✿ CHAPTER TWO ✿

( ANGELICA GOLDHORN )

CHAPTER TWO: CURLS

𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐔𝐍𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐇𝐘. that was her mothers warning every morning when the girl reached for the tub in their fridge. all she wanted was a piece of toast covered in the fatty substance. but no it was the same thing every morning.

she'd always listened to her mother. butter was unhealthy. drugs killed you. boys were bad. drinking ruins your organs. she'd already broken rule 2,3 and 4. so she decided there was nothing stopping her from breaking the first rule. two slices of toast slathered in butter, a cup of orange juice as well as her timetable were in front of her. she began taking small bites of the toast well reading over her schedule.

"who do you have first?" amos asked as he plopped himself besides her, the hall wasn't empty but it wasn't full. it was still 7:30 and students would've been asleep. but due to it being the first day a considerable amount were awake. angelica had been on a strict sleeping schedule since the age of thirteen and would be asleep by 8:30 and up by 6am, it kept her looking young her mother would say.

"herbology" she smiles as she turnt to her friend, the boys bedhead even more horrible than she could remember. she brought her hands up to run her fingers through it to tame it and felt her cheeks warm as he brought his hands up to grab hers and stop her actions.

she didn't blame herself, he was amos diggory, quidditch captain, head boy, hufflepuff prefect. gorgeous, tall, blue eyes, fluffy hair. he was every girls dream. angelica however didn't like him, she just got a bit flustered.  she thought of all the letters that he'd write to her when she was at home. flowers pressed inside of them. he sent her a book once with a sunflower flattened inside to use as a bookmark.  it was stuff like that she told herself. that's why she got flustered.

her old boyfriend adonis had done tiny things like that, he used to however write her poems on napkins and slip them beneath her hotel door when she was doing a movie in greece. they had fallen in love within the five months she was there. but then she had gone and messed it all up for herself, she wanted to stop the fame and be normal. she didn't think she'd end up having to break up with him. it wasn't her choice though, nothing in her life was ever her choice she'd come to realise.

*＊✿❀

"hello, angel" mary macdonald smiled as she linked arms with angelica in the greenhouse, the girls would obviously be partners considering they were best friends and well angelica didn't really know anyone else except lily. but lily would probably be with marlene.

"hello, chicken" angelica whispered back to her friend. the girls were certainly a pair to behold. professor sprout stood at the front of the class watching all the kids joke around with eachother. the marauders stood further down the table from angelica, mary, lily and marlene.  it was probably for the best. if they were paired together it'd be a right disaster.

angelica looked down at the pots in front of them, mandrakes. she'd seen them before but had never touched one before. their screams were fatal enough to kill and she tended to avoid any deadly things that weren't drugs or alcohol. she did admit though, they were kind of cute creatures.

"i'll be pairing you all, no dilly- dallying in my class" professor sprout spoke out as she smiled cheekily seeing all the kids audibly groan in disappointment. mckinnon and lupin, macdonald and black, pettigrew and fortescue, evans and creswell, vance and longbottom, she continued before angelica stopped listening after that until her name was called.

"angelica goldhorn and james potter over there" sprout pointed over to the mandrake right at the back. potter, that was the kitchen boy angelica reminded herself. without waiting to find the boy she made her way over to where professor sprout had pointed.

"looks like we're partners" james said joining her side, noticing her wild hair had been tamed that day into a low bun. it framed her face nicely he thought to himself without realising.

"indeed we are, curls" she said using the nickname she'd given him last night remembering how he'd still called her goldie after being informed of her name.

"i hope you all remember doing this in your third year, now who can tell me the properties of the mandrake root?" professor sprout called out to the teenagers as they all looked around at each other, obviously forgetting.

"their cry is fatal is it not?" angelica answered in more of a question, before professor sprout nodded and looked around at the class for the rest of the answer. "they're also used to return those who've been petrified to their original state" remus finished for the hufflepuff causing sprout to smile.

"5 points each to hufflepuff and gryffindor" the woman rewarded making the two students smile to themselves. "now earmuffs on please" she directed as she nodded towards the head pieces on the table next to the plants.

james passed angelica hers as the girl stared at the creatures "don't you think they're quite cute?" she asked not really paying attention to the boy or his outstretched hand making him roll his eyes and place them on her head himself.

