?” you asked her.

“You were just in Potions…didn’t you hear?”

“What?” you continued to question.

“Seungcheol…apparently, he called you cute. I just heard from Isabelle and the rumour is spreading fast.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

You spent your own time looking for the Gryffindor captain, wondering where the hell the guy was. Even when you entered the Potions classroom, there was no sign of him neither was there the sign of the bright smile you longed for desperately.

So you decided to ask the twins about it, near the end of the lesson as your curiosity had reached high ends.

“Awww, why do you want to know, cutie?” Fred teased.

Your cheeks heated, prompting you to do the only logical thing there was. Which was to seize your book off the table and hit him on the arm with it, playfully, of course.

“Oh, Seungcheol must wish you hit him with a book.” George continued along.

“Where is he?” you pressed on, now urgent for the answer.

“Your boyfriend is sick in the hospital wing,” they said at the same time and then gave each other a high-five. Honestly, have they never had a fight before? They were acting as if they were best friends rather than siblings.

And Seungcheol being sick?

“Really? What happened?”

“Georgie, look! She’s worried!”

“Now this is a love story that I would invest in. Chan bet four galleons that you’ll screw him before the term ends, ya know? I reckon sooner!” George jested and they exploded in laughter like it was the funniest thing in the world.

“I hate you both!” you shouted, simultaneously at the bell going off.

“Couldn’t hear ya!” And they ran off, leaving you a complete mess as you sat on your seat, pondering it.

You wouldn’t lie if you found the rumour appealing.

Also, it was only ten minutes. Ten minutes and Seungcheol let the rumour spread like wildfire. But the question that you kept coming back to was whether he actually meant it or was he just saying it so he could cover up the rumours and hurtful words going on about you?

Classes were over and you left with the group of students who were similarly leaving Potions. What you didn’t expect was your crowd of friends waiting outside the doors for you. Your eyebrows perked up in amazement the same time Joshua bumped into your shoulder from behind.

“You four!” you shouted, a smile unavoidably smacked on your face. You yearned horribly that it would dissolve in thin air, you had no knowledge on how to handle this type of heartthrob if you were being honest.

“At your command,” Seungkwan said, bowing down sarcastically at you. You haven’t seen any of them since the rumours have spread. So you showed no surprise that they knew about it.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“We thought we would come to visit milady after her classes, give her route to the dorms if such thou honour let us.” Mingyu piped up, leaning down a little and very elegantly giving you his hand.

“Please, what is this actually about?” you replied, taking the hand. With that, Mingyu began leading you away, your group and Joshua following you.

“You took a hit.” Vernon stated. “Even the seniors in Ravenclaw won’t shut up about it.”

“The Seungcheol rumour…” you said.

“How lucky.” Joshua conceded while laughing as he put his hand on your head. You, for once, felt happy in a while. Even though Seungcheol wasn’t here, you could still feel him around you and the way all of this was happening, was because of him.

He could’ve easily told people off for the rumours and stopped it like that but instead, he made it better for you to be around others.

“Okay, but let’s go somewhere.”

“Where do you want to go thou lady?” Mingyu questioned.

“Hmm, Hogsmeade?” you suggested.

“Of to Hogsmeade we go!” Dino shouted, pointing outwards. And with that, you were scooped off your feet by Mingyu surprisingly and placed on his left shoulder as he ran off down the hallway. Even the teachers yelling hadn’t stopped the golden boy from running and screaming for people to move, with the advantage of his height.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“Okay, okay. I’ll see you guys later!” you laughed, walking off from your friends.

“Don’t screw!”

“Protection is important!”

“I can ask if you need it.”

It took everything in you to not go up to them and give them each a smack on the face. You were in the same hallway as the hospital wing, which meant it was dead silent for the treatment of sick patients.

“Babe, I promise you, it’s going to go well.” Seungkwan shouted out. “You got everything you need.”

You spun around for Seungkwan and he gave you a big thumbs-up. “I love you, okay?”

“Thanks, bestie!” you called on him.

Mingyu gasped, offended clearly. That was his own fault. He didn’t get you the way Seungkwan did, which is why he was a literal social butterfly unlike the other Hufflepuffs too.

Joshua and Vernon, too. They stood there with a proud smile as if they were sending their little daughter to school for the first time. In reality, you confirmed that it was the thought that you had social freedom that made them happy.

As for Dino, he was just cheering there and being a supporting friend as he should.

“I love you too,” you said to Seungkwan. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Wait for me in the common room, Chan.”

Chan waved at you excitedly. Then, you turned around, heart wholly happy as you walked off. Turning left into the hospital wing, you saw a Madam Pomfrey come out of her office.

“Hi, Y/N.” the lady greeted, confusion as to why you were here.

“Hi, Madam Pomfrey. I came to see Seungcheol to, uh, drop off some homework.” you said, trying with your best smile possible. Did you or not look convincing was an aggravating question you wanted to ask her.

“The third bed on the left. Be quiet, there are other patients here too.” Pomfrey permitted you.

Relief sunk into your stomach as soon as those words left your mouth but it was only moments before tension built again, remembering who you were going to see.

Moving past the woman, you walked to the third bed on the left, which was covered with the flimsy blue curtain.

“Seungcheol,” you called.

“Come in.”

Butterflies invaded the space in your stomach as you swiped the curtain open. The said boy was laid on his bed, but he was starting to get up again after one glimpse at your arrival.

“No, no, it’s okay.” you excused.

He remained still on his bed, a soft smile coming onto his face. It had been a day, you missed it so much. You took notice of the get-well-soon cards and balloons tied to his bed. Also, a bouquet that was scented beautifully.

“How are you feeling?” you asked, claiming the seat next to his bed. Your legs had come to shaking at his presence. Seungcheol looked tired, his eyebags prominent and the ideal set of lashes pretty even though his eyes were red.

“I’m okay. I think I might leave soon,” he told you. “I’m sorry I didn’t come to class today.”

You shook your head. “No, it’s okay. I get it.”

Silence clouded the atmosphere and you didn’t know exactly what to say. Last time you checked, Cheol was the social butterfly, not you. But he was busy looking at you and that managed to cause many commotions inside your head. You were torn between many thoughts.

“Say, what did you do in school today?” he questioned you.

You looked away from his intense eye contact, faking to think about what you did in your entertained day. In truth, it was to not look into his coal eyes again. You were afraid of getting lost in there.

“We did a lot. I have the homework and notes if you need it.” you said, moving your bag to the front where he could see it.

“I already did homework.”

“O-Oh. Really?” you said, tilting your head to the side.

“Yeah. I’ve been doing schoolwork like the whole day, I rather not get lost at school too.” he nodded.

You quipped an eyebrow, impressed.

“Why?” he asked.

You shook your head, taking a second to process what he said. He really was changing and for what? Had he finally remembered just how much education was vital for a magical person?

“It has to be something.” he pressed on.

“Yeah, just kinda impressed.”

Seungcheol reached a hand out and placed it on your head, a boyish smirk on his face. “Learned from the best.”

You stared into his eyes, feeling your insides crumble weakly. The tower of strength and independence of a woman was easily demolished by Seungcheol─that was the truth. You were too lost in your love for him, it was impossible to get out.

The feeling when you constantly try to leave, but he would just remind you with a simple glance your way. You were his.

“Thanks, but did you need any help? I’m happy to help.” you requested.

“I do, for Charms. Look.” Seungcheol stretched to his nightstand and opened his Charms textbook, already laid ready for his use. He flipped through the pages, prior to finding the question he was talking about. You couldn’t see because of the height of the bed, so you got up and leaned over to where he was pointing.

'What spell is used to…’ You should’ve been looking at the question and helping him as a good classmate. That was what you were doing. However, your eyes favoured a different route instead of the dense lines of the textbook and trailed to his hand that was pointing at the question.

You froze on the spot, seeing two silver rings on his fingers and the popping veins on the back of his hand.

“Do you know the answer?”

“Huh?”

Snapping back into reality, you turned to Seungcheol, who was closer than you last remembered him to be.

He hushed quickly, his eyes fixed on you because of the close vicinity between. Your view darted down to his lips, plumper now that you were close to him. Your stomach clutched, almost like a reflex.

God, they looked so good glistening under the light. You were desperate.

He grabbed your forearm that was pressed standing on the hospital bed to help read the question and for a second, you thought he was going to move you away so you don’t get the wrong idea, but he was moving you closer to him.

Another glance into those settlingly deep-set eyes caused your heart to race. They moved like a dream, like the dreams you would have of one day the kiss with him would happen. It was almost incomprehensible how quick this was occurring. His head tilting, your head tilting, eyes closing and just before your lips could connect to his―

BANG!

You shuffled back instantly, sat back down on your seat.

Nothing happened, which you could safely assume it was Pomfrey’s accident, that noise was. Though it did annoy you quite a bit. You were so close.

“I-I should probably go, I need to go do some homework and―”

“Yeah, yeah, of course. Oh, hold on, before you go.” he interrupted awkwardly. Why did he have to do that? You were trying to leave for goodness sake and he wasn’t helping that one bit.

“How are you feeling…about the rumours?”

Out of all questions in the world―

“Um, yeah.” you said, shifting your glance back at his face to see the worry clearly written on it. You had to ask. That’s why you came here in the first place. “Did you by any chance mean it?”

Seungcheol stared at you.

“That I was cute―”

“Oh. No. No, I-I was just tryna, you know? Like, you know? I think you get the point―”

You smiled and nodded. “Get better, okay?”

You pushed back the curtains and left through it, cheeks kissed with heat again. Yeah, I get it, Seungcheol. You did mean it.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“H-Hogsmeade? Together? Like as one?” you questioned, jaw dropped to the ground.

Seungcheol nodded, holding the vile in his hand and examining it. The Moonstone at the school, like you predicted, hadn’t given the results you wanted. Even Snape had told you it was about fifty per cent pure and that if you wanted real Moonstone so badly, you should go down to Hogsmeade yourself and get it.

Seungcheol took that seriously.

“Yeah, why not?” He slipped the vile back into the test tube holder and placed his hands on the table, looking to his right at you.

“I…I just never thought you would ask like that,” you answered him.

He closed his eyes and smiled at you. “Well, you’re the one pulling out different sides of me. Let’s meet in the common room at nine tomorrow.”

The bell rang, causing him to widen his eyes. You couldn’t even ask what he meant by that. “God, I have a practice now. Do you mind packing up for me this once? I’ll owe you butterbeer tomorrow, thanks.”

Seungcheol grabbed his books and ran out the door before you could part your lips. You widened your eyes, realising that you were going to be alone with Seungcheol in Hogsmeade tomorrow. He also mentioned butterbeer so it was going to feel like a real date.

When the time did come to leave with Seungcheol, it did feel too good to be true. Especially since you were just, seconds ago, twirling around for the nice members of your roommate to see if your outfit was good enough.

They had said it fit perfectly so that’s what you went with.

“Hey.” you said, patting his shoulder.

“Oh, Y/N, hey!” he greeted. “Are you ready to go?”

Walking through the hallways of the school, you noticed the stares straight away.

“Are you uncomfortable with it?”

“No!” you replied.

He raised an eyebrow at you. You didn’t see it straight away because of his hair hanging in front of his eyes, but when you did, you shook your head again to confirm.

“I don’t, it feels better than before,” you explained.

“Well I’m glad because now, I can work with you for Potions.” Seungcheol sighed.

“You’re so obsessed with me.” you teased, rolling your eyes.

“You, out of all people, shouldn’t be saying that, Y/N. Shall I remind you―”

“No, no thanks.” you answered, causing him to chuckle at your reaction. It was like yesterday’s events had wiped away from your minds. Not that you objected to it, you rather not talk about it anyways.

Like every Saturday, the Gryffindors that wanted to go to Hogsmeade assembled at the entrance with McGonagall, waiting to leave the gates of Hogwarts.

Snow had fallen in thick blankets of the courtyard and you were feeling warm with the clothes you were wearing. Thank God they hadn’t forced you into something ridiculously revealing.

“What shop are we going to, by the way?” he asked you.

“Oh, there’s this corner shop that sells really good potion equipment, so we’ll go there.”

“Cornershop? Sound suspicious.” Seungcheol said.

“You sound scared, Seungcheol,” you smirked.

“I am not!” Seungcheol stated, bumping into your shoulder playfully. You bumped back, smiling.

“Sure. We’ll see when we get there, okay?” you said and McGonagall clapped her hands, ensuring everyone’s attention.

“We will be leaving now. Remember, no goofing around, especially you, Weasleys and we’ll be back before lunchtime,” she announced.

The professor routed around and whipped her wand, opening the doors of the school. The group of Gryffindor students followed her off into the exit. Seungcheol and you walked towards the back of the crowd, strolling in silence for a while.

“Your friend going to come along?”

“My friend…?” You turned your head to Seungcheol.

“Chan.”

“Chan? Oh, Chan! He’s so lazy, I doubt he would come along. Plus, his family didn’t even sign the permission form.” you sighed.

“Ah, I see. So it’s us.”

“Why? Do you want someone else to come along?”

“No, of course not,” he said, the town becoming more visible in the snow. It was always crowded in the small town, no matter what time it was. It seemed to never have peak hours. “We’re here, shall we go buy the Moonstone?”

“Yeah.” you agreed with a nod. You directed the way through the clumped crowd of students with Seungcheol trailing right after you. It was hard at first to see through the snow and many figures standing around but when you caught tiny glimpses of shop names, you were easily governed into the way of the cornerstone you knew well.

You overlooked for a second that Seungcheol was meant to be following you when you made it in front of the store, so you looked around for a quick second to see him fighting his way through the last crowd of people and squeezing out at the end.

You giggled at his clumsiness as you pushed open the store’s door. Like you had said earlier, it was in fact a corner store, driven away by the body of people. You enjoyed the eerie but quality vibe you would get every time you would enter the store.

“Dude,” Seungcheol muttered, amazed at the darkness upon entering.

Outside, there was no Sun shining but here, there was not even a light bulb guiding you through except the natural lights at the ceilings poking through.

“Are you sure this is the right shop?” he asked.

You nodded. “Come on, we gotta go find the Moonstone.”

Sauntering through the dark store, it was mainly penetrated by Ravenclaws from your school, looking at books and such things. In fact, you only knew of this place because of Vernon who wouldn’t keep his mouth shut about it. To the point where one day, he dragged you into here to see the astoundment for yourself.

But what was a downside of the peculiar store was the price.

“Ten galleons?!” Seungcheol gasped, as you waved around the bag of Moonstone dust.

“What did you expect? It’s one-hundred per cent pure.” you sighed, handing him the sachet to look at himself. The silver-blue powder was beyond gorgeous in the clear sachet, the magical feeling even Muggles could feel. It reminded you of fairy dust, not that it wasn’t different from it.

It shimmered even under the dark shield of the corner store.

“Hmm,” Seungcheol muttered to himself. “Let’s get it then. But I want a good grade.”

“Of course.” You plucked the sachet off his hold and began going towards the counter stationed in between the exit and entry of the store. The disappointment hit hard that you were going to part with him after this. No one said you were but there was nothing for you to stay with him anymore, though.

Besides, the Weasleys had come out today, so Seungcheol must want to go have fun with the pair.

You drew out your wallet, about to hand the ten galleons to the cashier when Seungcheol smacked your hand.

“Let’s split it.” He appeared suddenly to your right. You looked at him, wondering how he got there so fast. You thought you had left him rows deep into the shop.

“Split? Are you sure?” you questioned.

He nodded and pulled out his own wallet. You tried your best not to soften at him doing so. After all, it was the literal bare minimum, partnership some would say. He was doing his part. But it was so cute, the way he took his wallet out and shot a smile your way as if for you to know that he had your back.

