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jae-bummer · 5 years

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Stick Around (Harry Potter AU)

Request: Would you be able to do a Zelo X Hufflepuff? I’m not even sure if you’re like really into Harry Potter and I’m not quite sure what house he’d be either (possibly Slytherin but also maybe a Hufflepuff???? I don’t even know). Thank you so much tho!!

Pairing: BAP Zelo x Reader

Genre: Fluff

You plopped into the grass near the whomping willow and heaved a large sigh. Perhaps if you moved just a hair closer, it would crush you to death.

Death had to be better than this feeling in your stomach.

Picking idly at a few strands of grass, you looked up wearily to the groups of students waddling off into the distance.

Hogsmeade weekend.

You turned your gaze to the lake, thinking maybe if you threw yourself into its depths, you’d be rid of the anxiousness clutching your chest.

It wasn’t fair.

You were muggle born, which was a difficult enough situation to handle at a wizarding school, but you were also a muggle born who could never convince your parents to sign any permission slip you brought home from “that school.”

They didn’t understand why you wanted to blend in with “those people” so badly, just like you didn’t understand why they had such an issue with your participation. Either way, it was a losing situation (mostly for you) so here you sat.

Chewing on your lip, you looked up again to various couples wandering off into the distance.

And then there was him.

Squinting your eyes to better focus, you recognized the face of the older boy, but only vaguely. He was much taller than you, sporting bright, honey-colored hair, and a forest green jumper. The small stud in his nose reflected the sunlight, making his already handsome face dazzle just a little bit more. What was his name again?

He remained unmoving as he narrowed his eyes at you, the one buoy in the ocean of students around him. Why wasn’t he heading in the direction of Hogsmeade, and more importantly, why was he looking at you?

After a stalemate between the two of you simply sizing each other up from afar, he made forward motion in your direction, causing your heart to stall. Your eyes darted back and forth to further confirm that you were the only person positioned this far toward the Forbidden Forest. Surely, he thought you to be someone else. Your mind worked tirelessly to find any interaction you may have had with him but kept coming up blank.

Just as you thought you were going to have to deal with some sort of confrontation (judging by the look of sheer determination on his features) he stopped again. Spinning on his heel, he was greeted by several of his friends patting him on the back and pointing him back toward the direction in which everyone was travelling. Glancing over his shoulder at you once last time, he nodded to them before matching them in step.

How strange.

You shook your head, trying to rid your thoughts of the odd interaction. Yes, he thought you were someone else, and by closer inspection realized that.

But then why didn’t he stop until his friends called him?

You picked at your breakfast sleepily and stifled a yawn. Only barely able to follow along with the conversation your friends were having, you glanced lazily to the ceiling as the owl post began to arrive. You tried to keep your eyes from rolling as you focused more closely on your food.

The other perk of being a muggle in the wizarding world with unsupportive parents was very little mail. You had come to terms with that situation years ago. It bothered you much more as a first year, but now it was a morning routine you chose to ignore. On occasion, your wizarding friends would send you things through the in-school mail system, or their parents would send you fresh baked treats from home. If only your parents understood how kind the families of your friends had been, maybe they’d understand a fraction of the warmth you experienced daily. Maybe they’d even send you some comforts from home as well.

If you kept your hopes low, you were always pleasantly surprised when something did drop short of your dining plate.

Just like today.

A package thudded softly before you, causing you to breath in sharply. Narrowing your eyes, you quickly noticed there was no return address. You gave a sidelong glance to your friends who were still caught in their own conversation, no parcels landing near them.

Picking up the light box, carefully wrapped in brown paper, you surveyed it for any signs of where it may have come from. Judging by the stamps and scrawl across the front, it looked to be sent in-house.

It wasn’t your birthday and the holidays were still months away. Why would any of your friends be sending you things through the owl post that they couldn’t just give you?

With trembling fingers, you began to pluck at the paper and reveal the box beneath. By this point, your friends had stopped talking and decided to focus on you instead.

“Who’s that from?” your closest friend asked, lifting her brows. You gave a small shrug as you lifted the lid of the parcel, revealing the contents.

“What is this?” you grumbled, sifting through packing paper. You pulled out one item after another. Small gifts quickly peppered the table. You recognized some items to be wizarding sweets, but you were at a complete loss for half of the others.

