𝙰/𝙽- 𝙳𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 @𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚓𝚊𝚍𝚢𝚗𝚗𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚝 𝟷𝚔💃🕺 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚎 <𝟹

𝙴𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 ;)

—

Missus Heather Mortem,

The time has come where you must carefully decide where to lie your trust. The world will change soon, for the better, and so we lay this piece of advice upon you.

You cannot afford to speak with any of your professors with anything personal, none except Severus Snape and Alastor Moody.

We request you speak with Alastor frequently; become...acquaintances, if you will.

Abide by our previously spoken rules, and you shall remain unseen.

You know what we expect from you.

Mother and Father.

Reading the letter once is all it takes for the contents to sink in. I understand what they've written, but why, I cannot even question out loud. All confusion must remain inside my head, as I'm aware that Mother and Father won't let me in on anything else. I have to wait and allow matters to unfold before me, that's the only way the madness written in the black ink will make sense.

Pushing the pressing questions about the change upon the Wizarding World and my professors into the back of my head, I keep in mind that soon I must become acquainted with Professor Moody, an absolute madman.

Until, it hits me.

The dreaded Alihosty Draught.

How am I even supposed to look Snape in the eye once more after my task? As my parents stated, he is one of the only adolescents I can allow myself to trust, therefore his punishment for me wouldn't be too bad, right? Hopefully he doesn't decide to set me as an example for the rest of the students in our year. Reminding myself that class is to begin once again soon, I make my way into my dormitory, retrieving the bloody potion from my personal possessions.

"Confringo", I state, waving my wand around the piece of parchment to successfully cause it to burst into flames before my eyes. Fire has always been a deadly fascinating entity, explaining how it was so amusing for me to watch Seamus accidentally cause things to spontaneously combust, somehow even managing to mess up a water-casting charm.

Making my way up the stone stairs into the girl's dormitories, I reach my place of slumber, and dig through my once-organized trunk, having placed the potion in there.

Before I can wish that someone had stolen it for no particular reason, I grab the vial and sigh deeply, rather wanting to pour it into the twins' drinks instead. Or, perhaps even the blond Slytherin boy's morning pumpkin juice. A good laugh from his usual disgusted demeanor would sure be a quick change of scenery. Woefully, this must be done.

My own mind betraying me, the only words that reoccur every few seconds were the painted ones at the bottom of the letter.

Mother and Father.

My skin shivers at the thought of those words. After all this time, do they think it's perfectly fine to act like parents? After years of neglect and pleading stares, all I could do now was to wish them away. Pining desperately to do anything in my willpower to make them proud, I followed their every order, no matter how simple. However, that was only in front of them. Behind their backs, I would sneakily jinx whatever precious possessions they owned, making sure I wouldn't get caught. I remembered that while I was a young witch, before attending Hogwarts, I would snicker around the corners of our Villa, not realizing how badly my antics would end for the family house elf.

Must I do this? Must I betray my own self-dignity and follow their every command? They've done nothing for you, nothing that would make them seem like parents. Feel like parents.

Yes...yes I must. I know what they expect from me, as I know what to expect if I disobey.

Heading into Astronomy class, the space in my head is preoccupied by the boy, and only the boy. Staring intently at the vial in my fingers, I am once again reminded of how beautiful the contained liquid is. The potion was meant to be bronze, however it doesn't take long for me to get lost in the shining silver that so gently sways with the gold. And it doesn't take long for me to notice the only reason why I'm gazing so longingly upon this single colour is because of his eyes.

His eyes, which cannot be described by words, only by objects and entities which so have similar qualities. His eyes, which look like they behold a flowing river, the feathers of a peacock, and the shimmer of blackened ink under the sunlight all in one.

"Are you in a rush, Heather? You're walking awfully quick to class."

Spinning around to meet the person that so made himself present by speaking in a teasing tone, my eyes catch a red knitted sweater before moving their gaze upwards to witness shoulder-length ginger hair.