You paid your five galleons while he paid his.

“Thank you.” the two said to the old lady working there and then left.

Protectively, you kept the sachet of Moonstone inside your purse, buried deep within so it had absolutely no chance of falling out. You followed Seungcheol into the snowy weather that transpired into heavier snow than it was before you left the store. You hadn’t expected this to occur, but when you remembered it was nearly time for Christmas, it shouldn’t have been surprising.

“Ah, it’s crowded~” you heard him whine, a little too cutely for your own good. “Do you want to go to the Three Broomsticks?”

“Why?”

“Why? What do you mean why? I literally promised you a drink.” he said, rubbing his hands because of the cold. You were filled with warmth from his presence so you didn’t do anything.

“You don’t have to. I’ll just go back—”

“No, seriously, Y/N. I insist. Come on.” Seungcheol grabbed your wrist without further ado and it was like he was never affected by the cold a second ago because he was pulling you through the crowd to make sure you didn’t slip away and run off. Which did seem like a better option, you weren’t going to lie.

The bodies pressed against you as you walked down the fine white paths wasn’t the most pleasant feeling in the world. In fact, it reminded you of why you don’t go to Hogsmeade often. It was the nauseous smell and feel of others radiating that annoyed you.

You focussed on the warm touch of Seungcheol as he led you through though, completely fazed by the back of his head.

Until, you felt a large knock on your left shoulder, almost pushing you to the ground. You let out a loud gasp, feeling that the warmth pulling you close was leaving slowly as you make your journey to the ground. Until it came back grabbing your right hand, but your bag’s handle was sliding down your left.

Snapping your head to the right, you were foreseen with the sight of a hooded guy reaching for your bag.

“Hey!” Seunghceol and you snapped.

It didn’t take long for it to all settle in your mind as you were already turning on your feet to run after the said person. You had no idea who they were, neither did you have any care for the things in your purse except the precious Moonstone. You almost hated yourself for being such an imbecile and letting yourself get caught off-guard even with the finest detail.

It was no surprise that you were charging after the person, with a serious Seungcheol behind you who reacted with the same speed. When it came to a woman’s purse, that’s how it should be.

But when the Gryffindor Captain was ahead of you, you were starting to lose your breath from running between the tightly woven crowd. In fact, you were sure the crowd was tired of Hogwart teenagers running around. However, Seungcheol lended a hand back, making sure to keep his face forwards to detect the whereabouts of the thief. And you could assume the hand to be a boost, which is why you slapped your sweaty palm on his, letting him take over the situation for you.

“Where is he?”

“Not far ahead,” Seungcheol said, the adrenalin obvious in his voice. He was basically more worried about the Moonstone than you. “I can see him.”

You tried to calm down, focussing on the mission ahead of you—getting your bag back. So as Seungcheol weaved out through the last crowd, you followed right after. He let your hand go abruptly, you could safely assume that it was because he already got the guy, but you were far too busy catching your breath with your hands on your knees. The peculiar stares stating simple curiosity of the Hogsmeade residents had passed you.

In, out, in, out.

“Weasley?!” Seungcheol screamed.

You looked over to see Seungcheol barely metres away and Fred, who had his hood taken off and your handbag with him. You were so close to going to slap him but resisted the urge because you didn’t want to interfere when you were completely out of breath.

“I swear, one day, I’m going to kick you off the team.” Seungcheol said, sounding more like a threat to you.

“Fred, you dumbass.” you insulted with your heavy breaths, you just had to get the anger through and following, there were no excuses.

“Notice how the two of you have anger issues too? Awww~” he cooed with a smile you found so stupid on his face. You were close to just going up to him and punching his cheek.

“Oh, yeah? And we both are going to beat you the fuck up if you don’t get away from our eyesight in three seconds.”

Fred’s eyes widened. He didn’t need to be told twice, he tossed your bag into your hands and ran off. Seungcheol and you laughed at seeing his figure run away into the crowded people again.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“And you guys beat him up or not?” Joshua asked.

You shook your head, in a daze as a smile stupidly spread on your face. How you were unconsciously falling deeper and deeper for Seungcheol had to be no question, he was so irresistible at that and kind and the list goes on.

Joshua sniggered.

“What?” you questioned, snapping your head to his side. The guy seems to find what you said funny, but he just shook his head.

“Ah, nothing. It’s just cute.”

“Joshua~!” you said, the flustered feeling coming back. You bumped into his shoulder, feeling heat swarm your body once again. You hated the feeling but it was also something that slid over with comfort for you.

The two of you entered your Potions classroom and you split up from Joshua, unluckily only a row away from him with your partner. You weren’t able to avoid his teasing gaze towards you and a busy Seungcheol.

“Stop.” you mouthed and rotated towards the busy boy. He must’ve realised your presence by now but he was far too interested in taking notes than you.

“Hey, Seungcheol.”

“Hi.”

“Doing work?”

“For once.”

“Your handwriting has significantly improved―”

Joshua broke out into laughter behind you and that caused your cheerful mood to drop, described from your face. You glanced over at the Hufflepuff boy as did Seungcheol. What made it worse was the fact that Seungcheol also knew Joshua.

“Did something happen, Josh?”

He shook his head and locked eyes with you for a second. “Nothing, just happy.”

Seungcheol nodded and chuckled. “Same.”

“As you should be. Aren’t you happy too, Y/N?” Joshua returned, being a little too inclusive of you in the conversation. It was between the two of them, why did he have the need to involve you?

“Yeah. U-Uh, reminds me. I gotta go ask Snape for something, come with me.”

You hopped off your seat, making your way to the front of the classroom where the strict-demeanour teacher was sitting.

“Professor, I had a question.”

He looked over at you, barely approving with his eyes that you were allowed to continue.

“I was wondering if you could sign off for us to go get this book in the restricted section. It’s called―”

“No.” he interrupted coldly.

You widened your eyes at him. “But I didn’t even tell you what book it is.”

“The answer is going to be no, L/N. I will not be permitting students to go into the restricted section of the library for this assessment. Whether you be a first year or six year, I am not going to give you such an unnecessary sign.” he explained.

You placed your hands on your hips, getting heated. This man has done nothing but sit around the whole class and it was all because this specific class held Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. He should be a lot more careful who he was talking to, because the last time you checked, someone like Salazar and the Bloody Baron was on their side.

“What do you mean no? Do you know how limited the sources are for Moonstone?”

“Well, maybe then you should’ve been more considerate of what you wanted to do for the assignment.”

“Unbelievable,” you muttered. How you had gotten this disrespectful to teachers was seriously out of the question. Snape was just being a pain-in-the-ass. Oh, did his face look so punchable for a second.

“Come on.” Seungcheol said quietly.

You glared away and walked back to your seat with him following you.

“We don’t really need the book, do we?”

“Hansol and I looked the library upside down and there’s only three books in there that include Moonstone. We borrowed his book and that equals four sources. We need five. And the library has this book all about it if we could go in―”

“Oh, that sucks.” Seungcheol interrupted, sighing. You couldn’t brush off the feeling that you just needed a pass into the restricted section of the library. It wouldn’t leave your mind. Seungcheol comforted you. “Hey, how about we just start making the potion now and then later, we can go look for sources? We only have a week left.”

You nodded, the truth worrying more than the restricted section of the library. The two of you split up to get the equipment you needed to make it. You originally wanted to make it on the side of the classroom with the huge cauldrons but that would be unnecessary as all you needed was a small batch of the said potion.

So you had another plan in your mind.

The mini cauldron stood on your table and Seungcheol scrunched his nose at it.

“It’s so cute.”

“Right?” you answered, grabbing your wand that was tucked at the top of your school skirt. You swished and flicked, muttering: “incendio”.

A small jet of fire appeared on your wand and you handed that to Seungcheol.

“Me?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna be making the potion.”

“Aw, but―”

You sighed, waving the fiery wand around at him. He sulked and got it off you. Seungcheol put the lit wand directly under the small cauldron. You got started immediately on the potion.

As the water was boiling, you rolled up your sleeves and got to work. You carefully picked up the two roses and removed the thorns, setting them to the side. Then, you plucked out the rose petals, gently scrunching them up in your hand and setting that to the side too. The peppermint was already prepared so you had only the pearl dust to go.

You swiped it off the table and measured a teaspoon of it.

You peered into the cauldron to find that the water was starting to boil, so you began putting the ingredients in, including the pinch on Moonstone that was required.

And then, your final ingredient.

“Why are you acting like you’re in a cooking show?” Seungcheol asked as you stirred the small bowl of melted chocolate.

You smacked his shoulder gently. “I will give you the love potion, if you dare do that.”

“There’s literally no point.”

You laughed, finding the choice of words funny until you abruptly stopped, realising what his words meant. He stopped too, seeming to acknowledge what left his mouth. The sound of the stirring you were doing was heard as he tried to move his eye contact from you. “Put the chocolate in, it’s melting.”

“Y-Yeah.”

Did he just admit that he likes you?

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“So I have no idea what to do…” you explained to Chan in the empty common room. The fire was ablaze behind you, shadowing your figure as you walked back and forth in front of Chan. It had to be hours near dinner by now. Students were going in and out of the dorms but you didn’t pay mind to that as you discussed seriously with the Chosen One. You had been assisting him with his homework all night and he asked if you needed help with something.

This was the only thing.

You told him about the Snape situation, hoping he would magically fix something. There was no point, he was just a fourth year, what was he going to do about it? Especially when Snape hated him out of everyone.

“Hm, this is hard,” he muttered, looking down to his lap.

“It is.” You settled on the ground in front of him, crossing your legs. Chan was in deep thought, more than you expected.

“I need to sneak in there without being seen, somehow.”

“Do you think we all could come and distract Pince and you two could go into the restricted section?” he asked you.

“Too risky,” you answered, shaking your head. You had thought of that before but there was nothing that would come out of it, except points removed. But you desperately needed the book so you were at the edge of asking if you could do it with your group of friends.

The risk was too much though.

Chan gasped dramatically as he rose up from his seat. You widened your eyes at his sudden movements and stood up too.

“What?”

“Borrow my invisibility cloak.”

You grinned so quick, excited that there was a way to get your hands on the book. And relieved that the assignment would end well.

“Lee Chan! You are a genius!”

You cupped his face and pressed a kiss on his forehead lovingly. “Stay here, I’m going to go tell him about it!”

By him, you had meant Seungcheol. Practically jumping for joy and leaving back a flustered Chan, you ran towards the exit of the Gryffindor dorms. It felt like a happy ending. You were going to get the book, seal the project shut and not have to worry about it again.

You were on fire as you ran down the stairs of the palace, impatiently, of course. Seungcheol had to be nearly done with practice by now as it was nearly dinnertime. So it would be a perfect opportunity to tell him.

You rushed by a bunch of Hufflepuffs, seeing Seungkwan on the way. He wanted to stop you and say hi but you were too busy running off to find the captain.

“She’s always running around.” you caught him saying to one of his thousand group of friends.

Exiting the palace, you hiked up your school robes to get down the hill in order to reach the Quidditch field. It wasn’t every day that you had ran this fast, consequently, you felt your legs tire and knew that the next day, your whole body would be shaken with pain.

Just as you reached down the steep, the familiar sight of your house team was beginning to make their way upwards to the castle. A smile painted on your lips as you continued to run down, the pitch-black night served fresh with the scent of nature coming from the forest adjacent.

“Seungcheol!” you called, waving a hand up.

The team snapped their head up, all similarly shocked to see you.

“Hey, Y/N!” he called back. He walked ahead of his team that just as quickly went back to talking to one another but kept eyes on their captain here and there. Of course they would―it was their captain you were speaking to.

“What’s up?”

“Okay, okay! So you know how we need to go into the restricted section of the library and stuff?” you asked, voice full of excitement as you two walked up the stairs.

“Yeah…?”

“So Chan and I were talking about and trying to find an idea when he stands up excitedly and was like―”

Suddenly, Seungcheol grabbed your bicep pulling you closer to his heated body. The smell of dirt was rubbed in him, you could tell but you showed no reaction to it as his eyes had caught yours. You paused in all movements, feeling the throb in your chest you knew a little too well for your liking.

The night had matched his hair colour, making his face as bright as the Moon. The chattering of his team had distracted you from gazing into each other’s eyes in a split second.

“You nearly tripped over, you goose.” he said quietly.

You followed his line of sight to find a rock that you would in fact slip over if you weren’t careful with yourself.

“Ah, I see. Um…”

“Continue. What were you saying?”

“Oh, yes! So, Chan offered to lend me his invisibility cloak―”

“No way! The kid has an invisibility cloak?!”

“He does!” you exclaimed. “We used it last year when we―not important! But we can sneak in, unless you’re too scared to sneak in.”

He gasped. “I am not. And I’m not going to let you do this on your own either.”

“You sound like my father.” you sighed, looking away from his eyes. “Anyways, when do you want to do it?”

“On Friday? I have nothing on then.”

You thought about it and then nodded yourself, proud that things were getting themselves done. “Sounds like a plan.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“Yeah and this dumbass snitched on me!” Seungkwan yelled, jumping to his feet.

“The teacher had to know.” Vernon dismissed quietly.

“You don’t tell on your friends Chew Hansol”

“It’s Chwe not Chew.” he corrected, also standing up.

“I don’t care! Now because of you, I got fifty points from my house and the seniors won’t even look my way!” Seungkwan yelled.

Both looked offended at each other as they stared with fire practically embedded in their eyes. You were the oldest here, yet you didn’t do anything about it. For once, you sat there, knees pressed to your chest as you nervously rocked on the library’s armchair.

The clock was in your view and there was ten minutes until the library would close. Five minutes until Seungcheol would meet up with you.

“Can you both shut the fuck up?” Mingyu asked. And him being only a year older didn’t help that they wouldn’t listen to him. They dragged him into the fight.

“Shut the fuck up, Kim Mingyu. You are the reason why girls don’t even look my way!” Seungkwan yelled. “They only look at me to compliment my fat ass!”

You had no idea what happened to Seungkwan neither did you care that he was over-excited. He was seriously scary when he was mad but no one took it seriously. Normally, you would and you would stop the fight but you stayed quiet.

“Stop. She’s literally shaking because her crush is coming here in five minutes and you guys are fighting.” Chan said.

“Exactly.” Mingyu replied.

You closed your eyes and placed your face into your knees. You did not need to reminded of it again. Heart squeezing in your chest, you released your position to stand up, stressing out more.

The boys had stopped at hearing the news that Seungcheol was going to come here any minute now. No one knew about this except Mingyu and Chan because you didn’t have time to tell Vernon and Seungkwan. Who cares? Now they know.

“Why is he coming?” Vernon questioned, turning his attention to you.

“They have to get a book from the restricted section and they’re using my invisibility cloak because they haven’t gotten a pass.” Chan whispered, noting that Pince was a few rows away.

Seungkwan and Vernon nodded.

“Under the same cloak, so close to me―fuckkkkk.” you muttered, hitting Mingyu on the shoulder out of habit. “Why did you let me do it?”

“BI wasn’t even there. You did this to yourself.” Mingyu answered you.

“Ugh, fuck you guys.”

“Don’t worry, babe. You look great. He’s for sure going to fall for you.” Seungkwan promised.

You felt tired, eyes drooping.

“He’s already called you cute and everyone thinks that he likes you back. So don’t even worry about it.” Chan comforted, taking your hand from your side.

“This wouldn’t be happening without you, Chan. Thanks.” you smiled softly, despite the burden burrowed on your shoulders.

