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Chapter Text

Lauren hadn’t breathed in the fumes of Diagon Alley in nearly twelve months. And apparently a year wasn’t enough to distance herself from Hogwarts. Another year of dealing with homework. And to add to the pain of regular work, O.W.L’s would commence in June. And Lauren could already see her future. Studying, studying, and more studying. 

But for now, at the very least, she could breathe. Her schedule was mostly filled with the required courses. She was shockingly continuing in private divination courses. Lauren had always liked Professor Trelawny and before meeting Kits had spent multiple hours in the North Tower reading up on whatever method Professor Trelawny had been ranting about that day. 

Speaking of, the blonde was supposed to meet her by the Leaky Cauldron at noon. She had convinced her parents to come down to London an entire three days early so they could pick out their school supplies together. Lauren had been standing out in the August heat for a bit of time now, where could she possibly-

“I’m back!” Kits must have cut her hair, it now touching her shoulders unlike it did the previous year. Lauren supposed that happened when one’s best friend went home to America for the summer months while she remained in Scotland. She was dressed in a thigh high blue dress with her hair tied back by a white ribbon. 

“Yes, you are!” The two looped arms as they joined the crowded streets of Diagon Alley. It eventually became Lauren hopelessly following Kits through the claustrophobia inducing alley towards the bookstore. Oh, the relief of air conditioning. The sticky heat was worse than any heat Lauren had ever felt. 

“Okay, books, books we search for,” Kits sang as she bounded across the store. There were more people than Lauren assumed there would be, but perhaps she always goes where it is less crowded. Lauren did better when it was a smaller group of people. Less social anxiety.

“I found the perfect one for us,” She joked and held up a random book, one for first years actually, and Kits took one look before shaking her head.

”Hey! I do not need that one!” They had almost the same list, except Kits was taking another advanced year of Care of Magical Creatures. She had been taking the course since she could as a third year. Instead, Lauren would be taking her beloved divinations. 

“Well, I do,” She joked and turned over the cover of the book assigned to first years for spell casting. 

“Oh, yeah. For sure,” Kits replied, playing along with the joke. She must have found her own books she needed as they were now tucked under her left armpit. She opened her mouth as if she were about to say something before grabbing Lauren’s arm and pulling her behind one of the many bookstores.

”Huh-?” 

“Shh,” She held up a finger to her mouth and quietly set her books down on one of the shelves. Lauren had no idea what or who they were hiding from but it seemed important to Kits. It’s not like they had many enemies, if any, at Hogwarts. Or Kits had randomly made enemies without Lauren’s knowledge.

She crouched down and began to sneak around the side of the bookshelf before tapping the person on their back. 

And earning herself a smack in the face. 

“Ow!” She whined, holding her nose with both of her hands. Lauren couldn’t help herself and burst out into laughter from behind the bookshelf. 

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t sneak up on me!” A thick Scottish accent came from the older boy, and only then did Lauren remember who this was. Oliver Wood, Kits’ friend/rival. Lauren could never decide between the two. 

“I didn’t think you’d hit me,” Kits groaned, her voice slightly higher due to the fact she was holding her nose. “I was just trying to be friendly,” 

Oliver raised an eyebrow while Kits went to grab her books. In his hands were a new pair of Quidditch gloves, or at least that’s what Lauren assumed they were. She was never the sports enthusiast. She only would go when she had a feeling Harry Potter would fall on his face. Or ass.

“Friendly my ass,” Oliver responded and looked between the two of them. Lauren didn’t know him very well. Only that he was Scottish and therefore was already ahead of most of the students at Hogwarts. 

“Ooh, new gloves?” Kits stuck her books back under her armpit and looked at the objects in his hands. “Here! Let me help you break them in!” Kits made a fist with her hand and punched the gloves to help Oliver “break them in.” But he was quick enough to move his gloves away by stepping backwards. 

 “No!” Kits looked almost disappointed by his statement, but stopped trying to punch the brand new gloves. Her and Lauren’s gaze both fell on his hands which were a deep shade of purple.

“Your hand was nearly as purple as all of Laurie’s casual clothes.” Kits exclaimed as she dumps some galleons for the books they needed. 

“Ah, me and some mates decided to train over the summer. And my gloves broke on me, so I went gloveless.” Oliver explained while Kits paid for her books.

“Oh, well I hope you are better for when we play you. Because I’m going to win this year!” Kits boasted proudly, puffing out her chest as she gestured to herself. 

“Not on my watch. My team is bounds ahead of Slytherin.” 

“Not true! I mean, I don’t like anyone but we are still better than you!” 

“Harry flies circles around Draco,”

“Or he’s just favored by Dumbledore,” Lauren grumbled under her breath. Lauren’s distaste for Harry ran deep. He got rewarded for things Lauren or anyone else in Hogwarts would be punished for. And it only got worse the more preferential treatment he got. 

“Hey! That’s my seeker!” Oliver defended, somehow hearing her words. But he didn’t seem too interested in defending Harry outside of Quidditch. Which added up to the few things Lauren had heard about Oliver.

Lauren put down her books after Kits bought hers and bought her own. All while Kits and Oliver were arguing over something Quidditch related (probably about who would win between Slytherin and Gryffindor this year). This was not how Lauren visualized the day going, but it wasn’t a horrible change of plans.

”We have to get the rest of our supplies,” Lauren awkwardly interrupted the two’s heated argument. “You can come if you want, Oliver.” 

“I’ll pass. Thanks for the offer,” Oliver grinned and held up his gloves in front of Kits before ducking out of the store. The crowds had begun to pick up with it being closer to lunch. The two began their way through Diagon Alley again. Kits mentioned she needed a new pair of day robes in her letter. 

“-It was only an experiment! I didn’t know it would blow up!” Kits pushed open the door to Madam Malkin’s. It was mostly first years who needed robes or those whose were destroyed from the previous year. Like Kits.

”Uh huh. I told you that you shouldn’t try it out,” Lauren had an inkling that another one of Kits’ experiments would blow up in her face. Quite literally. 

“But it was for science,” Kits glanced at the assortments of robes and picked out her size and paid for it. “And there was only a chance it exploded.” 

“I told you it would explode,” Lauren stressed as they walked towards the Three Broomsticks for lunch. 

“Eh. Was worth the experience,” Kits shrugged and sat down at one of the small tables. Lauren could feel how her stomach was clawing at itself, begging her to eat something with substance. 

Lauren ordered a water and a plate of chicken while Kits ordered a plate of chips. She held one between her forefingers and pointed it at Lauren. 

“This year is my year,” Kits proudly announced before deflating nearly seconds later. She had been making this declaration since their third year at Hogwarts, and almost every year it wasn’t her year. “Oh, who am I kidding? This is not going to be my year.” 

“You never know,” Lauren tried. She wasn’t great with comforting people. She never was. “Maybe Slytherin will beat Gryffindor.” Even that sounded skeptical to Lauren. It was two nuisances of the up coming third years: Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter.

The first was classist, racist, and annoying. The latter was involved in every little thing in Hogwarts. One made Lauren want to vomit and tell him to take a bath to wash the grease out of his hair. The other made her want to bang her head against the wall. Kits was the only reason she preferred Slytherin over Gryffindor. She was one of the only Slytherins that didn’t seem like an outright piece of shit. She had met her when they were going into their second year and had the exact same History of Magic class. It was easy to like someone when they had similar interests and opinions (Kits followed her belief in hating on most of her housemates). 

Kits was also one of the only muggle born witches she knew in Slytherin. Given Salazar was prejudiced himself it was shocking for Lauren to hear she was actually muggle born. Actually it was downright odd. 

“Yeah, right. Draco stinks as a seeker,” Kits grumbled and took a bite of her chips. “I think you’d do better.”

”As much as I would love to be better than Draco, I think I would fall flat on my face. Flying class was the only class I nearly failed.” As much as it would be cool to fly around on a broom confidently, Lauren learned from too many broken bones that flying simply wasn’t for her.

”Aw,” Kits looked down in disappointment, her gaze to the side before she perked up and grabbed Lauren’s arm. “I could always teach you,” 

“Hard pass,” 

“Your loss,” She leaned back in the chair dramatically and let out a long sigh. Lauren’s arm was released from her clutches and allowed her to go back to her chicken. 

“What else do we need to get?” She asked between mouthfuls of food. Having a mental checklist that ranged outside of the books needed (and Kits new robe to replace her burnt one) would make it easier to map out the rest of the day.

”Uh, I think that’s it,” Kits pulled out the list from a pocket in the dress. “Books, books, more books. I guess that’s it. Hogwarts really isn’t too elaborate.” 

Good thing it wasn’t, it would take too much energy for Lauren to compute effort and thoughts if she had to actually think of what to wear each day or customization to muggle objects like notebooks. It was only a few days before they’d be on that stupidly red train (Lauren still was fuming that there was no sign of purple anywhere in Hogwarts) and have a nine hour train ride to Hogwarts. Why must it be extremely long? Who knows. 

“I’ll see you soon then,” Lauren’s feet hurt and as much as she loved seeing her best friend she would rather be curled up with a good book. She stood up from the table after placing down the coins and gave her friend a half hug knowing she was uncomfortable with anything more than that.

”I’ll see you bright and early!” Don’t remind her.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Regretfully, Kits had forgotten one of her books. While she did check the list when Laurie was at the table it had completely slipped her mind that she was taking a sixth year Potions class. She had to practically beg both Professor Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore into letting her take the O.W.L.s for the course over the summer and her high enough marks to take the class. For as long as Kits time in Hogwarts went she was always a year ahead in potions. 

And the list given out to her was for the average fifth year. So her knowledge on what book to get was lost on her entirely. That led to her stumbling around another bookstore in Diagon Alley completely clueless. 

She had sworn she had seen Harry at least once as she walked around, something she would certainly report to Lauren when they would get on the Hogwarts Express, and finally found herself asking everyone she saw what book she needed. Social anxiety feared Katherine Nyberg. 

The bookstore was now packed. She swore she could hear the voice of Marcus Flint as she stared at the cover pages emptily. It was like she was reading but not comprehending which book she actually would need. Of course Snape was making this harder for her than she needed. Such a hater.

”If I were an advanced levels potions book, where would I be?” She pondered out loud and tapped her chin. 

“Probably on a bookshelf.” 

“AGH!” She shrieked. However, unlike Oliver who resorted to physical violence when scared, Kits did the slowest turn of the head to be met with the face of a handsome boy. Maybe this was karma for sneaking up on Oliver early. “No, I don’t wanna be taken yet! It’s too early for me to be kidnapped!” 

“What?! I’m not trying to kidnap you!” 

“How am I supposed to know that! That sounds like something a kidnapper would say!” She accused and jabbed a finger at the boy. 

“I was just making a joke.” He defended and pointed to the books on the shelf. “If you’re looking for a book, it’s probably on the shelf. Hence the joke.”

Now, Kits could have said it was missing from the shelf or that someone had bought the book she was looking for. Or just explain she didn’t even know what book she was looking for. But instead her beautifully stupid mind came up with her response: “It could be floating,”

”I, er, guess it could.” The boy looked a bit stumped, and even got on the balls of his feet to look around for this “floating” book. “But I doubt that.” 

“It could be invisible.” Kits watched as the boy waved his arms in the air to confirm there were no invisible floating books for her. 

“Not invisible either,” Hmm, this truly was puzzling. Where could that advanced potions book gone? “What are you searching for? I bet two sets of eyes are better than one. And I have nothing better to be doing.” 

“Do you just roam bookstores and wait for unsuspecting victims?” Kits interrogated as she leaned closer to the books on the shelf as if it would reveal some secret cover or words she had missed. 

“I don’t- y’know what, yes I do.” He nodded and gave her a questioning look before shrugging and joining her in looking closely at the covers of the books. Kits turned her head slightly to look at him better; he was dressed in causal clothing and had his own book in his opposite hand. 

“What are we looking for?” 

“Some advanced potions book. The N.E.W.T level one. I didn’t actually ask for the name. I really should have.” His eyes lit up and he scanned the shelves with a new enthusiasm. 

“It’s this one,” He said after a moment of searching, handing her the book he had in his other hand. “Now all we have to do is find one for you…” So he must be a sixth year, given that he was in a sixth year class and Kits didn’t know of anyone else in her year getting the classes she did. 

She looked at the cover jacket and then back at the many shelves in the store. Kits felt like was hopelessly stuck to not finding this book and then having to tell Snape she failed at the simplest task in the curriculum. Actually, it wasn’t even in the curriculum! 

“I found it!” Relief filled her body as she yanked the book from the shelf and showed it proudly to the entire world by hoisting it in the air. The boy straightened up from his search and smiled at her. And despite the fact Kits still thought he was going to kidnap her (still a high possibility in her opinion), she found herself smiling back at her own success. 

“At least it wasn’t invisible.”

”Or floating. It would be highly inconvenient,”

”You’re right. Highly inconvenient,” The boy’s smile dropped when a louder voice called a name across the store. “That’s my dad. It’s was nice…to not kidnap you?” 

“Extremely nice! Thank you for not kidnapping me, Not-kidnapper!” 

“It’s Cedric,” He looked about ready to face palm, but Kits quickly interrupted that by jumping into her greeting position. Her hand was stuck out, though she hoped he didn’t actually shake it, and she smiled in a way that made the corners of her eyes crinkle up. 

“Katherine Nyberg! But you can call me Kits. Nobody calls me Katherine but my mom and that one aunt that got caught by the IRS for tax evasion and then went to jail for-“ She continued on a spiel about how her aunt went to jail for a good two minutes. He didn’t interrupt her that entire time. It was only when Kits took a breath and realized how far the conversation had actually diverged. 

“And then what? What did she do once she got out?” He was interested? Not that Laurie wasn’t interested in her rants, she was a talker too, but it wasn’t often that outsiders actually listened to her long and nonsensical rants. 

“She…uh-?” It was like Kits didn’t even know how the story ended even though she knew that the aunt had to get her kidney replaced for some reason and that it was a huge ordeal with the family. But Kits just forgot how to talk.

”You can’t start a story about your aunt going to prison and simply stop at the best part,” Not-kidnapper insisted, trying to egg her on to finishing the story. 

“Right, she then had like kidney failure. I think it was the beers. Oh wait, no that’s liver failure. Same difference,” Before he could respond an older man came to collect him, presumably his father, with furrowed eyebrows and his arms crossed over his chest.

”I’ve been waiting for ten minutes, Cedric.” It wasn’t that long. “Bid your friend farewell.” He seemed almost used to this, like this was a daily occurrence or something. 

“Goodbye,” He waved, albeit more awkwardly now that his father had scolded him in front of Kits. But Kits waved eagerly regardless watching not-kidnapper-Cedric disappear to the crowd. And then she witnessed Harry Potter trip on the doorway and fall on his knees.

Well, she can tell Lauren she was correct about the fifteen falls he would take this summer. 

Chapter Text

The train station was always quite crowded when it was the day to be shuttled to Hogwarts. Lauren absolutely hated the crowds that flooded the train stations. She had her trunks on a cart and pushed it towards platform 9 and 3/4ths trying to get this over as quickly as she could. 

She pushed the cart after the family in front of her wished off their children to having a great year. Her mother and father were both with her, they always came with her before leaving Hogwarts. Her father seemed a bit more worried than usual, his eyes were darting around and he tapped his foot nervously.

”I want you to be careful this year. With Sirius Black loose…” He didn’t finish his thoughts. “I just want you to be vigilant.” 

“I always am,” She assured, momentarily remembering the ‘giant snake’ threat from last year. Thankfully her parents weren’t in the loop about that. Her mother would have a heart attack. 

Her mother beckons for her to give one last hug practically squeezing the life out of Lauren before releasing her. 

“You do good, Laurie,” She whispered to Lauren. “I know you always do,” Lauren was never pressured to be “amazing”. It was a blessing that she had. 

“I will. I love you.” It was her own drive to be great that had pushed her to where she was now. Nobody but Lauren could make her do anything. 

“We love you too.” Her father said and pat her on the back once. She waved with a smile, not one of her forced one’s, and pushed her cart through the wall. Her parents never really joined her past the muggle train platform after she befriended Kits. Lauren guessed they didn’t want her to be lonely back then.

The platform to Hogsmeade was bustling with new first years, returning students, and crying parents. It would be a few months before they would be able to see their kids once again. Lauren scanned the crowd before spotting her only other friend besides Kits. 

Cho stood with a couple of her own friends. She had her own trunks missing, probably already on the train. They both had taken the same divinations class in Lauren’s fourth year and Cho’s third year. They had been sat next to each other and surprisingly hit it off for someone as antisocial as Lauren.

Cho spotted Lauren and quickly excused herself to walk up and excitedly greet Lauren. She looked radiant as always, her sleek black hair hitting her mid back and her demeanor seemed up happier then the previous year. Cho was decently popular in Lauren’s opinion. She had plenty of friends in and outside of Ravenclaw. 

“How was your summer?” She asked but before she let Lauren speak added her own input. “Oh, I have a book you’d love to read! It’s about dinosaurs.” She whipped a book from underneath her robe magically and held it out for her to see. The title read Jurassic Park in large font and Lauren looked up at her curiously. It wasn’t surprising, Lauren had learned last year that Cho had a secret obsession with dinosaurs. She even predicted that someone would bring them back in divinations the first day she met her. 

“Somehow I’m not shocked,” Lauren concluded and watched her stuff the book away. 

“I’m going to get you to read something besides Sherlock Holmes. You watch,” She glanced to her friends who had called out to her again. Her gaze looked conflicted, and she eventually sighed. 

“My friends want me to sit with them. But I promise I’ll be back to convince you to read it,” Cho promised before heading back her friends. She looked a bit regretful, but Lauren watched how her slight frown disappeared when she got back to her friends. 

Lauren stood awkwardly as the time ticked closer to eleven. Kits hadn’t shown up yet and she feared she forgot. Or worse, slept in. Lauren would likely sleep on the train ride to make up for the hours of sleep she lost by having to wake up early. 

Finally the blonde came running towards her while dragging her trunk behind her. Why she didn’t get a trolley to help out, Lauren didn’t know. 

“Hi,” She glanced up at the clock minutes away from ticking to eleven. “Perfect timing! Oh, you’ll never believe it. I nearly got kidnapped!”

”Sounds fun,” Lauren was used to the exaggerated slightly outlandish stories. It made her days more fun. 

“It really was. Oh, but the main point of that was I saw Harry fall for the fifteenth time.” Lauren smiled and cheered silently when she heard that her guess on Harry’s falls over the year was accurate. It was almost humorous how much he fell. 

“I knew it!” She exclaimed and gave her trunk to one of the workers that loaded them. It was much easier than it would be to keep all of their trunks in the compartments. Some of the students were already being loaded into the train, she swore she spotted Draco and his not-girlfriend-girlfriend hopping on the train. The only reason she noticed was that Draco sneered in their direction.

”What’s that over?” 

“I don’t know. Maybe he got dropped from his broom this summer and hit his head. Then his minor head injury made his hatred and annoyance levels rise by ten.” Kits suggested and shuffled up to keep in line with the others. “Or maybe his girlfriend threatened to break up with him if he doesn’t have his character development soon.” 