“A pygmy puff!” your friend squeaked, poking happily at a small cage you had pulled out. Tilting it to the side, you noticed the large, purple poof of hair rolling around the cage and squeaking frantically.

“A pygmy what?” you croaked.

“It’s a miniature puffskein!” your friend grinned. “They sell them at the joke shop!”

Your friend lifted a few more items closer to her face. “Matter of fact, it looks like a lot of these items are from the joke shop. And Honeydukes!”

“Can we backtrack?” you sighed. “So, you’re telling me I was just delivered a living creature I am now caring for?”

You wiggled your finger into the cage with the pygmy who gave a delighted squeak. You couldn’t help but smile as you patted it lightly on what you thought to be its head.

“They’re really adorable pets,” your friend nodded. “I have one in the common room. His name is Tobias.”

“Right,” you chuckled. “So, you were saying? Joke shop? Honey smokes?”

“Honeydukes,” she corrected. “They’re shops in Hogsmeade.”

“Hogsmeade?” you asked, lifting your brows. “I’ve never been. Why would someone send me things from Hogsmeade?”

Your friend gave you a sly smile. “Maybe because you’ve never been.”

You leaned back onto the grass and sighed, letting your pygmy puff roll around in the grass. He was a happy, little companion, and you couldn’t thank your secret gift giver enough.

Whoever it was must have known how lonely things could get when you were left alone.

And you were absolutely no closer to figuring out who that gift giver was. After ruthlessly harassing your friends, all of them insisted that they had no hand in the package that had been sent to you that day. And even under the suspicious circumstances, the parcels continued to come.

Against your better judgement, you continued to accept them.

You chuckled to yourself as you heard your pygmy enter a squeaking frenzy as he scurried up your arm and buried himself into your neck. Only until the sun shining down on you had been blocked, did you bother to open your eyes.

“Mind if I sit?” an unfamiliar voice questioned.

You opened one eye, squinting through the sun to only be able to make out a dark figure looming above you.

“You don’t have to ask my permission,” you sighed as you hoisted yourself up to lean on your elbows. Blinking a few times, your eyes finally settled on the face of the blonde boy you had all but forgotten from weeks before.

“I thought it may be polite since I’m sitting so closely,” he grinned, plopping beside you.

“It’s you,” you croaked, knowing you must have sounded ridiculous.

“And who am I exactly?” he asked, lifting his brows. You immediately felt hot with embarrassment.

“No idea,” you managed, inspecting every inch of his face. It was a Hogsmeade weekend, so you had assumed that’s where he should be instead of lounging beside you.

“Zelo,” he said shortly. “My name is Zelo. I’m a seventh year, Hufflepuff.”

So that’s why he smelled like baked goods.

You nodded in response, unsure of how you should continue. Introduce yourself? Your house?

“And you’re Y/N,” he said softly. He looked down to his hands, nervously fidgeting with his fingers as the words escaped his mouth.

“I am,” you hummed, furrowing your brows. “And how do you know that?”

“I’ve seen you around,” he continued quietly. “I guess you noticed me coming over to talk to you the other day?”

“I did,” you nodded. “You looked…concerned?”

“I was wondering why you were out on the lawn,” he admitted. “And not heading to Hogsmeade with everyone else. See, when I said I’ve seen you around…maybe I’ve…paid more attention to you when you are around?”

“And that means…?” you trailed.

“I don’t know really,” he chuckled, rubbing a hand across his neck. He was nervous, you could tell by his movements.

And it was so endearing.

“If I had to guess,” he continued. “I may have…accidentally taking an interest in you.”

“Accidentally?” you coughed. “That makes it sound like a bad thing.”

“Oh no!” he gasped. “No, no, I mean, I didn’t intend to really take an interest in anyone at school. It just seems easier that way, but when I saw you…well, I couldn’t help myself.”

“Is that so?” you chuckled, amused by his small confession.

“And then when I saw you not heading to Hogsmeade, I realized you must not have had your permission slip signed,” he sighed. “And I had heard from some friends that your parents were…nonwizarding folk…so I then also realized that you had never experienced some of the wonderful things that you could have been experiencing.”