The door of the library opened. Your stomach clutched itself as Seungcheol walked in, a hoodie and tracksuits. He had circle glasses like Chan on and his wand in his hand. He noticed you off the bat since you were sitting near the exit.

“Hey.” he greeted, walking up to you guys. They all go quiet and he greeted them too. “Hey…Y/N, you ready?”

You nodded hesitantly.

“You look so nervous about this, don’t even worry about it. I’ve done this a few times before.” Seungcheol said.

“Uh-huh, with other girls―ow!” you said out of the blue and Mingyu stepped on your feet to stop you from ruining your chances.

“What did you say?”

“I said, boys you should go.”

You looked expectantly at your group of friends. They stood up, exchanging 'good nights’ and 'bye’’s to you and Seungcheol. It was like there was something else besides gravity holding you so still to the ground. Unbelievably still as your friends started heading out.

Quickly but surely, you grabbed the invisibility cloak out of your bag.

“Come here.”

He moved over to your side, bodies barely inches away from you.

“Tell her we all left.” you mouthed to Mingyu.

He nodded and smiled. You smiled back, waving and then diverting your attention to Seungcheol.

“Here.” Seungcheol took the cloak off of you, shaking it down to its full length and then draped the cloak over the two of you. The satin fabric reached the heads off both of you, reaching barely to your feet.

“Move closer, Y/N.” he whispered.

You inched a step closer to Seungcheol, doing anything but looking at him. You looked at Mingyu instead as he told Pince that you all had cleared out of the library already. She nodded and bid them a 'goodbye’ and when she had closed the library door and scuffled into her office, your heart had dropped to your abdomen.

That’s what you hated more. The lights were all on and the woman was still around, cleaning up her stuff, preparing to lock the library.

“Should we go now―”

You slapped your hand to his mouth, stopping his words that were far too loud. Not even having proper time to register what you did, you were cringing on the inside that Pince may have heard it. There was no one else in the library, it was so silent that you could hear a pin drop and Seungcheol had to speak right then.

Pince’s door opened and she peered around suspiciously. She shrugged after that, her features relaxing. But instead of going back into her office, she walked out of her office and was walking towards the light switch which she turned off.

“Lumos.” she said, casting light on her wand. And with that, she walked back into her office, closing the door behind her.

Now that was so much stress under thirty seconds. You felt yourself knot up in ways that you couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Seungcheol was right next to you under the silky material, you needed to get a book from the restricted section, Pince was in her office and now, it was pitch black in the library.

There was barely light coming from the windows.

“Lumos.” you whispered, as you whipped out your wind.

A light appeared at the tip of your wand and you started walking towards the back of the library. Seungcheol walked right behind you, keeping completely silent like you wanted.

“The door is right there.” you whispered, appearing at the entrance of the restricted section.

“How do we get in?”

You smirked at him and pulled out a key.

“Pince might’ve lost a key today.”

“You’re trouble.” he chuckled.

The creaking of a door was heard and you widened your eyes at Seungcheol.

“Your trouble is going to get us in trouble, Y/N.” he whispered.

You turned around to the door.

“Is someone in here?” you heard Pince’s voice boom. Furrowing your eyebrows, you tightly fit the key in and twisted the lock open. Her footsteps were loud but they were going towards the other side of the library. You breathed out sharply and managed to get the lock open.

A small relief swarmed through you as you pushed open the cage-like door gently. Seungcheol followed you in, closing the door slowly and locking it.

“You have the key?” he questioned.

The atmosphere was thick and filling up quick with the frustration from Pince. She was still yelling, not giving up in finding her keys. There must’ve been a lot of students who snuck in to stay back if she was this frustrated.

“Yeah. Stay guard for me.”

“Got you.” Seungcheol got out of the invisibility cloak and stood right next to the door, seeping through every once in a few seconds. It was going far better than you expected, only if she hadn’t realised her keys were gone. You imagined all kinds of trouble that would happen when it came with working with Seungcheol.

You jumped up onto the wide wooden ledge where there was a large bookshelf filling the wall. It had to be here somewhere. Using your wand, you scanned the book binds to figure out the names of the author.

Daphne Willows was the author’s name.

“Have you found it?” he whispered.

“No.” You jumped off gently from the ledge as there were only surnames of the first of the alphabets on that side. Jumping onto the other wall of books, you frantically searched. There was no way that the book was already borrowed, you needed that.

“Come on, Y/N.” he urged. “She’s getting closer.”

“Ssh,” you whispered, looking over the books. Your heart was racing as you slid down the ledge. You were close.

“Walter, West, Weston, Wilbur, William.” you whispered, fingers closing over the bookbinds gently.

“Y/N―”

Everything, Moonstone ― Daphne Willows.

“Are you in the restricted section?!”

You froze in your position, the voice far too close for your liking. What was worse was the fact that Seungcheol could be completely seen but you weren’t. He hid right next to the entrance, back pressed against the wall and it was as if he was camaflouged because of his sweatpants.

“I am so sick of students sneaking in here. Alohamora!” You hated that you didn’t know the unlocking spell worked on the restricted section. That would’ve been your biggest save. Your heart dropped. But the book was right there. So with all the bravery you had, you risked a flash of your hand as you swiped the book out. Pince hadn’t seen it.

Sweat was on your forehead, your feelings a massive rollercoaster between stress and relief from this woman. She walked in and all you could worry as you stood firm against the bookshelf was that Seungcheol was right there, pressed on the wall, hoping he wouldn’t be seen.

She was going to turn around any second to see him.

You breathed out silently, warm air coming straight back on your face. You had to do this for the both of you, you dragged him into this.

You slid to the end of the ledge, where he was standing, remaining calm. Bending down to his height, you threw the remainder of the cloak onto him.

“What do we do?” he mouthed.

“Listen. You’re going to turn around, piggyback me and we’re going to run the fuck out of here.” you mouthed back. Only half of the cloak was on him, but for it to fully cloaked on him and you, you had to get on him. If you jumped down, you would make some sort of noise.

A small smile was on his lips. He was calm for this, so it was confirmed that he really did do this before. You weren’t going to doubt it anymore.

Seungcheol turned around.

“Invisibility cloak!” Pince yelled.

“Quick!” he shouted at you.

You quickly stuffed the book into your bag and then turned back around to wrap your arms around his neck, jumping to wrap your legs around his waist. As soon as you did, Seungcheol darted through the exit, his legs working quicker than you’ve seen him fly in the air. You held your arms tight, your lit wand in front for him to find the exit.

An angry shouting Pince was running after you and her voice had reached a crack.

A small chuckle left his lips.

“Don’t laugh!” you whisper-yelled.

“It’s funny.” he answered.

“It is not―well…”

You laughed a little, lifting the cloak a little of the ground so he could see. Seungcheol’s hands had travelled to hold your thighs firmly against his sides as he ran. You worked efficiently together.

“Don’t waste your energy.” you reminded him.

“Charm the door for me, I think it’s locked.” he answered you.

“Alohohmara.” you whispered as the door came into view. Just like that, Seungcheold pushed the heavy door open with a kick, fitting through the hallway. You could just hear Pince’s screaming as he continued to run for his life and you were glad for a second that you were paired with someone that was an athlete.

Seungcheol ran through the hallway, turning a right and finally stopping. You jumped off, laughing as the invisibility cloak came off the two of you. He turned around, laughing. You leaned against the window, catching your breath from being with Seungcheol.

“StudeNts in tHe lIbrARy!” you mimicked, making Seungcheol double over for a second. His laughing was loud naturally so you had to put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“God, why did she sound like that?” he asked, moving closer to lean against the wall next to you.

Both of you had sweat shining against your faces, but that didn’t stop the night’s humour. Pince genuinely looked like a joke to you. Seungcheol lulled his head upwards before turning next to you, you were slowly calming down.

You turned your head to him too, a smile resting easy on your face.

“You know it’s fun working with you.” you giggled, looking away when you remembered a sad truth. A smile lingered on your face. “Sad it’s going to end soon.”

It was quiet for a second as you examined the classroom window right in front of you. Thanks to the shimmering light of the night behind you, you could see the reflection of you and Seungcheol. He was next to you, close, shoulders almost touching.

“It doesn’t have to end.”

You stilled, the smile dropped. You fidgeted with your wrists as you whipped your head back at him. He was smiling softly at you.

“What?” you asked.

“I said it doesn’t have to end.” Seungcheol moved closer to your face.

And for a second, all your previous memories had gone. The hallway was so loud with your heart yet so silent. The Moon was reflected in his eyes, but you were larger in his eyes. You could see it, he was so close.

“Are you confessing to me?”

“What if I am? You don’t have to be the only one in love…we can be in love with each other.” He didn’t let you speak, closing his eyes as he moved in. It was more of a command made by your body to shut your eyes. You pressed your lips against his, sealing the gap.

All the pressure melted off as the sense of his plump lips were finally felt. You were itching for this moment, events in your dreams were fleshed out into the reality.

Seungcheol smiled through the kiss, bringing you out of the thorough consideration of what was a dream and reality. The reality was so much better to live in, you concluded as he turned so that he could press you against the cold window of the palace, quite a different feeling from your breaths tangled in an intimate dance with each other.

“Go out with me.”

[ BONUS ]

“Congratulations,” Snape said, passing out two pieces of paper on it. “It was very well detailed and the potion was good too.”

You gasped and looked at the paper. Seungcheol smiled at you, his hand perched on the table and his face leaning against his palm.

“What did we get?”

“Ninety-eight per cent!” you shrieked, pushing the paper in his face.

He laughed and hugged you. “It was worth it!”

“It was, oh my God, I’m gonna cry―”

Seungcheol chuckled and put his hand on your lap. “I’m glad. Because of you, my grades are going up. How about we go to Three Broomsticks today?”

“A date?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes! I need a break.” you sighed.

“Ah, it’s so cute.” Joshua sighed from the other side of you.

You both turned your attention to him to see him smiling dreamily at the two of you. “You guys are so adorable.”

“Joshua.” you sighed, putting your hand on his head.

“Not as cute as Vernon as Seungkwan though.” he dismissed.

The fact that that statement didn’t even break your heart proved that even Vernon and Seungkwan were even cuter. The sight of Vernon grasping his boyfriend’s ass so publicly still hadn’t left your eyes. And you knew that Seungcheol was thinking about it too from the way he shut his eyes for a second.

“I told him not to do it,” he said.

“I know, me too. But, it’d be nice if we call them to come with us.” you suggested.

“Double date at Three Broomsticks tonight it is.”

“Ughhhh! I need a girlfriend!” Joshua whined.

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bellaxisworld · 2 months

Text

february 16 @jegulus-microfic prompt: tear. word count: 759

Regulus had been receiving love notes and love letters and letters of admiration from peers since fourth year when he’d come back to school with short hair and a mean look. He thought people simply admired him in a way that resembled desiring what you can never have—because he would never be theirs, and they would never be his. He was his own, whole entity without needing the validation of a romantic love.

That was, he thought this until he bumped into James Potter in the halls of his sixth year, and James went from boy-next-door to someone from Regulus’ very own fantasies.

Regulus’ brain quickly became a ball pit of thoughts about James Potter and James alone. He thought about James constantly, and he thought he was fucking ill. How could he let this happen? He was possessed by the divine being that was James.

And James wasn’t leaving Regulus alone.

It was bad enough that Regulus couldn’t avoid him in his own head, but now James was popping up everywhere. He made himself present wherever Regulus was, and it was driving him mad.

Because James was stunning, and Regulus was obsessed. He wanted James to push him up against a wall and kiss him senseless. He wanted to kick James and for James to look back at him with a gleam in his pretty, pretty brown eyes. He wanted James to wrap his arms around him and whisper sweet nothings in his ear(his arms were big and just the sight of them made Regulus weak in the knees). He wanted James, and James, and James and James and James and then everything was about James. Regulus wanted James.

And then James Potter began flirting with him.

It was subtle, at first. Just a cocky smirk when they talked, and a glance down at his lips. Then he made suggestive comments, calling Regulus pretty, and Regulus went to his dorm to bury his blushing face in a pillow. Then there was the arm touch, and that time Regulus stuttered on his words and dropped his books. James Potter made him a mess.

It didn’t help that when James knelt to pick up his books for him, he looked up at Regulus with big eyes and said this isn’t exactly how I pictured getting on my knees for you for the first time.

Then James got enough courage to ask Regulus out on a date, and Regulus was helpless. He said yes, acting reluctant, but he was sure James knew how desperate he was for him.

So, they were dating—and Regulus learned how very possessive James Potter was over the things he cared about, and he could not be more pleased about being included in that category. Regulus was profoundly and deeply happy with James, and he knew James owned him, heart, body, and soul, through and through, claimed by James Potter. Regulus would never complain about the possessive side of James, because it meant James was just as territorial over Regulus as he was over James. Mutually beneficial satisfaction.

James was sitting with Regulus during breakfast at the Slytherin table, and back-for-scheduled-programming, an owl dropped by with many pink and white and gold love letters and notes, addressed to one Regulus Black.

Regulus sighed and picked up his wand to incendio them when James’ hand snapped out to capture them. James looked shocked as he flicked through them, mystified by the sheer amount of admiration Reg received daily.

“You get these everyday?” he asked.

“Yes,” Regulus said. “I get rid of all of them.”

James scoffed, a mischief and fire lighting up his eyes. “Crazy,” he muttered, tearing up every single letter and scattering the scraps. “I’m going to tear up every one you get.”

Regulus rolled his eyes. “They’re stupid and silly notes, nothing to go crazy over—”

“Regulus,” James said, voice steady but firm. He turned Regulus’ face by grabbing his chin, forcing him to look him in the eyes. James’ gaze was burning, and his jaw was set. He looked fierce like that, and Regulus felt overly warm. “You’re going to bring them to me and I’m going to tear up every single one. Understood?”

Regulus nodded, looking at him a bit dumbly.James smirked and fell forward, capturing and devouring Regulus in a kiss that was too obscene for the breakfast setting. He was making a statement, right there in the Great Hall in front of everyone. Regulus melted into him, mumbling against his lips, “Yeah, yes, please tear them up.”

find the full collection of february microfic prompts on ao3: february, i'm yours.

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janaispunk · 7 months

Text

making forts under covers

Pairing: Joel Miller x f!reader

A/N: Written for Mandy's Sweater Weather Writing Challenge by @she-likesorchids using the "Let's just stay in bed" prompt. This is my first time writing about Joel and also my first time writing at all in over a year, so I'm a little nervous, but I really wanted to put this out.

Word count: ~1.9k

Summary: You and Joel wake up to a gloomy fall morning and all you want to do is drink your morning coffee and stay in bed.

Warnings/Tags: post outbreak, Jackson era, fluff, unprotected p in v (don't do it, this isn’t the apocalypse), fingering, dirty talk, praise kink, so many pet names, Joel is a menace, tiny hints of dom!Joel but he's very soft, able-bodied reader, explicit 18+ content, MDNI! (let me know if I missed any)

You blink your eyes open to the gloomy light of an early fall morning and the sound of rain against the window. The air in the bedroom has a slight chill to it and you burrow deeper under the covers.

Joel is still asleep, laying on his side turned towards you.

You marvel at the sight of his handsome face, for once relaxed, his brow unfurrowed and his breath going slowly. You rarely see him like this; usually he's the one that rises before you do when you sleep over, waking you up with a cup of steaming coffee and a soft kiss to your forehead, mumbling, “G'mornin'” into your hair. Your relationship is still relatively new, and you like this routine that is slowly forming between the two of you, but you could also get used to waking up to him like this.

You take in his face for a few more moments, a small smile tugging at your lips, before you quietly slip out of his bed. Goosebumps errupt on your bare skin and you tug on the flannel that Joel discarded on the chair in the corner last night, enjoying the way that his smell clings to the fabric and engulfs you.

