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I was a ball of nerves the entire rest of the way to Hogwarts. I'd ripped the zipper off my skirt and singed the sleeve of my robe in my haste to get ready. Sev mended them easily and held my shaky hands in his, rubbing his calmness into them. By the time we got into the thestral-drawn carriages, it was easier to breathe and I didn't have the urge to vomit.
Sev kept my hand in his the entire carriage ride, making his friends glance over at us a few times. I'd swallowed my anxiety enough to be comfortable-ish riding with them to the castle. Mostly I did it because I wanted Sev to be happy, I owed him that much for dealing with my dramatics on the train.
"I still want to be your friend and it's not because you're Veela," Roxy said suddenly, making the carriage fall silent. "I think it's ridiculous that Arden's so jealous of you that she had to tell your secret. We all hate her, everyone in the bloody castle does because she's so mean. We all like you and want to be part of your life, Adalyn."
I managed a small smile her way, trying my best to be positive. I didn't want to tell her that it was my Veela blood that was making her be nice to me. It was beyond nice that she was trying to still be my friend, I should probably give her a chance; I was tired of being alone.
"I've never really had friends before. I was too afraid of them finding out about the Veela blood and taking advantage of it," I told her, figuring complete honesty was the best policy.
"We don't care if you've got goblin blood, we don't discriminate based on families," Scorpius said. "That's how I became part of this. I come from a strong line on death eaters for Merlin's sake! You're so much easier to forgive, Adalyn."
That made me giggle and actually smile for real. "I'm glad, just don't be scared off when we get to Hogwarts. Something tells me Arden has already told all of seventh year and is working her way through sixth."
"It's okay, you're not alone this year," Alice said, squeezing my hand and looking at me with her big eyes. "I'm in Gryffindor, but we shared ancient runes together."
Warmth filled my stomach and made my smile bigger than before. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate you all being so nice to me."
The carriage stopped and I felt my stomach drop to my knees. Sev pushed open the carriage door and jumped out before offering me his hand. He laced our fingers together and held it all the way into the castle and to our table. I could feel the eyes on me, but I could've been imagining it.
"Is it true, Adalyn? Are you really 100% Veela?" Hadley Taylor asked from a little way down the table from us. "Arden said that you were, but we all know how truthful she is most of the time."
Shit, the storm was about to start raging.
"No, I'm only 25%," I replied, taking Sev's hand back in both of mine under the table.
I had been hungry before she spoke, but that was completely gone now. I actually wanted to be sick form the nerves bubbling there. I looked down at my lap, focusing on the watch that sat on Sev's wrist; I'd never noticed that he wore one before. It was a muggle one and it made me smile, he was always surprising me.
"So you are Veela? That explains why you're so hot," a guy at the table said, leering at me. "I always figured it wasn't just fate that your ass was so round and your tits were so big."
I didn't get a chance to reply before I heard Sev start talking. His voice was a little above a whisper, but I recognized the bat-bogey hex that I'd read about in boxes as a younger witch. He used his free hand to move his wand under the table and direct the hex at him. Bats exploded out of his nose and flew around everyone, making various disgusted noises ring from the Slytherin table. The guy jumped up and ran out of the Great Hall with his hands clamped over his nose to keep the bats inside.
"Thanks," I said, leaning my head on his shoulder.
"Hey, can I slide in here? The Gryffindor table's a bit too full for my liking tonight," Alice said from behind me. The she turned to the girl on my left side, "Do you mind if I squeeze in right here?"
The girl slid to the side so Alice could sit beside me. I saw Rose, Lorcan, and Roxy making their way over to sit across from us with Scorpius and Harrison. Tears pricked my eyes at their actions –other than Sev, I'd never had someone care about my welling being before that wasn't my family.
Dinner was a lot easier with them sitting with us. Conversation never lulled, it started with Rose heckling Sev and Scorpius about Quidditch and how they were going to lose. Sev didn't miss a beat when he told them they had no chance now that his brother had left and he was right. The Potter boys were beyond talented when it came to the sport, almost inhumanly so…
We all went to our respective common rooms after Professor McGonagall dismissed dinner. Alice, Rose, and Roxy all hugged me before waving and leaving us alone. Scorpius, Sev, Harrison, and I followed the long line of people dressed in green and silver down to the dungeons and our common room.
My first year I was so scared when I learned that was where I'd be living. I had an intense fear of the dark as a young kid, almost petrifying honestly. After a few weeks I learned that it wasn't that bad, it was actually comforting. I could hide in the shadows and act like no one was looking at me like an albino tiger or something.