“The packages,” you said slowly, your eyes growing wide with realization. You subconsciously reached up to pat your pygmy puff. “It was you.”

Zelo looked down with an embarrassed smile. “Guilty.”

“You didn’t have to send me gifts,” you whispered. You suddenly felt like a charity case. “If you were feeling sorry for me…”

“I’ve never felt sorry for you,” he said quickly, his head snapping up to look at you. “You send the person you like small gifts when you’re trying to date them, don’t you? So, I thought I’d wow you with things you’ve never seen before.”

“You’re…you’re trying to date me?” you croaked. Your face was growing hot again.

“I…well, uh,” he stammered, his cheeks red with blush. “I guess, yeah. That’s kind of what I’ve been building up to this whole time.”

After a moment of silence that seemed to go on for an eternity, you finally offered up a reprieve.

“Thank you for Aberforth,” you said quietly. “He’s good company.”

“Aberforth,” Zelo chuckled quietly. “Are you…are you may be looking for other types of company as well?”

“Meaning, non-purple-haired, human company?” you smiled softly as you glanced his way. He was smiling as well.

“Exactly what I mean.”

“Perhaps,” you nodded. “But I would love to get to know that company a little better first.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Zelo grinned. “You think Aberforth would allow us a stroll around the lake?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be leaving for Hogsmeade soon?” you questioned.

“Worried you won’t get another package?” Zelo laughed.

“No!” you gasped, pushing him lightly on the arm. “I don’t want to hold you up.”

“You never have,” he nodded. “I don’t know if you’ve heard about us Hufflepuffs, but we’re incredibly good finders…and once we’ve found what we want, we tend to stick around awhile.”

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dontshootmespence · 7 years

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Becoming Real: A Day of Surprises

In this installment of Becoming Real, Luke and Spencer discuss Diana’s education with her teacher, Miss Harding. @coveofmemories @cosmicjennifer @the-slytherin-ice-queen

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“How do I look?” Luke asked, standing in front of the mirror in their bedroom, in the nicest business casual outfit he could muster. Today was Diana’s last day of pre-k and Miss Harding had asked if he and Spencer could come in to discuss the future of Diana’s schooling. As they had both suspected, their daughter was testing well above her grade level; if she stayed on the expected path, she would be ridiculously bored.

“Great,” Spencer said, turning Luke around and fixing his collar before stepping into his embrace and pressing a kiss to his lips. “How do I look?”

“If we didn’t have to go to this meeting right now, I would be ripping the clothes off, let’s put it that way,” he smiled. For the third time, he turned around to look in the mirror before leaving.

They were so nervous about what to do for her. As Spencer had done himself, she could skip grades, but they didn’t want her to skip so many that she felt she was in an awkward place socially. Striking the balance between challenging her in academics and making sure she maintained friendships with people closer to her age was difficult, and it was going to get tougher as she got older. “Miss Harding has already told Diana about the meeting,” Spencer said, grabbing Luke’s hand and pulling him out of the house. “I guess once we find out what she thinks, we should ask Diana what she wants.”

Granted their daughter was only five and a half years old, but she was older than her years and was aware enough of her situation to give some insight as to how she would want to handle things. The final decision lay with them, but they definitely wanted Diana’s input. “We have to go,” Spencer laughed, dragging Luke behind him like a kid that didn’t want to go to bed. “Or we’re going to be late.”

Nearly 15 minutes later, they pulled up to the school. Almost all of the other students had been picked up for the day, with the exception of Emma, who was still waiting on her mother. While the two girls played, Miss Harding invited Luke and Spencer inside, allowing them to pull up two child-sized chairs to sit on. “How are you guys today?” she asked, smiling towards the girls as they were playing in the corner.

“Pretty good,” Spencer replied, fastening one button on his suit jacket. “Nervous and excited to see what you think about where Diana should go from here.”

As Miss Harding rummaged through her desk for some papers, Diana walked over, giving both Luke and Spencer a kiss on the cheek before returning to play with Emma. “Well, I’m sure you already know that you have an exceptional child,” she started, passing both men a number of papers, assignments and reports on Diana’s progress through the year. “I noticed within a couple of weeks that our lessons were boring her. Although she wasn’t disruptive, she couldn’t pay attention, and when I’d go over to see what was wrong, she’d have finished her assignment in minutes, so throughout the year, I slipped in some worksheets and assignments to see how high she actually tested.”