You pad down the stairs to the kitchen and busy yourself with preparing coffee for the both of you, then wander into the living room while it's brewing. You stop in front of his bookshelf and run your hands over the wood carving of an owl that you've admired several times before. The ability to craft something so detailed out of a simple piece of wood fascinates you, especially when you think about Joel and his large, strong hands, using them to make something this delicate.

You fill two cups of coffee, reveling in the feeling of comfort and cozyness that the smell of the hot liquid always brings you, then carry them back up to the bedroom where Joel is still asleep. You set one cup on his nightstand, take a sip from your own one and slip back under the sheets to snuggle up to Joel and nuzzle your face into his bare chest, inhaling his scent and enjoying the warmth that is radiating from his body.

Joel grumbles and wraps a strong arm around you, encompassing you further in his warmth and pressing a kiss to the crown of your head as he mutters, “Mornin' sweetheart,” his southern drawl more pronounced and his voice still heavy with sleep.

You shyly smile up at him, grateful that you're one of the few people who are allowed to look past his rough exterior and to catch glimpses of the gentleness inside him that one only get to see when you're this close to him, and whisper, “Good morning,” before stretching up in his arms to reach his mouth with your lips.

His grasp around your waist tightens and you giggle, pecking his lips again before you lean away and say, “I brought you coffee, for once.” He sits up against the headboard, pulling you with him until you're leaning against his chest, one of his arms slung around your shoulder while he picks up the cup with his free hand and lets you do the same, before he leans down to kiss your forehead again and murmurs, “Thank you, darlin'.”

You both sip on your coffees for a few minutes, enjoying the quiet morning. His fingers draw lazy circles on your arm and shoulder, his eyes falling down to the flannel that's halfway slipped off. “Nice shirt,” he drawls into your ear and you giggle.

“Thanks, it's new.”

He chuckles and tugs you closer as he finishes off his coffee, places both of your cups on the nightstand and carefully cups your face, tilting your chin up to kiss your mouth. The feeling of his big roughened palm on your cheek, combined with the gentle way he touches you, has butterflies fluttering in your stomach.

Joel deepens his kiss, his tongue dipping out and licking against your bottom lip, causing you to whimper softly and open your mouth for him as heat starts pooling inside of you and he pulls you on top of him.

“C'mere, darlin'.”

You melt into him as his strong arms wrap around you, his scent engulfing you and he's running his hands down your sides, leaving a trail of heat over your body as he slides the flannel completely off your body and dips his hands under the tank top that you slept in. Your lips connect again and you mewl into his mouth, your hips grinding down on him and his hold tightens around your waist, pressing you onto his growing hardness.

“Shhh, I got you,” he murmurs as his mouth moves down to your neck, nipping and sucking at the delicate skin there, causing you to shudder and sink your nails into his bare shoulders. He separates his mouth from your skin to push the tank top up and off your body, revealing your breasts and your already pebbled nipples. He groans softly and leans forward to suck on the soft skin there, your back arching and pressing yourself closer to him.

“Joel, please...” you whine, “I need...”

He leans back, his hands back on your sides, his thumbs brushing just below your breasts.

“Yeah? What d'you need, baby?”

You rock your hips against him, feeling his bulge press against your panties and another whimper falls from your lips.

“Need you Joel, please...”

It's almost embarrassing, how quickly he gets you to this point, but you can't bring yourself to care, not when he's this close, with his hands all over your body and his painfully handsome face right in front of you.

He smirks and pulls you into him again, murmuring, “Good girl, asking so nicely,” before he seals his lips back over yours and kisses you until you're breathless and squirming against him before he flips you over, his face hovering above yours. His hand travels down to your underwear and dips beneath the fabric, finding you already slick and swollen with need. He circles your clit slowly, making you gasp and buck your hips up against his hand.

“You're so pretty like this. Just ready and waitin' for me, aren't you?”

His hand trails down further, one finger dipping into your entrance.

“Y-yes, need you so badly, please Joel...”

He smirks, adding a second finger and slowly pumping them into you.

“I know, baby. Don't you worry, I'll take care of you. You're bein' so good for me.”

The praise makes you keen, the fact that this usually so stoically quiet man can't stop running his mouth when you're together like this, while he's reducing you to a blubbering mess that can barely get any words out.

You eagerly slip your hand into his underwear, wrapping your fingers around him, causing him to hiss and thrust into you particularly hard. You grab at his boxers, pulling them down his hips, wanting him as close as possible. He chuckles at your impatience but indulges you, the look in his eyes telling you that he's just as desperate for you as you are for him, helping you to get rid of his underwear and tugging yours off of you as well.

Joel grabs his hard length and slides it through your slick folds, causing you to moan and arch your hips up into his touch. He leans down and kisses you again, his cock nudging at your entrance as he whispers, “You want it, sweetheart?”, to which you respond with an eager nod. He tuts, cupping your face in his large hand.

“Words, baby. Tell me. Tell me what you want, how much you need it.”

You whine softly, feeling yourself blush at the thought of putting your desire into words.

“I- so much, Joel. Please, I- I need you to- to fuck me, please?”

You bite your lip and he groans softly, murmuring, “Good girl,” against your mouth as he pushes into you in one hard thrust, filling you to the brim.

You cry out as your walls clench around him, trying to adjust to the sudden intrusion, to the way he always feels so big inside of you, and the exquisite bliss that only Joel can bring you is taking over your body. Your hands grab at his shoulders, your nails digging into the skin and moans of his name falling from your mouth as he pounds into you with long, deep movements. His mouth finds your neck again, sucking hard and biting down on your skin, before soothing the sting with his tongue.

His arms wrap around you and he holds you close while he keeps thrusting into you, whispering into your ear.

“Fuck, you're such a dream... Feels good, yeah? This what you wanted?”

You nod frantically, one of your hands scratching down his back while the other grabs at the curls on his neck as you're barely able to form words.

“S-so good Joel, fuck, 's perfect...”

He hums in smug agreement, his thrusts becoming even deeper and his fingers sliding between your bodies to toy with your clit. The heat inside your body threatens to spill over at his touch and you moan loudly, your earlier inhibitions about voicing your needs wiped from your mind.

“Yes! Just there, please- please dont stop, oh god...”

He's rubbing precise circles over your clit, keeping his gaze on your face as your eyes glaze over, your moans growing even louder.

“That's it, good girl. So tight around me, fuck... Show me how pretty you come for me, go on. I know you can.”

Your jaw falls slack and your whole body trembles, your walls clenching rhythmically around him and soaking him in your wetness as your orgasm washes over you. He growls at the feeling of you pulsing around his cock and pounds into you a few more times before he pulls out and spills himself over your stomach.

He stills and his head falls forward, both of you panting hard and not moving for a few moments. He leans forward to kiss your cheek, smiling at your blissed out expression, before he gets up from the bed and pads to the bathroom. He returns with a washcloth and cleans you up, gently stroking your sides and making you hum happily.

When he's finished and collapses back beside you on the bed, you turn around, wrapping the both of you up in his blanket and pepper his face with kisses. “Good morning indeed,” you grin and he huffs, ruffling through your hair and pulling you tighter into his embrace.

“You got anything planned today?” he asks after a moment of peaceful silence and you shake your head. “Nope, I'm all yours.”

“Good,” he smiles, letting your head rest on his chest and pulling the blanket up to your chin, so that you're entirely shielded from the slight chill in the air. Gloomy light filters into the room and you can still hear the rain splattering against the window. Joel kisses your forehead softly.

“Let's just stay in bed, then.”

banners/dividers by @saradika <3

#mandy's sweater weather challenge #joel miller #joel miller x reader #joel miller smut #the last of us #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller x f!reader #pedro pascal #joel miller x you #pedro pascal characters #tlou fanfiction #joel miller x female reader #joel miller fluff

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ibbythebee · 7 months

Text

Hospital Wing Hermits

gif credit: @handknit on wattpad

pairing: Neville Longbottom x year younger!reader

summary: From Neville's second year at Hogwarts to his last, his most memorable times with you have been spent in the hospital wing.

genre: fluffiness all round, slight angst at the end... but only a little, slow-burny

warnings: this fic is so soft that you will potentially combust, slight swearing, SO MUCH hand holding, the reader is an oblivious goofball until she's not, kissing, talks about illnesses and injuries, blood and boogers

words: 6k

masterlist

»»————-　⌁　————-««

Neville's 2nd Year

Clutching onto Madame Pomfrey is nothing new to Neville. In the middle of the night, however, is a different story. The Nurse coos whenever the boy makes the slightest sound of pain, holding him up as not to put anymore pressure on his right foot.

"We're just about there, dear. Come on, just a few more steps..."

Leading him to the middle of the hospital wing's room, she then guides him onto an untouched bed, and immediately slides a pillow underneath his ankle. A spot of light on the opposite side of the room does not go unnoticed to either the woman or boy as soon as they had entered the room.

Neville rubs his eyes, squinting at the strange glowing mound of sheets. He watches as, with a sigh, Madame Pomfrey marches to the other preoccupied bed and pulls over the white covers to reveal you, a sheepish looking girl.

Under the light of your wand, your face looks puffy, lips and nose chapped, hair amuck. You cough into your elbow and smile a toothy innocent smile, batting your big eyes at the woman, silently pleading your innocence.

Pomfrey, however, does not play games. "Turn off that incessant light, Miss L/N. Do you realise what time it is?"

Your lips shape into a pout, voice stuffy as you answer. "But Madame Pomfrey, it's so boring here. I'm bored."

"No, you should be asleep. Turn that off right now. I don't want to have to send another owl to your mother about you refusing medical help."

"Just a few more minutes please? I'll finish the page I'm reading."

"Absolutely not. It's basic manners and respect for your fellow peer." She motions to Neville, and you finally turn to him.

Despite the fatigue in your features, your eyes seem to glow, piercing through the dark room. Perhaps it's just his lack of sleep or absence of light, but there is something drawing him to you and he fails to look away. Nothing comes out of his mouth even though he knows he's probably supposed to greet you, but neither do you.

A second longer you stare at your new roommate and in eventual defeat, you pout. The light from your wand fades, as you mumble 'nox' under your breath and get comfortable under the blankets.

Satisfied, Madame Pomfrey clears the rubbish bin underneath your bed and turns back to Neville handing him a small flask of some sort of healing potion.

"All right. Off to bed now both of you. Good night, dears."

You both mutter a 'goodnight', closing your eyes, gingerly pulling the covers up to your chins.

It stays mostly quiet in the room, apart from the Nurse's shuffling. Though as time passes, shoes click and click away, and then the door creaks shut.

"Psst!"

Neville stirs.

"Hey, psst!"

"Huh?" Is all Neville can manage, lifting his head with a groggy squint.

"What happened to you?" You ask in a loud whisper and sniffle. Sitting straight, and staring right at him. Your eyes really are big, inquisitive.

"Well I... twisted my ankle," he finally says.

"How?"

"I... I'd rather not say. It's embarrassing, really."

"I won't tell anyone," you say as-a-matter-of-factly. "You can hex me if I do."

He looks at you through narrow eyes again and this time it's your teeth that glow. As you show no interest in falling asleep, Neville's neck admits defeat and his head crashes back down onto the pillow. "Can we just please go to sleep?"

"I caught a cold... or maybe a fever. Runny nose—" you sniff, wiping your face with your pajama sleeve "—wet cough, high temperature. My mum says I have a weak immune system."

"Well, that's not very good, is it?" He comments half-heartedly to the ceiling.

"No, it isn't."

Silence. For a moment, he believes that you've finally surrendered yourself.

"So how'd you twist your ankle in the middle of the night?"

Never mind.

"You don't seem like a rule-breaker," you say.

He carefully shuffles up to sit and sighs. Where on earth did you get your energy from? He hadn't met such a talkative first year before.

Neville takes a moment to answer, debating on whether or not you're harmless enough for him to be vulnerable. "I had a nightmare, okay? I fell off my bed and... landed badly."

"Well, that's not very good, is it?" You echo.

"No, it isn't."

Silence once again ensues, but this time Neville's ready for your chatterbox mouth.

"What's your name? I'm..." You suddenly stop and he nearly laughs when your silhouette jerks and you sneeze. It's loud, like his Gran.

"Nice to meet you, Achoo." He chuckles, holding a hand over his mouth.

You sniff again, face hot in a new wave of humiliation, and this time you wipe your face with more aggression. "Hey, that's not funny! My name is — A-ACHHHOO!"

"Isn't that what I just said?" He can't help but laugh again. Relishing in the groan you emit and how furiously you blow your nose.

With a poke of your tongue, you retort. "Whatever, Mr... mm... Fall-out-of-bed...n-nightmare-broken-ankle-boy."

"Wow, that's really fantastic, Achoo." He slides back down into his bed, closing his eyes with content and tries to hold in his giggles as you continue with determination to clear up your mistake.

Initially, Neville thought he wouldn't even be able to get in a nap, but now with the understanding that you bark more than you bite, he creates a silly image of you in the form of a puppy. As your voice rings in the background, the puppy image barks with you, and he feels his eyes grow heavy, falling into a content and nightmare-less sleep.

»»————-　⌁　————-««

Neville’s 4th Year

Ever since sleeping the night in the hospital wing, Neville knew he'd be seeing more of you. It was surprising to him that he hadn't noticed you before that night, especially seeing as you were such a social butterfly. And despite being in the year below, he'd always manage to catch your eyes in the Great Hall. And in the courtyard. And in the halls. And through a classroom window. You were everywhere and anywhere. And when you weren't, you were in bed in the hospital wing.

Just like you are now. The fourteen-year-old hadn't seen you for the past few weeks after the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, and needless to say, he had to see you.

And such a perfect opportunity had arose today, albeit a painful one, but an opportunity none the less.

Neville opens the door to the wing as gently as possible as not to wake you, however knowing you, you probably already were.

Entering the room, he clutches his sore hand to his ribs and cranes his neck to spot the nurse. Instead he finds your lying form under a mountain of blankets.

You stir, and Neville curses at his shoes for making so much noise. Sure, his intention of coming here was to see you, but he’d seldom seen you in such a peaceful state and didn’t want to ruin that for you.

“Neville?” He hears you say and then you’re facing him.

He smiles down at you, with a voice just as soft as silk. "Hey, Achoo. Didn't mean to wake you. How you feeling?”

“I’m feeling alright. Kinda headache-y, but fine. Ugh, what time is it?” You rub your eyes and stretch as you sit up.

The messiness of your bed-hair is incredibly endearing and the curve in Neville’s lips only grow at the sight.

“It’s third period.”

“Then… what are you doing here? Are you hurt?”

You’re suddenly on your feet, eyes round and wide, taking in the scene of the tall boy. He flinches, attempting to hide his hand in his robe sleeve.

You snatch his hand, bringing it close to your face. It’s a burn. All over the back of his palm. "Bloody hell— Where's Madame Pomfrey?"

"I was about to ask you the same question." A small chuckle falls from his lips as you examine him. Somehow, in some miracle he watches your big eyes grow larger as you twist his hand, move his long fingers to get as much information about his wound.

He feels like he’s going crazy, your touch is a new kind of burn on his skin. It doesn’t sting, but it is hot. And you don’t even know you’re causing it.

"She's always gone when you actually need her,” you huff.

"It's not as bad as it looks, really. Just hurts a little when I move it."

"What about when I...?" You drift off, as you slide a delicate thumb over his beet-red knuckles.

The tips of his ears turn the same shade of red. "Stings."