Lauren snorted and nodded along. 

“He needs it,” The two wandered down the hall of the train, bypassing those who stood annoyingly in the halls and blocked them before finding a compartment to sit in. Lauren plopped down on the seat and pulled out her sketchbook she had specifically left out of her trunk for this. Nine hours in a train was straight up misery. But at least she could draw and nap for the majority of the time. 

The train let out its final whistle before chugging forward, and by now Kits had finally stopped rambling about flying books and Snape hating her. Which left the cabin in a perfect silence for Lauren to work on her art. She fingers flipped through pages of hand drawn sketches and ideas scribbled down for her to draw later. Some were of characters she had concocted in her head to make Hogwarts a bit more interesting (though she supposed Harry does that himself). 

Kits was lying on her back and staring up at the roof of the train, yawning while she tugged at her robe to pull it over the front of her body. 

“Someone in the room next to mine came back drunk and loud. I didn’t sleep at all,” She complained and made her first punch the air.

”I feel that,” Lauren had to stay in a small wizarding hotel room with her parents and sister. Her older sister had already graduated from Hogwarts and was going to work for the Ministry. But she had insisted on coming down with them to shop for apartments near her job. So four people stuffed in one comically small room did not bode well for Lauren’s sanity. “My sister stayed with us up until this morning. And she spent the entire time complaining about how small it was when she wanted to come.” 

Kits listened to Lauren’s entire rant on how much of a horrible idea it was. Her sister had know that the conditions would be small, they had done it in the past when they both went to Hogwarts. So she had no right to complain when she could have gotten her own hotel or come down to London another time to search for an apartment.

”That sounds like it sucks,” 

“It does! And she just whined the entire time.” It was much better to just rant to Kits about all of her feeling rather than trying to bury them. Therapeutic, even.

”So, how many times is Harry going to fall on his face today?” Kits was trying to change the subject, something Lauren gladly welcomed. 

“Hm…” She hadn’t actually done anything ‘divinations’ today. And it would be a fun way to pass time. “We could always find out.” 

The two stuck their heads out the door of the compartment, looking around both ways before Kits began their way to the bathrooms on the back. The goal? Avoid as many social interactions as possible.

Lauren followed behind her, tip toeing her way down the hall with a single thing in mind. Get to the bathroom. There she could make some sort of prediction (or at least Professor Trelawney mentioned water once in class) on how many times Harry Potter would fall. Lauren was extremely good at predicting Harry’s future. For some reason if anything was ever going to happen at Hogwarts, it would be with him. The chamber of secrets last year? Harry. The troll in her third year? Harry.

Harry, Harry, Harry, blah, blah, blah.

Lauren shuddered at her own thoughts as the ducked in one compartment to avoid passing students. Thankfully it was empty or that would have been awkward. 

“…My father will hear about this,” A muffled voice came from one of the passing students. Was that Draco? Nobody else would ever use those words in Hogwarts. It had to be Draco.

”You should go smooch your girlfriend!” She shouted without thinking, eyes widening when her brain registered what just happened. So much for avoiding social interactions.

“Who said that!?” He slammed the door open of the compartment they were hiding in. The door rattled with surprising force given that Lauren assumed that Draco was weak in the arms. And legs. And torso. And head. 

“It was the wind-“ 

“It was Harry!” 

“Of course, Potter would be the one to make that comment.” Draco nodded to Lauren’s suggestion. 

“But Draco, that was a girl’s voice,” Crabbe replied and looked between the two skeptically. Draco held up a finger and shushed him,

”Potter has a feminine voice.” The two lackeys looked between each other before shrugging and nodding along. 

“Makes sense,” And with that the three walked away from the compartment, likely to antagonize Harry. Sorry, not sorry. 

Kits looked to her with raised thumbs to signal the continuation of their mission. They snuck past the Ravenclaw boys gossiping about some sort of dog they had seen, past the jocks who were obnoxiously loud, and finally arrived at the bathrooms. Lauren swung the door open and started the sink, trying to decipher how the water dripped down and if there were any abnormalities. 

Lauren squinted at the water when she felt a chill run down her spine. She turned her head and stared at Kits who waited impatiently for her response. 

“Harry is gonna get attacked by whatever is making the train cold.” 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

They returned back to their original cabin without a hitch. It seemed the chill had strengthened the closer they got to their original cabin. Lauren wrapped her robe tighter around her body while Kits basked in the cold. She always had said her body was hot. 

“Who touched the air conditioner!?” Some prefect practically bellowed from a few compartments over. It sounded like a father whenever his kids went in a ten foot radius of the thermostat.

The train went eerily silent as a hulking, ghostlike figure made a shadow outside of the cabin door. It sounded like someone’s monster romance was coming true. 

The cabin door slowly slid open and a grey draped ghost floated in the room. The lights flickered off and Kits stared with her eyes wide and her hand pointed. The ghostlike creature drifted over Lauren and settled in front of Kits. It leaned close, nearly touching her face before floating out of the cabin. 

Lauren scrambled to her side and watched how her chest rose and fell quickly.

”Are you okay?” 

“No! My first kiss was a dementor,” She cried and wiped off her mouth with her hand. “I wanted it to be a hot man - maybe even a hot monster! Not a dementor!” 

“It’s okay,” Lauren awkwardly pat her shoulder. “I’m sure that hardly counts.”

”It counts to me!” Kits whined and continued to wipe her mouth. “It wasn’t even hot!” Despite the fact that Lauren didn’t understand the concept of “hot or not”, she can agree that dementors probably weren’t on the list for the peak attractiveness. 

The rest of the extremely long train ride consisted of no more dementors, a bunch of crying, and little sleeping. To say that when Lauren got to Hogwarts she was upset was an understatement. She just wanted to sleep. Not deal with annoying speeches or the introduction of yet another Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. Because it seemed Hogwarts got a new one each year. 

After a carriage ride with a bunch of people who either looked equally terrified or unbothered completely by what had occurred as if some students were just caressed by soul sucking ghosts, they finally arrived at the stunning castle. Lauren could appreciate a bit of castles and architecture when she saw it. Even after coming each year it still made her feel a bit breathless. 

“Did you hear that the new teacher saved Harry?” One whispered to their friend. They obviously weren’t too concerned though because everyone in the carriage could hear.

”You’ve got to be crazy! Those things were here for Black, nothing else. My mother works at the Ministry so I know.” A stout girl replied to the boy. 

“Yeah and who’s to say Potter doesn’t have him stowed away.” As much as Lauren believed the notion that Harry was the center of everything and that stowing Sirius Black would fall under that realm, it seemed a bit odd. 

“Or the dementors did what they did and checked everyone’s cabin,” The rational girl counters and exits the carriage first. “Harry just happened to react badly to it.” 

“I’m sure that’s it.” The conversation dwindled down as more people entered the castle and the Great Hall once more. The building was grand, grander than most buildings that Lauren tried to have mentally top it. She parted ways with Kits, who had dramatically held up an arm when she was “forced” away to the Slytherin table, taking her seat at the Hufflepuff table. She noticed Cho who gave her an excited way and mouthed something that looked like “read Jurassic Park”. 

Another year, another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Chapter Text

The following morning, Kits happily dragged herself out of bed and pulled on her uniform for class. The first day of classes was the only time she would ever actually appear excited to go to said classes. Nobody has snored the previous night; a true blessing considering that it was a room where ten girls all slept together. Unlike Laurie who described her room as being separated from all the other girls and a singular bed, Kits had to see these people more than she’d like to.

She grabbed her books and quickly exited the Slytherin dungeon trying to avoid her housemates. Most didn’t like her existence as a Slytherin, let alone that Marcus Flint let her on the Quidditch team. “Public embarrassment” or something. 

It’s not like it didn’t sting each time she was blamed for Slytherin’s shortcomings, but after years of enduring it Kits gradually got used to it. And each year it seemed like more foul people came into her house just to make her life miserable. Draco Malfoy being the main one.

It seemed to offend him that Kits breathed the same oxygen as him, let alone fly the same skies on the Quidditch field. She was pretty sure she’d seen the obnoxious blonde make snide comments when he assumed she wasn’t looking. 

Her first class was thankfully one she enjoyed. Care of Magical Creatures would be an easy first class. And Hagrid was now teaching it; a change from the previous year where Kits spent most of the class bored out of her mind. The previous professor wasn’t horrible or anything, but he probably should have taken that retirement sooner.

She headed with the mix of fifth years who signed up for the elective towards Hagrid’s hut. Kits breathed in the outside air with a deep inhale and glanced at the murder motivated book that Hagrid had assigned each of them to buy. 

“Gather round, gather round!” He gestured with his large hands for all of them to get closer. “I’ve got a real treat for you! Come on, come on. Keep up now,” Hagrid began his way past the hut and through the woods that surrounded Hogwarts. 

Kits stared up at the leaves on the trees and the misery ridden skies that she had come to associate with Hogwarts and the United Kingdom in general. It was a stark difference from the heat filled misery that was her home state in America. There weren’t too many happy memories she had of America. If anything, Hogwarts were some of the only happy memories. 

Someone had gasped and snapped Kits out of her thoughts. In front of them was the most beautiful creature Kits had seen in her entire life. Majestic wasn’t a way to describe what was brought in front of her. 

If Hagrid wanted to make an impression for his first class, he certainly did.

”Meet Buckbeak,” Hagrid referred to the hippogriff with a grand gesture. A well suiting gesture, Kits concluded. The hippogriff was the first Kits had seen in real life. Only in textbooks had she seen most of the magical creatures that were spoken about. “Come on, don’t be shy. He won’t bite. Unless you disrespect him,” 

Kits and the others shuffled closer once given permission. She craned her next to try and see from her spot in the back of the class. Curse tall people for blocking her view. 

“Hippogriffs are proud creatures. For today’s lesson we will be observing and gaining the trust of a Hippogriff.” Hagrid stumbled over his words slightly. He seemed nervous, probably was worried about how everyone would take the new teacher. But this was so much better than learning from a textbook! 

“Who wants to come up first? Ah, don’t be shy!” A fellow Slytherin with darker skin and intricately braided hair stepped forward confidently. Hagrid instructed her to bow down, which she did, and Buckbeak curiously sniffed her before bowing down equally. 

It was awe inspiring watching such a magnificent and powerful creature bow down to match her fellow housemate’s bow. The crowd cheered for her even Kits found herself clapping at the display. 

“Alright, alright! File into line, everyone! One at a time!” Kits was tempted to push in front of her fellow classmates, but she begrudgingly accepted the fact she would be the back of the line.

”Dementors have been appointed by the Ministry on the edge of school grounds to search for Sirius Black.” 

Kits shivered involuntarily at the memory of Dumbledore’s words the previous night. The fact the Ministry was concerned enough to send dementors, aka someone’s “hear-me-out”, meant the threat of Black actually coming to murder someone was valid. It’s not like Kits had been traumatized by the dementors like Harry (she didn’t pass out or anything like she had heard). But it still wasn’t an experience she wanted to relieve anytime soon.

The line was slow moving since everyone decided to take their sweet time with getting to know Buckbeak. Unfair. And standing around was boredom inducing. Hagrid wasn’t paying too much attention, Kits could probably just slip away without anyone noticing…

She carefully snuck away from Hagrid’s teaching space, climbing over the stone ledge that surrounded the space. He was more focused on the other students and gave the perfect breakaway for Kits.

The woods had the occasional dementor near the outskirts the further she traveled away from the designated space. But she hadn’t exactly crossed their paths to where they went to attack her. She glanced at the small lizards in the forest trying desperately to catch one to carry with her. They were fast little things. 

She perked up when she heard a distorted cry. It sounded like it came from a large animal of some sort. 

“Huh..?” Kits turned her path towards the noise stopping behind a tree.

There was a small structure that appeared to be some sort of tent. They were just outside of the dementors range as two of the ghosts blocked her from the tent. A steel cage was set up in the middle of the camp, Kits observed. She tilted her head slightly before catching a glance at the creature they housed.

It was smaller than the average size for the species, a juvenile perhaps, with spines covering the abdomen of the great beast. Its horns were curved back towards its head, its teeth bared at the occasional person that walked past it.

It was a dragon.

Kits moved to step closer towards the camp, freezing when the dementors turned towards her. She started into a sprint back to where she had came from. 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

“I found it!” Lauren was startled when Kits ran up to her during lunch, ignoring conventions and storming her way to the Hufflepuff table. Her cheeks were flushed red and sweat beaded at her forehead. “I found it,” She panted and wiped her forehead.

”Found what?” Lauren glanced around subconsciously when Kits sat down beside her. It felt like they were breaking a rule by sitting at the same table despite being in different houses. Oh wait, they probably were.

”A dragon.” 

Well, that’s different.

”A dragon?” 

“Yeah! It was at the edge of Hogwarts’ grounds! Caged and all! And we should free it!” Kits proclaimed and slammed her fist on the table without a care in the world. “It’ll be fun! And something for us to do.” 

Lauren sat there for a moment. On the one hand it felt like a major slap in the face to Harry who is involved in everything at Hogwarts. But then again they could get in major trouble. And they didn’t have an excuse out of it. 

“Sure. But we need a plan,” Kits nodded eagerly and cheered, standing up abruptly and runs back to the Slytherin table. So much for a plan. A dragon though…an actual dragon! Could Kits actually have seen a dragon? She wasn’t the type to lie or make a mistake out of a dragon. 

Freeing a dragon.

It would be something different for them to do instead of the same boring routine at Hogwarts. And Lauren would be able to do something that matters. And break the rules instead of getting mad at Harry for getting away with it. 

After scarfing down her meal, Lauren went over to meet Kits with her sketchbook in hand. They would have to map out every bit of where this dragon was being “held”. And figure how exactly they would free said dragon. 

“So,” She flipped to a blank page. “I need you to map out where this dragon is.” 

Kits looked down at the page and took the quill from Lauren. 

“It was past Hagrid’s hut. I know that because I had class there and it was really boring! Oh, did I tell you that I didn’t even get to pet Buckbeak? I should have volunteered first but I was too nervous about being the odd one out-“ Lauren cut off her tangent before she could go any further.

”Location?” 

“Right! It was right past the grounds. There were a couple dementors so I ran away. But it looked to be like this camp of some sort. Whatever it was, it was spooky looking.” Probably something illegal. But that didn’t seem to be Death Eaters, they would have tried to murder Harry already. And so would have Sirius. What would He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named want in a dragon? 

“The dementors will be a problem,” Being assaulted would not do them any good for freeing this dragon.

”We should send Harry as a distraction.” 

“I usually would agree because Harry would be a great distraction. But I want to do this away from him.” Lauren thought for a moment before sighing. “We need to figure out how to deal with the dementors.”

”Tackling would be fun if they weren’t ghosts.” 

“Punching in the balls would be fun too. But they don’t have balls. Or manhood.” Lauren sighed and shook her head. “I think there was a spell that someone mentioned in the past. But it’s obviously not one we have been taught yet.” 

“Or ever.” 

“The library might have a book on it if it’s not in regular textbooks. I’ll check this afternoon.” Lauren shut the sketchbook after glancing at a poor drawing of some location that Kits had seen. “I’ll let you know tonight.” 

“Okay, I have practice tonight. Marcus wants us to start early so we can ‘beat Gryffindor to a pulp.’ His works not mine.”  Kits replied and followed Lauren as she headed to Transfiguration. They didn’t share the same class, but it seemed like she didn’t want the conversation to end. 

“Sounds…enthusiastic,” She would never understand Quidditch players. “I’ll tell you what I can find after you finish. I’ll send you a note. Not a Howler this time.” 

“Alright! Bye!” Kits waved before skipping the other way towards Professor Snape’s classroom.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Kits scanned the sixth year level potions class with a skeptical eye. She didn’t know a single person in the sixth year besides a few of her housemates. Who again, didn’t like her. She wished that Oliver had failed a year and had to be held back in potions. Then she could have spent her time bugging him instead of moping about being alone. 

As she was searching around the class, she spotted a familiar face. It was the guy who helped her find the book! Not-kidnapper-what was his name again? Kits was elated to have someone she knew in her class. She feared it would be so lonely to be in a NEWT level class. Especially Snape’s. She feared everyone would have dropped his classes as soon as they didn’t have to take them anymore. 

It seemed too awkward to just approach the guy. She didn’t even remember his name, though he did live a bit rent free in her mind when she wasn’t thinking about the dementor attempting to make her the protagonist of some monster romance novel. 

Curse funny not-kidnappers. 

After his loud friends, loud as in Kits could hear them talking about Quidditch and how annoying Snape was from a mile away, dispersed she finally walked up to say “hello” to him. She enthusiastically waved when he turned around and watched his face morph into one of slightly shock and confusion.

”Oh, you’re Kits! Right,” Oh, he remembered her? It wasn’t often people did even if she had a memorable introduction. Laurie did of course, because she was Laurie. 

How to socialize again?

”I didn’t expect we would have the same class. Well, I knew you were taking the same course. But I didn’t expect we would have the same class,” He seemed to be continuing the conversation for the sake of Kits. “At the very least he won’t beat you.” He gestured to the green tie and Kits shook her head.

”Snape beats children equally.” 

“Oh even better,” Not-kidnapper looked around the classroom and then back to Kits. “Where is he, anyways? Class started already.” He didn’t look enthusiastic to start class. 

“I dunno. But you should sit by me! I can be your shield in case he tries to abuse children! He can just take it out on me!”

“That feels morally wrong. But sure, I guess.” He looked back at the group he was talking to before following Kits to the table she “claimed” near the storage cabinet. 

“I always sit near the storage so I can steal the leftovers,” 

“He doesn’t count it?” 

“Oh he does. I just ignore the fact that he does.” Kits lauded when Snape entered, thinking back to her dragon. “Do you know anything on how to beat up a dementor?” 

“Not really, why?” 

“Oh, I just wanna beat up the one that tried to kiss me.” Kits replied with a shrug, deflating slightly that there wasn’t some fancy spell the sixth years had yet learned on how to box dementors. 

Chapter Text

The minute Lauren was released from History of Magic she ran down the flights of stairs to make her way to the library. It was like she was a detective in her own mystery novel trying to crack the secret spell to ridding the world of dementors. She was seconds away from opening the library door when Cho called her name.

”Lauren!” She came bounding over with her books still in hand and her hair drawn back by a cute bow. “What are you up to? I didn’t see you all day and it feels like forever since the train.” 

She could just lie to Cho and tell her she was going to the library to search for a place to do her nonexistent homework. But that felt like she was doing a disservice to Cho. 

“Cracking a mystery. Want to help?” Cho’s eyes lit up and she eagerly nodded. 

“Of course I do!” She giggled and followed beside Lauren into the library setting down her books next to Lauren’s. “What mystery are we solving?” 

“We are trying to find if there’s a charm or potion we can use to fight dementors,” Cho’s eyebrows furrowed as she contemplated Lauren’s response. “Just in case one chooses to try and kiss another student.”

”Why don’t we ask Professor Lupin?” Cho asked and glanced around the library. “We could always say it was out of curiosity.” 

