First Year

"A mutt?" Brad sneered.

Eleven year old Lauren's eyes widened. "She- she's not a dog,"

"That's not what he means," James said, wiping the dirt off his broom. "A mutt is a half-Muggle, half-wizard. Like a mudblood, only worse,"

"K-Keana's a half-blood," Lauren mumbled.

"She's different," James shook his head. "Keana's a Gryffindor and hot, she doesn't count,"

"Oh..." Lauren had an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

__

"Where were you?" Brad asked as Lauren walked into the common room. Lauren froze, terrified.

"Nowhere," she said quietly, trying to slip into her dorm room.

"Twenty sickles she was with the mutt," Austin sniggered.

"I was apologizing,"

"Apologizing for what?" James raised an eyebrow. "For us telling her the truth? That she's a no-good mutt?"

Lauren pursed her lips. She regretted going out to meet Camila if it meant that her housemates would treat her like this.

"Why would you apologize for what we did?" Brad questioned. "Are you ashamed of us? Embarrased?"

"We're your house, Lauren," James tilted his head. "We're only doing what's best for you. A mutt is only going to tarnish your purity, especially if they're a Slyth,"

"Oh," Lauren mumbled. She felt nauseated.

James put a hand on Lauren's shoulder, looking at the eleven year old in the eyes. "We're older. We know what's best for newbies like you. That girl is a disgrace to the wizarding community. This is for your own good,"

__

"What do you think about blood purity?" Lauren asked the kids in her year the next morning.

Calum shrugged. "Important, I guess,"

"How so?" Ally asked.

"We're descendants from the original wizarding families. They're like noble houses or something," Ashton explained. "It's like a rare, dying breed,"

"So what do you think of half bloods?" Lauren asked curiously, wondering if their answers would be the same of those on the quidditch team.

"Impartial," Calum shrugged again. He was focused on his breakfast.

Ashton thought for a moment. "My mom says they just make purebloods so much more important, because of how we have the pure wizard blood instead of mixed. The McVey's would disagree though,"

"You know them?" Lauren asked.

"Our moms are friends, but they take it to the extreme,"

"Lots of people in the house do," Ally said. "A lot of tension between half bloods and purebloods,"

"I understand it," Ashton shrugged. "Like, our blood is sacred, and when it's mixed with Muggle blood that diminishes the sacredness,"

"I don't follow," Lauren tilted her head.

"We're perfect, so to speak," Ashton tried. "And when the blood is mixed with Muggle blood, it becomes imperfect. And my mommy says that we have to try our best to stay perfect or else the half-bloods and Muggle borns will take over, which isn't what the old families intended. It was written back in the olden days that purebloods should not lie with Muggles or Muggleborns,"

"That makes a lot of sense," Lauren bit her lip, processing what James and Brad were trying to tell her.

Ally bit her lip, "Sounds like oppression to me,"

"I wouldn't call it that," Ashton took a bite of his food. "At least, that's not what my mom says,"

__

"That's exactly what I was trying to say," James nodded. "You're so much better than her. You're a pureblood. She's a mutt,"

"I guess it sort of makes sense," Lauren bit her lip, putting on her quidditch robes. "You're trying to say that our blood is perfect, and any Muggle mix makes it imperfect,"

James stood there, dumbfounded. He wasn't sure what those words meant. "Yes that's exactly what I was trying to say,"

"I get it now,"

"And that the Slyth you hang out with is a mutt," James smirked.

Lauren paused. "Um, technically, yes,"

"Glad I could show you the light, Jauregui,"

__

Corrupting a little girl's mind was easy, considering you live with the biased purebloods ten out of the twelve months, and with your open minded and accepting parents for two. Lauren was easily influenced by the people in her house about the status of blood purity.

As a result, she started to look at Camila differently.

"My mom sent me this candy from London, it's called Maltesers," Camila told Lauren in the library one day.

"Muggle candy?" Lauren asked, voice sounding slightly condescending.

"In my opinion they're better than some candies at Honeydukes," Camila nodded, dipping her quill in ink.

"I mean yeah, mutts would," Lauren shrugged.

Camila froze. Did Lauren just say what she think she said?

Lauren didn't think anything of it; she had been so used to her housemates using the term so loosely that it became her normal vocabulary.

Camila bit her lip, looking down at her paper.

She was aware of the tension between the purebloods and others. They looked down on any other blood status as if they were a disease. But from the ways they spoke, it sounded normal. But she couldn't help who she was.

There were some that understood. People like Ariana and Dinah couldn't care less.

"Why should your blood status affect me in any way?" Ariana said when Camila asked. "Just cause you're a half blood doesn't make my blood any more or less sacred. It's the 21st century, the ways of the old wizard's change. They need to be more modern. It's a different time,"

But when you're in a house set in it's ways like Lauren, it's hard to teach the young girl otherwise.