Unfortunately, I knew there would be no hiding in the shadows for me anymore. Now that Arden had let the cat out of the bag, I would have to face it head on. I couldn't let that ruin my last year at Hogwarts, especially considering this might be the first year that I actually had friends.
"So, dinner could've been worse," Scorpius said after we'd all discarded our robes and gotten comfortable. "Only a couple of people stared at you like a zoo exhibit. I'd put that in the win column."
I laughed and rolled my eyes, he was so sarcastic all the time. I really appreciated his sense of humor –it was dry and witty. I'd never been around someone who was a clever as he was, he had a .5 second reaction time when someone said something and his main target was Harrison most of the time.
"So you've taken advanced runes this semester?" he asked, tugging his tie loose and draping his arm over the couch behind my shoulders. "You scarcely passed third year runes last year. How do you except to do well in the advanced version?"
"He does make a valid point," Sev replied from his spot leaning against the front of my chair. "How do you expect to pass?"
"I'm pretty good with runes, I'm in that class with you. I could help if you want," I replied, looking up from Sev's hair that my fingers were currently twisting. "But only if you stop accidently brushing my bum when you walk by or talking about how fit I am. I'm a human being and I deserve your respect, I've also recently learned a pretty nasty hex from Sev…"
Harrison raised his brows but didn't say anything. I focused back on Sev's hair and the way it felt twisting around my fingers. I'd started out scratching his scalp absentmindedly, but it soon turned into me playing with it. I couldn't help myself, it was so silky and just slipped through my fingers. I'd expected them to get tangled in it because it was so curly and untamed, but I'd been pleasantly surprised.
There was a group of first years grouped together near the fireplace. They were all boys and staring at me like I was a centerfold or something. I even saw one mime a disgusting gesture that had me flying over at them before I could stop myself, pushing Sev forward in my haste. It was like my entire body wasn't in my control, but I didn't fight it too hard.
"If you've got something to say about me, say it to my face. If you're man enough to think about having sex with me you can tell me about it," I said, placing my hands on my hips and staring down my nose at them.
The leader tried to stutter out words, but he couldn't make his tongue work. I'm sure my Veela eyes were flashing as I stared at them because I could feel my hands burning. I wasn't going to hurt them, I just wanted to scare the shit out of them.
"The next time you think about objectifying a female, remember that I'm Veela and I can burn you alive," I said, my voice low and deadly. "Do you understand me?"
They nodded and scurried off with their heads down. I turned back around and walked over to the chair, feeling all the guys' eyes on me. I didn't know what to say, I hadn't even realized what I was doing until it was over. The moment I sat down, I felt all my energy drain out of me and my head started to pound.
"What the hell was that? They're eleven and messing around," Harrison said, watching the boys run to their beds and hide. "That's was way overboard for them talking about you; people talk about you like that all the time."
"I don't know what it was, I've never lost control of my temper like that. I get pissed but just ignore it," I said, rubbing my temples gingerly. "I don't even remember deciding to get up and go over there until I was on my way back."
"I bet it's a Veela thing," Scorpius said, grabbing his bag off the floor and rifling through it. He came out with his copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them and flipped to the page on Veela. "It says right here that sometimes when you're anger runs too high you turn into an actual harpy. I think that's only if you're 100% though, you just get really angry and your hands turn red. Your eyes were also completely black when you turned around, which was cool and terrifying at the same time."
"It's like the one time in third year potions," Harrison said, snapping his fingers. "When you're wand misfired and you caught that kid's robes on fire. I bet you did that with your hands, didn't you?"
I shook my head and pulled my knees up into the chair with me. I had a tendency to fold myself up into a ball whenever I felt an intense emotion. It was a defense mechanism I developed fourth year when someone took my dark corner of the common room. It hide my face and if I couldn't seem them, it felt like they couldn't see me –even if I knew that logic was seriously flawed.
"Don't hide, we're not yelling at you. We just want to help you figure this out," Sev said, turning around and standing up on his knees.
He took my hands in his and pulled them away from my face before placing my feet back on the floor. I felt heat flood my body when his hand brushed the bare skin between my sock and my skirt. Sev was so close to me that I could see the sprinkle of freckles along the bridge of his nose and the flecks of gold in his eyes.
"You've got freckles, did you know that?" I breathed, ghosting my finger over them.
He laughed before he reached up and brushed my fringe out of my face. "You've got them too, along your cheekbones."
Oh no, I recognized that look in his eyes. He was looking at me like all the other guys do. I backed away from him and looked everywhere but his intense gaze. That was the worst thing that could have ever happened –I was just another Veela girl to him.
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