It was always quiet in the library during lunch. Though there were students milling around to find textbooks they needed for class and first-years already studying far more than necessary, it was better than filled tables and Madame Pince, a new addition to the library staff, constantly shushing students. Though she appreciated her getting the students to quieten, the shushing was usually more distracting than the chatter itself.
Gwen, upon Kettleburn's advice, had the newest edition of The Monster Book of Monsters set on the table in front of her, open on a page about Bowtruckles. The image in the textbook showed a green stick-like insect with two leaves protruding from the top of its head, only several inches in height. It was a cute creature, if a little odd-looking.
Her quill scratched messy notes on a piece of parchment, jotting down basic information. They were territorial but otherwise peaceful and often used for picking locks. There was a note at the bottom saying Newt Scamander was the first student to gain the trust of the Bowtruckles and officially tame one. He stole one from the school grounds before leaving and called it Pickett, long before his famous adventures.
Gwen has never gotten anything above Acceptable in class, but she was glad she chose Care as one of her subjects. It was one of the more interesting ones for sure, and Newt Scamander was always a fun character to read about even if the rest of the topic was dry.
She was jolted out of her writing when her quill abruptly flew out of her hand, landing a foot away from her. Without thinking she leaned down to pick it back up before she was interjected. A hair's breadth away from her fingers, a foot stomped down on the quill, snapping it clean in half. Gwen looked up, ready to chide whoever it was.
It was Lucius, staring down his nose at her with a snide twitch of the lip. "My apologies," he said, voice lowered as not to alert the keen-eared Pince.
Gwen exhaled, pursing her lips. "Need something?" she asked, briefly eyeing her broken quill on the ground. There was a small cloud of magic where it broke, filtering up through the air.
"Just browsing," Lucius said, sounding overly-casual. He was with his usual cluster of friends; Mulciber, Avery and Evan Rosier, but Gwen noticed the black-haired boy standing behind the three, towering over them.
It was Severus Snape, Lily's old friend. She knew he was anti-Muggle - remembered when he publicly humiliated Lily by calling her a Mudblood in their third year, but she didn't connect the dots that he'd hang out with the likes of Malfoy. He was too wimpy for them.
Lucius continued, "You should be more careful with your things, Crouch."
She diverted her attention back to the blonde. "And you should watch where you're going, Malfoy," Gwen retorted. "Pissing me off is becoming a daily occurrence, huh?"
"Aw," he pouted, "is the little blood-traitor going to cry to her pathetic Father and whore Mother?"
Her annoyance was quick to spike into anger and she surged to her feet, fist curled by her hip. While his friends laughed, Lucius did something that surprised her.
He took a step back.
His arrogant expression flickered into something akin to panic, similar to when Gwen had her wand against his neck the day before. His friends couldn't see the expression but they noticed the way he stepped back, the tension in his shoulders, and their laughter was quick to fade.
She hesitated for a second, her lips parting as the crease between her eyebrows softened. Her anger turned into confusion.
Lucius took advantage of her hesitation. His air of fear melted into amusement. "Hah," he chuckled. "Are you scared of hurting me, Crouch?" He was still being quiet, but his voice raised enough to gain the attention of a few students around them. "Your Father may be the Minister of Magic but we all know mine is pulling the strings," he continued. "Your Father is weak - soft. He doesn't deserve his position. He probably wouldn't be Minister if it wasn't for my family."
Gwen recalled many years ago, long before he became the Minister, her Father voicing his hatred for the Malfoy family after having dinner with them. That was when he was only an official and Eugenia Jenkins was the Minister, not too long before she died of Dragon Pox. He hated the Malfoys, muttering every curse he could think of towards them when he arrived home. If he could find positives in the Black family, Gwen could only come to the conclusion that the Malfoys were a different breed of awful.
"I'll keep that in mind," Gwen said. "Do you want to break any more of my things while you're here?"
Lucius smirked and it seemed dark, threatening. "Not this time," he said. "Have fun with Evans, Crouch. See how long she'll stick around." Then he left. His friends followed, not before Snape sent a withering look over his shoulder.
Gwen wanted to think that it was another one of his empty words, but it seemed different. He was clearly scared of being hurt by her so why was he so insistent on bothering her and sending vague threats her way? He was always an arse to her, ever since first-year after her Father was elected Minister, but this seemed more targeted. She didn't see him harassing other students like he did with her, not even Muggles.