Two reasons why Lauren couldn’t. One namely being the essay that Professor Snape had assigned them. When she walked into the potions classroom earlier in the day she expected him to test their classes skills from the previous year or start lectures. Instead he had assigned them an essay on werewolves.

It was weird. Even for Snape. He had been staring pointedly at Lauren like he was trying to tell her something. And she hadn’t connected the dots yet. But if she knew anything it was that Professor Snape didn’t just throw out assignments for no reason. Who would spend the extra time grading that work? And for some reason, Lauren knew it had something to do with the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. 

Secondly, what if Professor Lupin reads through her half truths. If he finds out about the dragon off campus grounds then he’d surely tell Dumbledore and the entire operation is blown. Lauren had no idea if she could convincingly lie to an adult. 

“We just can’t,” Lauren responded and winced at her own words. She would love to just tell Cho what her and Kits were trying to do. But she feared bringing her down with them in case they got in trouble. Cho didn’t deserve that. 

“…Alright. Maybe some of the textbooks for older students have it,” Since the library was mostly empty it would be the perfect time to look. Most teachers aren’t hellbent on making student’s lives miserable and haven’t assigned homework yet. Besides Snape and his essay. 

Her and Cho grabbed one of the ladders to climb towards the top shelves most students didn’t use. Could they have used magic? Sure. But this felt more mystery novel than summoning a title from the shelf. 

Lauren held the ladder as Cho sifted through books, pulling out a few to look through the pages before putting it back. She finally settled on one and climbed down the ladder carefully to join Lauren. Her legs shook slightly as she handed the book to her.

”Here,” She pointed to a passage in a auror job overview book. Not something Lauren would have ever read in her free time, but maybe that’s why she never had seen anything about dementor ridding spells.

”An auror must be prepared for any situation — dark wizards and dementors are just a few of the spells that aurors learn to counter these forces.”

So it looks like aurors learn it, great! But that doesn’t help Lauren or Kits at all in finding out exactly what spell will “counter” them. And if they are truly unable to counter them then Kits can kiss her wish of freeing the dragon goodbye.

”Maybe it’s in another book about aurors.” Lauren headed down another aisle of textbooks and scanned each title meticulously. There had to be something. It couldn’t just end with her finding that stupid aurors use it. 

Cho was searching through the other side before letting out a gasp. Lauren joined her side and stared at the book which had no indication of hiding the spell they needed.

”What?” 

“What if it’s in the Restricted Section? Remember how Dumbledore had to move a bunch of spell books in there after too many secret duels resulted in injury?” Cho was onto something. Maybe the spell they needed had been tucked away in an advanced magic book the school moved. 

“You’re right. If it’s going to be anywhere, it’ll be in the Restricted Section.” 

“I have to go,” Cho glanced at a small watch on her wrist that had been covered by her robe. “Quidditch practice starts in twenty. And Davies already is upset with this year’s lineup.” 

“Thanks for the help,” 

“In return you should read Jurassic Park,” Cho insisted before sprinting towards the exit of the library. She would have a long way to go to get to the Quidditch pitch on time. 

“I’ll think about it!” Lauren called after her and sunk to the floor. Now what? How could they possibly manage to get into the Restricted Section without being caught. They weren’t Harry Potter after all. 

And she would have to do it at night when nobody was around. That would mean sneaking past the prefects and out of the Hufflepuff common room without causing suspicion. And when one’s house has a reputation for being friendly it was harder than one would imagine. 

She could be expelled. Lauren didn’t have a backup plan if she couldn’t get into the Restricted Section. She could always try asking Professor Lupin, but Lauren felt like it would be too suspicious. Cho was her friend and went along with her half truths because that’s who Cho is. But Professor Lupin didn’t seem the type to ignore a partial lie. Or worse he figures it out without forcing it out of her. 

They would have to find a way in the Restricted Section.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Lauren spent the next few weeks mulling over how to get into the Restricted Section without being caught. It took up most of her time due to how tasking it was. Every time she had a free thought it was on how to get past the stupid prefects that pranced around the halls waiting for unsuspecting first years to show their faces. Or at least that’s what Lauren imagined they did. She didn’t know for sure if they actually pranced around or not but she could see some of them doing that.

It got so bad that her teachers started to believe something was wrong with her. She couldn’t yet tell Kits about her theory because Kits would just rush into it and try and get the book herself. And get caught. She couldn’t tell Professor McGonagall when she asked after her transfiguration class that she wanted to break into the Restricted Section. It was like Lauren was completely alone in her struggle.

Without a proper excuse or way out, Lauren couldn’t act on her theory. And Kits ideas, while humorous, weren’t very practical. 

Cho in her free time has also tried to help Lauren figure out a way to get Lauren in the Restricted Section. But her ideas also seemed to fall flat when questioned for more than a minute or two. 

While Lauren was grumbling about it on their way to Hogsmeade, Kits finally piped in.

”You should come to the Quidditch match tomorrow. It’s Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff. Oliver has been talking about it nonstop, and it would be a chance to bet on Harry’s downfall.” Kits begged. “It’ll be fun,” 

Lauren had never really said yes to any of the times that Kits had suggested that they go watch Quidditch. The only times she did was when it was Kits playing herself and even then Lauren found the sport to be mundane. But with how miserable she had been trying to figure out how to get into the Restricted Section, she might as well.

”Sure.” 

“Actually?” Kits began hopping and spinning around her gleefully. “Oh, it’ll be so much fun! We can make fun of Oliver, and get food, and do a bunch of other fun things that I can’t currently think of!” 

Lauren found herself smiling slightly for the first time in weeks. They were nearly to the quaint village meant to serve the school in terms of commerce when Lauren remembered that Harry Potter wouldn’t be in the vicinity of Hogsmeade. For once he would have to follow the rules like the rest of them.

”Any place in particular we are going?” Lauren asked Kits, who was looking around like she was searching for someone. 

“No,” She said hesitantly before looking back to Lauren again. 

“Are we waiting for someone?” Usually if Kits invited Oliver (which was just once and the two spent the entire time bashing each other’s teams) she would tell Lauren. And as far as Lauren knew there weren’t any other friends she had. She supposed Cho to an extent because of Lauren. 

“No,” Kits looked a bit disappointed before shaking her head slightly and returning to her usual demeanor. “Come on! Let’s go get drunk!”

”Butterbeer can’t get us drunk. Sadly,” Lauren muttered the last part and followed Kits inside of a vendor’s store that sold the drink. 

“Imagination,” Kits waved her hands in front of her face with a grin. Lauren had tried butterbeer once and it wasn’t her thing, so she’d be sitting this one out. Kits excitedly grabbed her drink when it was ready drinking a bit then forcing a smile. Her disappointment still lingered in her eyes, Lauren could see it.

”Was Oliver supposed to come?” Kits quickly shook her head and spoke when she wasn’t drinking.

”No, I just was looking for someone,” She was being oddly secretive, something Kits isn't known for. “But it’s whatever! Let’s go have some fun before we are forced back.”

The two headed through the town, Kits skipping and Lauren walking behind her. A Quidditch game would do no harm, would it? 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Courtesy of British weather, it was pouring outside when the Quidditch game had to happen. Lauren was bundled up in a large purple jacket standing in a far too crowded stand next to Kits. She was in a oversized coat as well and a thick scarf around her neck while pointing excitedly.

”I bet Oliver twenty galleons he would lose this one!” It was chaotic to try and grasp whatever the hell was supposed to be happening. This was not Lauren’s idea of relaxing after weeks of misery. 

“Lovely!” She shouted back over the wind and rain that was pounding down on them. “Why are you betting money on this when Harry is on their team!?” 

“Because I’m stupid!” Kits shouted happily. Lauren tried to recognize some of the Hufflepuff players, but it was hard to given how fast they were flying. 

“How do you even know what’s going on?” Lauren squinted her eyes spotting Harry flying around on his broom. That comment launched Kits into a tangent about how to understand what was happening in Quidditch, something that Lauren tuned out for the most part. She was trying to distract herself with anything but the freezing rain and the boring Quidditch match. She wouldn’t tell Kits of course she loved the sport and didn’t want to hurt her feelings. 

“I bet you that those dementors will cause Harry to not catch the snitch.” Lauren pointed to the cloud where it appeared that dementors were swarming. She hadn’t noticed the Gryffindor with long black hair listening into her conversation, but she surely would later on.

“Well it looks like both of the seekers are going to go up there,” Kits was right. The two were neck and neck, even Lauren was on the edge of her seat to see Harry flounder. 

Soon enough a black haired boy came falling from the sky. 

The crowd let out a loud “ooh” when Harry’s body was halted in air by Dumbledore. Kits was on the balls of her feet, leaning over the stands to try and look at the Hufflepuff seeker (Lauren didn’t know who it was, or care) to see if her bet would come true.

”Yes! Yes!” She cheered and jumped up and down. Then came an untimely lightning strike and a second body hurling towards the ground. “Oh.” 

Lauren was never going to a Quidditch match again. That was the deciding moment. Good thing it wasn’t Gryffindor that won or she would have really lost it. 

“I’m going to head out,” She tapped Kits, but the girl didn’t acknowledge her and was too distracted watching the scene unfold like everyone else. Lauren sighed and headed down the stairs of the stadium, pushing past other students cramming to get a view of Harry’s lifeless body in midair. She only made it halfway down before being stopped.

”Yes?” The girl was the Gryffindor who had been standing next to her and Kits with a small notebook. Lauren could only now get a good look at her; she had a rather small face with deep tanned skin and black hair. 

“You knew that would come true, didn’t you?” 

“Uh…” It took Lauren to realize what she was talking about before nodding. “Yeah, I suppose so.” 

“How would you like to help out my operation?” Out of pure curiosity to what this ‘operation’ entailed, Lauren agreed. The girl, who she would learn later is named Liv, pulled out the notebook she had been scribbling down in. She flipped through files of every relationship in Hogwarts. She had details on people’s types, exes, ideal first date, who was dating who. It was actually impressive if it didn’t freak Lauren out a little.

”This is my magnum opus. And you can now help me out,” She pulled out a small piece of paper that appeared to be a gossip column of a newspaper. “We could go undercover and write our own paper for Hogwarts. You predicting future events and I can talk about the relationship statuses!” Liv giggled excitedly and held it out to her.

“You don’t have to answer me right away! Think about it! Then tell me in Herbology, we share the same class.” Oh, she had seen this girl before. That’s why she was so familiar. 

“Alright. I’ll think about it,” Along with all the other things she still had to figure out. 

Chapter Text

Getting electrocuted didn’t seem to be much fun in Kits perspective. So when Professor Snape asked her to bring homework to Cedric/Not-kidnapper, she agreed. Because who would want to see Snape when they were recovering from having electricity go through their body. 

Kits thought long and hard about what she wanted to do before actually going to the infirmary. She knew about Madam Pomfrey’s inability to cure concussions due to the fact she fell off her broom once and hit a goal post in a Quidditch match. Wizards can heal any broken bone but are unable to fix concussions. 

And Kits assumed being electrocuted would mess up someone’s mind for a bit. And because wizards weren’t used to the muggle world of concussions it barred you stuck in the infirmary for at least a week. 

And she felt bad. Again, because getting electrocuted must not be fun. Even if it’s in favor of her bet winning, which Oliver still hadn’t paid up yet. She was sulking in her shared dormitory when she remembered her cassette she brought. Kits ran to her trunk and flung it open, searching for the small machine. She had drawn on the Decepticon logo when she was younger, part of a cartoon she held dear to her heart. 

“I knew it,” She giggled and grabbed a few of the tapes she had recorded before leaving her home. Kits grabbed a few along with the potions homework. The further she got from the Slytherin dungeon was the more she questioned it. Obviously Professor Snape saw it convenient to have her bring it since she was his seat partner, but Kits almost wished she didn’t have to. Not to be mean or anything. But at times it almost felt like she was just forcing him to be her friend because she found him funny after one interaction. Kits didn’t have many friends for a reason. Nobody really wanted to stick around.

Laurie always expressed her own social awkwardness, yet she was friends with Cho Chang who was very popular in her year. And Kits had seen her talking to a Gryffindor on her own way out of the Quidditch match the previous day. And one could argue that she was friends with Oliver. But not really as he just tolerated her in Kits opinion. Kits just had Laurie. 

It was that fear that Laurie was going to ditch her for Cho or the new Gryffindor girl that pushed Kits to try and befriend this random Hufflepuff. And maybe she was doing too much and this guy didn’t know how to say no. 

Kits stopped outside of the infirmary and stared down at the cassette tapes and the papers in her hand. She always pushed people away by being too much. Laurie had just been equally lonely to see past her glaring flaws. 

She could just give the papers to Madam Pomfrey and leave. It was the easier way out of this. Kits wouldn’t want to see herself after being electrocuted either. It wasn’t like she was naive enough to truly believe that anyone besides Laurie would want to be friends with her. She had just been lying to herself these past few weeks.

That’s why Kits liked animals. Animals didn’t run away or call out her own shortcomings. Animals didn’t call her rude names or remind her of how she should act.

”Do you need something, dear?” Madam Pomfrey stared at her with what Kits presumed was pity. 

“I was just here to drop off potions work to a classmate. Professor Snape asked me to.” No backing out now, she could always just drop the homework off and leave. Not say a word or something that’ll embarrass Kits for the next couple years of her life. 

If she had realized sooner that Not-kidnapper was Cedric Diggory she would have never spoken to him after the first interaction. Kits didn’t know there was only one Cedric. She thought that there were multiple, or at least that she wouldn’t have interacted with the same Cedric Diggory that guy every guy wants to be and every girl wants to date. 

He probably has told all of his friends that an annoying and quite ugly girl has been bothering him in potions every single day. No wonder he was shocked she was in his class, all Kits had done at that point was be stupid.

And each day until the realization she had made it worse. Kits acted like he was her friend and someone she could talk to. He didn’t want anything to do with her. Why would anyone besides Lauren? 

Everyone in Slytherin was right. Kits truly was the embarrassment to her house. 

Madam Pomfrey gestured to the back of the infirmary. It appeared Harry was already out of the infirmary from his dementor scare. He probably left that evening since there wasn’t too much that was injured. 

Malfoy had stopped her before the Quidditch game, Kits had nearly been sure she would have been late if he kept her for too long. And she definitely didn’t want to leave Lauren hanging.

”It’s pathetic, you know.” She didn’t know why the blonde was talking to her. And usually she would have ignored him. “You act like Cedric Diggory would want hang around a mudblood like yourself.”

It hurt that it had to be from Draco that she found out that it was actually Cedric Diggory and not Cedric the random Hufflepuff she had met in the bookshop in Diagon Alley. Why did she even care so much? They weren’t friends. Definitely not now that she knew who he was. Kits couldn’t be the one to just ruin everything for him. 

She had grown to like him. 

He was funny through the potions classes they had together. Kits had felt like he actually cared. Of course now she knew that he was probably just being nice and was relieved every time she shut up. But for once in his short, unbelievably boring life, Draco Malfoy was right. 

She winced when she looked at Cedric in the sterile looking bed. He looked ansleep and Kits did realize it was probably too late to be doing this and she should have just handed the papers to Madam Pomfrey and left. 

Kits placed the papers on the table and turned to leave the infirmary. It would be torture to have to do this until he was well enough to return to class. Perhaps she could just give them to Madam Pomfrey and not show up. 

Before she could leave though, she turned back and set down the cassette and two of the tapes she had picked out. She didn’t want him to be lonely. And he would probably not even think it was her. Kits knew what it was like to be lonely in the infirmary with nothing to do but stare at the ceiling and wonder how close it was to being the end. 

That routine continued for the next two days. Late at night she would take the homework sheets Snape had given her to give to Cedric and a replacement tape for the ones she had left the previous night. They didn’t have any writing besides a sharpie labeling the tapes in numerical order from when Kits had taped them. Each time she went he was fast asleep, probably recovering from being electrocuted, and therefore had no indication it was her. Why would it be her? Like everyone probably said, they weren’t friend. He probably didn’t even like her as a person.

So maybe doing nice things on the side was okay for Kits. 

He might not even like the music, it wasn’t the type of music she had heard in the wizarding world. She had all the newest songs she had liked. The entirety of the Nevermind album, Metallica, and a few Smashing Pumpkins songs. He could hate it. But at least she was giving him something to do besides being lonely.

It probably didn’t even mean much to him. He probably had plenty of friends that came after their classes to talk to him. Maybe he hadn’t even noticed the cassette or the tapes. Or he hadn’t a clue how to work it because it was only something stupid muggles used and Kits was a stupid muggle. 

Keeping up this routine was exhausting. It was emotionally taxing. It made Kits want to bawl her eyes out when she got back to her room, but she couldn’t given that her room was shared with others. She couldn’t talk to Lauren about it either. She knew Lauren didn’t care about trying to make friends and wouldn’t understand how Kits felt. And besides, she had been so miserable with trying to figure out how to get into the Restricted Section it wasn’t fair of her to burden her with her stupid emotions. 

She placed the potions work where she always put it and glanced over at the usual sight of his sleeping form. Kits was tired. Tired of everything. Of feeling stupidly attached to something that never even existed. A one sided friendship. He didn’t want to know her and everyone around her knew it. Kits was just stupid enough to not see it. 

Nobody wants to be friends with a muggle born. 

She moved to grab the tapes she had left the previous evening, placing down a new one. Kits had already asked Snape to move seats in potions to one in the back, far away from everyone. She just wanted to free the dragon and graduate. All she needed was Laurie. She should be grateful for her friend and not try to push her luck. 

“I knew it was you,” Kits froze and looked at the not asleep form of Cedric. Everything that had been weighing down on her started to bubble at the surface with the confrontation. 

“I’m sorry.” Kits could feel herself start to give out. Tears were welling up in her eyes and she tried to force herself through her shaky apology. “I-“ 

She what? Thought it would be nice? She didn’t have a right to assume that. She didn’t even know who the hell he was until a few days ago and it was because of Draco Malfoy! 

“I thought you might get bored. And lonely. And it’s sounds stupid now because why would you be lonely of all people-“ Kits couldn’t continue, not without bawling her eyes out. She was tired, over emotional, and confused. “I’m sorry. I’ll just get someone else to bring you the homework,” 

“I enjoyed it,” He sat up and Kits was certain he was lying through his teeth. “You don’t have to apologize! I found it entertaining. Even if I felt like you picked the one song because I got electrocuted.” Why was she stupid enough to keep that one it? 

“I’m sorry,” 

“Please stop apologizing, Kits. It’s fine, I found it funny.” He looked over her face and his nose scrunched up. Kits probably hadn’t noticed it before in class. It’s probably happened hundreds of times. She was a sore sight to the eyes. 

He looked to be hesitating. Maybe he was going to kick her out or tell her the truth: that he hates having to indulge her presence and listen to her. Or that she’s an ugly crier. 

“Here, sit down.” He moved his legs back so she could sit on the edge of the bed. Kits probably needed to sit down for when he told her that she had been the bane of his existence and he was too nice to tell her to stop talking to him. 