With no further words, he lets you pull him to one corner of the hospital wing, searching for a particular ointment on the many shelves of medical supplies. You don't let go of his hand, and he doesn't dare pull away.

"Let me guess how it happened—" you say, grabbing a round jar of blue gel to read the label.

"Seamus." You both state and then share a laugh.

Placing the jar back, you continue your search and Neville fills the comfortable silence. "It's Potions class. For once I thought I was doing pretty decent and then next thing I know, Seamus' cauldron blows up next to me and of course I get the damage."

His hand is held up to your face again and he watches as you grab a new jar with a less solid looking gel, creamy in colour.

"I suppose it's a good way for me to get out of the rest of the class," he shrugs.

"And get away from Snape," you quip and earn a chuckle from him. There was a time in Neville’s third year, when you had come to learn about his amusing boggart. He’d snuck into the hospital wing, claiming he had a nasty headache and ended up staying the night, neither of you getting a wink of sleep. It had also been revealed that the thing you were most frightened of was giants.

“Sit down,” your motioning to the mattress behind him.

He does so without question, still attached to you by your pinkie, making himself comfortable on the edge of a neatly tucked bed. He follows your every action as you place the ointment jar beside his thigh and open the lid. You scoop a teaspoon amount with your fingers and lifted his burnt hand again.

Before the cream touches his burn, you begin to tell him about what illness you've caught today and he barely feels the sting of the medicine. There's no better spell or potion to kill pain than your voice, that much was evident even back when he first met you.

Concentration laces your features and unbeknownst to you, your hips hit the edge of the mattress, unaware to the fact that Neville's knees are on either side of you.

The sight of you between him for some reason makes it difficult for him to swallow. The urge to trap you with his legs increases by the second. "Hey, Y/N?"

You wipe off excess ointment on your pajama top and turn your attention to him. He rarely called you by your first name. Something's up.

"Yeah?"

"Well, the erm... You know in a week or so?"

"Mhm?"

There's a pause as he searches your eyes for confidence, then he finally announces. "Would you say you're a good dancer?"

Creases form between your brows and you pout at the question, really thinking it over. If there was anything else Neville had learnt about you was that you always answered his queries with great interest and thought. You never treat his questions as though they're dumb, and he’s come to adore you for that.

As you ponder, he slides his non-burnt hand under yours, idly fiddling with your delicate fingers; tracing around the length of them, lifting them up and dropping them one by one, and eventually laying his palm flat on top of yours. Were his hands always this big?

The tips of your fingers tap-tap against his, as you finally answer. "I suppose... I would like to think I am."

"Well... that's good to hear."

"What about you?"

"Oh me?" He finds your face and swallows thickly. "I've been practicing lately, so I can only hope I've improved."

A giggle breaks free from your lips and it’s music to his ears. "Practicing? Whatever for?"

"The Yule Ball, of course."

"The..." The creases near your brows form again. "I've completely forgotten about that."

He squeezes a finger of yours. "So, no one's asked you yet?"

You sneeze into your elbow and then for a second time, and your voice becomes stuffy to the amusement of Neville. "Asked me what?"

"Asked you to be their date, of course."

"Oh. No." Scoffing. "Being stuck in here means no social-life. And besides—" You spin around quick to grab a roll of bandage, and gingerly flatten it over his burn "—who's gonna want to dance with someone who sneezes every five minutes?"

"I would."

"That's what I thought — wait... you would?"

In an effort to look nonchalant, Neville shrugs, finding interest in a bird that's flying near the window. The tips of his ears poking out of his shaggy hair are giving you a different response, they're blushing.

You finish with his wound and step away from the bed, fingers feeling cold when you let go of him.

Upon inspection of your medical handiwork, he smiles gently. He hadn't felt a thing. "Thanks for this."

"I... I can't guarantee that I'll be completely healthy that day," you say.

"The Yule Ball?"

You nod in an almost embarrassed way, as you fiddle with the collar of your sleeping clothes.

Neville just shakes his head. "The suit my Gran got for me has a lot of pockets so I’ll carry all your tissues for you. Or anything else you might need, I'll keep them for you."

"That'sssss.... ACHHU!"

"Bless you. So what do you say? Would you... want to go with me? Maybe? I promise not to step on your feet."

"Miss L/N?! What on earth are you doing out of bed?!"

"MADAME POMFREY!" You both exclaim, faces and necks feeling hot.

"Come on, dear, why don't you ever follow simple orders?!"

Mumbles of pathetic protest fall from your lips as the woman drags you back to the other side of the room. You knock into Neville’s knee on the way and so he’s quick to follow behind you with his own incoherent babble about the burn on his hand.

You're settled under the blankets once again and watch as the nurse's eyes bulge at the sight of the tall boy's perfectly cared for palm. She inspects the bandage, inquires about the pain and what the cause was, all while Neville can't keep the flushed look off his face.

"She— well... Y/N helped me out. It doesn't hurt anymore, I'm fine now, Ma'am."

As the said woman keeps a hold of his hand, she turns to you with daggers. "What did you use? A potion? Spell, perhaps? Mr Longbottom could have severe side-effects if you're not careful."

"He won't," you grin toothily as you did back in your first year and point to the shelf in the right corner. "I used the ointment that you gave Theodore Nott not that long ago. Haha, Nott not."

Neville stifles a laugh, and isn't surprised when the nurse doesn't question you further. You might be the only student that can get away with arguing with Madame Pomfrey.

The nurse's face instead takes the form of an appreciative and impressed expression. It's only natural that with your ‘weak immune system’, you've gained as much medical knowledge as you have colds and flus.

"I'll admit, you've done a splendid job with Neville. However, you simply cannot use whatever you like, whenever you like, on whomever you like. Next time this happens you need to wait for me to return, alright? Is that understood?"

Taking a glance at Neville's sheepish state, you sigh and nod in response.

"And Neville dear, don't encourage this behaviour. Especially not from Miss L/N."

"Okay, Ma'am."

She gives the boy a goodbye and immediately turns to you, a full on lecture spilling from her mouth. He isn’t supposed to leave yet, not when he’s just finally had the courage to ask you out.

Neville finds your helpless gaze behind the woman’s shoulder, and sends you a sad sort of smile before turning on his heel to get to the door.

"I-I'll go with you!" You yell.

The tall boy pauses, heart flipping at your words.

"To the Yule Ball."

There’s no stopping the grin that forms, and he finally nods after a second, hair shaking with the action.

Your eyes speak to him as your own smile appears.

Meanwhile, the woman huffs and puffs, cleaning the area around your bed. "Not in this state, you won't."

»»————-　⌁　————-««

Neville's 5th Year

The last time Neville was in the hospital wing, he'd come to talk to you about his recent endeavours in Herbology and let slip that he's been secretly practicing defensive magic with a group of other students, being taught by none other than Harry himself. There was no doubt that you would also be trusted enough to join, however seeing as you were once again bed-ridden, it felt best to keep it a secret until you got better.

Now it wasn't a secret anymore, and each time he'd visit you'd ask him to put in a good word with Harry, with the group. Neville always said he would, but he never did, fearing that Professor Umbitch would eventually catch onto you and you'd have to pay the ultimate price.

Karma is an Umbitch, however, and now it looks as if the only answer to Neville's current predicament is to let you join Dumbledore's Army, despite all his worries and his efforts to stop you from doing that.

Today’s DA training has been cut short, due to the fact that the fifteen-year old is now incapacitated. Blood refusing to slow down from his nose.

Going to Madame Pomfrey would've required him to come up with a believable story as to what happened, so the next best thing was to send for you, someone who already knows about this secret group.

"Neville!" A Ravenclaw boy shouts, interrupting his thoughts. "Your Bogey Bug is here— ow!"

Someone smacks the kid, and then suddenly the Weasley twins are leading you into the Room of Requirement. You stand over him, adorning new pajamas he hadn't seen before.

"Hey Achoo," he weakly smiles. "Thanks for coming."

The DA gather around, as you crouch to his side and immediately take the cloth he's been holding to his nose. You make a face at him. “Oh Neville… what are we going to do with you?”

A fresh line of blood rolls down to his lip, so you let him leave the fabric there to sink it in.

"Keep your head steady, okay? Don't lean back, just let the blood flow for now."

"I think my nose might be broken?"

"Neville, I swear to..." your head spins sharply, and a few students flinch. "Who did this?"

"We were practicing stupefy," the familiar voice of Seamus answers and immediately your tense shoulders relax seeing his face emerge behind the twins. "I didn't mean to. I swear, Y/N."

"He really didn't mean to," Neville echoes.

You sneeze into your elbow and shake your head, palm making contact with your cheek. "See, this is why you should’ve told me about this secret army group thing so I could've joined and stopped something like this from happening.”

"I'm sorry."

You take Neville's hand again and lift the cloth, checking over the damage. There is damage, alright. You try not to make a show of wincing, fearing that the brown-haired boy would get anxious by your reaction, but his nose really does look quite out of sorts. Out of line. Broken.

He realises you haven't said a word in a while and smiles again, "you can fix, can't you, Achoo?"

"I told Neville I could treat him, but he kept refusing and insisted for your presence," Luna's soft voice interrupts as she crouches down beside you.

Someone amongst the crowd starts to coo and the tips of Neville's ears manage to turn beet red, more so when you turn your attention to him, expression unreadable.

Luna carries on, eyes focused on you. "He wouldn't let anyone touch him. Not until now, anyway."

"Okay!" A sudden clap startles even Luna, and you all turn to the perpetrator. Harry Potter's back is turned to your direction as he addresses the crowd, "I think we'll call it a day. Neville needs his strength and so do you."

The crowd murmurs, exchanging pouts and disappointed shrugs.

"Be proud of yourselves, you all did brilliantly today. Each and every one of you have improved. Next time we get to meet we'll continue with the Patronus Charm."

"What about Bogey Bug? How do we know she's not gonna rat us out?" A girl in Hufflepuff asks.

Neville sees you stand up, slapping a hand over your chest. "I swear on my life and the life of Neville—."

"Hey!"

"—that I will not snitch on this group or expose any of you. I promise to be loyal and keep my mouth shut about this."

Some faces don't seem convinced, as more murmurs and chatter erupt.

"She can be our nurse!" Neville exclaims, stealing everyone's attention. It's time to put in that good word for you. "We won't have to go to the hospital wing if Achoo— I mean, Y/N is here. She's really good at what she does. Plus, I accidentally told her about the army about a month ago and she hasn't told a soul since. I do..."

Your big eyes soften when he turns to you.

"...I trust her with my life."

"All right then," Harry claps once more. "All those in favour of Y/N becoming part of the army, raise your hand."

A few hands come up, whilst others whisper for a moment. One more, then four more, and then more hands raise faster than you can count them. You and the broken-nosed boy share grins, as you squeeze his free hand.

"That's it then. Y/N, welcome to Dumbledore's Army."

»»————-　⌁　————-««

Neville’s 6th year

Following the events of the previous year of school you and Neville had grown ever closer. Outside of the classroom you'd never be seen without the other. Inseparable. There'd even been a rumour going around that you were dating, but you always denied such claims and Neville could only comply. He hadn't yet told anyone about his feelings for you, although it seemed that those in his close circle were figuring it out on their own.

After having looked like a lost pygmy puff in the Great Hall, Luna found Neville and mentioned to him that you looked 'out of sorts' during class. He hadn't even asked about you. She just knew to tell him.

So, it’s only fitting for him to be by your side now, during lunch hour.

You’re shivering underneath all the sheets and blankets, and yet as Neville glides the back of his fingers across your forehead, you’re sweating as well.

“Hang in there Achoo, you’ll be fine in no time. The spell will take effect.”

You can only give so much as a nod, and groan when your lower abdomen tightens with a deep, stabbing ache.

“Shh,” Neville smooths his delicate fingers over your forehead again, tucking loose strands back to their place with the rest of your hair. “I'm here. Do you want me to distract you with anything?"

"Anything," you squeak, eyes shut tightly as if doing that would stop your cramps and make you fall asleep faster. "Please."

"Alright, erm..." He slides his tongue over his bottom lip and leans in closer to you, elbow pressing into the mattress. "I suppose I can tell you about a dream I had not long ago. You were in it."

"The Hippogriff one?" You tremble.

"No, this is a new one," he smiles when you meet his gaze, finding your fingers peeking through the sheets and taking them into his hands. "It's really stupid, as dreams usually go, but I really like it."

Your fingers are stretched out, as Neville begins to trace over your palm. First he draws a circle and you giggle a little at the feeling.

"This is me," he draws a triangle, "and this is you. It seems like any ordinary day, except you and I have the same classes. In the dream we're both popular. Everyone cheers for us when we get good marks, and even Professor Snape smiles at you."

"No way."

He laughs and traces a shape with lots of spikes. "Yes way. It really seems too good to be true, because there's even a moment where we successfully sneak out at night, we're just in our pajamas and we're watching the stars from the astronomy tower."

"I'm waiting for the 'but'."

"But — here comes the stupid part — you just start flying out of nowhere. One second you're next to me, the next you're just in the sky. I'm freaking out trying to reach for your hand, but you're just so calm about the fact that you mysteriously gained the ability to fly."

You're giggling again, especially as he slaps your palm a few times to emphasise the story. "Accurate reaction."

"And then it just ends with me being able to breath fire."

"What?" You laugh, brows pulling together in amusement. "I wonder what Professor Trelawney would say about that. What all of it might represent."

He draws a line on each of your fingers, slow and tickly. "If it's anything like I've been told before, it probably means bad luck."

"Well I was also in the dream with you, so we'll go through the bad luck together." To his surprise, you thread your fingers through his and squeeze. You're not trembling anymore, you haven't been for the past minute or so, and it doesn't feel like you're being stabbed over and over in the stomach.

"Think you can sleep now?" He asks, fingers hesitantly unravelling.

You nod, grinning at him, those eyes of yours finally shining as bright as they usually do.

"Want me to go get Madame Pomfrey?"

You shake your head. And then your arms are around his neck, head tucked in the space between your bicep and his jawline.

It feels like a millennium till he returns your gesture, arms securing around your waist and back, pulling you in tightly and desperately. The mix of the wing's clinical scent and the smell of baked desserts fills his nose. He could've sworn he'd smelt something like this during Potions class.

"Stay with me," you purr. "Please."

He knows he has class in ten minutes, he knows he can't skip, he knows he'll get in trouble.

So with your arms determined to remain wrapped around each other he bends over, moving till your head meets the pillow. He kicks off one of his school shoes. Then the other.

You feel his knees dip into the mattress beside your thighs, and then you have to part for a moment as he slips under the blankets, his head settling on the pillow right beside yours.

When he's comfortable, you take one of his hands and lower it until he brushes over your clothed belly.

Keeping the heat from entering his ears and cheeks is impossible, as his hand flattens over your stomach, shock evident in his features from your bold action.

"Could you keep it there?" You say, when you feel his uncertainty. "It'll help if the cramps come back." Your own hands smooth over his, trapping him there.

"I will." He swallows thickly. "Are you comfortable?"

You nod. "Are you?"

"Absolutely. Yes. I am."

A content breath passes your lips and you smile, all giddy like, at the ceiling. "Thank you for being here. For being with me always. For not making fun of me being sick all the time. Not calling me Bogey Bug. For... for just being you. For being my most favourite person ever."

"I could really say the same about you." Both your voices are barely above a whisper, seeing as your faces are so close together.

"Thanks Neville," you turn to him, and tap the back of his hand on your belly.

You stare at each other for a moment, and for some reason it doesn't feel wrong. It's not awkward.

Neville breaks the silence. "You... you know how everyone keeps saying that we're... you know going out?"

"Yeah."

