"I'M going to fucking strangle you."

"You're so obsessed with me, I swear."

A loud groan reaches Vera's ears from the other side of the table. She just rolls her eyes at her brother and her best friend as she continues with the assignment in front of her. She tunes out their bickering voices, trying to focus on the words written on the parchment, but the harder she concentrates, the more the letters get all jumbled.

She resists the urge to scream out loud.

It is frustrating how she could spend every second of her free time studying and she still wouldn't be able to understand what the hell is going on in any of her classes. Everyone around her seems to be able to get the concepts immediately and can ace any exam the professor throws their way.

But that's not Vera. She has to spend countless hours going through her notes and re-reading pages of her books while simultaneously getting Nora or Adonis to help her.

It is exhausting working ten times as hard as everyone else and still not being able to comprehend the stupid fucking words in her notes.

Pushing back her chair, Vera stands and looks down at her best friend and brother.

"I'm going to take a break."

Nora furrows her eyebrows in concern. "You okay, V?"

Vera nods, but it must not look convincing because now Adonis is frowning.

"Is something wrong?" he asks.

She rolls her eyes in mock annoyance. "I'm fine, guys. I'm just going to go for a little walk. Clear my head before I resort to ripping all my hair out because of that Potions assignment."

Nora and Adonis share a look. They don't agree on much, nor do they ever team up on anything, but Vera's insecurities when it comes to the way she learns are the one thing they will always be on the same terms with.

Adonis used to tease her about being smarter than her because he got into Ravenclaw. It was only a joke and he never actually believed it, but it cut Vera deep every single time. To her, it was embarrassing that she wasn't able to learn like everyone else. That letters and numbers got all jumbled up, making it so that she couldn't really read until she was ten.

She dreaded it every time her muggle teachers would ask her to read in class, because the anxiety of everyone's eyes on her mixed with the out-of-place words made her feel pathetic and worthless.

Her first boyfriend told her she was stupid.

She can't remember anymore what she did to make him say it, but at fifteen, when a boy you really, really like tells you that, it makes you feel like shit. She hasn't had actual feelings for anyone ever since.

If you don't care about someone, what they say can't hurt you.

On the outside, Vera is warm and all smiles. But on the inside, she is ice cold, and no one can get through the protective layer she has built around her heart.

When they realized that Vera has dyslexia, Adonis immediately stopped saying any sort of comment about Vera's intelligence. He became even more protective than he already was, and anyone who even so much as looked at Vera the wrong way would have to go through him.

He's looking at her the way he's looking at her right now because he knows how much hurt it causes her when she can't understand something in her classes. He hates that she thinks that determines what makes her smart.

Nora is the same way. It's not like she's as smart as Adonis or always gets the best grades. She barely even manages to get her own average grades. But still, Vera somehow thinks Nora's smarter than her because she can read without hesitating. It is frustrating watching your best friend beat herself up because she thinks her learning disorder is what defines her.

She purses her lips at Vera and glances at Adonis who shakes his head at her.

She wants to say something else, but all she says is, "Well, have fun. But not too much fun because Declan is still coming up to me all the time asking when you want to go on a second date with him."

Vera snorts, mood instantly lifted. "You tell him he can keep dreaming."

Nora rolls her eyes, and the brunette waves at the two before disappearing from the table.

She steps out the entrance to the library and walks straight down toward the stairs. When she reaches the first floor of the castle, she steps out into the cold afternoon. Clouds devour the sky, their darkness threatening to reign over the land beneath.

Vera loves days like these. Cold enough to need a sweater but not cold enough to be freezing your ass off. Just enough clouds in the sky for you to think it could rain any second or not at all. It is that uncertainty that makes days like these so sublime. It is impossible not to smile as she stares up at the sky and continues making her way down the path toward the Quidditch Pitch.

The most sacred place in existence.

Even though Vera is muggle-born, the second she stepped foot on castle grounds and found out about Quidditch, it was over for her. She had completely and irreversibly fallen in love with the sport.

Both her parents played football when they were younger, so she and Adonis grew up playing football. Though the twins loved the sport, there is something about Quidditch that gives them more of a rush, fills them with this wild adrenaline they can't get from anything else.

Since the second her fingers touched the wood of a broom, becoming a Quidditch player has been all Vera has wanted. She will do just about anything to make that dream come true.

As her feet land on the grass of the pitch, she looks up at the stormy sky only to find a dot up near the goalpost. She squints her eyes and sees that it is a student flying around with a Quaffle in their hands.