“And what did you find?” Luke asked. He assumed at least a grade or two. Whenever she was home, if she wasn’t going about her daily routine or spending time with he and Spencer, she had her head in books and learning applications.

“Right now,” she said disbelievingly, stunned by what she was about to say, “She tests at a third-grade level. Easily. And with her appetite for knowledge and her ability to pick up on things so quickly, I would imagine that within the year she’ll test another couple of grades higher.”

So she was already testing on an eight-year-old level and by six and a half, could be testing on a 10-to-11 year old level. “Wow,” Spencer said as he took a deep breath. “That is very high. We have discussed this at home, but what would you suggest?”

Miss Harding shuffled in her seat. She got asked this question a lot, and the answer was always the same - she couldn’t make the decision, but she could offer some insight. “I would definitely suggest putting her ahead somewhat, but how far is up to you. If you are committed to keeping her in social situations with children her age, then I would be confident in putting her in third grade next year, but to put her so far ahead without consistent contact with her peers wouldn’t be beneficial.”

During the past year, Diana had become very close with Emma, calling her her bestie, and another girl named Penny, who she originally talked to because she had the same name as her Aunt Garcia. Noah also came around often, although, according to Diana, they broke up. “It was a mutual decision,” she’d said matter-of-factly as her fathers stared on in awe. “Between her friends here and her cousins outside of school, I think we would feel comfortable putting her ahead. Is there a possibility of putting her in third grade and feeling out the situation?” Spencer asked. “If she finds that it’s too much socially or academically, she can move backward?”

The teacher said it was definitely a possibility, but that kind of arrangement would have to be discussed with the principal. Luke had another thought. “In the event that we do put her that far ahead, we would need to discuss her unique situation with her teacher.” Since the school was fairly large, there were multiple classrooms for each grade, meaning that some teachers stood out as exemplary while others did only what was absolutely necessary, and sometimes not even that. “Without going into detail, because we don’t want to put you in a bad position, is there a third-grade teacher in particular that we could ask for specifically? Someone who would be willing to go above and beyond for her?”

Again, Miss Harding shifted in her seat. She’d been a teacher at the school for nearly 5 years now, and it didn’t take long for her to find out which teachers began in the profession because they loved doing it and which did it just because they didn’t know what else to pursue in college. Even when she was studying in college, education as a major became a default for many who didn’t know what they wanted to do. Anyone could be a teacher, but not anyone could be a good teacher. “I would definitely have to say Mrs. Augusto,” she said. “She is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Somehow she’s able to assist all of her students equally, no one sits on the back-burner.”

Both men heaved a sigh of relief. They knew what they would do, but they were going to go home and discuss it with Diana first. “Well, thank you so much, Miss Harding,” Spencer said, standing up from his mini chair and shaking her hand.

Just as Emma’s mom walked into the room, Luke extended his hand to the teacher as well, thanking her profusely for working with Diana in a way that she didn’t have to. “Diana,” he said, turning around to the girls in the corner of the room. “We’re all done. Ready to go home?”

“Yea,” she replied, wrapping her arms around Emma and giving her a tight hug. From the opposite end of the room, Luke, Spencer, and Emma’s mother all heard the two close friends. “Besties forever, right?”

“Forever and ever.”

When Diana ran across the room and into Spencer’s arms, she asked if Emma could come over during the summer. She knew she probably wouldn’t be in the same class with her next year, as Emma wouldn’t be skipping grades, but she wanted to be best friends forever. “Don’t worry, baby. Dad and I will make sure that you and Emma are friends forever. Of course, she can come over.”

She clapped excitedly, resting her head against Spencer’s chest before he put her in the car and drove home. For the first half of the school year, her half day of school had been in the morning, but the last half of the year had been in the afternoon, so after a nap and dinner, the concerned fathers sat her down at the table to talk to her about school next year. “Okay, Diana,” Spencer started, “you know why Dad and I were talking to Miss Harding this afternoon?”

“It was about whether I would skip grades next year because I was so bored this year,” she said, kicking her legs around under the table.