With a sigh, the girl picked up her broken quill - a gift given to her by her Mother to last the year, now split in half. She couldn't write home saying how it had happened, that Lucius has been harassing her even if she did have a quill. Gwen thought herself a good liar but around her Mother it was impossible.
She'd have to pay a visit to Hogsmeade this weekend.
Throwing her broken one in the bin, Gwen checked out her book and left the library.
Gwen checked her timetable and begrudgingly made her way to the north tower for DADA. As much as she was warming up to Rookwood, she still hated the subject.
There were a couple students in class already, as well as Rookwood himself sat behind his desk reading. He was sans his robes - leaving him in a waistcoat and button-up shirt that reached his wrists. As though he wasn't expecting her, the Professor's eyebrows raised when he caught sight of Gwen shoving her knapsack on a desk at the back. When their eyes met, he sent a small nod of acknowledgement her way before turning his attention back to his book.
Gwen realised how young the Professor looked then, far younger than she thought. Without his robes he looked leaner, taller even, with curly hair that hadn't a hint of grey. It seemed like he was in his mid-twenties but it wouldn't surprise Gwen if he was younger.
She glanced at the clock above Rookwood's head and noted there were still a couple minutes left before class started. She pulled out her notebook filled with new parchment, as well as her textbook. Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts, twice as big as last year and another reminder that Gwen was in over her head with this topic.
A book bag being thrown on the table drew Gwen from her thoughts.
"Mind if I sit here?" James Potter asked, already pulling out a stool.
"Um." Gwen's eyebrows drew together as she watched him take out his books. He was a little out of breath. "Sure."
She was surprised he had more textbooks than her, as well as a self-inking quill which generally didn't come cheap. The one Lucius broke was similar, though darker in colour and fitted with an eagle feather, while James' looked like a peacock's.
He settled down, an everlasting joyful smile on his face as he pushed his glasses up his nose. "Do you always sit at the back?" he asked.
"Yeah," she answered. "If there's room."
He hummed thoughtfully. "I never really noticed. But I guess we haven't shared classes in a while."
James was right - the last class they shared was Herbology in third-year when he pulled a Mandrake out of its pot and it deafened him. He was in the hospital wing for a couple of days while Pomfrey healed him.
"Don't you have other friends to sit with?" Gwen asked.
He raised his eyebrows. "Was that an insult?"
She hadn't meant for it to sound like that and startled. "What? No, I... I know you have friends, I just- I'm just-" She took a breath. "Why are you sat here?" she finished.
"Because I always sit at the back," he said, "and you seem cool." He shrugged like it was nothing. "I know we've never really spoken but Lily likes you. I mean, she usually likes everyone but, I don't know, she seems to care about you."
Gwen laughed outright at that - not in disagreement but pure astonishment. She knew that Lily defended her if she came up in conversation like she did with Alice and, if she remembered rightly, Sirius said that Lily and Remus 'had a word' with him. Her and Lily were on good terms, most definitely, but Gwen didn't think she was so significant in her life that she talked to her friends about her, unprovoked.
"She said yes when I asked her to Hogsmeade this weekend," James continued, oblivious to Gwen's inner turmoil. "Me and Lily," he clarified. "Alice said I should take her to Madame Puddifoot's and that Lily seemed down for it."
Gwen winced. So, Sirius was right about that one. Anyone in or out Lily's circle would know she'd be lying through her teeth.
Before she could open her mouth to think about warding him off that idea, Rookwood stood. He waved his wand and slammed the classroom door shut, before introducing himself.
"If you don't know already," he spoke, his voice baritone, "I'm Professor Augustus Rookwood, your new DADA teacher and replacement for Rakepick."
She remembered Rakepick rather well, even with the few classes she attended. She was nice and laid-back, younger than Rookwood and pretty so the boys liked her. She was fired seemingly out of nowhere, and rumour circulated that she sent a killing curse towards a student and was in hiding. Because she was such a renown curse-breaker at Gringotts, the Ministry kept the situation very secret. Not even her Father said anything.
"... Now, if everybody could turn to page 84 in their textbooks, we can get started on our revision for Boggarts."