"they're ugly little things" the boy commented with a scowl as he looked at the plants, angelica ignored his comment and went to stroke it before the spectacled boy grabbed her hand gently. "i don't think you want to do that"

"listen closesly, grasp it firmly, pull it sharp out of the pot-" the woman directed as she pulled the plant out and its cries began, the whole class groaned as some went to cover their ears. staring at the plants body made angelica take a step slightly back, now agreeing with james. "now dunk it down into the other pot and pour sprinkling of soil to keep it warm" the woman directed the children. "now repeat"

angelica inspected the pot as she heard multiple cries begin around the classroom, james only watched the girl wondering what amazed her so much about the dreadful creature. 

"you can do it, it looks funny" angelica told him as she turned to look into his eyes, she obviously didn't seem to be fazes by holding eye contact with the boy but james was slightly flustered as he quickly directed his attention away.

"whatever you say, goldie" the boy said quickly, fingers grasping its top before twisting and pulling it out of the soil, the cries hitting both teenagers at the same time, angelica wanting to take another step back but still wanting to be involved.

the potter boy placed it into the plant pot before the two began to fill it with soil. it were though the plant were a baby needing to be wrapped up to sleep, angelica thought.

"why hasn't it shut up yet?" she asked as they continued to fill up the plant with soil, james laughed slightly at her change in attitud towards the plant.

"maybe there's not enough soil the boy said picking up some from the pot with his fingers and sprinkling it back down. the girl tilted her head and gave him a look. "what?" he asked in confusion.

"keep digging then" she urged as she shoved the garden hand back into his hands, wanting to shut it up as soon as possible. once they heard the cries begin to die down they both breathed out in relief.

"guessing you're not a fan of herbology" the boy assumed as he watched her eyes trace the classroom waiting for them to all shut up.

"what gives you that impression?" she asked sarcastically before letting herself smile at her partner, he gave a fake laugh in reply to her but smiled to show he wasn't taking offence. "i just don't appreciate the noise" she commented.

james found himself in disbelief at her confession, he would've assumed with all the stories he'd heard about her back when she lived the muggle life she'd be used to it. thinking of how many parties she must've been to would she not be used to it?

the boy let his hands reach for her earmuffs before pushing them more down slightly on her head "better make sure to keep these on firmly then" he said as she let him move her head slightly with the earmuffs.

"thanks, curls" she giggled slightly at his action, his hands bigger than the earmuffs and his fingertips going into her curls which were flattened on her head.

*＊✿❀

"do you have any lesson right now?" amos asked as he joined angelica's side, the girl making her way back from arithmancy, something she'd picked up alongside divination and care of magical creatures.

"i am, although i'm going to the great hall to study" the girl told the older boy as they walked side by side, ignoring any students stares and whispers. rumours were already bound to be flying round by now.

"i'll join you, i'm done with my classes for the day" the hufflepuff smiled before swinging an arm around the girl and taking her books with his other hand. the fifth year smiled at him before letting him guide her to the hall.

"how're finding your first day back?" he asked as he pushed the door open for them, trying to find a spot for them to go and study.

"well i've not really been bothered today, imagine. think that had something to do with the professors, but i'm not complaining" she said in a sort of ramble tone, as if she were thinking over the last part of her sentence.

amos only smiled at the shorter girl, finding it cute how she seemed to daze off sometimes. he found an empty spot on the gryffindor table near sirius black, mary macdonald, remus lupin and james potter. he'd spoken to james and sirius a limited amount of times during quidditch and mary on occasion, the two becoming friends to an extent when angelica was still at hogwarts.

"don't you two make quite the attractive pairing" mary commented once amos placed his and angelica's books down, the two taking seats besides eachother.

the gryffindor girl tilted her head with a mischievous smile in angelica's direction from across the table, sirius to her right and remus to her left.

"that's what i keep telling her" amos joked as he let his arm drop from angelica's shoulder, the hufflepuff boy and the gryffindor girl sharing a quick look which didn't go unnoticed by sirius. 