“I’m sorry,” 

“If you say that you’re sorry one more time I’m going to start crying with you. And I’m a very ugly crier.” Unlikely, Cedric probably didn’t do much that wasn’t attractive to most people. “I liked the tapes. They gave me something to do in the day while everyone was in classes.” He liked it?

“Did you like being struck by lightning?” Kits asked through sniffling, wiping her nose. Cedric let out a loud laugh, seemingly not expecting her to ask that question.

”Not a ten out of ten experience,” He replied through laughter. “You’re the first person to ask me my opinion on being struck by lighting.” 

“It should be a normal question,” Kits mumbled, her tears dying down to be the occasional hiccup. He nodded and looked at her with a blank expression.

”Want a hug?” 

The only time she had ever really been hugged was by Lauren and her family. And even then she never really liked being hugged. But the notion didn’t seem so bad when she was exhausted and emotionally vulnerable.

”Yeah.” 

“I also asked my father a few weeks ago about your dementor question and he finally got back to me. He works at the Ministry and knows some aurors,” Cedric paused. “He gave me a spell and list of instructions. Thought it might help you beat up dementors.” 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

“How did you get this?” Laurie stared at Kits with an expression akin to awe when she handed the torn piece of paper Cedric had given her the night before. It looked like a weight had been taken off her shoulders from trying to get into the Restricted Section.

”I dunno.” It felt embarrassing to talk about how she got the paper to Laurie. It was almost taboo between them. 

“Well, it’s perfect! Once I figure out how to cast it I’ll make sure to tell you.” Laurie scanned over the paper before cheering happily. Kits smiled, not really a true smile in the grand scheme of things but she doubted Laurie would notice in her happiness and relief. “I have to go. Somehow I’m part of Hogwarts’ new newspaper.” 

The Gryffindor that Kits had seen talking to Laurie earlier was gesturing Laurie to join her. 

“Huh?”

”That’s what I said too. Anyways, I’ll get back to you when I figure it out!” Laurie grinned and gave a thumbs up, having taken the paper away. Kits watched her and the Gryffindor exit the library together; the Gryffindor giggling while Laurie trailed behind her. 

So, the next night at the infirmary Kits asked a simple question:

“How would you like to help us free a dragon?”

Chapter Text

Lauren finally made up her mind on Liv’s offer after a few days of thinking it over. Lauren had always enjoyed writing in her free time, even if her older works weren’t great. So at her next Herbology class she abandoned her usual seat next to one of her housemates and sat next to the Gryffindor. 

“I’ll do it,” Liv turned immediately at the sound of her voice and cheered. 

“I knew you would come around,” She pulled out her notebook once more and opened it. “As I showed you last time I have almost all of Hogwarts’ relationship statuses in this notebook.” 

“How do you have them all?” Lauren knew that some of these were pretty well known. But the more Liv flipped through the pages and the more obscure relationships the more Lauren started to question how she knew this.

”I have my ways,”

”If we are going to be coworkers I want to know how you do it,” Liv sighed dramatically at Lauren’s response and turned a couple pages to a file hidden in the back. A small Polaroid photo was clipped to it picturing Liv with another girl. This one was blonde with a pair of black rimmed glasses fitted on her nose. From the pose she looked lankier than Liv with a silly grin on her face. 

Besides the tacked on photo was the name Taylor Starnes in large lettering similar to how most people were labeled in Liv’s notebook. 

“Does that say she’s in a situationship with Draco Malfoy?” Lauren was holding back a gag that anyone would find him attractive, but she supposed everyone had their own standards. No matter how bad those standards are. 

“Perchance,” Liv held up her finger to her lips. “It’s a secret. She is denying it with all of her might. So until he matures or she accepts it, it will stay a situationship.” 

“She’s how I get all of my information. She’s friends with Hermione Granger and gets all of her year’s drama for me as well as some of the younger years.” That explains why the list was so extensive for the third years. She had insider knowledge. 

“Do you have any on me?” Lauren asked out of morbid curiosity. Not that she would ever want to date anyone, especially someone from Hogwarts, but it was always intriguing to see if there was slight interest from people. 

“Let me see,” Liv flipped a few pages before stopping on Lauren’s name. The page was entirely blank to her relief. “Nothing. Unless there’s something you want to tell me?” 

“Nope. That page is entirely accurate.” Liv looked a bit confused and disappointed but she didn’t bother Lauren over it. “So, how will this work?” She asked in an attempt to steer the subject away from anything too awkward with someone she just met a few days ago. 

“I was hoping you’d ask that!” Liv pulled out a canvas sized piece of paper folded into two columns. The leftmost had the word PREDICTING in all capitals in dark ink and the right had LOVE in the exact same format. Under the love heading was a mock article with photos from the same Polaroid camera Taylor’s photo was taken from. 

At the very bottom corner were the initials E.M and L.L. Lauren could only assume that would be their way of addressing themselves without giving away their identities in case some, cough Harry or Hermione cough, didn’t like what was written. A smirk spread across her face as she stared at the blank section for her to write in.

”All you have to do is write what you want down on a separate piece of paper and give it to Taylor at the Ravenclaw tower. She will be coming back from her Quidditch practices in the evening. Pass it to her and she will ink it out for us. That way nobody can trace the handwriting back to us.” 

“Alright. Any limitations for what I can write?” Lauren glanced over her shoulder at Professor Sprout and her fellow classmates before looking back to Liv. She had already hidden the foundations for their first article in her notebook. Lauren wondered if she brought that everywhere. 

“I trust you,” That was more faith than most people gave her. But it was still worrying. How did she know how far Liv wanted her to actually go with ‘predicting the future’? 

“Okay,” She wanted to demand more details. Did she want it to just be Harry? That’s what Lauren tended to be good at predicting. Or did she want a broader view of the future? Lauren would definitely be attending more divination classes in her free time. 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Within a few days, potions class returned to normal for Kits. Cedric, however, returned with more questions than Kits expected. To be fair, she did just invite him to free a dragon with no explanation and then left because Madam Pomfrey kicked her out for being there too late.

”How big is the dragon?” He whispered when Snape has his back turned to their table. They were brewing an explosion based potion, something Kits enjoyed more than she should. It only had a slight chance of blowing them both sky high if brewed wrong.

Kits thought back to the dragon before grabbing her textbook and quill. Snape hadn’t come to check out their potion yet and seemed distracted with reprimanding a Hufflepuff who had nearly exploded his seat mate. 

She began to sketch the dragon from memory on the corner of the paper. It had been a juvenile if she could guess right. A elongated abdomen with spikes lining said abdomen and a pair of horns that imitated antennas. 

He stared at the drawing before grabbing his own quill and drawing two stick figures with their hands in the air cheering. Then he took the liberty of scribbling little stars around her dragon drawing and the stick figure renditions of them. She was grinning the entire time, until the back of her head was met with a book.

“Are you two enjoying yourselves?” Kits slowly turned her head to see the very displeased expression on her professor’s face. 

“Yes!” She answered quite confidently and placed her arms on her hips. Snape only sighed and rolled his eyes, taking a look at the potion that had been finished before Cedric had launched Kits into answering questions about the dragon. 

“Five points from Hufflepuff.” His finger circled the cauldron causing him to huff and walk away. Nobody in the class was really fazed, this was Snape after all. 

“My head,” Cedric groaned and rubbed the back of his head. “I think I’m going to die.” 

“Don’t die. That’s highly inconvenient.” Kits replied and pointed to the drawing. “I like it.” 

“I hope so, my head got abused for it,” He rested his forehead on the desk when Snape was out of view. Kits could see his eyes were shut. It reminded her of whenever she would get migraines because she forgot to drink water. 

“But you got electrocuted and still caught the snitch?”

”That was for Quidditch.” He pointed out as if it made the most sense in the world to Kits. And even though she was Slytherin’s Keeper and did devote a good chunk of her time to it she still lacked the understanding on how a smack to the head was worse than being electrocuted. But perhaps she didn’t need to understand it.

She gently kicked his shin with her foot. The goal was to make him focus on his shin and not his head as the body tended to fixate on one point of pain. At least that was Kits experience. But it didn’t seem to help Cedric.

”Ow! Why did you do that!?” 

“I was trying to help. So you wouldn’t focus on your head and on your leg instead. Most of the time the mind can only focus on-“ He raised his head slightly to look at her while Kits rambled. 

“Amazing, yeah, but next time warn me when you try this method?” He practically begged and Kits nodded enthusiastically. 

“Alright! Here, I’ll finish the assignment so your head can get better.” Kits suggested and looked at the second potion they were supposed to brew for class. Cedric looked at the textbook page she had flipped to and then back up at Kits. 

“No, no, I’d feel bad.” 

“But I want to.” She insisted and pulled the textbook away from his view. “I like potions. And I want you to feel better. Then we will be able to free the dragon.” He hesitantly went back to putting his head in his arms and napping. 

Kira took one last glance at him before going back to working on the second potion they were supposed to make. For a while she had been used to doing others assignments without them caring for how Kits actually felt about it. 

Laurie was the first person to insist they did an assignment together. It wasn’t her doing it alone that time. It was them doing it together. 

But she wanted to do it. Genuinely. She knew how much it hurt to have a headache and pushing through to finish an assignment. Kits didn’t want Cedric to have to do that when she could just do it for the both of them.

She knew in most ways that she couldn’t “offer” much to people. She was muggle born after all and already at a disadvantage compared to everyone else. Kits wasn’t blind. She had been told many times of her worth in the wizarding world. She was a mistake. A nothing. Katherine Nyberg would always be the muggle born who disgraced the Slytherin house.

Yet as she stared at the poor drawing at the edge of the textbook she felt as maybe she had worth too. 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

“Expecto Patronum,” Lauren repeated the phrase as she paced around Kits. After reading over the note Kits had given her, Lauren had finally felt like she was getting it. All she had to do was the harder part: pick a happy memory to stem the Patronus from. 

“That sounds right,” Kits had learned Latin, so Lauren trusted her judgement. It explained why she was quite talented in charms. 

“I just…” What memory? Her sister’s birthday when her parents got the both of them the family dog? When she befriended Kits for the first time? “I don’t know what happy memory to pick.” 

Lauren didn’t get why she couldn’t choose. It should be obvious that one memory sticks out as the happiest. Or the one that had the most weight at the very least. 

“I dunno,” Kits responded, still staring at her potions textbook like she had for the past hour. Lauren didn’t blame her. The poor attempts she had at the spell were slightly less embarrassing knowing Kits wasn’t paying too much attention. She was in her own world as she stared at her textbook. Maybe she was figuring out a potion to help them actually free the dragon from its constraints.

It was so complicated for no reason. Happy memories were happy memories! And these directions weren’t very specific in regards to picking the perfect memory for the spell to work. 

“I’m Katherine! You can call me Kits, nobody calls me Katherine. We’re going to be best friends!” 

“We can do the assignment together? Really!? You want to work with me?” 

“It’s okay. At least we still have each other. We don’t need anyone else.” 

Lauren took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her mind focusing on the girl a few feet from her. Her happiest memories seemed to be stored with her. Kits was her first friend. She understood her, or at least tried to. She didn’t ask her to be anything but Laurie. 

The countless hours spent late at night talking. The matches she attended just to watch Kits. It was always Kits and Lauren. 

“Expecto Patronum!” A burst of white light came from the tip of her wand jerking Lauren back. A reptilian creature came from the end of it staring back as if it knew Lauren before disappearing. 

And Kits was already on her feet clapping.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Lauren felt rejuvenated yet exhausted in a weird combination as she finished drafting her predictions piece. It was an amazing feeling that left her in awe yet so tired. No spell had ever taken that much out of her before. 

She rolled over on her dormitory’s bed and stood in front of the small hanging mirrors as she read out loud her writing to make sure it made sense. Her tea cup was  set on the table, divinations book cracked open, and dorm room a mess. Lauren hadn’t written in a bit, the passion forgotten whenever she got too busy. And like her art it sometimes burnt her out.

Was she too on the point? She had translated what she had seen in the cup to a much elevated explanation in her writing, but for some reason Lauren felt like she was doing it a disservice. She worried someone would actually think she was a spy for Black and was conspiring against Harry (yes to the conspiring, no to the spy). 

“…Oh crap!” She grabbed the draft when she noticed the time and bolted out of her dorm room. Past the prefect who she forgot the name of, past the group of girls gossiping by the door, and past the smelly Quidditch players that desperately needed a shower.

Why was the Ravenclaw tower surrounded by stairs? They must get a workout with how many they had to climb. 

 Lauren was heaving as she waited for Taylor to show up like Liv had said. Finally, after a minute or two the Ravenclaw Quidditch team showed up. They smelled rancid too, yet somehow better than the Hufflepuff’s who has supposedly “showered”. 

Cho gave her a questioning look, and Lauren mentally promised to give her an explanation later. She forgot for a moment that Cho also played Quidditch and that she would see her when giving the paper to Taylor.

She was taller than Lauren expected. A good head taller than Lauren herself and she was two years older than Taylor. She gave Lauren a once over before the realization hit her face that she was there to give Taylor the paper for the article. 

Taylor stood next to her, carefully holding her hand slightly to the side and the palm open. It felt like they were in a crappy spy film, but Lauren went along with it and slipped the paper into her hand. Her thin mouth was slightly downturned, almost like she was a bit jealous of Lauren. But regardless she walked into her common room with one last glare. 

Whatever that was about, Lauren had no idea.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Predicting Love

 On the topic of Harry Potter which seems to be everyone’s favorite subject these days, it seems he may find some unconventional means of getting to where he wants. And on that note the Weasley’s reign of terror may be temporarily over.

I am no expert in the art of keeping secrets, but I hope Neville Longbottom can keep his a bit better. Or else we may see some tatters among Hogwarts. And that Ronald Weasley can keep track of his rat a bit better.

It’s humorous that the Slytherin house is so cocky this year for Quidditch. Especially since their next match may not go to plan. Draco Malfoy better watch out. 

- L.L

Chapter Text

The Predicting Love paper spread like wildfire after the first day. Lauren didn’t expect to walk into the Great Hall and see everyone reading her and Liv’s writing. She didn’t read Liv’s portion herself, relationship drama wasn’t at the focus of Lauren’s mind. 

As soon as she entered the room, Cho Chang was at her side with the familiar sheet of paper shoved in Lauren’s face. 

“You wrote this! It’s brilliant!” How did she know? Not even Kits had approached her yet to accuse her of writing the paper. Her portion at least, she could never fathom to write what Liv did. 

“How did you-?”

”It was easy. Conveniently the only time you ever visited the Ravenclaw tower was the only time you’ve ever spoken to Taylor Starnes. And she just happened to have ink staining her fingers the next morning. Then poof! A paper appears with a section having the initials ‘L.L’ on the bottom. Which are your initials.” Cho really was too smart for her good sometimes. It was scary.

”I was planning on telling you,” She had actually, ever since she saw her with the others on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. There was no way that she could have left Cho in the dark — she would have figured out if she hadn’t already. 

Cho didn’t look to believe Lauren. It hurt her a bit to think that she didn’t trust her. But to be fair Lauren hadn’t given her any reason to believe that she would tell her about her secret paper. 

“It’s fine,” Cho replied. “I’m guessing you and your fellow writer are sworn into secrecy or something.” 

“Yeah, something like that.” Lauren mumbled and couldn’t look Cho in her eyes. But thankfully she was whisked away by some of her Ravenclaw friends. Lauren couldn’t help but glance over to the Ravenclaw table to search for Taylor. She seemed so upset with her when she gave her the paper. It made no sense, Lauren hadn’t even met her as far as she remembered. 

She slowly began to eat her food, though she had no true appetite. Lauren only really ate to get some subsistence in her body. The Slytherins played Ravenclaw and Lauren had agreed earlier in the week to watching Kits play. A decision she regretted slightly as she could hear the rain pounding on the roof. 

And she loved to watch Kits play. It was the only entertaining thing about Quidditch. But could it have not been on a better day? Like when it was now pouring rain out?

She hadn’t even seen Kits at her respective table. Either she slept past breakfast (never a good idea) or she was sick. Lauren would know which it was soon enough.

After breakfast, given it was a weekend, Lauren headed to the library. In a castle there was a surprising lack of things to do if it was raining. She breathed in the scent of books and old wood before taking a seat at one of the secluded tables. 

She thought about the upcoming mission. She had to tell Kits to meet her tonight if all things went well at the Quidditch match. But according to her readings and Lauren’s gut it wouldn’t go well for Slytherin. And if a match is particularly bad it would put Kits in a foul mood and she would spend the rest of the day sulking. Not the best time to try and free a dragon.

Lauren grabbed one of the books from the shelf, flipping idly through the pages to entertain herself. The recent months had turned the weather colder. Lauren always loved the cold. It was much more bearable than the sticky heat. 

“Boo!” Kits jumped out from behind the bookshelf with a smile.

”Aren’t you supposed to be warming up?” Lauren slowly rose to her feet and placed the book down. Kita nodded and glanced out one of the windows of the library.

”I’m trying to avoid Draco. He keeps bragging on how he has gotten Buckbeak sentenced to death, sooner or later. And I don’t want to hear it,” Kits mumbled to herself. “So I came to find you!” 

“You ate, right?” Lauren asked and was met with a nod of confirmation. That was a relief. Whenever Kits didn’t eat before a Quidditch match she ended up passing out on her broom. And that went as well as anyone imagined. The worse part was that most of the time when her body fell from the broom it went unnoticed due to her being a keeper and the focus of the match shifted on the seekers or chasers on the other ends.

”Yeah. I need to drink though,” Kits rubbed her temples with her forefingers. “You’re going to watch, right?” She sounded so excited at the idea of Lauren watching her play.

”Yup,” Lauren headed out of the library with Kits, parting ways when she waved and ran off to greet Oliver. Probably to talk about strategy before the match. Or demand the money he owed her for the bet he lost. 

Lauren had been there when Kits had charmed a howler to repeat “haha” multiple times and sent it to Oliver. All while demanding the pay for the bet. It was pretty funny for Lauren to witness the Gryffindor table at lunch receive a quite humorous howler. 

“Good luck!” She shouted to Kits who glanced back from her conversation to Oliver, giving two thumbs up. 

Why was Hogwarts obsessed with stairs? As Lauren pushed herself up the stairs to the Quidditch stands she almost threw hands with Dumbledore in her head. They were wizards? Could someone have thought of something other than stairs! 

“I. Hate. This. Place,” She panted and leaned over the edge of the stands. A few students eyed her suspiciously and she gave them her best glare she could muster. The stairs nearly took her out.

The match started off with a heated chase between the respective team’s chasers. In a flurry of flying one of the Ravenclaw chaser emerged with the quaffle and hurled it towards the goalpost. Kits darted towards the quaffle and allowed it to hit her thigh rather than in the goal. Her methods were…unconventional to most keepers. 

As the match continued it seemed impossible for Slytherin to score. No matter how many times they threw that ball towards one of the three goalposts it was always either a bit too far off or blocked by the keeper. The rain was freezing, the game was a misery to watch, and Lauren was ready for someone to catch the snitch and end the match. 