“Exactly,” Luke said, sitting right next to his husband. “Well normally, after pre-k is kindergarten, first grade, second grade and so on. Miss Harding said that you could do very well if we put you in third grade next year, but that would mean that you, at 5.5 years old, would be in classes with 7 and 8 year olds.”

“Is that okay with you?” she asked. “What kind of things would I be learning in third grade?”

Spencer had already looked up lesson plans up through fourth grade in the event that Miss Harding suggested she move forward, so he was already fully prepared for this question. “You’d be learning all about adjectives and verbs, you know what those are, right?”

“Adjectives are words that describe something and verbs are action words!” she said proudly, putting up her hand to get a high five from a smiling Spencer.

“That’s right. And you’d be learning about writing stories and what fables are. In math, you’d be learning about odd and even numbers, multiplication, shapes and fractions. And let’s see, in science, you would be learning about things like the solar system.”

“Oooo,” she said. On quite a few occasions, Spencer and Luke would take her outside at night and point out the stars, so she knew that Mercury could be seen almost all year round at either dawn or dusk. “So can I go to third grade?”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Luke said. “If you are comfortable going into third grade, with bigger kids, then Daddy and I think you’d do very well in third grade, but sometimes it’s tough for a younger kid to be in a class with bigger kids.”

“Why?” she asked. “Is it because they’re mean?”

“Sometimes they can be,” Spencer said, knowing firsthand just how cruel they could be. The difference between him and Diana however, was that Spencer only really had one semi-stable parent growing up, while Diana had both he and Luke at their best. “But you would also be able to stay friends with Emma and Noah and Penny, so even if you did go into third grade, you would still have friend your own age.”

Diana took a deep breath, pondering her future at the age of 5.5. “I think that as long as I can stay friends with my friends from pre-k then it doesn’t matter if some of the third graders make fun of me because I won’t be alone. I’ll have Emma, Penny, Noah and you,” she said, pointing her hands toward Luke and Spencer. “And then I could learn harder stuff, because I was so bored this year...I wanna go to third grade.”

“Okay, peanut,” Luke said, stretching his arms out to envelop her in a hug. “Then next year you start third grade.” Both fathers were so exceptionally proud of the little girl they were raising. At this rate, she’d be smarter than Spencer. “We’ll enroll you soon. Right after we talk to the principal.”

“Cool...can I have dessert now?” she said. She’d just helped them make a decision about her education and then easily transitioned into asking about food.

Luke snorted, getting up and opening the freezer. “Cookie dough ice cream?” After vigorously nodding her head, Luke got Diana, he and Spencer some ice cream, and also grabbed her iPad from her room. They’d installed a ton of educational apps on it so she could learn whenever she felt like it, so as she scooped ice cream into her mouth, she clicked around on one of her math applications.

While she ate, Luke and Spencer stood behind her, contemplating whether or not they should let her in on the surprise they had planned for her. They decided on yes. “Hey baby,” Spencer said, sitting down next to her with an enormous smile on his face. “Dad and I have a surprise for you.”

Excitedly, she spun around in her seat and begged them to tell her. “What is it? What is it?!”

Spencer nodded toward Luke for him to take it from here. “Well, you did such a great job in school this year, and we’ve been watching so many Disney movies that we figured it was time you saw it in person...”

Diana’s face lit up, going from curious to knowing. “Are we going to Disney World?” she asked, watching as Luke and Spencer’s smiles spread even wider. “ARE WE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD?!”

“Yup,” they said simultaneously.

“Yesssssssssss!!!!!!!” She screamed as she got up from her seat, grabbed Thumper (ensuring he could come with them of course) and proceeded to run around the house and bounce up and down on the furniture.

All of the money it was going to cost and aggravation they had gone through to get simultaneous time off from the Bureau was completely and totally worth it as they watched their “little big girl” run around the house. “If she has this much energy when we only told her,” Luke started.

“Then when we get there, we aren’t going to get any sleep at all,” Spencer finished. “Although it’s actually impossible to ‘catch up’ on sleep, we’re going to have to try.”

#otp: it's all good #spencer reid x luke alvez #spencer reid #luke alvez #reidvez #ralvez #dontshootmespence #becoming real #a day of surprises

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