She comes closer to catch a glimpse of who it is but can't quite see them clearly enough to recognize them. The figure does an impressive trick on the broom and raises their hands to throw the ball through the hoop while racing back toward it to catch the Quaffle again.

And because she recognizes that impressive skill, she also recognizes the person who holds those skills.

As he gets closer to the ground, Vera walks closer to him.

Over the last few months, Vera has noticed that James has a strangely magnetic pull on her that she can't seem to resist. When he's in her line of sight, it's difficult to concentrate on anything else. He demands her attention and every fiber of her being obeys as if he has branded her. It's like she has no choice but to go to him whenever he is near.

Of course, she will never admit these things out loud to anyone. Not even herself.

James's figure becomes more clear as he lands on the ground. Vera is close enough to hear his heavy breaths as he rubs at his brow to get rid of the sweat lining it. Heat pools in the pit of her stomach as her mind produces some not-so-clean thoughts.

Shaking herself out of it, she straightens her spine and calls out to the raven-haired boy.

"Looking a little sloppy out there, Potter."

James whirls around, hair messy as always as he hastily puts his glasses back on. He grins when he sees her approaching him.

"You know," he starts. "I recall kicking your ass the last time Gryffindor played Hufflepuff."

Vera scoffs. "You only won because four of our players were out sick and I broke my wrist the day before the match. You just got lucky."

James chuckles. "I think you're confusing luck with talent, Vera."

She hates the way he says her name. Hates how it makes her stomach flip and her heart stutter.

"Or maybe you're the one confusing talent with luck, Potter."

A frown falls upon James's mouth.

"Why'd you go back to calling me Potter?" he asks.

The question is unexpected, but not exactly surprising. With how much he begged her back when they were dating to call him by his first name, it seems warranted that he question why she went back to calling him by his last name.

Vera quirks an eyebrow. "What?"

"You used to call me James. Why'd you stop?"

Vera shrugs nonchalantly. Internally, she's smirking because she realizes that her not calling him by his first name bothers him.

"I reserve the first name basis for whomever I'm dating," she answers casually.

James's frown deepens.

"You call Sirius, Remus, and Peter by their first names," he points out.

She shrugs. "They're different."

"How so?"

"I never dated them."

She says it because she wants him to acknowledge the fact that they used to date and that she pathetically wants him to know they are not friends. That they will never be friends.

James purses his lips. He lets out a sigh, looking to the side before meeting her gaze with narrowed eyes. He takes a step closer to her, causing her heart to speed up. He stares at her for so long that she's almost afraid he's caught on to what she's trying to do.

But then he smiles. A devilish grin graces his lips, and Vera suddenly remembers why she ever agreed to be his girlfriend in the first place.

"Alright," he says after a beat. "Tell me what I have to do."

Vera furrows her eyebrows. "What?"

His grin widens. "Tell me what I need to do for you to call me James again."

She bites back a smile. "Is it really that important to you what I call you?"

"Of course," he replies with no hesitation. "We're friends."

"Friends," she echoes, the word leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.

The nerve to call them friends when she had shown him the most intimate parts of herself. Told him things she had never told anyone else.

"So," James continues. "Tell me."

Vera pretends to think as she tips her head to stare at the cloudy sky. She hums before turning her attention back to the boy in front of her.

"The Hufflepuff-Gryffindor game tomorrow. Beat us and I'll think about it."

James snorts, features turning smug.

"That's all it takes? At least make it challenging, Archer."

Vera smiles. Taking a step forward, she carefully keeps her eyes locked with his as she places her hand on his shoulder delicately. She leans up on her toes just enough so her mouth brushes his ear.

"Trust me, Potter. I won't make it easy for you."

There is a double meaning behind her words, the more important one lost in James's ears.

He swallows thickly as she moves back and releases her hold on his shoulder. His face is glazed over for a hot second before it is smug once again.

"I'd like to see you try."

The corner of Vera's mouth tilts as she stares up at him in challenge. He should know by now that she never backs down from anything. If he's going to act like they were nothing, then Vera will do everything in her power to make it the most difficult thing he's ever done.

"See you on the pitch, Potter. I wouldn't get my hopes up."

With that, she turns and walks away with extra sway in her hips. She can't prove that James is staring at her ass, but somehow, she just knows. And that is enough to confirm that he may have feelings for someone else, but no one is immune to her charm.

She is going to destroy his fucking ass tomorrow.

𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 !

i have no set plan for this book lmao. literally have no idea what i'm doing but let's just say i'm going with the flow