"so how do you two know eachother then?" sirius asked wanting to involve himself in the conversation, something james and remus didn't do as they focused on their work. however, james did let himself listen in.

"he's my bestfriend" angelica said with a small laugh as she looked at sirius not ever having spoekn to the boy, "and you are?" she asked as she stuck her hand towards the boy.

"sirius black, pleasure to finally meet the infamous angel" the boy said with a slight smirk, using the nickname mary used for the girl. the macdonald girl didn't know why the boys attitude struck something similar to jealousy in her but she chose to ignore it.

"you're the sirius" angelica said in realisation, placing emphasis on the 'the', already having heard of the boy from mary. although the girl didn't realise it yet, mary definitely had some weird sort of crush on the black boy.

"so the only one i've not met yet is peter, is that right?" she asked looking between the three gryffindor boys and mary, already being acquainted with remus that morning when he took her to the two chosen additional classes they shared.

"hold on" sirius laughed slightly to himself wanting to know what she meant by her earlier statement "what do you mean by 'the' sirius?" he asked turning to look at his friends before looking to mary who only shrugged trying to hold back a smile.

"you're reputation proceeds you" the hufflepuff girl said not giving too much away knowing mary would quite literally attack her if she mentioned how he was the narcissistic, pretty, self-centered gryffindor boy with the most amazing hair mary had ever seen.

there wasn't much conversation after that as the six students all focused on their own work, mary and sirius occasionally squabbling with eachother over the correct answer to a question on the homework they did together.

james was to angelica's left and looked over to her work seeing transfiguration questions they'd completed their fourth year, he assumed it was work she was expected to catch up on. he noticed how she'd made a mistake in one of her answers before slightly leaning over and whispering to her.

"might want to check the third question again" he pointed out letting his quill point to it on her page, the girl looked up noticing he was quite close before immediately looking back down to her page.

"want to help me?" she asked assuming he wanted to correct her. the boy didn't need to be asked twice as he closed his potions book and rolled up his current work he was doing. transfiguration was his favourite subject, and he made sure everyone knew it. being the best in the year at the subject.

"remember you have to times wand power by concentration before viciousness by bodyweight else you'll be dividing the wrong one" he explained as though it were so simple, and to james it was. a small majority of students at hogwarts truly knew how smart james was, it wasn't as if he tried to hide it, he just liked to spend more times on his pranks than in the classroom.

"wait so-" she started as she rearranged the equation to see if she'd get the correct answer "like that?" she asked turning the piece of parchment to him for his approval. the boy checked it over before nodding sending her a smile.

he continued to help her get the first page of questions done, the two of them not noticing any of the others little glances to the pair being immersed by the others voice.

sirius and mary shared a confused look, looking at the duo before back at eachother and then the duo again. sirius was hellbent sure james was set on lily and only had eyes for the redhead but with the way these two were acting within a day of knowing eachother he found himself have the quick thought maybe james should change his sights.

before anymore work could be done, the period had ended and the fifth years had their last lessons of the day, amos having to head back to the common rooms to meet up with his friends for a quick quidditch game. the seventh year gave angelica a quick kiss on the forehead before departing the group, saying a quick goodbye.

"will you be in the kitchens tonight?" james asked angelica as the two stood up, the boy offering her a hand well picking up her books for her as she straightened out her robes.

"are you asking me on a date, curls?" the girl said jokingly, watching a quick look of shock and regret hit his face. a small frown hitting her lips at his reaction, it were only a joke.

"no! - wait, i- i'm not saying i wouldn't want to i was just-" he stuttered as he threw a hand to his face not wanting to sound so against the idea " i just meant, i thought we could chat a bit more" he tried to save himself, not understanding why he was getting nervous around the girl.

"maybe" angelica said as she put a thinking face on, shrugging her shoulders and beginning to walk about from the boy, she stopped after a few seconds noticing he wasn't following "i have care of magical creatures, walk me?" she asked hoping the boy wouldn't say no, not wanting him to think his comment annoyed her.

james sighed out in relief before rushing to make his way besides her "want me to hold your books?" he asked as they reached the doors.

"thanks, curls" she said with a grateful smile, letting him take the heavy books and continuing walking. james only smiling in amusement at the nickname once again.