“Is Draco Malfoy playing keeper?” Someone obnoxiously whispered next to her and forced her attention to Slytherin’s end. Yes, Draco Malfoy did appear to be playing keeper. Which meant…

Just like Lauren suspected, Kits was sprawled out on the ground with a lifeless look to her. The first time Kits had ever passed out she had flipped out. It was odd to see her friend go from excited to out in a matter of minutes. No matter how many times she had seen it, it never got any easier to watch.

”Cho Chang has caught the snitch! Ravenclaw wins! 160-20!” The stadium erupted into cheers as Lauren quickly escaped the stands.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

“Am I dead?” Kits thought as she came out of the haze. No, she couldn’t be dead if she was thinking. Or do dead people think? Ghosts had thoughts and floated around. Perhaps she is a ghost then. 

Her vision slowly adjusted to be the ceiling of infirmary and the muffled voices became clearer in her head. She could pick out Marcus’s voice first. He sounded like he was arguing with someone. Then Draco’s posh accent came to her mind. 

She must have passed out. It’s why her body felt flush and covered in sweat. It must be after the match given her team was there. Or at least some of them. 

“You cost us the game, mudblood!” Draco practically screamed at her when she showed signs of life. Could Kits go back to sleep already. 

“No, you bloke! If you had stayed in position and caught the snitch we would have won!” 

“And give them a free for all with the quaffle? No!” He sounded offended at the thought that Ravenclaw could freely score on their goal. Kits turned her head slightly to look at Marcus and weakly smile at him. She always liked Marcus best out of all Slytherins. He wasn’t horrible to her face and almost seemed to care when he had to. 

The buck toothed boy gave a half smile back before shushing the entire team.

”She’s alive, let’s leave her to be. Nothing worthwhile to do here.” That was the nicest a Slytherin had been to her in a very long while. Then again the only Slytherin that sought her out to poke fun at recently was Draco and his lackeys. 

The footsteps gradually faded and Kits feared she was left alone. Occasionally Madam Pomfrey came over to check on her hydration (and inform her that a worried Hufflepuff girl had to be kicked out as she wouldn’t stop pacing when Kits had been out), but even she didn’t help. 

The closer it got to night the lonelier it got. Madam Pomfrey assured her that tomorrow she would be allowed to return to normal activities. She just wanted to keep an eye on her since she was so dehydrated when she had been brought in. 

Kits stared at the infirmary food with a glare. It was yucky. She didn’t expect Lauren to show up hearing how she had been in the infirmary for hours. It was sweet. Kits would have to remember to thank her tomorrow.

It just hit that she screwed up their mission to free the dragon. It was supposed to be tonight. Kits glanced to Madam Pomfrey who was focused on writing in her journal. Kits wasn’t the type to try and escape the infirmary like some other students had done in the past. But now she genuinely thought about it.

In her best attempt to be silent, Kits slid out of the bed and bolted for the door. She was a surprisingly quiet runner, and it also helped she was barefoot. It was pleasant to realize she was left in her Quidditch uniform. Even if it reeked.

She made it out the door and quietly shut it to the confusion of Cedric Diggory.

”…What are you doing?”

”What are you doing?” She countered and looked at the muffin he was holding in his hand. Why was he going to the infirmary in the first place? 

“I was going to give you something besides that repulsive infirmary food.” Oh. That was….not what Kits expected. She just stood there, awestruck. Food. Food that didn’t look like it expired two weeks ago. 

“Uh, Kits?” 

“Gimme,” She held out her hand and gladly began to devour the muffin. Cedric didn’t look fazed, he just stared with a blank expression and a confused frown.

”Why are you trying to escape the infirmary?” Oh! 

“We are going to free the dragon. Tonight! I don’t wanna wait any longer. So we are going to meet Lauren.” His confusion only got worse the more she tried to explain. 

“When you’re supposed to be in the infirmary?” He glanced to the door she had just escaped from. “Can’t we do this tomorrow night?” 

“No. Tonight.” Kits insisted and balled up the wrapped to the muffin. “What if the dragon gets hurt tonight because we didn’t free it?” Cedric looked between her and the door once more. 

“And you feel fine?”

”Completely.” He groaned and nodded after her response. He must have known that he wasn’t going to stop Kits. But coming along rid her of her impending loneliness. As they transversed the halls towards the Great Hall to grab Lauren, she found herself smiling. 

She wasn’t alone. 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Predicting Love

It seems Cho Chang was greeted with great affections from our dear Mister Potter. Is that the beginning of a connection I smell? It seems this weekend’s Quidditch Game was not only great for Mister Potter, but Mister Malfoy found his own suitor.

She may be too reluctant to accept her feelings for him now, but it’s only a matter of time before she turns his heart around. She was the one to comfort him when he lost the game today.

Curious thing, love is. But don’t worry, I’m always the one to spot it before they do. 

- E.M.

Chapter Text

Lauren didn’t expect to be dragged out of the Great Hall by the Hufflepuff prefect, especially since she hadn’t don’t anything wrong. As far as he knew. 

“Kits?” She questioned when she was pulled around the corner and released by the Hufflepuff prefect who began apologizing profusely for dragging her and pointing to Kits with something along the lines of “she suggested it.” 

“Did not!”

”Did too!” He shot back and Kits shook her head. 

“What’s going on?” Lauren interrupted and looked between the two. Kits was supposed to be in the infirmary of all places! Not here! 

“We’re freeing the dragon,” Kits clapped her hands together happily and Lauren’s eyes widened. Why was she saying this in front of her house’s prefect!? 

“Uh, she’s lying,” Lauren quickly began to rack her brain for some excuse to get them out of detention. “We’re just…freeing a dragon in a book! Yeah, we write a lot.” 

“He knows.” Kits stops Lauren from continuing to embarrass herself. 

“What?” She sputtered and stared with a blank expression on her face. How did she…? Actually, Lauren didn’t have very many questions. This was Kits after all. “Shouldn’t we do this after you’re released from the infirmary?” 

“Tried that,” 

“Plus, what if the dragon gets hurt and it’s our fault because we didn’t go save it?” Kits replied and looked to Lauren with a pleading expression. “If we go now, then nobody will know it’s us. They’ll think I’m in the infirmary, and nobody would expect the Hufflepuff prefect to not give you detention.” 

It made sense. Why would anyone think that the three of them would band together to free a dragon. Lauren may be known for hating Harry, but she wasn’t a fellow rule breaker. Kits is believed to be in the infirmary and the Hufflepuff prefect would be the last suspect of being a part of this operation. 

Despite Lauren’s better interests, agreeing sounded like a good idea in her gut. 

“Okay then,” She eyed the Hufflepuff prefect before nodding to Kits and heading towards the nearest door she knew of. She didn’t get why they had to bring the Hufflepuff prefect along. Well, she did in theory: it was a good excuse and someone that could take the fall if needed. But why didn’t Kits tell her about the idea? She may have not agreed with it. But now it was too late for that now.

When she cracked the castle door open it was already pitch black out. Dinner always was late, but with the upcoming winter the sun set earlier than it used to. A freezing wind hit her face and sent a chill down her body. 

“What’s the plan?” Hufflepuff prefect asked and Lauren suppressed a groan. Did Kits not even fill him in on what was happening? 

“Get rid of the dementors near the premise, free the dragon, try not to draw attention to ourselves.” Lauren explained as if it was obvious. Her wand was gripped tightly in her hand, the walnut wood a stark contrast to her skin. 

“Yeah, right, easy enough.” He muttered to himself, but Lauren could hear the bits of his words. If he wanted to quit so badly he could. Lauren and Kits didn’t need any help. 

“And if there are people there and they see us?” Lauren paused and thought for a moment. They could be in massive trouble, even worse if they were seen. She ripped out three pieces of blank paper from her sketchbook and began to rip them to make a makeshift mask. Using her pencil she stabbed small eyeholes and ripped off the pieces of fraying string from her sweater, tying them on both sides to make it able to stay on the face.

He handed the one she handed to him to Kits before taking the second one she made and placed it on his face. 

“I’m Jason Voorhees!” Kits pretended to slice Lauren’s shoulder with an invisible machete. She took off the mask and gestured for her pencil, poking a few holes on  the bottom half of the mask and drawing a simple moth on the forehead. 

“I want to customize mine,” Hufflepuff prefect said and took off his mask and added a poorly drawn cloud to where his nose would be. Lauren decided to follow the trend and added an intricately drawn flower that stemmed from the eyebrow and vines trailing down to the chin. 

“We ready?” Kits asked, bouncing from foot to foot. Lauren nodded and put the mask back on, ditching her school robes behind a bush. In all hopes it wouldn’t be taken by the Weasley twins and made a mockery of. She then ditched her tie resembling her house and the other two followed in suit of her action.

They snuck across the courtyard and towards Hagrid’s, only being stopped by a Scottish voice. 

“Oi! What are you doing?” Oliver Wood of all people had to stop them. Lauren was frozen in place, same with Kits. What could they say? They looked so suspicious-

“Just a Quidditch exercise,” Thank everything to the Hufflepuff prefect. He sounded perfectly confident with his response, taking off the mask to turn and facing Oliver. “Isn’t that right?” He was asking for them to back him up.

”Totally,” Lauren got the hint and also removed her mask to turn around. “I’m just here to…referee?” 

“Quidditch? Without me?” Oliver sounded offended at the notion that anything Quidditch related could not involve him. “Let me join.” 

“No,” Hufflepuff prefect was a bit smaller than Oliver despite them being the same height. Lauren wouldn’t be any help if Oliver decided to jump him, which she hoped wouldn’t happen. 

“Why not?” 

“Uh, because I said so.” He faltered, but took a step forward regardless. Could Lauren try and help him kick Oliver? Yeah. But she was no fighter no matter how many books she read about it. 

“Just let me come along, Cedric,” Oh, so that was the Hufflepuff prefect’s name. At least it wasn’t as awkward as having to ask him for his name. 

“Why aren’t you at dinner?” 

“Just let me come!” He yelled and Cedric froze. The silence stretched for a few minutes. If they kept refusing he may just drop it, or he could go to a teacher about it. Then they’re all busted.

”Okay,” Lauren said for Cedric and nodded to Oliver. Great, another person. What could possibly go wrong? 

The further they walked from the Quidditch pitch and towards the location of where Kits said the dragon was held, the more confused Oliver got. He was looking around for some Quidditch equipment or indication that they were going to play Quidditch. Lauren stopped and tore him off a mask, handing it to a very confused Scot.

”Aren’t we playing Quidditch?” He asked, staring at the handmade mask. “Mate! Aren’t we playing Quidditch?” He repeated when nobody answered his question. Lauren could see the bits of a flame in the distance and ducked behind a tree. 

Three ghostly figures stood in her way from getting a clear visual of the dragon, but even from the outline Lauren could see that Kits hadn’t been lying.

”Is that a fucking dragon?! Someone give me a vodka,” Oliver exclaimed. Kits shushed him and forced the paper mask towards him. “Why do I need this? We’re freeing this thing!? You’re all demented! Insane! Mental institute material!” 

“Shut up or I’m kicking your future children.” 

“Jokes on you I don’t want kids.” Oliver said in a matter-of-fact tone. “And you know what I also don’t want? An ass whooping!” 

Lauren could spot three people near a tent that seemed to talking to one another. One of which dressed in black robes and the other two dressed in light brown. Other than that she didn’t see too many people surrounding the area. 

“Seriously, I need a vodka,” 

“You can’t even legally drink,” Kits replied as Lauren observed the dementors guarding the edge of Hogwarts’ grounds. 

“Yet,” Oliver mumbled and pulled the mask on. “How are you breathing in this?”

”I’m not,” Cedric replied in a tone that sounded like he was dead serious, and honestly Lauren was fooled for a second. “You should try it.” 

“I’ll pass.” Oliver mumbled and his head snapped to Lauren. Who at this point was sneaking towards the dementors. She thought she could get a jump on the dementors. 

Breathe.

”Expecto Patronum,” She whispered and closed her eyes as she felt the familiar burst leave her body and transfer from the tip of her wand. Lauren opened her eyes to the dissipated dementors and the reptilian creature staring back at her. Suppose now was the time to go free the dragon.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

“Confringo!” Oliver Woods apparently had one way of dealing with his problems: exploding them. Poachers didn’t seem to be above that list. Luckily his wand work wasn’t extremely accurate as nobody got killed, but the curse caused the three to go flying.

”Three down. I’m winning,” He smugly announced and nodded. While Oliver was playing perfect distraction, Lauren and Kits had run to the cage of the dragon. Lauren had never seen anything like it. Its wide eyes were staring back at her fearfully while Kits tried to break the steel chains.

”We could burn it,” Cedric suggested,

”Steel’s melting point is in the thousands. Even using a spell won’t get her out.” Kits replied, tugging on the chains. Her muggle school teachings seem to come in handy. Lauren wouldn’t have certainly known that. 

“Uh…” Cedric looked at the cage then back at the tent that Oliver was searching through. 

Lauren looked at the sad eyes of the dragon and Kits who was holding her hand out for the dragon to smell. Lauren pulled at the stone chains futility before cutting her hand open. She winced and felt a warm trickle of blood spill out from the wound. 

“I found the alcohol. Oh, and a key.” Oliver was holding up a clear bottle in victory and the set of keys in his other hand. Kits shot up and snatched the keys from his hand, fiddling until she found the correct one and unlocking the cage. 

The dragon stretched its two pairs of thin wings and stared at the three humans surrounding it. Lauren took a cautious step back, dragging Kits back with her by her arm. 

The dragon shifted its gaze to Cedric and the Hufflepuff prefect had the stupidest blank look Lauren thought a boy could muster. Oliver was currently taking a shot from the bottle he stole, offering it out to Lauren and Kits while he was at it. 

“I’ll pass,” She was waiting for the dragon to fly off to find its home, and so they could go back knowing it was safer than it was before. But it just stood there.

”It’s a baby. We should take him home,” Kits slowly approached the dragon. It had a soft yellow hue at the ends of the spikes, the rest of the body a greyish-blue color. “I’m naming him Horus.”

”Horus?” 

“Egyptian god of the sky.” She looked around and stared at Oliver. “Was there any meat in there?” 

“A few dead rabbits,” Oliver set down the bottle and ran to the partially destroyed tent. Lauren looked at Kits who looked absolutely enamored with the dragon in front of her.

“Kits,” Where would they keep a dragon? With Hagrid? That’s probably where she was thinking of keeping a dragon. “How are we going to keep a dragon?” 

“I don’t know yet. But if we let him go he will die. It seems like they took him when dragons typically learn to fend for themselves. See, he’s not trying escape.” It would make sense to why the dragon wasn’t escaping. He didn’t know what he was doing. And Lauren trusted Kits with knowledge on dragons more than her own. 

“Okay.” Oliver held up the dead rabbits, dangling them in front of Horus. “Someone better tell me where we are taking him,” 

“Hagrid’s hut!” Lauren called it. 

The dragon perked up at the proposition of food in front of his face. Horus, as Kits named him, was faster than Lauren expected. Oliver too, as he shrieked and began to run in the direction of Hagrid’s hut. The dementors hadn’t yet filled the hole that Lauren created between their barrier, so Oliver had no problem running towards Hagrid’s. 

“We should follow him,” Cedric suggested, since if Oliver was tackled it would probably fall on them. Kits went ahead leaving Lauren and Cedric to walk awkwardly beside each other.

“I’m not trying to take your friend,” Cedric spoke quietly. Kits was in her own little world and didn’t hear the conversation behind her. Lauren looked at him in surprise.

”I know?” 

“You acted like I murdered your owl when you saw me,” Cedric glanced ahead at Kits and then focused back on Lauren. “I guess I assumed you were upset I was invited.”

”It’s fine now,” 

“I don’t want you to hate me.” He sighed after his statement. Lauren didn’t hate him, she didn’t even know him. 

“I’m sorry I grabbed you so abruptly, if that’s why you’re upset. And I’m not trying to take your friend away. Most of the time she rambles about you, anyways. And honestly, I don’t expect you to believe me. Everyone knows your dislike to Harry, what makes me any different? I probably do enjoy special privileges because of my popularity that you two don’t.” 

“But it’s tiring. Having to pretend to like everyone all the time. I fear that the minute I stop being the Cedric that everyone views me as then they’ll stop liking me. I guess that’s why I like her so much. She didn’t put me on a pedestal and view me as a preconception. I was finally a person. My life wasn’t laid out in front of me for the very first time. For the very first time I had a choice. I’m not trying to turn you two into Dumbledore. I want to help you both.” He let out a breath after ranting, shaking his head. “Sorry. Everything’s been a lot lately.” 

Lauren stared at him. He was right. To Lauren, all Cedric had been until this night was the Hufflepuff prefect. The popular guy in her house that had a bunch of friends and was one of the only notable members from her house. While she didn’t hate him — that was reserved for Harry’s rule breaking — she never saw him as a person. 

To her, to everyone, he was another popular, confident, charismatic jock. It was probably the reason Kits never even mentioned knowing him. Why would she? Until now, Lauren saw him exactly as everyone else did.

”It’s alright.”

Chapter Text

Watching Oliver get tackled by a dragon was on Lauren’s list of top entertaining moments. He was lying limp as Horus chomped down on the rabbit he was holding. Lauren and Kits took to banging on the door to alert Hagrid. The half giant emerged after a few moments of them knocking, rubbing his eyes and yawning. 

“Oh, what are ye doin’ out so late?” He looked around before ushering them inside the hut. 

“No, Professor Hagrid, we have something you’d want to see,” Kits ran back outside the hut and pointed to Oliver and Horus. Hagrid gasped and stumbled towards the creature, scanning over it and ignoring Oliver entirely.

”Look at this beauty,” He held his hand over the dragon’s head, nearly touching him. Horus turned his head and snapped at Hagrid’s hand. “Woah, there!” 

Oliver rolled out from underneath the dragon, sitting up and grabbing his back. “You sabotaged me.” He pointed to Kits who just smiled. “I have a Quidditch game tomorrow! No!” He threw a hand in the air at his realization. Lauren doubted that Kits was trying to sabotage Oliver, or maybe she was, but he practically volunteered himself to be the sacrifice. 

“A Eastern Bombaria.” Hagrid observed and nodded his head. “Very rare little thing.” 

“Could you watch him. He won’t fly away and I don’t want him to be eaten,” Kits begged and Hagrid immediately nodded.

”Why of course! Though, we’ll have to be careful. The Ministry is already contemplating poor Buckbeak for execution. If they find that I am keeping track of a dragon…” Hagrid could be in some major trouble. He didn’t have to voice it out loud for everyone to know it. 

“I promise I’ll come every day to see him! His name is Horus!” Kits carefully hugged the dragon around his neck. He stared at her, but didn’t seem to bite like he had at Hagrid. Actually, the dragon hadn’t tried to bite any of them until Hagrid.

”Maybe he fears adults,” It wasn’t the most outlandish idea. Adults were the ones who captured Horus. The dragon likely built up a fear to them. It explained why he snapped at Hagrid yet when Kits hugged the dragon he didn’t budge. 