"Fred? What happened to 'Hi, how are you?' Must you begin questioning me wherever I go?"

Instantly my mind freezes over. The sentence came out of my mouth so swiftly, so teasingly, as if the thoughts in my head weren't panicking as the space filled up with George, the Yule Ball, Draco.

The boy dramatically brings his head back to face the ceiling, scoffing loudly as if I should've already known the answer to the question I've asked of him.

"As your best friend, it's my job to interrogate you."

I chuckle under my breath, "As your best friend, I politely ask you to sod off."

Fred brings his hand up to his chest, completely opposite of where his heart lies. Instead, his hand is taking up the space next to his heart. Feigning feeling emotionally hurt, the stupid boy begins swaying side to side as if he'd been physically hurt.

"Heathen, you make my heart ache.", he begins, over dramatically sighing as if he were in a muggle television show.

I stare at the boy, rolling my eyes before my hand reaches up to his on his chest. "You know, I'd believe that if you placed your hand where your heart actually is.", removing his hand to slide over to the right.

Fred keeps his hand on his chest, straightening himself out before clearing his throat. "I knew that."

Letting a few moments pass silently, I speak up once more. "As you've said, I've a class to get to. See you at dinner, git."

Before walking away, Fred opens his mouth, but I quickly interrupt him, already knowing what's going to come out of his mouth.

"Yes, I'm giving the draught to Snape tonight."

And with that, I briskly stalk away to the classroom awaiting my presence. Somehow it was easy for me to hide the panic that was rapidly spurring upon my chest, my breaths becoming irregular and my head fogging up as I thought of the twins' other half while speaking to Fred.

How could I be so stupid? Kissing Malfoy while I had a date to the ball.

Malfoy.

Of all people it just had to be him.

Absolutely no one can know. Of course, I could trust myself not to open my mouth under such circumstances, but who's to say Draco wouldn't? Only the devil knows on which side the boy was on. Would he really tell a single soul? What would he benefit from if he did? Surely he doesn't care about George, much less hurting him. I don't want to hurt him, which is what I'll do if someone finds out about our...moment.

The entirety of class has been spent thinking about all of the bullshit I'm expected to do. The draught, which will be handled with in approximately forty-five minutes. My friends, whom I must hide a massive secret from. George, whom I could potentially deeply hurt if the truth spills out. Draco, whom I must avoid before any...unfortunate situations occur.

All of this worrying over feeble things, and I haven't even begun to come close to a satisfactory-level of studying for my OWL's. How horrendous.

Hesitantly approaching the double doors of the Great Hall, my wobbling knees and trembling breaths make my body look like a frightened animal. It was as if my own two eyes saw a ghost.

Stupid! You've seen a ghost before, get a grip!

I've already taken my seat once I've noticed Draco looking at me from across the room once more. Taking notice of the way he's slightly chewing on his lower lip, I take advantage of the situation and try my attempt at messing with him just a bit before I have to complete this unbearably in-my-face task. If he wanted to fucking kiss me, how about I play fire with fire?

Grabbing the vial from my pocket, I look over to Fred and George on the other side of the table. They both notice me at the same time, and as I'm about to rise out of my seat, I give them both a wink, a little hint that they should pay attention to the show I'm about to put on for the entire Great Hall. Shifting my gaze back onto the Slytherin boy, his lip is now released from his pearly-white teeth, instead now clenching his jaw and staring me down with wide eyes. He doesn't get that I only winked at the two for entertainment purposes.

I arose from my seat, a few students sitting around me looking at me confused, but I pay them no mind. I walk up to the teachers' table and hope to Merlin I don't mess up what I've decided to say to Snape.

The Great Hall quickly changes from lighthearted conversations into hushed whispers as every student notes my walk to the teachers' table, all in confusion, wondering if I'm in my right mind.

No student approaches the teachers' table.