Neville pauses for a second, you're staring so intensely, pupils large and beautiful. He tries to swallow past the lump in his throat and squeezes the material of your clothes. He can talk to you, he can ask you the question. He's battled against Bellatrix Lestrange before, he's been put in Gryffindor for a reason. He can ask you. "What do you say we make those rumours... not rumours anymore?"

The corners of your mouth twitch. "You-You mean... you mean like...?"

"Yes. Like that. Like... I want to spend the rest of my life with you, sort of way."

You don't say anything.

He continues, with a small bite of his lip. "Like... I'm completely mad for you and if I don't tell you now I don't think I'll ever get the chance to again."

"This... isn't a dream, is it?"

"Can I prove to you this isn't a dream?"

"Okay."

And it really feels like a dream, as his face leans in and you feels his lips press against the corner of your mouth.

"Did that help?" he whispers.

You twist around to lay on your side, guiding Neville's big hand up to your waist. "You missed, Neville."

"What?"

"You missed."

This time you both lean in, and this time Neville doesn't miss.

»»————-　⌁　————-««

Neville’s 7th year

The last Horcrux has been destroyed, Voldemort's killed, the Death Eaters have fled. New life has been brought to Hogwarts, sun pooling through the shattered windows of the Great Hall.

People sit on broken stools, torn and ashy blankets, chatter quiet and solemn. A few people manage to tell jokes and liven the mood, others cuddle, kiss, crying tears of relief. Nurses scamper around tending to the badly wounded.

Only...

As Neville limps his way through the hall he desperately scans over the crowds only to realise you're not here. You're not by Madame Pomfrey. You're not by Luna either. Neville finds Ginny's tired but hopeful figure and before he can tap her shoulder, she's already turned to him with a gentle smile.

She shakes her head before he even has a chance to speak. "I haven't seen Y/N. Not since... well not since she took care of Freddie. 'M sorry Neville."

"No," he shakes his head and gives the girl a gentle hug when her voice wavers and her bottom lip quivers. "No, I'm sorry."

"You helped kill Voldemort. That's hardly anything to be sorry for," she smiles again as they part, softly pushing at his shoulder to leave. To keep searching for you. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out for her."

Neville sends her a purposeful nod and turns to leave, the sword of Gryffindor still snug in his hand. At times he uses the weapon as a crutch, the pain in his everything starting to take a toll as previous rushes of adrenaline begin to fade. The only thing keeping him going is the thought of you. You and your sneezes, your messy hair, your often nasally voice, your big eyes and equally big grins. You.

He passes what looks to be remnant of the hospital wing's door, merely a pile of wood chips and metal beams now. He hears the distant tweet of a bird, the pitter-patter of loose rubble and someone's sneeze.

The sword clangs to the ground and he's sprinting. Neville rounds the corner of the entrance to the wing and he stops, breath heavy, vision blurry.

You're there, and you're already staring at him, your grin so large and your eyes even more so and you're holding onto something familiar.

"N-Neville?" your voice is soft and so stuffy and gorgeous.

"Achoo, good Godric." His sore legs carry him to your side, and you're running toward him, arms open. And then you jump and he completely forgets about how much pain he's in when he catches you.

You cling to his sweater, to his shoulders, to his neck, to his waist, squeezing him with every bit of strength you've got left.

He's grasping at your hoody, your waist, your hair, your skin, he's touching all of you, scared that if he'll let go you won't be there anymore.

"I love you so much," he says through a trembling voice.

You pull away slightly and return your feet to the ground, legs unwrapping from his hips. You crane your neck to kiss his jaw, and then you kiss his cheek and his other and then finally his lips. And it sets your heart on fire, full of adoration and care and relief. You don't ever want to stop feeling him here, his supple lips against yours, especially as his hands cup your jaw, reeling you in for more and more.

"I love you Neville," you cry when you finally have to pull away to catch your breaths. "Ever since I first met you. You and your twisted ankle."

He chuckles, tenderly wiping a tear from the apple of your cheek with his thumb. He scans over the room for a moment, as he feels your fingers come to dance over the dry trail of blood from his head wound.

"I don't think we're ever gonna leave this place," he says with a caress of your jaw.

Following his gaze, you giggle. Those beds you spent countless nights on, those countless concoctions and medical supplies you've had used on you, they're all here, scattered and battered around the room.

"That's why I came here instead of the Hall," you say, keeping one arm around your boyfriend's waist and unravelling the other to reveal an intact jar of creamy coloured ointment. "I'm so sorry, I must've scared you nuts."

"Scared me to death more like, but all I had to do was listen out for your sneezes. Turns out it isn't that hard to find you."

You poke your tongue out and he laughs. "That's so embarrassing. Always comes back to me being a Bogey Bug."

"Yeah," he smoothly pulls you in for an ardent kiss, "my Bogey Bug."

"You know what else I am?"

You're leaning against his arms that are wrapped around you and he watches as you take off the lid of the jar. Just like his fourth year, you use your fingers to scoop up a teaspoon of the cream.

"What? What else are you?"

You step out and take one of his hands, letting his palm sit over the top of yours. And then the cream is applied over the burns on the back of his hands. In spite of these burns looking way worse than his wound from Potions class back in his fourth year, the pain is still barely felt once the ointment's smoothed over. What's also killing the sting is looking at your breathtaking eyes. He's lost in them, distracted completely.

"I'm also your nurse," you finally say, wiping the excess over your hoody.

Neville's mouth curls into a smirk, snaking his arms around you again and pressing your bodies tightly together. "Well, nurse. My lips are feeling kind of sore, do you think you can fix them?"

You hum, eyes twinkling with mischief as your hands link behind his neck.

His gaze dips to your mouth, trying to fight the heat flowing to his cheeks and ears. There will never be a time when you won't make him nervous and giddy.

You mirror his action, eyes taking their time stare at his lips. "You know what, darling? I think I've got just the thing for you."

#neville x reader #neville longbottom #neville longbottom x reader #neville longbottom imagine #neville longbottom x you #neville longbottom smut #neville longbottom x reader smut #neville longbottom x y/n

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roosterforme · 1 year

Text

Batting Practice Part 7 | Rooster x Reader

Summary: Bradley feels like you and he are compatible, so he decides he is all in with you and Everett. When you get a few minutes alone with him during the team pool party, it's evident that you are physically compatible too.

Warnings: Fluff, angst and swearing (eventually 18+)

Length: 4100 words

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female single!mom Reader

Check my masterlist for more Top Gun fun! Batting Practice masterlist.

Bradley had decided that complicated was good enough for him, as long as he could be around you. Nat was right; as far as adult problems went, he was being ridiculous to try to force himself away from a woman he wanted just because she had a kid. And not just any kid. Everett was great. Bradley honestly loved being around him, too.

So he kissed you. Sure, it was only on the cheek, but he didn't care who saw him. In fact, he hoped the other moms saw it. Maybe they'd leave him the hell alone.

"Ready, Coaches?" the referee asked, and Bradley and Bob both gave him a thumbs up.

This game was much more of a blowout than last Saturday. Bradley hated to admit it, but the Tiny Owls were pretty terrible. He was looking for a way to silently instate some sort of 'mercy rule' so the kids on the other team wouldn't feel too bad about losing by so much.

Everett was next up to bat, and Bradley pointed to first base. "Hey, kiddo. Let's practice hitting where I tell you to, okay? Hit the ball toward first base." And Everett managed to hit the ball exactly where Bradley told him.

"Cool!" Everett cheered, earning a high five. Bob gave Bradley a thumbs up, and he had Piper do the same thing.

Thankfully by the last inning, the Tiny Owls had come back a bit. But the Tiny Eagles still won by ten runs.

When Bradley glanced at the bench, he saw you on the phone with Bob's credit card in your hand. You looked up at him and waved your fingers.

You mouthed, "Hi, Coach," and Bradley's entire body lit up. He wanted to get you alone during the pool party, even just for a minute. He wanted to show you that he couldn't stop thinking about you.

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

You pulled your car around the enormous recreation grounds and parked next to the pool.

"Ev, I have to carry a bunch of stuff into the kitchen. Why don't you take your swim bag and work on getting changed?"

"Okay," he replied, and you watched him walk into the fenced in pool area and head for the boys' bathroom.

You walked around to your trunk and started to shimmy out the cooler and bags of ice, keeping Bob's credit card and the kitchen keys in your hand.

"I got it, Kitten!" Bradley was jogging up behind you, still all sweaty from the game. You felt his hand on your lower back at the same time his lips connected with your cheek again, and then he was reaching into your trunk as if this was the most natural thing in the world. "Where's Ev?" he asked, looking around, and your heart clenched.

"Getting changed," you told him, your voice sounding a little dreamy. "You kissed me again."

He leaned in and kissed your cheek a third time just as all of the other parents started pulling into the surrounding spots.

"Yep," he confirmed, lifting the cooler, bags of ice and juice boxes all out of your trunk in one shot. You grabbed the bags of chips and pretzels and scrambled after him with the keys.

He paused to let you unlock the clubhouse door, and there was a smirk on his face as you squeezed in front of him. You wanted to kiss him until he wasn't smirking anymore.

You jiggled the knob and threw your weight against the door, but nothing happened. "Turn the knob again," Bradley instructed, and he leaned against it, popping it open.

"Thanks," you murmured, leading the way inside, and he was hot on your heels, setting everything down on the long countertop in the dimly lit kitchen.

"Kitten," he muttered, stepping into your personal space and letting his hands settle on your waist. Your heart felt like it was bouncing around in your chest.

"Hello!" called a familiar voice, and you watched Bradley tip his head back in frustration as his hands abandoned your waist. Then Sandra strolled into the kitchen in a tiny bikini top and a pair of cutoff shorts. "There you are, Bradley! I didn't know if you wanted to taste my cupcakes before I let everyone else try them."

You had to refrain from rolling your eyes. Bradley cleared his throat and said, "Actually, I try to stay away from sweets."

You watched Sandra's face fall as she started to set up an elaborate cupcake display for the kids.

"I'm going to go check on Everett and get changed," you said, brushing Bradley's chest with your fingers as you headed for the door.

"Great idea. I'll get changed, too," he said, following you out.

You turned and looked at him over your shoulder. "You don't eat sweets?"

He chuckled. "Nah, I love sweets. I'd eat the shit out of your cupcakes, Kitten."

A giggle bubbled out of you. You were aching to feel his lips against yours. However, it felt wonderful to see him reject Sandra like that. You wouldn't mind watching him do that over and over again.

"Mommy!" Everett ran over and thrust his bag into your hands. "Are you getting changed and coming in the pool with me?"

"Yeah, sweetie. I'm going to get changed. I'll put my feet in the water."

Bradley scoffed. "Just your feet? That's no fun," he said, winking at Everett.

"Yeah, that's no fun! You should jump in with me!" Everett exclaimed.

"Us. You should jump in with us," Bradley corrected, swiping his hand over Everett's hair.

You smiled at both of them. "Fine! You win. I'll jump in, but not until after lunch. Coach Bob has entrusted me with the pizza and his credit card. And as Team Mom, I'm reminding both of you that you'll need to wait thirty minutes after you eat before you can swim."

You listened to Bradley and Ev both grumble as they walked away from you, but Bradley turned around and winked as you headed off to get changed.

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

Bradley could only take so much. He wanted to kiss you and run his hands all over you. But fucking Sandra and her goddamn cupcakes had to interrupt all his fun. Now he was sitting in the sun in his board shorts, Phillies cap still backwards and aviators perched on his nose. He was watching Bob and some of the parents swimming with the kids, but he was completely distracted by you as soon as you emerged from the ladies' room.

He dragged his sunglasses lower on his nose and really looked at you. Leopard print bathing suit? Was his Kitten trying to kill him? It was a one piece that tied in the front and showed a little gap of skin below your breasts, and Bradley was practically drooling now. You adjusted the black wrap you were wearing around your waist and went to sit at the edge of the pool.

When you had your legs in the water almost up to your knees, Bradley saw Bob swim over and lean on the edge of the pool to talk to you. He could hear your laughter and see your bright smile from where he was sitting. Bob had heard Bradley freaking out about you at the Hard Deck on Thursday night. He had been there for all of the second guessing and over complication and word vomit Bradley had been spouting about being interested in a mom. What if Bob took all of that to mean Bradley was no longer interested in you?

Because he was. Bradley went home from the Hard Deck, got a little drunk and then got really sad when he imagined no longer having you and Everett in his life after tee ball season ended.

Bradley got up and tossed his hat on the chair, and then headed toward the pool. Your eyes were on him immediately, and you did that cute little finger wave in his direction. God, he'd be so upset if Bob was flirting with you. He'd finally just figured out what he wanted and what he was willing to do to get it.

He jumped into the deep end and started swimming toward where you were sitting, picking up Piper and putting her on his shoulders along the way. Bradley tried to eavesdrop while Piper held onto his ears and asked to be dunked. So he told Piper to hold her breath and then dunked her one time.

"Wanna go see Uncle Bob, Piper?" he asked her.

"Yeah!" she squealed. "Uncle Bobby!"

"Excellent," Bradley muttered, carrying the child toward you and Bob.

You were smiling at Bob as he rambled on, but Bradley could tell your eyes were drifting toward him. "And I just never knew I could claim that when I file my income taxes, so thanks for explaining that to me. You're a lifesaver," Bob was saying.

"You can ask me accounting questions anytime, Bob."

You had told Bradley you were an accountant. Bob was talking to you about income taxes. That wasn't sexy at all. Although... Bradley still thought that might be considered flirting for Bob.

"Here's Uncle Bobby," Bradley said, thrusting Piper into Bob's arms while she demanded he dunk her.

"Hi, Coach," you said, reaching down and taking Bradley's wet aviators off and putting them on yourself.

"That looks cute, Kitten." He grabbed your foot and pretended to pull you into the water.

"Bradley!" you gasped, but he just smiled up at you. "I said I would swim later!"

He traced along your ankle under the water, and you let him. "Promise? I want to see Kitten get all wet."

You gaped at him, and he realized what he just said. But you pulled your foot slowly out of his grasp. "The pizzas just got here. I'm going to get them all set up in the kitchen," you told him, returning his sunglasses to his nose and standing up.

As you walked away from the pool, Bradley saw you turn around and look back at him a few times.

"I think she wants you to follow her," Bob commented, tossing Piper under the water again. "I'll give you a five minute head start, and then I'm going to announce the pizzas are here."

Bradley was pulling himself out of the pool immediately. He tossed his sunglasses back onto his chair and dried off a bit with his towel before following you into the clubhouse building again.

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

Your heart was pounding as you looked out the kitchen window and watched Bradley pull himself out of the pool. His biceps were crazy. He had abs. He looked so incredibly hot, you weren't sure what to do. You kept opening and closing the pizza boxes without really doing anything. Now he was toweling off, his biceps and shoulders rippling again.

He was coming inside.

You picked up a juice box to keep your hands busy but looked up as Bradley walked into the kitchen.

"Coach," you said a bit breathlessly as he made his way over to you without stopping.

"Kitten," Bradley whispered, backing you slowly, intentionally up until you bumped into the counter. You shivered as he gently stroked his fingers up your arm. "Just wanted to come in and check on you."

You looked up at him, but your eyes fluttered closed for a beat as his hand made its way up to your shoulder before teasing the soft skin above your collarbone. His brown eyes were focused on yours, and his hand was huge and warm as he caressed you. You bit your lip and shivered again as his wet swim trunks met the front of your bathing suit, making you wet and cold.

"You only came inside to check on me?" you asked softly, pressing yourself against him.

Bradley shook his head and groaned softly. "Came in to do this, too," he whispered, closing the distance between you, and brushing his lips against yours.