“She may be right,” Hagrid placed a hand on his hip in contemplation. “It makes sense,” Wow, Lauren felt extremely proud of herself for figuring it out. “I’ll need some help then. If he won’t let me get near him then I won’t be able to feed him all the time.”

”I’ll help!” Kits eagerly volunteered from her position hugging Horus. Hagrid nodded and looked around the area before gesturing them to follow him into the forest near his hut. Kits was helping push Horus along, every so often leaning her body weight against his side when he would stop to get him moving again. 

Hagrid stopped at a cave like structure underneath the forest overgrowth. It was decently hidden from any wizard. Lauren hadn’t even seen it when he first pointed it out to them. It was sizable, three times larger than the dragon himself, and looked like it was carved out by a animal a long time ago.

“He can live in there. Out of the eyes of any wandering students and poachers. Nasty wizards they are. This way he can develop in peace.” 

Kits took the duty of trying to get the dragon to go inside the cave. He seemed to be happy in the cave, making a noise that sounded like a happy one rather than distressed.

”He’s going to be okay in a cave?” Kits asked and Hagrid nodded.

”Oh, he’ll love it in there! Bombaria usually live in cave structures with their colonies when they’re young.” Hagrid assured. While the rest of them followed Hagrid, Kits lingered behind for a few moments. 

“He will be okay. We will come check on him tomorrow,” Lauren reassured her and looped her arm with Kits’. The blonde nodded and reluctantly walked along with Lauren. It reminded Lauren of leaving her own dog, Milo. He was her best friend before Kits and she loved him more than anything. Lauren knew that she would die for her dog. Each year, leaving him for months on end to go to Hogwarts hurt her. 

“But what if he gets sad?” 

“Then we will bring him something to keep him entertained tomorrow,” The castle was approaching their view the more they walked. At least she wouldn’t have to find an excuse for her prefect, he was with them. 

“Alright, ye should be getting back inside. It’s not safe out, y’know.” Hagrid interrupted the conversation between the two. 

“See you tomorrow!” Kits waved to the professor, the four beginning their way back into Hogwarts. Lauren could feel herself getting more tired, but she knew she had to do some writing for Predicting Love before should could go to bed. And with how long it would take her to comprehend exactly what she wanted to write she wouldn’t get some sleep until early morning hours. 

“So, can we all agree that didn’t happen,” Oliver was the first to break the silence, looking down at the paper mask he still had in his hands. “Especially me drinking the alcohol. You did not see that,” Lauren pushed open the large door to the castle and held it for each of them to enter. 

“You four!” Professor McGonagall’s voice sounded from behind them. Lauren slowly turned her head, silently wishing for her to not be behind her and that she was just hearing things. “What are you doing?” 

“Professor McGonagall!” Lauren could see Cedric turn from the corner of her eye, smiling at her. “I was, uh, helping these students back to their common room. I found them in the courtyard…playing Quidditch!” 

“Mister Diggory, you should learn you are a horrendous liar,” He deflated almost immediately once she said that. “And I would be more inclined to figure out what you three were doing.” Here it comes: expulsion. Oh, her parents would be so disappointed.

”If it weren’t for Black’s break in you four would be in much more trouble. I will have you all four in detention tomorrow.” Wait, Lauren actually predicted right?! Sirius Black broke into Hogwarts? She assumed it was a fluke and that nobody would take her too seriously when it turned out to be false. 

“But Professor! The Quidditch game is tomorrow!” Oliver exclaimed and began to follow after her fleeing figure.

”Perhaps you should have thought through the consequences of your actions, Mister Wood, and you would be playing Quidditch. I’m not budging on my decision.” Oliver shot them all a glare as if he hadn’t been the one to insist on coming. “I’m sure you have a backup keeper that can substitute for you for one game.” 

“But Professor-“ 

“I said no, Mister Wood! I’ll be seeing you four with me for detention tomorrow and that’s final. You’re lucky I am not going to the headmaster about this.” That finally shut Oliver up. This would be Lauren’s first time in detention. She had always been one of the good students and never had to worry about things like detention or house points. Even Snape gave Hufflepuff points because she would insult Harry. 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

“I hate you all.” Oliver muttered as he took a seat in one of the desks in the transfiguration classroom. Lauren had got there first, not wanting to be late to her first detention. She didn’t have the immunity of Harry to make Professor McGonagall like her again. And she still had two hears left with her if she decided to continue in transfiguration. 

“You wanted to come,” Lauren replied and continue the lines they had been instructed to write. Lauren had done a decent bit before her hand started to ache and beg her to stop. Her mind wasn’t focused on the sheet of paper in front of her but to the previous night.

Sure, Lauren had always been gifted in divinations. She always seemed to be right on the money when it came to how many times Harry will fall or his involvement in anything big in Hogwarts. But actually tell the future? 

Foresight never really came to mind when Lauren thought of herself. But maybe, just maybe, her skill in divinations wasn’t just luck. Maybe she did actually know deep down what was going to happen. It’s not like she knew everything — she didn’t know McGonagall was going to catch them after freeing Horus. 

But she did know that Sirius Black was going to attack. She knew the picture of the Fat Lady would be torn apart. Lauren may not have admitted it then but she knew it would happen. 

How?

Foresight wasn’t common in the wizarding world. Divinations was a skill to learn, foresight was naturally given. Had she always been able to predict the future? Not completely. Lauren just always had this gut feeling when she was a kid. Like the time her sister ran her broom into the side of the house. She had a bad feeling something was going to happen to her sister and it did. 

She hadn’t been able to describe it back then. She was too young to actually understand what that gut feeling was or correlate it to the events that happened soon after. It’s not like Lauren knew what would happen in a day or two. It was more large events. Kits falling from her broom was a large event to her which explains why she could predict Slytherin’s loss. 

“I’m done,” Kits held out her paper to McGonagall who glanced over it before nodding. She didn’t even look back as she skipped out of there. 

“How?” Oliver stared in amazement at Kits’ lightning fast speed with getting the assignment done. 

“She wants to get to Horus,” Cedric whispered to him. “She spoke the entire potions class about the dragon.” Makes sense, Lauren had also heard the dragon rant before Cedric had to. She was just shocked McGonagall accepted her work so quickly. 

Lauren stared down at her own handwriting. Half the words didn’t even look like words to her anymore. At least her handwriting was more legible than Oliver’s. Lauren sent out her condolences to the teachers that had to grade his essays.

 Black is in the castle. 

So he didn’t take out Harry, just attacked Ron. Maybe he was trying to get to Harry through Ron. It made the most sense, Ron was Harry’s best friend and Harry obviously wouldn’t let his friend get murdered on his account. 

It’s not like Lauren was surprised he was targeting Harry. It was Harry. If something in the school wasn’t involving him it was a shock. He was the ultimate attention attractor. Plus, Black sold out his parents from what Lauren had heard her parents say about him. 

“I’m done too!” It was time to test out her theory. 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Kits ran out towards the cave in a hurry. She had spent the entire night and day thinking about Horus. What if he was hungry? Or lonely? Or sad? Kits didn’t want Horus to be sad. 

She slid down the slope and ducked under the vines that guarded the cave. The dragon was still inside to her relief. Kits nearly jumped for joy when she saw that Horus was just sleeping. His talons were twitching slightly like a dog when they were dreaming. Kits crouched low, walking over to sit crossed legged in front of the dragon. 

She sat like that for a while. Just soaking in the presence of the dragon. When he awoke, which was quite slowly, he gave a sleepy yawn to Kits before staring at her. According to what Kits knew about dragons, he was determining if she were a threat or not. 

Finally the dragon rolled on its side and stretched his back limbs. Kits smiled and waited for Horus to finish. He stood up curiously and began to follow behind her as she explored the cave.

It was quite a cool cave in Kits’ opinion.

”Do you like your home?” She wasn’t going to get a response from the dragon, but she didn’t mind. The dragon just stopped beside her and stared at her. “I like it too.” 

Kits spent the afternoon playing with Horus. She learned that the dragon was in the mimicking stage: a stage characterized by the young dragon mimicking the other actions of its kind to learn how to be a dragon. When she jumped, he tried to jump. Where she went, he went. When she spun in a circle, he spun in a circle. It was a game of Simon Says without the tricking. 

She sat there for hours. It didn’t feel like hours. The only indication was the dimming sky and the wind growing colder. 

Kits never had her own pet. It was always her father’s or her sister’s. Never hers. Her owl was her family’s since they insisted that they needed it to keep in touch with her. She had never been allowed to get a cat no matter how desperately she tried. Her father despised cats. 

But for once something was hers to love. Her father couldn’t tell her to not love Horus if he didn’t know the dragon existed. He couldn’t tell her who was worth her time and who to stay away from. Kits believed in her own decision making. 

The dragon curled up into a ball and began to snore, which is when Kits made her escape back to the castle. The sky had turned a navy color reflecting just how late she had stayed out. She stumbled through the forest and back towards the warmth of the castle. Winter was drawing near. 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Predicting Love

Not even I could predict Oliver Wood missing a Quidditch match. His absence seemed to reflect on Gryffindor with their loss. 

However, I do have a prediction about the next Hogsmeade weekend. I may have mentioned it last issue, but I am certain that a certain someone will manage to find a way to Hogsmeade. And that someone’s presence may make the day of a blonde haired boy a bit worse than usual. 

- L.L

Chapter Text

Lauren didn’t think she was going to go to Hogsmeade for the weekend trip, there was just nothing she needed there and it was a foot of snow outside from the previous night. But Kits nagged her into going with her to Hogsmeade. 

So she was bundled up in her house’s colors and her purple beanie as she trudged through the white powder covering the grounds of Hogwarts and the surrounding area. Lauren loved the snow usually, the cold was infinitely better than any bit of humidity. But it was perfect when she was curled up with a book. Not when she was outside and had to actually deal with the elements. 

Kits was hardly dressed for the cold. She only wore a sweater and skirt, the usual uniform, with no scarf or hat. Lauren knew she was hot most of the time, but this is extreme. 

“How are you not freezing to death?” She asked and Kits looked down at her hands before shrugging.

”I’m always hot,” The two walked into the quaint little town after what was forever. Lauren underestimated the walk from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade sometimes. 

“Anything we are looking for?” She hadn’t yet found out how to tell Kits about her supposed foresight. She didn’t even know if she was correct in thinking she had it. She hadn’t yet proved it was actually foresight yet. It had been weighing on her up until this trip, the moment of truth to if her foresight was true or not. 

Hogsmeade trips were decently spread out. Usually Lauren would opt out of them once she went the first time. The novelty wore off after a bit. Lauren was hoping she’d hear about Harry showing up or something, not actually go herself. But she was here now. 

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Cho walking with Harry, alone might she add. Lauren didn’t keep too much track of anyone’s relationships, but the last thing she ever expected was to see Cho Chang and Harry Potter on a date.

”She looks so pretty,” She complimented when Kits noticed who she was looking at. “The new newspaper going around school was talking about how Harry was interested in her. They’re like magicians.” 

“We are all wizards,” 

“Right. But they seem to know everything! I wonder how they do it,” Lauren felt a twinge of guilt for not telling her. Kits had a right to know and Lauren hated the idea of keeping something from her. Especially something as minor as this. 

“Hey, Kits.” She looked at her best friend. “I write the predications.” Kits just stared at her after she admitted it. Lauren felt an entire weight lift off her chest at just telling her. She honestly didn’t know why she didn’t tell Kits sooner.

”That’s so cool!” She wasn’t even fazed or mad that Lauren didn’t mention it to her before. There had been a couple editions out by now and Lauren could see how the popularity of the paper skyrocketed. 

She didn’t expect Kits to be so excited by the fact that she wrote it. Lauren just wrote whatever she predicted, it wasn’t that big of a deal. 

“How do you know what’s going to happen?” Oh, there was the question that Lauren didn’t want to answer. She didn’t want to lie and say she had foresight and it turned out she didn’t. But she couldn’t just say it was a lucky guess or coincidence. It wasn’t. Even Lauren could see that. 

“I use divinations,” It was the safest truth. She did use divinations to make predictions. But it wasn’t just divinations. Kits began to ramble about how amazing her writing was while she entered one of the shops. Lauren was happy to escape the freezing cold and take in the beautiful AC. 

She might just marry the air conditioning unit, that’s how thankful she was.

“You!” Oliver accused and stormed up to the two of them, pointing at the both of them. He couldn’t decided which one to point at so he just pointed in the middle. “You two made us lose!” 

“We did no such thing!” Lauren retorted and looked over to Kits who nodded. “You wanted to tag along so badly-“ 

“He said it was Quidditch related! That was not Quidditch,” Before Oliver could expose exactly what the four had done, Lauren grabbed his arm, dragging him outside and far away from everyone. Kits followed behind her, ignoring Oliver’s protests. Though he could definitely break free from Lauren’s grip on his sweater if he wanted to.

”We didn’t say it was Quidditch related, and secondly you were sworn to secrecy.” 

“I was not,” He did however lower his voice as Lauren had done. “All I was told was there was Quidditch. And I’ve kept the dragon a good secret. It’s hard to explain to a bunch of Gryffindors why I missed the game.” 

“What did you tell them?” Kits asked curiously and Oliver pretended to projectile vomit. That was enough of an explanation for Lauren, thank you. 

“We don’t need a demonstration.” She was about to say something else before she noticed random footprints in the snow. It wouldn’t be unusual given how many people were in Hogsmeade, but the issue was they were created right in front of her yet no person was there. 

Huh?

She slowly began to follow after the footprints to the other’s confusion. But Lauren didn’t have time to elaborate. Whoever owned the footsteps weren’t very discreet or worried about someone catching them. Footsteps in the snow were easy to track and given how a townsfolk randomly “fell over”, Lauren was more than suspicious. It could be another Weasley prank. She had seen far too many of those. 

But this was different. It hadn’t yet exploded colors in someone’s face or turned their socks multicolored. In her search to follow the path she nearly missed Professor McGonagall and the Minister walk into the Three Broomsticks.

”What are we doing?” Kits caught up to her side and glanced at the Three Broomsticks. Lauren pointed to the Three Broomsticks.

”I’ve got this,” Oliver insisted and stepped in front of the two, walking inside. He greeted one of the bartenders with a decent amount of familiarity. Should Lauren have been so shocked that he frequented here? No. She really shouldn’t.

”Hey, Landon, you wouldn’t happen to know of any free rooms to rent for a hour?” The bartender, Landon, looked to a list of names before answering him in a gruff voice. He sounded like he smoked three packs a day. 

”Sure, thing. Room one is open for a hour. You ladies have fun, alright?” Lauren cringed internally and she was a bit shocked to see Oliver’s own face of cringe as they climbed the stairs. Once at the door he jiggled the handle and opened it.

”Sorry, mates. Only way I know on getting up here. Not that I use it! I know it from some of the other guys!” He quickly added once he realized how it sounded. Oliver sounded repulsed at the thought in enough honesty that Lauren believed him. 

The walls were incredibly thin. That’s when it all came together in Lauren’s mind. Oliver must have seen the two climb the stairs and thought they could listen in from one of the rooms.

”He didn’t make you pay?” Kits asked, 

“Landon? Nah, he’s a good one. He doesn’t mind letting me off with a few more butterbeers than I paid for.” Lauren put her ear against the wall as the two spoke, trying to pick up on the bits of conversation that they were having.

”…You know that he’s after to finish what You-Know-Who started,” That sounded like the Minister, definitely not their transfiguration professor. 

“Dumbledore has taken precautions regarding Mister Potter and his safety,” Unsurprising the main concern seemed to be Harry. It sounded like Fudge was worried about Sirius. 

“And the castle being broken into? I just don’t want to see any harm come because of this.” 

“It seems your dementors haven’t been able to keep him out,” McGonagall challenged, the second portion of her statement muffled due to the wall. Lauren didn’t get how the two behind her were still talking about the bar or whatever conversation they turned to. 

“I just fear for the boy. He doesn’t even know that his own godfather sold out his parents. That’s the worse part, truly.” Oh, that was new information. Not even Lauren would have guessed that. She momentarily felt a bit bad for Harry, but then her usual resentment built back up. What about Ron Weasley. Word was that Black had attacked him, not Harry. Shouldn’t they be concerned about Ron too? Or any of the rest of their students. 

“Did you get what you needed? Because we really need to go,” Oliver glanced at a watch on his wrist and then the door. “I’d rather not get detention with Professor McGonagall and miss anymore Quidditch.” 

Lauren agreed on the fact she’d rather not make getting detention a habit. The three carefully exited the room, making sure the door shut quietly, before fleeing the Three Broomsticks like it had been haunted. 

“He’s Harry’s godfather. Sirius Black,” Lauren said once out of earshot of anyone that she could see. They walked the path back towards Hogwarts once more.

“That’s one unlucky family. Poor guy,” Oliver commented. 

“But it still doesn’t explain why Ron was attacked. Other than that he was Harry’s friend. But how would Black know that?” Without insider knowledge that is. And Lauren had a hard time believing that Black had a spy inside the castle. Not even Draco is that pathetic. 

“They’re always together,” Kits looked at Oliver for confirmation, who nodded. “I see him more with Ron than Hermione.” 

She could be right, but something just felt off about this entire situation. It wasn’t adding up in the way that it should. Lauren would usually leave it to the Gryffindor three to figure out what was happening. Ever since they joined Hogwarts they did that. 

“Thanks for the help, Oliver,” Lauren said when he mentioned heading to the Quidditch field to get some more practice in. Lauren briefly wondered if he had anything else he did besides that. But the only option her mind came up with was to do with drinking, so she didn’t ask. 

“Yeah, whenever.” He waved and ran off in the direction of one of his fellow players. Kits waved back at him excitedly while Lauren only gave a small wave. Winter break would be arriving soon as it neared closer to Christmas. Lauren’s parents had insisted that she should come home and so when McGonagall has asked if she would stay or not she said she would head home. Kits always stayed at Hogwarts claiming it was easier than heading home to America. And she got to see her dog.

”You’ll be okay. If Black attacks, he will attack Harry,” That was more to reassure herself rather than Kits. Lauren knew Kits was perfectly capable of defending herself whether it be with an exploding potion or one of the spells she knew. But it was a bit nerve wracking. Last year it was the snake. This year a murder. If a astroid doesn’t hit Hogwarts next year, Lauren would be shocked. 

“I know. And you will to.”

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Kits had finally bugged Cedric after three days of nonstop pestering in potions to come with her to see Horus. For the special occasion, visiting Horus definitely not Cedric coming along, Kits got all dressed up in her large brown coat and white snow boots. The snow was still lingering around Hogwarts making it look like something out of a book, and the cold was finally beginning to get to her. 

Cedric, who had underdressed for the cold, was walking beside her with only his school sweater. His face was bright red from windburn and his arms wrapped tightly around his body. 

“Here,” She took off the Slytherin colored hat, handing it to him. “Now you won’t be as cold.” 

Kits was always hot, anyways. Even if it was a bit cold for her, she was still better off than most people. Cedric hesitated before taking it and putting it on his head.

”Honorary Slytherin,” He said and flicked the ball on the end of the hat. Kits found herself smiling at him. She hadn’t realized until now how much she liked having him around. 