___

Present Day

"Nervous?" Dinah asked, watching Camila rummage through her closet.

"How does this look?" Camila asked, pulling out a green and black flannel and a leather jacket.

"Gay,"

"Awesome," Camila threw the clothes on her bed, before reaching back into her closet for shoes.

"So what are you guys going to do?" Dinah asked.

"I'm meeting her at the Three Broomsticks. We'll probably just eat and shop. Something like that," Camila shrugged. "It's almost Christmas, you gonna buy gifts?"

"I finished," Dinah informed. "Except for Alycia, I still need to get her a gift. Hey, if you see a bulletproof vest, can you get one in her size?"

"You want to buy Alycia a bulletproof vest?"

"Yes,"

Camila looked at Dinah weirdly. "Okay then,"

"She's too precious, she need to be protected,"

"I don't doubt that," Camila adjusted the off-white scarf on her neck. "How do I look?"

"Gay,"

"Fantastic," Camila bit her lip. "What if this doesn't work out like I want it to?"

"It will,"

"How do you know?"

"Because you know who you guys remind me of? Anna and Brittany," Dinah said.

"My moms!" Hailee beamed as she walked into Camila's room, Ariana following in pursuit. "I miss them,"

"Why do me and Keana remind you of Sendrick?" Camila asked. 'Sendrick' was the 'It' couple of last year's graduating class. They even surpassed Jade and Perrie, something that the brown eyed Ravenclaw was still bitter about.

"Anna was a Slyth and a half blood while Brittany was a Gryff and a pureblood. Like a forbidden love story," Dinah explained. "Plus, they were in two completely different friend group,"

"And Brittany's friends initially didn't like Anna for being a half blood, and eventually, Brittany didn't like Anna, but she still fell in love with her, somehow," Hailee added. "If it works out for them, it's going to work out for you,"

Camila put her hands in her pocket. "I guess,

"I think they said they're coming to the third task," Hailee continued. During their last year, Anna and Brittany basically became surrogate mothers to Hailee, with Hailee being dubbed 'the Sendrick love-child.'

"Love them. Hope they get married," Ariana said. She looked at Camila up and down. "You ready, sport?"

"Think so," Camila chuckled nervously.

"Knock her dead, tiger,"

__

So far, the date had been going amazingly between the two girls. Keana had been leaning against Camila and resting her head on her shoulder the entire time (she said it was because she was cold but Camila was praying that it was just to be near her), Camila had bought Keana an entire box of candy from Honeydukes, and the two had even held hands.

At one point, Camila had even given Keana her leather jacket because she had complained about the cold.

To finish off their date, Keana had suggested getting lunch at The Three Broomsticks and Camila was eager to agree. Now, they were sat in a booth in the center of the tavern, enjoying some soup, bread, and butterbeer (which Camila was adamant that she was going to pay for).

"Camila, I swear, if you don't get that spoon out of my face I'm gonna bite you."

Camila smirked as she pulled the utensil away from Keana's face and chuckled. "Ooh, you're kinky."

The Slytherin's words caused Keana to blush and she looked down at her butterbeer, trying to contain the flames erupting on her cheeks. Camila couldn't help but grin at how cute the other girl looked and she scooted closer to her in the booth.

"Hey," she murmured and lifted Keana's head with her finger, "you're really cute when you blush."

This just made Keana even redder and she buried her face into the brown eyed girl's neck. "You really shouldn't say that stuff to me," Keana whispered against Camila's neck, causing the younger girl to shiver.

"And why's that?" Camila's voice was husky and low as she whispered right into Keana's ear. It made both girls thankful for the loud chatter in the Three Broomsticks because it gave them the excuse to be close to each other.

"Because then I'll be as red as the Gryffindor quidditch robes, forever."

Camila pulled away and stretched her arm so that it was wrapped around Keana's shoulders and the other half-blood was leaning into her body. "But that would mean I have to stop calling you beautiful, and that would be withholding the truth."

Hazel eyes bore into Camila's and both girls' gnawed on their lips as they stared each other down. It wasn't a second later until Camila was tilting Keana's chin up once again and kissing her softly.

From a booth in the corner of the tavern, Lauren watched with narrowed eyes. Something akin to envy was swirling inside of her as she saw Camila lean down and kiss Keana with a gentleness that had been absent from their last romantic encounter.

"You okay?" Hugo asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I think we broke her," Ally said quietly, removing the pint from Lauren's clenched fingers.

"I'm fine," Lauren muttered.

Then the tavern doors burst open.

"Hey guys!" Ariana beamed, sitting down at Keana and Camila's table. Justin hurried in after her.

"Babe, leave them alone-" he started.

"How's everything going?" Ariana folded her hands on the table and smiled widely.