Oh, he felt good. So good. You leaned in, deepening the kiss and let the juice box fall to the floor.

Your hands went up to tangle in his messy, damp hair, and when he pressed you back against the counter, you were able to feel every inch of his body against yours. Bradley's hands glided down your sides to your waist, and next thing you knew, he was lifting you up and setting you down on the counter.

"Bradley!" you giggled as his lips met yours again with more heat. You spread your legs a little wider and let him stand between them as he stroked his fingers along your thighs.

He placed a soft kiss to the corner of your lips, and when he spoke, his voice was deep and raspy. "Did you end things with Frank?" His lips brushed against you, making it so hard to think.

"Yeah," you gasped as Bradley's lips connected with the side of your neck. "He's history," you promised, reveling in the feel of his mustache prickling your soft skin. "Ancient history."

Your fingers tugged through his hair, and Bradley brought his lips back up to yours. "That's a good Kitten. I'm not gonna share you."

Moaning, you pulled him closer so his abs were pressing against your core through the scrap of your bathing suit that was covering you. He worked his lips against yours as you held him close, your body fitting perfectly with his. You tasted his tongue, leaning closer to get more of him.

"Bradley," you moaned when he pulled you closer to the edge of the counter, your core rubbing against him deliciously. He kissed your nose and your cheeks as you started grinding against his abs.

He guided your bathing suit strap off your left shoulder and kissed along your newly exposed skin as you wrapped your legs around his waist.

"You taste good," he grunted, his tongue coming out to tease you. Your head tipped back as his hands wrapped tightly around your waist, and his lips worked across the swell of your breasts above your suit.

You were panting his name softly as his nose stroked your neck. Then his lips were on yours again, and you were devouring his mouth.

But you heard someone else coming inside the clubhouse, and you broke away from the kiss. But Bradley wasn't moving. He let his hands drift down your sides and to the tops of your thighs.

"Someone's coming," you said breathlessly. But you didn't push him away. You knew how you looked right now with your bathing suit strap hanging down your arm and Bradley standing between your legs.

He was just grinning at you and stroking your legs while you continued to grip his shoulders.

"Oh, hi," Bob said, taking one look at the two of you and blushing.

"Hey, Bob. What's up?" Bradley asked before turning back to you and placing one more soft kiss to your lips. You ducked away from Bob and adjusted your shoulder strap.

"Uh, just checking to see if the pizza is ready," he said, clearing his throat a few times.

"Yeah," you managed to say. "The pizza is all set. It's ready. And so are we, aren't we, Bradley? Ready to eat pizza?" You were practically stuttering.

"Sure, Kitten," he murmured, helping you down from the counter. You slid down the front of his body, bracing your hands against his hard chest.

"Oh-kay.... well, I'll send everyone else in then," Bob said, turning to head back outside.

You wrapped your hands around the back of Bradley's neck, and he smashed his lips against yours again, holding you in place with one hand on your ass.

"You're trouble," he groaned as your lips dropped down to his neck for a second before you heard all the kids heading inside and finally broke apart.

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

Bradley watched you pick up the juice box that you had dropped on the floor when he started kissing you. You held it absentmindedly, chewing on your lip with a dreamy look on your face. He stacked up three slices of pizza on a plate to keep himself from reaching for you again. Then he grabbed some plates and got a slice ready for Everett and one for Amber as well.

You were nibbling on a slice of pizza and occasionally looking at him while you talked to Amber's dad. Bradley could tell you were barely paying attention to what he was saying to you, and that made him smile.

Bradley avoided all the baked goods since he had already told Sandra he wasn't into hers. So he ate half a bag of chips while he tried to figure out how to get you alone again.

Everett hugged you after he finished his pizza, and you told him, "Wait a half hour before you swim!" Then you pointed at Bradley with a grin and said, "You too, Coach."

"Okay, Team Mom," he said with a wink. Then he led Everett and a few other kids outside to the grass and started up a game of tag. He ran away from the kids, dodging their little hands for a while.

"You're fast, Coach!" Everett said, finally making contact with Bradley's arm.

"Gotta be fast to be a good ball player," Bradley told him, immediately tagging Henry.

Bradley ran around with the swarm of screaming kids behind him. A lot of the parents were laughing, and he watched you take a picture of him.

"Is it safe to swim yet, Team Mom?" he asked, running past you.

You were cracking up as you said, "Yes! Everyone can go back in the pool!" Half of the kids stopped chasing Bradley and immediately got back in the water. But he watched you untie your wrap and set it on a chair along with your phone, so he made another loop through the grass before making his way over to you.

"Kitten," he growled, and your eyes snapped up to his as he scooped you up and tossed you over his shoulder.

"Bradley!" you squealed in surprise, digging your nails into his back and making him groan. "Don't drop me!"

With one hand on your ass to keep you from squirming, Bradley walked to the edge of the deep end and jumped in with you, your delighted scream echoing through the air before you both hit the water.

"Coach!" you gasped, scrambling against his body when you came up for air. "You're the worst."

Bradley grinned and ran his hands along your hips and waist beneath the water. "I just wanted to get you all wet."

You started laughing as your legs tangled with his under the water. This is what he wanted, just to hear you laughing all the time.

"Mission accomplished," you whispered, biting your lip and running your fingers along his abs before swimming away from him.

He wanted more than anything to follow you, but now he had Everett and a few other kids lined up at the deep end, waiting for Bradley to catch them when they jumped in. So he played with the kids while you swam around a bit, still thinking about how it felt to hold you.

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

You were still damp and trying to clean up the kitchen, because it was almost time for everyone to leave the pool area and turn in the keys. A lot of parents had already started packing up and heading out with their kids, but you didn't want Bradley and Bob to have to clean everything up alone.

As you were consolidating the pizzas into fewer boxes, you watched Bradley pushing Everett and Piper on the swings through the window. He was so good with the kids, and Everett was already very attached to him. You just hoped he would want to stick around.

You turned when the door opened and saw Sandra stroll in.

"Hey, Sandra," you murmured. "Do you want to take any of this pizza home?"

But she just rolled her eyes at you. "Don't you think the flirting is a little excessive?" she asked with a scowl.

"I'm sorry, what?" you asked, heart pounding in your throat.

"You and Coach Bradley. Around the kids? It's a bit much, and I don't think it's appropriate."

You couldn't believe she said that to you, as you looked at her tiny string bikini with wide eyes. You didn't think her swim attire was exactly appropriate for a family friendly pool day, but you just rolled your eyes and kept quiet. "I mean, I guess you're entitled to your opinion."

She just glared at you. "The two of you need to mess around on your own time."

"Okay, Sandra. And maybe you should flirt with your husband instead of the coaches."

Your blood was boiling. You didn't want to get into an argument with her, but you were single and you weren't doing anything inappropriate in front of anyone. Except maybe Bob...

But yeah, you should probably reel it in a little bit. But you weren't going to cave to Sandra's every whim.

You watched her pack up her uneaten baked goods and sweetly asked her, "So is that a no to the extra pizza then?"

She just shot you one last dirty look over her shoulder before leaving with her cupcakes and cookies.

You packed up the pizza, and you were about to check with Bob about what to do with it when he strolled into the kitchen.

"Hey, thanks for all your help today."

"No problem," you told him with a smile. "Do you want some of this extra pizza?"

"Take as much as you want, and I'll split the rest with Bradley."

You packed up a few slices for yourself and then packed up one box for each of the coaches. You were carrying the leftover food out to the parking lot when Everett and Bradley finally emerged from the pool.

"Sweetie, you need to get changed so we can head out," you told Everett, and he went to grab his swim bag.

"Meant to ask you," Bradley said, pushing his wet hair back from his forehead and standing in front of you in all his dripping wet glory. "What time did you and Ev want to go to the park tomorrow so I can show him some pitches?"

A warm, gooey sensation washed over you. He was really serious about this. "How about in the afternoon? Around 2? Myers Park?"

"Sounds good, Kitten," he whispered. You saw Sandra out of the corner of your eye, so you stepped away from him.

"I have leftover pizza for you, and some for Bob. I'm going to take it out to your car."

"Thanks," he said with a wink.

You made two trips to the parking lot, dropping one pizza box off on the hood of Bob's truck and one on the hood of Bradley's Bronco. You also tossed your bags and the empty cooler into your trunk. And then your heart clenched in your chest.

You watched Bradley carrying your son to your car on his shoulders, with Everett's swim bag dangling from Bradley's arm. They had changed out of their swimsuits, and both of them had huge smiles on their faces. And you had the uncontrollable urge to rub yourself against Bradley.

"Mom! Coach is going to take us to the park tomorrow after lunch! And we can pitch baseballs! For real!"

Bradley knelt down next to your car and Everett scrambled off of him and gave him a hug, knocking his aviators askew.

"I'll bring Gatorade and chewing gum, just like in the big leagues," Bradley promised as he stood.

Yep, you wanted to rub your entire body against him.

Bradley opened the car door for Everett, and then he took you by the hand and led you around the other side of his Bronco. "I wasn't sure how you felt about me doing this in front of Everett," he whispered, wrapping his long fingers around the back of your neck and leaning down to kiss you.

You pulled him closer by his belt loops and nibbled on his lips. "Not quite yet, okay?" you whispered against his chin. "He likes you so much. I don't want him to get his hopes up."

You looked up at him as you put a little distance between your body and his, and Bradley's brow scrunched up.

"I get what you're saying. But I think it would be more than okay for him to get his hopes up, Kitten."

You kissed him softly one more time and waved your fingers at him. "See you tomorrow, Coach."

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

Definitely physically compatible. Can't wait for them to get a little more physical. Thanks to @beyondthesefourwalls and @mak-32!

PART 8

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#bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #rooster x you #rooster fanfic #rooster x female reader #rooster x reader #bradley bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw fic #bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x female reader #bradley bradshaw imagine #bradley bradshaw fanfiction #bradley rooster x reader #rooster bradshaw x female reader #top gun fanfiction #top gun maverick fanfiction #top gun imagine

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monkeymindscream · 2 years

Text

Something just occurred to me.

The fandom’s long since pointed out that Belos has a nonstandard character design because he lacks the eye-shines that other humans/witches typically have, right?

But we’ve recently been introduced to another witch who also has no eye-shines:

And they’re both affiliated with the Collector in some way.

Which could just be a funny coincidence, but I would like to point out what Belos looked like pre-contact with the Collector:

Don’t ask me what the hell this signifies but there it is.

#huh going back through the episode almost NONE of the Titan Trappers have eye-shines actually #um #emperor belos #bill toh #the owl house #toh #philip wittebane #toh the collector #muttering about owls #owl house

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ayaboba · 7 months

Text

LATE AT NIGHT

summary: sfw late night activities with them

characters: alhaitham, ayato, diluc, kazuha, wanderer, zhongli.

cw: all sfw, petnames, drabbles, zhongli is obsessed with his tea set.

alhaitham - empty library dates

it seemed the coffee you both shared earlier was starting to wear off.

books and papers strewn across the desks, heads resting against one another, a few tired yawns and incoherent mumbles occasionally cutting through the silence.

you could feel alhaitham readjust his position, lightly moving you closer. gentle, steady movements pulling you in. he obviously thought you were asleep, oblivious to the amusement written on your face.

now, you were tightly tucked underneath his arm. stuck in an embrace you know you won’t be able to escape until the morning. the smile on your face refused to vanish.

“I know you’re awake, you know.”

kamisato ayato - watching the festivals from afar

the sound of fireworks brings forth a nostalgic feeling.

it’s a sweet, fuzzy feeling that spreads like electricity throughout your veins. the vivid colours sparkling through the inky night skies, illuminating narukami island in a magical and beautiful way. you stand on the edge of kamisato estate, transfixed by the glimmers and glows, in awe, so much that you don’t hear the familiar approaching footsteps.

“they’re lovely, aren’t they?” ayato sighs, staring too at the display, before glancing down towards your face. “though…it’s nothing compared to you.”

diluc ragnvindr - wandering together at night

“i told you to wear something warmer.”

you hadn’t even said anything, but yes, you were cold. it was quite late into the night after all. then again, it was you who complained that you couldn’t sleep, so diluc suggested a night stroll might be a good idea.

“what i’m wearing now is fine,” you reply, edging just a teensy bit closer to him as you both watch a nearby owl in a tree.

diluc watches as you let out a small shiver.

to save arguments, he hoists you over his shoulder without warning and begins walking back.

kaedehara kazuha - convenience store runs

it’s 1am and you’re hungry.

you’re craving something from the convenience store down the street, but there seems to be a bit of a dilemma.

kazuha’s currently holding you in a firm hug around your waist, his peaceful face lying under your chin.

cautiously, with slow and calculated movements, you attempt to break free from his arms. you’ve put on a jacket and made it to the door when something pulls you back.

“don’t leave without me yet…”

he’s so sleepy, but he manages to carry the overloaded bags of food you might’ve gone a little overboard with.

wanderer - reality tv shows

“it’s confusing."

“no, it isn’t.”

“yeah, it is. then what’s her name? klara?”

you shake your head, almost sighing in exasperation as you watch him point to the TV.

“I’ve already told you a million times; that's Kim,” you reply, lunging to grab another handful of popcorn sitting in a bowl on your boyfriend’s lap. "I think she’s the easiest to tell apart.”

Wanderer almost snorts, rolling his eyes as he watches Kim struggle to open the car door.

His response causes you to throw some popcorn into his face, which he flicks straight back at you. “Do you want to watch something else then?”

At that, he grabs the remote. “No, I want to see her open the door.”

zhongli - teas and tales

A weak smile is your response as zhongli pours you your sixth cup of steaming green tea.

He’s sitting next to you on the small cedar dining table, animatedly reminiscing about a memory involving fierce dragons and fleeting adepti. You attempt to listen, occasionally nodding and smiling. It’s interesting, it really is, but it’s kind of hard to focus when it’s two in the morning and you desperately need some sleep.

without warning, a loud yawn suddenly escapes.

zhongli stops speaking, and for a second, you fear he’s going to pour you another cup of tea.

“it’s past midnight,” he mutters, surprised, before grabbing your hand to lift you from your seat. “sweetheart, head to bed first. I have to pack away this tea set.”

#genshin x reader #genshin drabbles #genshin fluff #alhaitham x reader #ayato x reader #diluc x reader #kazuha x reader #wanderer x reader #zhongli x reader #anya writes ✧.*

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singmyaubade · 10 months

Text

No Longer Yours

James Potter x Female!Reader

IB: In The Cold November Rain by @sweetsweetjellybean (Make sure to check it out, it’s incredible and one of the best I’ve ever read !)

A/N: First, I apologize for my time writing this; it just had to be perfect! I am so grateful that you all love my story enough to give it so much love and support and practically beg for a part 3; thank you so much. I had no idea how to start and continue this, so please be kind. I really hope you guys enjoy this part, and I hope it's everything you dreamed of <3

Summary: James had disregarded you for multiple years, but when you have an epiphany in your final year, how does it feel to taste his own medicine?

Warning: It may contain swearing and soon-to-be smut.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

"Shh.. don't wake her up!" You heard Lily whisper in your half-asleep state as the sun peeked at you through the blinds.

"It's Marlene's big oger feet," Mary snorted.

"Hey! My feet are not the size of oger feet," Marlene replied, sticking out her tongue.

"Shh!" Lily warned.

You heard the shuffling of paper and steps as you opened your eyes to see your best friends hanging up decorations, a smile appearing on your face immediately.

"Oh, bollocks," Lily sighed, face-palming, "Happy birthday!" She yelled, half annoyed but half happy there was a smile on your face. She embraced you as you sat upright in bed, glad to see your friend's dedication to your birthday.