“Yay! Now, to Horus!” Kits couldn’t afford to think about fantasies or possibilities if she weren’t…well, Kits. Nothing in life would ever return her affections beside the animals she adored so very much. 

The dragon perked up when she entered the cave, Cedric slowly trailing behind her. Kits had taught Horus how to greet people using mimicry. She waited for the dragon to lower his head so she could kiss it, then the dragon pressed his head on top of hers to “return it”. 

“See! Look! He can spin too.” Kits spun in a circle, the dragon following her lead and spinning around. Cedric was clapping for the both of them, so Kits bowed when she finished (and wad too dizzy to continue). 

Horus cautiously approached Cedric and sniffed him before placing his head on top of Cedric’s.

”What’s he doing?” 

“Giving you a kiss.” 

“Oh. Lovely,” Cedric looked up when Horus stepped back and joined Kits in sitting on the cave floor. She was just watching the dragon jump around the cave and stretch his wings. Hagrid was in change of feeding Horus, leaving him rabbits in the front of the cave. That way Kits didn’t have to worry about supplying a growing dragon with food. 

“Are you staying over Christmas?” She asked, hoping that someone wouldn’t be returning home. That she wouldn’t be completely lonely (besides Harry who usually didn’t go home either). 

“No, I’m heading home to spend Christmas with my family.” Oh. She tried to keep the disappointment from her face, but obviously Kits wasn’t too good at it. “We can always write! Here,” Cedric looked around the cave and sighed. “Remind me to give you my address in potions. I don’t have paper.” 

“You won’t be too busy?” 

“Nah, my mum usually bombards me with questions the first day only. After that I usually just relax over Christmas.”

“My owl is slow. And my family uses him and always forgets to send Hubert back.” 

“Then you can use mind to send the letter back.” 

“Okay. But what if I miss you?” 

“Then…I’ll figure out how to apparate.” Cedric replied and looked away from the jumping dragon back to her. 

“And if you end up in Soviet Russia on accident?” Kits asked and he thought for a moment.

”I won’t. But the slight chance I do, I’ll make sure to grab some vodka for Oliver before I leave.” Usually it was just Lauren leaving for two weeks and leaving Kits to suffer with the few that stayed behind. But now it felt like everyone except Harry was leaving. 

At least she had Horus to rely on. The dragon wasn’t going anywhere, curled up beside the two.

Chapter Text

Lauren hardly realized that the two weeks for Christmas break were up until she was seated on the red train again. Most of her time was spent with her dog. Nothing too memorable happened other than Christmas and the new year beginning. She bit into the bar of chocolate her father sent along with her as she wondered what had changed at the castle. Perhaps nothing much. She wondered how Kits was doing, Horus too. 

She never got much time to write to her in the two weeks. Something Lauren regretted as she stared out the window of the train cabin. Her parents had asked how she was preparing for her O.W.Ls to which Lauren had no good answer. She had been so focused on everything else she momentarily forgot about school. Concocting how to get a dragon free had taken up most of Lauren’s time. 

She looked down at the sheet of paper seated in her lap that she had been drawing on. It was of the small reptile that she learned was called a patronus: each person had a different one which reflected their unique values and personality. At least according to a book that Lauren picked up when she went to the library. 

It always seemed to look back at her, inviting Lauren to follow it. Lauren didn’t know where it would take her. Or what it would show her. She didn’t even know if it would simply disappear as it always did. 

“Trolley!” The woman stopped at the door of her cabin. No other person was in the cabin except her. Cho was sitting with her Ravenclaw friends for the train ride back, but promised Lauren she would make time to hang out with her soon. Lauren believed it. 

She slid the door open and stared at the cart full of goodies. Bright candy, chocolate frogs, any child’s delight. But Lauren already had her chocolate from her father which tasted a tad bit sweeter than any chocolate from the train. 

“Thank you, but I’m good.” 

She shut the door as quietly as possible, going back to pondering over her patronus. Lauren had been so distracted she forgot to teach Kits how she did it. She’d have to show her later. 

Liv had approached her before they boarded the train two weeks ago, asking her to finish up another piece for Predicting Love. It became even more infamous after Lauren had predicted Black tearing up the Fat Lady’s dress. 

It was odd having people whisper about her without knowing it is her. She had heard all kinds of outlandish rumors: she was a spy for Black, that she had “the force” (whatever that was), and that she was actually Dumbledore and knew Black was entering the castle. 

Jokes on them, they were all incorrect. It seemed that none of them were ever going to guess foresight. 

The hours passed slower than usual. Lauren could finally see the landscape shift to the familiar one of Hogwarts. The thought of impending O.W.Ls lingered on her mind as she disembarked from the Hogwarts Express and joined her fellow students to head back to Hogwarts for their second semester. 

She hadn’t told her parents that she had gotten detention. No way would they have let something like that slide. And McGonagall didn’t report it to them, so Lauren wasn’t obligated to explain why she had received it. 

The castle was the exact same as two weeks ago, no destroyed buildings from Sirius Black or anything. Lauren could probably count the amount of changes that took place at the castle in her absence. 

“Laurie!” Lauren was nearly tackled in a tight hug from Kits when she got the chance. She must have really missed her to be giving her a hug like this. 

“How was your Christmas?” She asked and released Lauren from her tight hold.  

“Great! How was spending all your days with Harry?” She joked and Kits shook her head quickly. It was clear that the experience had scarred her somehow. Then again it was Harry. 

“…Fun,” She decided and walked with Lauren towards her common room. Dinner had been a pleasant surprise and left Lauren quite full. “Nothing really happened. Nothing bad,” Kits added. 

“That’s good,” Lauren stopped at the wine cellar door that was the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. Kits stared at her for a moment before waving her off to bed. 

Lauren walked into the warmly lit room, finding her room after heading through the crowd of people reacquainting themselves with each other. Lauren entered her room and laid down on the bed, curling up to her favorite Sherlock Holmes novel. It was good to be back.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Kits stared at the neatly packed letters tucked away in the corner of her trunk. Fourteen of them in total, each for a day of the week over break. To be honest, Kits didn’t expect a single letter from Cedric over the break. Most of the time everyone was too busy with family to actually think about her back at Hogwarts. Lauren would send the occasional one when she got the free time, but she spent most of her time with her family. Kits didn’t take offense to it. 

Lauren valued her time with her family. She spoke constantly about her dog or stories of her mother’s job in the muggle world. Kits was the only person that knew that Lauren was a half blood and that her mother worked a muggle job. Lauren said it was just in case everything fell apart in the wizarding world. 

She had mentioned being lonely offhandedly. Kits didn’t expect for Cedric to actually remember her words outside of the first few hours of hearing them. Most people forgot what she said after a while. The brain only remembers things it finds important. 

Maybe her words were important to him.

It made Kits feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside when she reread the letters for the fourth time. She remembered when she went to the owlery to check from a letter from her family, a postcard or something, and instead found a stack of seven letters for her. One for each day of the week. Tied under a string was a small note:

“This way you can never be lonely if you have something to read.”

Kits had to hold herself back from reading each one immediately. Waking up became one of the best things about the break. Not Christmas and the few gifts she would get sent, not eating food over the break, but the excitement from opening a new letter each morning. 

They all were pretty long in length. Kits didn’t feel like any of them were written because Cedric felt obligated to. Some contained stories from his childhood relating to the holidays, others told her about what his family did over Christmas. It had been five years since Kits celebrated Christmas with her family. She didn’t even know what her own family did anymore to celebrate. 

It made her feel like she belonged somewhere. 

Kits hadn’t been too hopeful that she would get a second batch of letters for the second week of break. But she sat at the owlery for hours in vain hope for the black spotted owl that had delivered the letters the first time would return. And after that initial hour of waiting, the owl dropped off another seven letters for Kits. 

Those ones had detailed more of what Cedric had actually done over the break. His family had taken a winter vacation to Manchester, just the wizard portion, and he went to a show with his parents. Cedric described it as “interesting”. Just interesting.

Kits had hidden the letters away before the rest of her housemates returned to the room. She couldn’t bear the thought that one could get her hands on it and ruin them. Kits felt it was her responsibility to keep them safe. 

Kits has never felt this warm in her life. 

Lauren made her happy and was Kits’ world. She was her everything. Her best friend, her only friend, her support, and for the longest time the only person that could stand her presence. Being around Lauren was a different happiness. It was familiarity of being around someone likeminded in a way. They weren’t nearly the same, lacking the same experiences and memories. But in a sense they were similar. Outcasts in their own ways.

Oliver was her friend, yes. In a way they could be considered friends. But he never sought her out, he never really was the one to actually want to hang out with her, unlike Lauren. 

Cedric was different. The happiness his presence filled her wasn’t the same as Lauren did. They were both so different fundamentally. Kits didn’t see it until now. She had fooled herself into seeing him the same way as Lauren, or at least think of it the same way. 

Kits didn’t find herself unattractive or anything, yet she knew that no man in Hogwarts would ever date her. No person in the castle would ever find her in that way. Her blood status didn’t help either. Who would want to date the muggle born? The girl that grew up in a world they saw as inferior to their own? 

She stared at the trunk once more, eyes tearing up. Kits didn’t feel as if she had a right to even like someone like Cedric romantically. Someone as inferior as Kits didn’t deserve the right to that. 

Who would want to be with Katherine Nyberg? 

Kits should be happy with friendship. Kits shouldn’t ask for more, asking for more pushes people away from her. She would be grateful for what she had and not be distracted by silly feelings that would never be reciprocated. 

She was a selfish person to ask for anything more than a friend. She was a burden to those around her. She was a muggle born witch. She didn’t understand the nuances of the wizarding world. She had to have everything explained to her like the outsider she was. 

Just because she could never have her feelings reciprocated didn’t mean she wouldn’t treasure the letters. 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Kits felt saddened when classes started up. The usual routine felt so monotonous at her acceptance of her position in life. She wanted to shut down and block everyone out, but that wasn’t fair to the world. Kits had no right to processing her emotions as those emotions were inherently wrong. 

She had always been like this. Selfish. Asking for more than she should. Kits could never be satisfied with what she had, could she? Always asking for more. 

Kits tried to keep everything as usual. She couldn’t simply ignore the world because of her own feelings. No matter how much she wanted to. 

Potions class was the most exhausting. Probably because it was hardest to ignore the boy beside her. Kits was tempted to ask Snape to move seats, but she feared that Cedric would think he did something wrong.

Which he didn’t. It was all Kits fault. 

Kits wondered if Laurie had it easier. She would never be plagued by feelings ruining friendships or having to worry about her right to feel things. Sometimes Kits wished she were Laurie. She at least knew what she was in life. 

“Did I do something wrong?” Oh, Kits hadn’t expected that on a Wednesday. After two weeks of being back she had done her absolute best to continue to act like she always had. Even if she wanted nothing more than to cry herself to sleep. Kits didn’t have that luxury in the Slytherin dorms. 

“No,” She answered truthfully. Because he hadn’t done anything wrong. It was always Kits. 

“Oh, you’ve been acting…different. I thought it was me,” Cedric sighed of relief and looked back at the potion Snape had them brewing. 

“I’m sorry,” Kits had been distracted in almost every class. It was a plague that followed her around. Or maybe she was the plague. Draco was right, Kits usually was the problem. 

“Huh?” He may not know why she was apologizing, never would either, but Kits had to apologize. “Why-“ 

“I just felt I should.” She shouldn’t even be at this school, to be honest. Kits shouldn’t be a witch. She was a muggle. Nothing she did would change that. She would never magically learn or understand everything about the wizarding world.

”I didn’t mind that you didn’t write back. You were busy and you said that your owl is always in use-“ It wasn’t that, it wasn’t even close to that.

”No, I wasn’t apologizing for that.” It would be easier to just accept rejection now rather than wait for the inevitable consequences if she continued to be Cedric’s friend. “I’m apologizing because I shouldn’t feel like I do. And you’ve probably heard this a hundred times from girls who are prettier, smarter, richer, or who are much more liked than me. You’re Cedric Diggory.” 

“So?” He cut her rant/speech short.

”So I was apologizing for that. I want to be your friend! I do!” Kits didn’t want to sound so selfish that she didn’t value his friendship. That this was all just some evil scheme or something. 

“I like being your friend too. I’m just confused on why you’re apologizing.” 

“Because I shouldn’t like you.” He stared at her after she said that with bewilderment. Was it so offensive to him that someone like Kits could possibly like him. “So, this is my apology. Officially.” She added after a minute of silence. 

“It’s not right of me. I should be happy with being your friend, and I am! I always have been selfish. I’m sorry.” She was keeping her voice as low as possible in case some students were trying to listen in. “Thank you for helping us free Horus. And for being my friend. I really can’t express how sorry I am.” 

Kits turned back to her cauldron and focused on the words on the paper. Potions were just potions. No need to worry about the fallout. 

“I’ll move seats next class. I’ll ask Professor Snape about it,” She didn’t dare look at Cedric in fear of seeing him with disgust painted on his face. 

“And I liked the letters. They were very nice.” He finally snapped out of his daze and looked over at her. Kits was forced to look at him as well; a blank look had adorned his face. It was almost worse than seeing him disgusted. He simply had no thoughts in his mind about her. She was that insignificant that her confession was that forgettable. 

“You don’t have to change seats!” He quickly responded. “It’s fine, really!” Was it too much of a hassle for him? Or would it tarnish his reputation in some way? He could always just say he rejected her, which was likely the blow Cedric would deliver next. 

“I like you too.” 

Chapter Text

Cedric was ceremoniously smacked on his head with a book from Snape when he declared a bit too loudly his returns of affection. Or it was the fact he had done it right when Snape walked past their table to observe the potion they were supposed to be working on. 

“Five points from Hufflepuff for dating outside your year. Five points from Hufflepuff for dating outside your house. Ten points from Hufflepuff for confessing in my class.” Snape went on and on, all while Cedric hung his head so he didn’t get smacked again.

”Five points from Slytherin for horrible taste,” Kits looked up at Snape who then went and removed that, “Five points to Slytherin for completing the assigned potion.” He walked off to abuse other children after berating the two. 

Kits was too giddy to worry about the throbbing in the back of her head from Snape’s book. It wasn’t as a hard as he hit Cedric, but Kits still felt like she was going to get some form of headache. 

“What now?” Kits asked and watched Cedric rub the back of his head. Kits didn’t expect the response and hadn’t mentally prepared for what that actually meant for her. She had seen her older sister, Nicole, be asked out hundreds of times over the summer. The classic ask for the home phone number to call her, an invitation to take her to the movies, and the infamous beach lifeguard. 

But it wasn’t the same for wizards. Or at least Kits assumed that. 

If this were Nicole she would know what to do immediately. Her confidence was never ending and her relationship experience exceeded Kits’ lack of experience. 

“Do wizards have CPS?” She then asked once Cedric didn’t respond and was still hunched over in pain from his head. 

“Huh?” 

“You know, some place to call if adults are abusing kids,” It sounded like they could not call wizard CPS on Snape for a first date.

”Not that I know of,” He stayed in position for a few moments before lifting his head up to stare blearily at the unfinished potion in the cauldron in front of him. Kits had finished hers before launching into her speech earlier while he hadn’t even started. 

“So, what are we going to do now?” Kits repeated and Cedric looked at her for a moment. Maybe he was shocked she had no idea of what to do next. Or that her speech was so short sighted she couldn’t have imagined he would even want to be her friend let alone reciprocate her feelings. 

When Kits had been younger, she and Nicole and dreamt of one day having a boyfriend or going on a date. Her parents never went on dates, they never hugged or kissed each other. Kits had never even heard them utter that they loved each other. 

Going to Hogwarts was the finality that she would end up like her mother. Her father, the stern one in the relationship, took most of his problems out on her mother. She had spent many summer car rides in silence, watching her mother get screamed at. 

They never talked it out. Never talked it over. Her mother told her once to never marry a man like her father. Kits was half certain she’d never get married at all.

She didn’t like being hugged by her father. Kits could never refuse it — refusing would just prompt him to interrogate her. It was why she hated being touched. It reminded her of those fleeting words that held no weight said before she’d leave for each school year. 

Her father always said she had a home back in America. Kits didn’t think so. 

She wished so desperately to escape it at times. The constant cycle of hatred that plagued each conversation. Her sister so easily could pretend it wasn’t a problem. But her track record of having multiple boyfriends, all of which she eventually would ghost in fear of getting attached, proved that it wasn’t just Kits who had been affected by their behavior. 

Nicole’s search for perfection was an empty hope to fill whatever she missed at home. In more times than not she wrote to Kits about how she was wanted to be far away from them. More times than not it was her at the end of harsh words. Kits had seen it during the summer. 

“Well, most of the time I’ll take the girl somewhere. But what do you want to do?” 

What did she want to do? 

“I want to go out with you. With Horus too.” 

“We can do that.” 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Over the next few days, Kits debated telling Lauren about the recent developments. But the more she thought about it the more she decided against it. Lauren had a disgusted face in the past whenever couples were seen hugging or kissing in public. At the beginning of their friendship she had never seemed enthusiastic towards talking about men with Kits, to the point where Kits eventually stopped talking about it.

She never meant to seem disgusted, Kits could see she tried her best to continue talking about men even if it made her uncomfortable. 

Kits didn’t want to put her in a position like she had in the beginning of her friendship. Lauren didn’t deserve to have that burden, and she didn’t want to lose her as a friend. 

For once she wrote a letter to Nicole without being prompted to. Nicole attended a college in Florida, far from the family home in southern Georgia, and the two usually never communicated except when something happened with their parents. 

She and Nicole got along best when they were talking about their parents. They both shared the same opinions on them. Nicole was the one to give Kits her nickname when they were little kids. 

“Dear Nicole,

I supposed we both never thought the time would come when I would be asked out. I didn’t know who to talk to this about… Laurie is busy with her own things and I don’t think she would want to help out with this sort of thing. 

I should open by asking you how you are. How is the beach? Been bitten by a shark yet? 

It finally happened. A boy actually likes me. I’m not joking this time, or delusional. He told me. He wants to take me somewhere nice. I miss you. Sometimes. 

Katherine.”

She folded up the letter and handed it to the grey spotted owl she fondly named Hubert. The owl gave her a sideways look before flapping and disappearing from the owlery. Kits was seated against the cobblestone walls, staring at the owls (and single pigeon that was Lauren’s). 

She doubted her sister would respond. Especially not in time. But it was nice to be able to tell someone, even if that someone was her sister. 

Kits had never mentioned her family problems to Laurie. Besides the fact that bringing it up was uncomfortable, she didn’t even know her home situation. Kits had everything she needed: food, water, a roof, and plenty of resources. She was in no terrible situation. 

It didn’t ease the empty feeling she tried so hard to fill. It didn’t take away the memories that she would remember at the middle of the night. As far as Kits knew, Laurie could be in a much worse situation she didn’t share. 

She turned her head to the small windows for the owls to move in and out. Kits could see the clouds covering the sun making the grounds of Hogwarts shaded. 