"Uh, I'm good," Keana chuckled nervously. Camila glared at Ariana.

"That's great," Ariana was so happy, it was scaring Keana a little.

Justin tugged at his girlfriend's arm. Ariana slapped his hand away.

Ariana took Keana's hands in her own. "I think we're going to be great friends,"

"Babe-"

"Shut up, Badger. I'm bonding," Ariana said, eyes not leaving Keana. The other girl smiled weakly.

Justin looked at Camila apologetically and shrugged.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Camila asked, annoyed.

"No. Sit down, Justin," Ariana ordered. Justin sighed, taking the seat opposite of Camila.

"I apologize in advance," the Hufflepuff said.

"Whipped," Camila mouthed at Justin. He shrugged.

"I'm not denying it," he chuckled.

"So yeah," the two heard Ariana say. "He got sent to Madame Pomfrey cause he used the engorgio charm on his dick-"

"Who are you talking about?" Justin cut in.

Keana looked visibly disturbed. "Austin Mahone, I think,"

"That explains his enlarged ego," Camila smirked. Justin chuckled, giving her a high five.

"Aw, I love this," Ariana clapped. "The girlfriends gossiping while the boyfriends act like bros,"

Keana raised an eyebrow. "Boyfriends?"

"Why am I the boyfriend?" Camila asked.

"She's obviously gaining and lacking in too many areas to be a boyfriend," Keana pointed out.

Ariana nodded slowly. "Oh right, that's true,"

Keana saw her friends get up, getting ready to leave.

"Bye Laur- oh," Keana said dejectedly, watching her friend storm past her. She seemed angry.

"See you back at the room," Ally smiled at her friend. Keana waved half-heartedly.

"Bitch," Ariana muttered, referring to Lauren. Keana pursed her lips and looked away awkwardly. She knew what the Slyths thought about her friend, but Keana knew that there was more good than bad in Lauren.

Silence fell across the table. Then Ariana decided to ruin the peaceful silence.

"Hey, have you guys had sex yet?"

Keana and Camila's mouths dropped open.

"Alright, that's enough," Justin announced. He got up, pulling on his girlfriend's arm.

"But I'm not ready to go yet," Ariana frowned, gripping the table.

"Yes you are, we're going," Justin said, pulling harder. He then opted to grab Ariana by the waist and throw her over his shoulder.

"Wait! No, I don't want to go!" Ariana protested.

"Leave them alone, Ari,"

"Put me down, Bieber! I can be a dangerous woman! Don't make me go batshit crazy on your ass!" Ariana yelled as Justin carried her out of the tavern. The couple got questioning states by the customers.

"It's getting dark," Keana pointed out. "We should be getting back to the castle soon.

"Right, we should," Camila cleared her throat, getting up. She offered Keana her hand. "C'mon,"

__

"So according to the guy who renounced all worldly possessions to live amongst the centaurs, the only thing to fear is-"

"Hailee, no offense, but we've been researching for hours. If we don't know what I'm going to face, we never will. The second task is tomorrow," Camila sighed, slamming the book shut. It'd been a week since her date with Keana. The task was tomorrow, and Christmas break was two days after that.

"Well... I dunno, honestly," Hailee admitted. She plopped down on the floor. It was two AM. The others were asleep, but Hailee and Camila were up for last minute preparations.

"Why couldn't Jade help you again?" Hailee yawned.

"She said she had an important meeting,"

"That lasted until two?"

"I dunno,"

Hailee furrowed her eyebrows. "Huh,"

"What is it?" Camila asked. It looked like Hailee had an idea in her head.

"I just realized how similar this is to the last Triwizard Tournament," Hailee explained. "Like, the first task of the last one, they had to battle dragons to get an egg. You had to battle a monster to get a rock,"

"It's probably a mere coincidence," Camila shrugged off.

Hailee pursed her lips. "You're probably right,"

Camila glanced at her wand. "Think I'm ready?"

"Do you think you're ready?"

"No," Camila admitted. "I don't know what I'm going to do, honestly,"

"Do you regret it?" Hailee asked.

"Regret what?"

"Having Dinah put your name in the cup,"

"Absolutely," Camila admitted. "I never expected any of this,"

"None of us did," Hailee sighed. "If anyone, I thought Ariana would have been picked,

"Honestly same," Camila said. She twiddled her fingers. "I'm going to try to sleep, big day tomorrow,"

"Of course," Hailee said, getting up. "Don't stress too much about tomorrow, I mean, you faced a three headed dog, you can do anything,"

"Thanks Haiz," Camila smiled. She was lowkey freaking out.

She was expecting the worse. She was right.

__
big thanks to NSFWcabello for helping me with this

qotd: favorite movie(s)?

mine are pitch perfect (sounds basic but bechloe for life💖), tangled, aladdin, and sisterhood of the traveling pants 2

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