The rest of them told you a happy birthday, embracing you in a tight hug.

"Wow, I can't believe you actually got Marlene up this early," You said, opening another card they gave you.

"Well, it took a chicken drumstick," Dorcas replied.

"Otherwise, I would've been grouchy, and Y/n would have had a horrible birthday, so really I did it for her," Marlene said as Mary rolled her eyes.

"I wonder what the Marauders have planned, especially James," Lily muttered.

Every year for your birthday, James would give you a grand birthday party and tons of presents. He usually would sneak into your dorm room and surprise you with cannons and the other Marauders, but of course, this year was different.

And coincidentally, your birthday was the same day as the start of winter break, which always meant you had to pack on your birthday.

And every birthday, you had to go over to James's house for your birthday dinner with your families.

Which you were not looking forward to this year.

"Oh shit, sorry, Y/n, I know you don't want to speak about him," Lily apologized.

"It's alright; I'm sure I'll be reminded of him today many times," You replied, getting out of bed, "I can't believe I don't get to spend my birthday at Hogwarts," You said, grabbing clothes from your closet, setting them next to the trunk.

"It does suck, but you can at least be excited about your birthday dinner," Lily replied, closing her trunk.

"Hopefully, it goes well without James hinting to our parents that I hate him and don't want anything to do with him," You angrily said, shoving your clothes in your trunk.

"Do you really hate him, though?" Mary asked, "I mean, you were best friends with him all these years, and now, you utterly hate him,"

"That was before I realized he was cruel and truly considered me anything but something that he couldn't get rid of," You said, "But enough about James, are we still meeting together after Christmas?"

"Of course, your house, Y/n?" Dorcas asked.

You nodded, "But we can't steal my parent's booze again; I'm pretty sure the elves are scared of Marlene,"

"I didn't mean to scare them with my clown impression; it was just too good," Marlene smirked.

"Yeah yeah, for sure," You said, laughing before packing the rest of your clothes.

Suddenly, your parent's owl flew in from the window, delivering you a letter. You opened the envelope and straightened the folded-up letter, which stated:

Dear beloved Y/n,

Your father and I are experiencing a torturous delay from France; we have fought with the conductor multiple times and even considered apparating or the floo. Unfortunately, because of the horrible mangling rabbit, I TOLD your father not to eat, he has been throwing up all evening, and we can't apparate, and the nearest floo is eight hours away. You will stay with the Potters tonight and tomorrow night because too many wards might injure you in the house that the elves can't disable, but we hope to return before then. We want you to have the most incredible birthday and love you so much; we are incredibly sorry to miss it. Please forgive us.

Sincerely,

Your proud parents.

"What does the letter say?" Lily asked, glancing at you the folding her socks.

"My parents are stuck in a delay and can't make it to my birthday dinner in time, or even tomorrow," You shrugged.

"I am so sorry, Y/n," Lily said, embracing you.

You hugged her back. "It's okay; at least I have the Potters.

"Are you sure you will be okay?" Dorcas asked.

"Yeah, you can stay with me if you want," Mary offered.

"No, it's fine." You sighed, "They will be hurt if I skipped the opportunity to continue the tradition, and my mom would wring my head off if I didn't go," You joked.

"Okay, well, let us know," Lily smiled.

The whole part of you was sincerely upset; you didn't want your parents to not be there for your birthday. Even worse, you weren't on good terms with James, which only made for an awkward dinner with his family.

But you understood and knew your parents would make it up to you, and you know how guilty they felt; you just missed them.

You chose to keep your mind off it and keep packing until it was time to go to the train.

"When does this bloody train come?" Marlene shivered, "I'm fucking freezing,"

"I told you to bring your jumper," Mary sighed.

"I didn't think I really needed it," Marlene replied, gritting her teeth.

"I knew you would be cold," You said, giving her one of your extra jumpers.

"You know, Y/n, I'll kick Potter's bloody ass for you; just remember that," Marlene suggested, causing you to laugh.

"Speaking of the devil," Dorcas muttered under her breath.

You turned around to see James looking straight into your eyes. You had to admit that James had never been so intimidating. His eyes looked as if they had darkened, and he looked as if you were his Slytherin competitor in Quidditch.

"Are you ready?" He asked, his voice sounding deeper.

He didn't even say Happy Birthday.

"I'm gonna sit with them," You blankly stated, not an ounce of kindness in your voice.

"It's better if we sit together," James demanded, "Otherwise, we won't be able to find each other in the crowd when the train stops," He explained to you slowly as if you were a child, which only pissed you off.

"Are you fucking mishearing me, or are you just delusional?" You asked, "I said I'm gonna sit with my friends and not assholes. I don't even consider an acquaintance." You sneered, your voice sounding so harsh that it shocked your friends, "Please do me a favor and leave me the fuck alone."

"Are you really gonna be an uptight bitch?" James asked, a cocky smile on his face, "I mean, Jesus, I like it better when your mouth is shut or perhaps filled." Some of you knew that James was just being an asshole because he was hurt, which is what he always did, even when he was a kid, but the only thing about it was that he only did it to you.

That only angered you more before you slapped him for his rude comment, "Don't you fucking dare speak to me like that."

"Or what?" He stepped closer

"Okay, guys!" Lily stepped in, "We will approach you five minutes before the train stops, and you guys will walk together in peace, hopefully," Lily dragged you away as you glared at James.

"I can't believe you actually slapped him," Marlene said, following after you guys, "I mean, after what he said, I would've punched him so hard in the di-"

Mary cut her off, "Jokes aside, are you okay, Y/n? I mean, I have never seen James so mean and awful towards you or anyone for that matter,"

You sighed, "Yeah, I'm fine, I just don't get why he is so mean to me when he was the one who broke my trust in the first place,"

"What did he do?" Marlene asked.

The rest of the group looked at Marlene as if she had killed a unicorn. Nobody had really asked what James had done but considering your resentment towards him, it must’ve been unforgiving.

You hesitated, “He just didn’t say some nice things about me.” You answered, hoping to move on.

“Like what kind of things?” Marlene pried.

You could tell she was just curious, but you were so humiliated by what James had said that you didn’t even want to tell your closest friends.

Dorcas elbowed Marlene, causing her to hiss in pain before she said, “It isn’t our business if you don’t want to tell us, Y/n.”

“Yeah,” Lily agreed, “Maybe it’s better it is between you and James.”

The rest of the group agreed including Marlene who was hunched over in pain and verbally cursing Dorcas for the hard elbow.

You muttered a “thanks” before heading onto the train. You sat by the window, staring outside to the foggy mountains.

You didn’t want to admit it but you did miss James and how much he cared for your birthday. Sometimes it seemed like it was his birthday with how high he held your birthday.

You didn’t understand why he couldn’t just try to even figure out what he had done or fight for your forgiveness, he just chose to be angry at you.

You didn't even want to think about him. Why does your whole life revolve around him?

"Anything from the trolley dearies?" The Trolley Witch asked.

"Chocolate frogs," Marlene said.

"Jumbling Jellies," Lily answered.

"I'll take Fizzing Wheezies," You said, paying her 10 galleons for you all.

"Y/n, you don't ha-" Lily was about to say before Marlene shushed her.

Lily glared as Marlene spoke, "Bless your heart, Y/n," She smiled as you laughed.

As Marlene started devouring her chocolate frog, you couldn't help but remember how you and James would share Fizzing Wheezies every time on your birthday on the train.

Practically tradition.

You wondered if he thought the same. If he was relishing in the memories.

Your thinking was halted when Dorcas set a hand on your thigh as you smiled, laying your head on her shoulder. You closed your eyes, trying to prepare for the day ahead.

"Y/n," Someone lightly shook you by your shoulder as you looked to see Lily. She was waking all of the girls up as the train stopped.

You yawned, getting up to grab your luggage. James was right that there would be traffic, so you had to rush off, saying your goodbyes to your best friends.

"Promise to write?" Lily asked, looking near tears.

"Lils, it's only a week," You snorted as she gave you a stern look.

"A week I won't get to see you," She hugged you tighter as you smiled and returned it.

"See you before Christmas?" She asked.

You rubbed her shoulder, "See you before Christmas."

"Promise me you won't forgive Potter," Marlene sighed, causing you to laugh.

"Do you have no faith in her at all?" Mary asked next to Marlene.

"Do you have no faith in her at all?" Marlene mocked, causing Mary to glare.

"Okay, okay!" You laughed at the both of them, "Only if you promise you both will stop bickering," You hugged them both.

They glared at each other as Dorcas spoke, "Forgetting someone?"

You grinned, "Never," You hugged her, kissing her on the cheek.

You were waiting for her to say, "Give him hell?" You asked as she laughed.

"I think you know what to do," She encouraged before you exited, waving goodbye to all of them.

Even though it was only a week, you still hated being away from your best friends. They were like your third family besides your actual and the Potters.

You saw the back of Sirius's head as you approached him, considering he lived with the Potters.

He turned around before you could tap him, picking you up, "Happy birthday Y/n!" He said, kissing your cheek as you yelped.

"Okay, thank you, Sirius, put me down!" You giggled.

He put you down as you smoothed your clothing, "So where's Potter?' You asked.

He smirked, "Only last name? Ice cold Y/n." You didn't respond, so he assumed you were waiting for an answer, "He went to the toilets,"

You hummed, silently tapping your foot on the pavement, only hearing the ruckus around you both.

"Excited for your birthday dinner?" He asked, partly ready for the drama.

"Very," You sarcastically said.

"Hey, Mom and Dad aren't too bad," He said.

"We both know Euphemia and Fleamont aren't the Potters I despise," You muttered.

"Well, for your sake, I'll make him behave," He sent a charming smile your way.

"What would I do without you, Black?" You rolled your eyes.

"Probably be miserable," He answered, causing you to laugh.

"What are we laughing about?" James said, not even a smidge of excitement in his tone.

Your usual mad facade slipped back in as you grabbed your luggage and started heading toward the car. You could hear Sirius laughing behind you.

You saw Euphemia and Fleamont waiting by the car like they had usually done since Sixth year since James told them to stop coming inside because of his newfound "popularity."

Your face lit up immediately, excited to see two of your favorite people worldwide.

You embraced Euphemia, giving the tightest hug you could and giving Fleamont a kiss on the cheek while they asked about your studies. You could see James rolling his eyes both audibly and physically.

"Okay, Mother, I don't think Y/n likes all the questions," James said, leaning his head on the window while his father drove.

Sirius was in between the two of you, snoring asleep. Considering the train ride, you didn't even know why he was tired.

"I don't mind at all," You said, smiling as James glared at you.

You knew that Euphemia could feel the tension between you and James, but she ignored it, "So Y/n, I have made you something extraordinary." Euphemia said.

"And that is?" You asked, knowing she wouldn't tell you.

"I guess you will have to find out tonight during dinner." She sweetly said, winking at you.

You smiled to yourself, relieved your birthday wouldn't be that bad.

You entered the house that you had been over to so many times, admiring it fully.

"James will show you your room," Euphemia said, rubbing your back as you smiled, trying not to show your discomfort about James.

James didn't even wait for you before heading up the steps. Thankfully, he carried your luggage because he knew Euphemia would berate him.

"It's in there," He lazily said, not even opening the door before walking downstairs.

Jerk.

You grunted, lifting your heavy suitcase inside the room.

You admired the room, which looked like it was made for you. It was warm and tremendous for a guest room. It had all of your favorite colors and smells.

It was perfect.

You decided to nap before dinner, considering you had no one to talk to, and you were partly tired after the drive anyway. You knew an elf would get you when it was time.

"Ms." A frail voice said as your eyes fluttered open to see Dot, the Potter's elf that had been there since you had first moved in.

"Oh, hello, Dot," You spoke lightly, yawning.

"Ms. Potter tells Dot to inform you it's time for dinner," Her small voice said.

"Thank you, Dot, I appreciate it," You thanked before the elf nodded her head and apparated out.

You stretched, wearing a semi-formal dress, one of your favorites.

You headed down the stairs as you smelt the food radiating from the dining room. It was all of your favorites; it was pretty extraordinary. Ms. Potter was always the type to blow you off of your feet, regardless.

Your face lit up, "This is stunning, Ms. Potter," You looked at the glowing lights.

Euphemia smiled, "I'm glad you love it,"

You sat next to James with Sirius next to him. His face had certainly softened, but he was clenching his jaw when you sat beside him.

"Now," Euphemia started, "I know we usually do gifts after dinner, but we all had such beautiful surprises for you that we couldn't wait."

Euphemia started first, giving you one of your favorite movies since you were a kid, except the movie wasn't available anywhere.

You rose excitedly, embracing her, "How did you get this?" You asked, smiling at the CDs.

"A friend of mine is good friends with the director, and he happened to have one last copy," She answered as you excitingly hugged her before returning to your seat.

"Thank you, Ms. Potter," You looked at Euphemia, "I love it,"

She nodded before Fleamont gave you his gift. It was a beautiful crystal from Bejing.

You thanked him for the beautiful gem before Sirius offered you his gift. He gave you a perfume that smelled of fire whisky but wasn't actually fire whisky.

Part of you wanted to know how he did it, but you decided to save it for later as you thanked him, kissing him on the cheek as he cheered.

Last was James, who picked up the gift from under the table. He had looked you in the eyes, not a set of resentment in them at all.

Your breath hitched as he gave you a stuffed animal your grandfather gave you when you were nine. You had cried for a week because you had lost it and teared up when anyone mentioned it.

He gave it to you as it looked brand new and was cleaner than when you had it when you were nine.

When you pressed on the heart, it always said "I love you" in your grandfather's voice and even had your name on the collar.

You teared up, "How did you find it?"

He stuttered, "I-I found it in the treehouse in the corner,"

"I thought the treehouse was infested with Clockonuts," You said.

He laughed, "Well, I risked my life to get it back,"

Every sense of anger you had felt had disappeared; he had done something that was so out of his actions lately that it made you miss him.

"Thank you," You genuinely said.

He gave you a simple nod before you began eating. Conversations started after, talking about school.

"So, any boys, Y/n?" Euphemia asked as James dropped his fork on his plate, making a huge sound that caused you to look at him.

You cleared your throat, "Well, I am trying not to focus on that right now,"

"Except for Carrows," James muttered.

"Who's Carrows?" Euphemia asked, genuinely curious.

You took a bite of your carrot, "Um, well," You swallowed, "He's just a friend I have."

"I don't sit on my friend's laps," James scoffed, causing you to glare at him.

"Well, I don't call my friends sluts," You spat.

"James Fleamont Potter, what did you call her?" Euphemia added.

James ignored her, "Well, when your best friend is acting like one just because you don't fancy her, I think she deserves it,"

Mate-" Sirius chimed in, but you were faster.

"When have I ever fancied you?" You asked, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of that knowledge.

"Y/n, you were practically obsessed with me," He ridiculed, "I couldn't get away from you, and the only time I could was when I dated Lily; it was the best months of my life," His face looked shocked after he said the last words.

You couldn't tell if he meant it, but it hurt you badly. All those years of friendship were fake; he couldn't tolerate you.

"That's enough!" Euphemia said; even Sirius was silent.

A tear ran down your cheek, "I'm actually not feeling well; I'm gonna go to bed." You said, placing your napkin on the plate in front of you.

You heard Euphemia berating James as you ran up to your room. In some ways, you didn't understand why James did everything he did if he hated you so much.

Why did he give you that gift? Why did he always call you and get mad when you didn't want to be his friend? Did you ever mean anything to James Potter?

And if you did, why did he have to ruin your birthday?

A/N: If you hated this, I apologize.

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