Kits stared at the ink smeared on her left hand and the other letters she had scratched sending her sister. The quill was set down beside her, the feeling of loneliness engulfing her. She couldn’t even hear the footsteps coming up the stairs until Cho Chang was standing face to face with her. 

She must have looked sad, even if that was the farthest thing from describing how Kits felt. She had never spoken to Cho in the past, yet the girl sat beside her in her silence. 

“Mine is named Hubert.” Kits looked to the missing owl, now traveling to deliver an unread letter. 

“Mine is Beiye.” Cho looked to the white owl who was perched on one of the wooden stands. Her soft features were twisted sympathetically. Almost pityingly. “You’re friends with Lauren,” Is that why she stopped? It didn’t line up with what everyone said about Cho. She was apparently very kind.

”Yes,” 

“I came up here to send a letter to my Yéye. He always loves to hear how my year at Hogwarts is going,” Cho explained and showed her the neatly crafted letter. Kits didn’t read it, it wasn’t her business. But she could see how much care was taken in by the neat lettering in a foreign language.

”I sent one to my sister. I wanted her help on something.” 

“I could try to help you, if you’d like of course.” It had always been Kits who had to start the friendship. She was the one who had continued to talk to Lauren until it became a regular occurrence. She had been the one to continue pester Oliver and Cedric until she became a normalcy. Nobody had ever offered it for free.

It was a nice feeling. 

“Sure.” 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Telling Cho the entire story was surprisingly easy. Having someone who would just listen without knowing Kits made it easier for her to explain. Kits didn’t tell her all of her reservations, mostly to do with her family, but just excused it as she didn’t know how to date. Cho was thankfully going through something similar with Harry. 

The two were sitting in the astronomy tower, Cho had said she found the hidden spot in her second year. She had started by explaining her own issues with her crush over Harry. Kits had never had this kind of “girl talk” before. Laurie didn’t talk about boys or crushes and that was okay. It was simply a different experience. 

“-And I want to like him. But it’s like I’m in competition with his friends for his time.” Cho finished and sighed. “Sorry, I know this is supposed to be me helping you, but I had to get a outsiders perspective. My friends say it isn’t worth it. That I should just drop it now before I’m far too deep.”

Kits wasn’t in the same boat as her. She was far too deep already. 

“Do you still like him?” 

“That doesn’t erase his problems.” Cho turned to her and shook her head. “So, explain to me what the problem is.” 

“I fear I’ll end up like my sister. She’s dated before. Every single time she ends up ghosting the guy or breaking up without a explanation because she fears getting attached.” Kits left out most of the real information. Like the fear she would end up like her mother did. 

“But you’re not your sister?” 

“I know.” Kits and Nicole were wildly different people according to everyone else. Her parents, neighbors, early school teachers. But that still didn’t differentiate their environments enough. What if Kits turned out to be like Nicole too?

She didn’t want to hurt Cedric. 

“You shouldn’t worry. You know yourself better then anyone,” And that’s what Kits feared. But Cho was trying for someone who didn’t know her very well. And she appreciated it. Kits could see why Lauren hung out with her. 

“Can we be friends?” Kits asked suddenly. She didn’t know if Cho would accept or not. She had plenty of friends after all and could be doing this only because she was Laurie’s friend. 

“Of course! I’d love to have you as a friend!” 

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

Kits didn’t know what to wear on a date and the lack of context clues didn’t help her out much. She eventually decided on one of her nicer dresses she wore in winter: a blue flower dress with a small cut out right above her midsection. Kits always liked to wear dresses, more than she did pants or the school assigned skirts. 

She didn’t know if that was too fancy or not for a first date. Her sister would, but Nicole was thousands of miles away and wouldn’t have time to get her input in. 

The time and location had been set up by Cedric in potions earlier in the week. She hadn’t known what they were doing, he refused to tell and would physically turn away when she tried to interrogate him. 

She was told to meet him outside the castle on a Friday evening. She had never snuck out besides when they had freed the dragon. Kits hurried out of the Slytherin dungeon and to the courtyard he had mentioned to meet him at. Kits couldn’t help but feel like she would vomit out of pure nerves. But the giddiness also hadn’t left her body from when he gave her a time and place. 

Was it normal to feel this happy over a person? Over something so little like this? Kits assumed so. 

She spotted his crouched behind a wall, which was a funny position given he was a prefect and could have an excuse for being out so late, but Kits decided to not comment on it. She crouched beside Cedric and waited for him to notice and shrieked at the top of his lungs. 

“I thought you were McGonagall! Or Snape!” He put a hand over his heart and let out a long breath. After a moment he regained his bearings and smiled at Kits sheepishly. 

Kits didn’t know much about first dates, but the last thing she expected was to be led to Horus’s cave. She didn’t argue it, looking around curiously as they entered the cave. 

Inside the cave was a basket and Horus. 

“You said you wanted it to be with Horus. Ta da!” Cedric made a dramatic wave to Horus and the basket. “Plus, it was the first thing I thought of. No pressure.” 

Kits looked at the basket and then back to Cedric once more. She hadn’t thought about what she ever wanted a first date. A picnic wasn’t something her sister would have picked out. Yet Kits liked it. 

“I like it.” She sat down and looked over at the dragon who was snoring peacefully. Cedric unveiled the contents inside the basket: a few pieces of cake smuggled from dinner earlier in the night and an apple. 

“Why the apple?” 

“For Horus, in case he wakes up. But I don’t think he will,” Cedric glanced over at the sleeping dragon. Kits took a bit of the cake, the night turning into mindless chatter. Kits hardly realized how late it truly was until she stepped out of the cave.

”Look! You can see Orion!” She pointed to a constellation visible through the trees. Cedric joined her and followed her hand to the group of stars in the sky.

”I only know the Big Dipper,” He admitted while staring in wonder at the stars. Kits always loved the stars.

”Wherever someone is they always are seeing the same stars,” Kits said to him. She would always remember that when she was in America and away from Laurie. It was a comforting fact to know they all stared at the same stars no matter where they were and whoever they are.

”I like that,” Cedric murmured tiredly and stared up at the same stars she was. 

“Me too.” 

Chapter Text

The day of Buckbeak’s execution weighed heavily on Kits, but even more so on Hagrid. Kits watched her professor sluggishly finish up his private lesson with her in the morning, one she had requested last class in hopes of taking his mind off the impending death of Buckbeak. 

It didn’t help, Kits could see that. So she joined him in his hut afterwards, sitting on one of the wooden seats. 

“I just,” He sniffed and rubbed his nose. “I feel like it’s my fault poor Buckbeak is gettin’ the-“ He cut himself off and glanced out the window towards the chained Hippogriff. 

Kits followed his gaze towards the Hippogriff laying its head in submission. Kits was half sure Buckbeak knew what would come of his fate. He wasn’t fighting the chains which seemed to make Hagrid more distressed. 

She felt horrible picturing the limp head of Buckbeak. It made her want to join Hagrid in his distress, but that wouldn’t help him. 

“How has Horus been?” Kits asked in an attempt to distract Hagrid. Hagrid seemed a bit happier to be talking about the dragon, pulling out a bag of food from the corner of the hut. 

“Oh, I love the little guy!” Hagrid displayed the bag of dead rats. A sight Kits could have gone without. “I’ve got all the supplies we need,” 

That was reassuring enough. Kits knew she could trust Hagrid, he always had the best interests in his heart. She had heard rumors that he had a dragon egg one year, so it was nice to give him his dream a bit of reality. And a distraction from Buckbeak. 

“Could he stay here over the summer? I don’t think I can take Horus home. My mom doesn’t even want a dog,” Kits sheepishly smiled. Her mother had never been huge on having animals in the house and they simply didn’t have a backyard for a dragon. And even Tybalt wouldn’t be able to bribe the town into ignoring a dragon.

”Of course! Don’t you worry about a thing!” Hagrid gestured widely with his arms, smacking into a pot and watched it clamber to the ground. “Oh, oh,” He clumsily placed it on a nearby table. At least it didn’t break.

Kits hated Draco for what he did to Buckbeak. She didn’t hate him before this, no matter how much she desperately wanted to. But Buckbeak didn’t do anything. An animal will retaliate when they feel threatened. And Draco threatened Buckbeak. 

But what could Kits do? She was just a kid. 

The door of Hagrid’s hut swung open in the brief silence and entered Harry and his two friends. Kits knew Hermione from an advanced charms elective they both somehow took, which seemed impossible for her to be taking yet she was. The ginger she knew was the twins younger brother, but Kits knew not much of him outside of that. 

“Hagrid, how are you?” Harry asked the man and sat down in one of the chairs. He hadn’t even noticed Kits there, but when he did he shot a confused glance to her. 

“Ah, I’m doing alright, Harry. Just catching up with Katherine here. You’ve met Katherine, right?” Harry shook his head, finally noticing Kits. 

 “Hello,” He waved and Kits returned the wave. She wondered why they were there. Then it hit that they probably came to comfort Hagrid too. 

“It’s just not fair!” Ron exclaimed and looked out at Buckbeak. “Malfoy shouldn’t be able to just get Buckbeak killed!” Hermione nodded along with his outburst. 

“It’s not like he did anything wrong.” Hermione added. Kits agreed, from what she heard it was more on Draco rather than Buckbeak. Animals don’t usually attack unprovoked. 

“You four shouldn’t be here,” Hagrid made his way to the kettle where he had been making tea. Kits never caught onto the tea craze that the UK was on. No matter how much she tried to convince her mind she liked it, she never truly did. 

“I want to be here for you, Hagrid,” Harry tried to reason with him to let the three of them (or at least him) stay for when the execution happened. 

“Oh, it won’t be a good thing. I don’t want you to have to watch Ol’ Buckbeak’s end.” Kits took the time to eye Hermione who had been looking at her for the past few minutes. 

Kits had hardly spoken to her outside a classroom setting. And even when she did speak to her it was mostly out of politeness. Kits didn’t know why she seemed to intrigued by her presence. 

“Is it true you learned Latin?” Hermione asked while Ron and Harry continued to speak with Hagrid. Kits didn’t expect the question and had to think for a moment. Yes, she did learn Latin once she discovered that wizarding charms was all in Latin. It made so much more sense once she learned the language and gave her something to do over the summer to keep herself from rotting away due to boredom. 

“Yeah, why?” Hermione didn’t respond to her question and turned back her friends leaving Kits puzzled. She had heard that Hermione had issues with being the greatest. 

Kits understood it too well. 

Being the greatest was a possibility as long as there were means to it. Kits was taught to succeed in whatever she did, no excuses. She feared Hermione did that to herself. 

The problem was that when you weren’t the best, then you amounted to nothing. 

Kits felt like she was staring into a mirror. She couldn’t break the trance or the racing thoughts going through her head. To what means would they go to be the greatest? 

“I’m going to be going,” She headed to the door and was about to open it before she heard a familiar voice. Was that Dumbledore? The execution couldn’t be that soon, could it?!

”I think they’re on the way,” 

Hagrid frantically stood up and noticed the approaching figures. Dumbledore dressed in his usual robes, the Minister, and a black clad figure carrying a large scythe. 

“You four can’t be here,” He looked around the hut for Hermione to point to a back door. 

“There,” Kits joined the four in the scrambled escape from Hagrid’s hut, ducking behind the rows of vegetables. Was Dumbledore pointing out the mountains? Kits didn’t see anything-

“He’s distracting him,” Hermione whispered and looked to Buckbeak. Oh, that made more sense than Kits’ initial guess. But she wouldn’t mention it. 

“We should hurry,” Ron looked towards the nearest entrance to the castle. Kits wanted to wait for them to all enter inside; running would be a horrible idea for her and nearly guaranteed they would be caught. 

“I can’t run,” 

“But you play Quidditch?” Yes, but that was the limits of Kits ability to handle physical activity. 

“I’ll trip.” Hermione put a hand to his chin and waited for them all to enter the house, except the executioner. Her hands tightly held a rock before launching it to hit the side of the hut. The executioner turned his head and the three bolted. 

Kits ran behind them, finally catching up at the land before the entrance to the castle. Running was such a pain. Her legs ached and begged her to sit down, but Kits bit her tongue and forced herself to stand. 

“I can’t watch,” Kits agreed with Hermione. She hardly knew the Hippogriff, yet he meant a lot to Hagrid. Hagrid was the only one to convince her to pursue magical creatures as a career, to try and replicate her younger self’s dream of being a veterinarian. Before Laurie, he was the closest thing she could consider to having someone who cared about her. 

She trusted him with Horus for a reason. 

“Agh!” Ron screamed, and to everyone’s horror he was being dragged away by a large black dog. Kits froze. She couldn’t move. What a coward, Kits was. 

“Ron!” Harry was the first to spring into action, chasing after his body. If that had been Laurie…

”Go get a teacher!” Hermione screamed and followed behind Harry. Kits was torn between following behind and going to get a teacher. But what would Kits be able to do? 

She for once chose to run. 

Kits sprinted through the castle, past all of the crowds of students. She had to find someone! It felt like time was slipping through her fingers. The longer Kits took, the worse it could be for the three. Ron was already attacked once, what if it ends horribly because Kits can’t find someone?

She ran to the first professor’s room she could think of. Dumbledore was with Hagrid, she couldn’t go to him. She burst into the potions classroom and heaved over a cauldron.

”Miss Nyberg-“ 

“Ron’s being kidnapped!” Snape stood up at her words and walked over to her side. Not in such way to be fooled as kind or caring, even Kits couldn’t fool herself of that. 

“What?” He asked and leaned over in front of her. All the responsibility of their lives were resting on Kits’ shoulders. 

“Outside the entrance by Hagrid’s hut.” Snape grabbed his wand from his desk, strutting towards the door. 

“Who was there?” 

“I dunno, this black dog just grabbed him when we weren’t looking-“ Snape cut her off by aggressively opening and slamming the door shut. Kits stepped back from shock, left utterly alone in the potions classroom. She contemplated following him, but Kits realized it would just endanger more people including herself. So, she exited and went to dinner.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

“What have you been up to?” Lauren walked with Kits the next morning to History of Magic. It seemed like forever since she had actually seen Laurie. Kits had been so distracted and when she was with her the guilt of not telling Laurie got worse. 

“Stopping Ron from getting kidnapped.” Luckily the three were mostly unharmed. Unfortunately Sirius was reported to escape captivity. They may as well call him Michael Myers with how he is escaping captivity.

”That’s fun. I feel like I hardly see you,” Kits shared the sentiment. It did feel like more and more of her time was away from Lauren. She was about to respond when she was interrupted by the voice of Oliver.

”-But Professor! That broom gives us a big advantage in the Quidditch Final!” He seemed to be arguing with Professor McGonagall instead of going to class. 

“Mister Wood! Do you care more about winning or Mister Potter’s life?” Laurie ducked behind a wall, pulling her behind it as well. History of Magic could wait a few minutes. 

“Both!” There had been an inkling from a few Gryffindor that Harry was gifted an extremely fast broom. Lucky, Kits wished she had that broom.

”What’s going on?” Lauren was out of the loop of the Quidditch drama most of the time, Kits wasn’t too shocked she hadn’t heard about the new acquisition. 

“Harry got a firebolt, apparently.” 

“You’re joking?” Laurie narrowed her eyes upon hearing it. Kits hadn’t known that Lauren knew what a firebolt, but its reputation must even reach those who don’t like Quidditch.

”I haven’t seen it,” Kits leaned her head around the wall to get a better look at the scene. “Oliver already gave Hufflepuff the win earlier in the year. He really wants to win the cup,” Oliver had told Kits each year that Gryffindor would win when he was captain. This was his last year to make his dream come true. 

“He did? I’m shocked,” Laurie’s Scottish accent really poked through at her words making Kits laugh a little.

”Yeah, I guess he even felt bad doing a rematch when Hufflepuff’s seeker got electrocuted.” The conversation from Oliver and McGonagall seemed to die down and the two quickly resumed their path to History of Magic. 

“Want to come with me to visit Ron? He nearly got snatched.” Kits had planned to check on the ginger at some point. While she wasn’t close to him at all it still felt like the nice thing to do. 

“Sure, why not.” 

After a day of very long classes, Kits met Laurie by the Great Hall to head up to the hospital wing. She knew the path by now, having taken it many times to visit Cedric earlier in the year. 

“I think Hogwarts needs to invest in less stairs,” Laurie commented after the third flight they had to climb. She was wearing a purple headband to keep her hair out of her face. Kits always thought purple was her colors 

“I agree.” 

They entered the hospital wing after another agonizing set of stairs. Ron seemed to be the only one in the hospital wing at the moment, nobody else was residing in there.

”Agh! Oh, it’s you.” Ron calmed down and sat up in the shabby bed, looking at them both. “Aren’t you the Harry-Hating-Hufflepuff?” 

“My reputation precedes me,” Lauren replied a bit awkwardly. Kits knew it was time to step in and got Ron’s attention off Lauren. 

“How was being kidnapped? Asking for a friend?” 

“Unenjoyable.” Aw, that was disappointing. Oh well, Kits would just have to miss out on that experience. “Which friend? Just making sure it’s not my brothers. They would ask something like that.”

”It’s not! Don’t worry!”

Surprisingly, Laurie got along great with Ron. They both expressed a distaste towards the favoritism in Hogwarts (though Ron’s was not as pronounced as Laurie’s).

”It’s just so stupid, y’know? If I did that I would certainly get expelled,” Laurie finished her rant, taking a look over her shoulder. “Oh, we should head out. Before I’m kicked out, again.” 

“Come again! It was fun talking to you both!” Ron waved as the two escaped getting kicked out of the hospital wing. 

“Why would we have been kicked out?” 

“Oh, I got kicked out when you were here from Quidditch,” Ah, that explained a lot. They both probably shouldn’t be banned from the hospital wing. That would end up badly.

Hearing how Lauren waited for her only made Kits feel worse. Her entire body was begging her to just tell Laurie. But that nagging fear she would leave her alone because she was dating and Lauren doesn’t like seeing couples. Kits had seen that from her. 

“Lauren,” She rarely called her by her first name. “Would you be mad if I was dating someone?” 

“Huh? Why would I be mad?” Lauren sounded genuinely confused. “It’s not like I expected you to not date.” Kits couldn’t express the amount of relief that surged through her body. She could cry. 

“Okay.” She wanted to hug Lauren. The fact she wasn’t losing her over this felt amazing. “I was going on dates with someone and I was going to tell you! I really wanted to tell you…I just didn’t want to lose you as a friend either.” 

“I know you didn’t mean to do it. But when we were first friends you used to look disgusted when I spoke about guys that I thought were cute. I thought that you may not want to be friends if I was dating a guy. I’d rather be friends with you than go on silly dates.” That was the truth. Kits would forever care about Lauren more than she would talking about boys. Did she wish she could at times? Sure. But Lauren was much more valuable than any conversation she could ever have.

”I would never stop being your friend for something like that. I care about you, I want to hear about the things you like even if I don’t feel the same way. I’ll still listen.” Kits could have cried. All the guilt and the fear of losing Laurie was fleeing her body at her words. “You’re my best friend. I’m happy for you.” And with that Kits hugged her tightly, refusing to let go.