Every professor halts their conversations with one another and turns their heads towards me. Dumbledore, stroking his beard raises his eyebrows in awaiting, as if— as if he knew something. Sensing the silence, the headmaster waves his hand once, and the room falls back into the usual sounds that are produced from any normal dinner.

The only distinct sound that I heard throughout the entire room was Professor Trewlawny's steel utensils as she obliviously continued to eat.

Clearing my throat, my eyes lock onto Snape's, now standing just a couple of feet away from him, I gather any amount of courage I have and speak up for the first time since being on this side of the large room.

"Professor Snape, I was wondering if you could tell me what mark I've gotten on my test last week."

Snape eyes me up and down perplexedly. "And you couldn't wait until...class...to find out?", he slowly drawls in his sluggish voice.

Opening my mouth to explain myself, I shut my lips together in realizing that I haven't prepared myself for him to ask that. However, quickly thinking on my feet has been a speciality of mine.

"Well, you see professor, I have a bet with Hermione over who got the higher mark. It got heated, and, well— it wouldn't take too long for just a quick check, right?"

The professor remains silent for a moment before loudly sighing, turning his body towards the back of the room to retrieve one of his book bags behind him.

Now's my chance.

Making sure to take a quick look at the other professor's, I see they're all invested in their conversations. Swiftly taking off the top of the vial, I pour the liquid in his cup inconspicuously.

Apparently, Snape was drinking pumpkin juice today, so the draught made the usual orange colour turn gold for a few seconds, a small gust of silver smoke emerging from the cup.

"You have received an 'Outstanding', Miss Granger has received an 'Exceeds Expectations'. Anything else that needs my immediate attention, or may I get back to my supper?"

Sheepishly lowing my gaze to my feet, suddenly finding my shoes extremely interesting, I shake my head. "Go on, then."

Before I walk back to my seat at the Gryffindor table, I take quick glances at the other professors. All of them are deep in conversation, all except Dumbledore. Apparently, his eyes show that I'm the most interesting thing in this room at this moment. Shaking it off to think about at another time, I take my seat. My hands don't even touch the utensils at my plate, I already know I'll be out of here in seconds once Snape drinks his pumpkin juice.

"Bloody hell, Heathen! Did you really just-"

Cutting off the twin, I confirm it for him. "Yep, sure did."

George comes up to me, holding my hand as he usually has done just recently. "Well, then, take a look. Hell's about to freeze over.", George says, pointing over to the Potions Professor.

The cup in his hand, I watch Snape in slow motion as he brings the goblet to his lips, takes a large sip, and brings it back down next to his plate.

Something's wrong. He's should've started uncontrollably laughing by now. Scrunching my nose in disappointment, I raise my hands and smack the twins on the backside of their heads. Bloody fools.

"Ow! What was that-"

"Blimey! Did I do-"

"You insolent nitwits! I told you something was wrong with that bloody potion."

"Holy Hell! You don't have to go abusing us, then!"

Looking at the boy who made the comment, I bring my hand up to hit Fred once again, until a booming voice stops me in my tracks.

It's Snape's voice.

Except he's not speaking, no, instead, he's— laughing.

The Great Hall falls silent, all eyes on the professor, who now laughs like he's seen the funniest joke in the world every time his mouth opens.

The professor clears his throat and tries out for his vocals once again, but to no avail. Snape looks over to the professors, whom all simply shrug. His laughing contradicts his confused facial manner, an absolutely amazing juxtaposition that's sure enough to cause a lump in my throat to prevent from laughing myself.

Finally, one student laughs, someone somewhere at the Hufflepuff table, quick and loud for everyone to hear. A few seconds of silence pass, and the entire Great Hall erupts in laughter.

The laughter rapidly crescendos into more, students spilling drinks out of their noses, others coming up with clever jokes about the incident to throw in the air, one student hysterically laughing while rolling around on the floor, tears in his eyes.

"Missus Heather Mortem, please meet me in the Headmaster's office."