Gwen did so, as did James by her side. The page was mostly text though there was an image of a swirling black mist appearing out of a dark corner. Transforms into the worst fear of the nearest observer(s), it read underneath. She remembered briefly learning about it in third-year.
"Boggarts," Rookwood began, "at their simplest, are shape-shifters who can sense your biggest fears and will exploit you by turning into it." He stepped away from his desk to observe each student. His head was tilted up, but unlike Lucius he didn't carry an arrogant air. "If you are scared of darkness, it will surround you with darkness. If you are scared of spiders, it will turn into a spider. If you are scared of a person or people, it will transform into that person or those people."
The majority of the students were taking notes while Gwen hid her paper with one hand, pretending she was writing stuff down with the other. James, she noted, was tapping his quill against his parchment absentmindedly, leaving little black dots on the page.
"There isn't a known way to defeat a Boggart but they can be sent back to where they came from and trapped with a spell." He paused, eyeing a couple of students at the front. "Can anybody tell me that spell?"
A few hands shot in the air and Rookwood nodded towards a Hufflepuff. "Miss Haywood."
"Riddikulus, sir," she answered brightly.
"Correct," he said, refocusing on the rest of the class. "At the end of today's class, a timetable will be passed around for everyone to demonstrate Riddikulus in their specified ten-minute slot. I understand not everybody wants their peers to know their biggest fears, so it will just be me to oversee that everything goes smoothly."
He talked for the majority of the class, stopping a few times to have students read segments from the textbook and answer questions - thankfully excluding Gwen. He had everyone demonstrate the spell with their wands and stated it was the easiest spell to cast, but having to force the Boggart to transform into something amusing to the individual was the most difficult part.
Gwen was zoned out for most of it, spending the fourty or so minutes staring blankly at the desk with her head in her hand, hoping Rookwood wouldn't notice her mental absence. She couldn't think of a fear that the Boggart would use. Spiders made her uncomfortable but she didn't have a problem picking them up to throw outside, and crowded spaces made her feel more nauseous than scared.
Maybe flying would be her fear.
"Gwendolyn." The girl flinched at her name being said sharply, and snapped her head to see Rookwood at her desk. "You can practice Riddikulus during your detention. Understood?"
James' attention jerked to Gwen at the word detention as he finished scrawling down his name on the timetable.
"Yes, sir," she muttered, ignoring the questioning look. Rookwood snatched the paper from James and his eyes filtered to Gwen's blank notes.
"Don't you have a quill, Miss Crouch?" Rookwood asked.
"It broke this morning, sir," she told him. "I didn't have time to get another one before class."
He stared at her for another second, darted his eyes to her empty page again before his lip twitched. "Be sure to have at least two quills on your person from now on. At least so you can pretend to be focused."
He left without another word. As soon as he was out of earshot, James leaned towards her.
"You got detention?" he asked, seemingly happy with the revelation. "What'd you do? Punch another student?"
Nearly. Gwen almost nodded. "I got caught with my wand out," she said instead.
"Detention for that?" he said, surprised. "Good to know the new prof is strict ahead of time, I guess. Bet Lily loves him already."
"Yeah." She nodded, crossing her arms on the desk. "Hey, James?"
"Hm?"
"Do... Do you think Lily would like that?" she asked, feeling awkward. Was it even her place to give him advice, let alone relationship advice? "Going to Puddifoot's, I mean."
James looked at her, puzzled. "Well, it's the place for couples, right? Good chance to show my romantic side..." his eyes rounded in uncertainty, "right?"
Taking a second to think of what she wanted to say without phrasing it to sound mean, she asked, "Have you ever been?"
"Well, no," he answered truthfully, "but! Padfoot's had successful dates there. Doesn't seem that bad from the outside, yeah?"
"Sirius doesn't take his partners to Puddifoot's for something long-term," Gwen pointed out. Everyone knew of Sirius' escapades with girls, the majority of which ended up with them heartbroken, and everyone knew of James' dedication and loyalty to Lily. "Puddifoot's is cheesy."
"Lily doesn't like cheesy," he commented, slumping back in his chair.
"No one likes cheesy apart from second-years," Gwen agreed. "Didn't Sirius or Remus tell you this?"
"Sirius said I should go with my heart and Moony doesn't care about," he waved his hands vaguely, "all of that. Wormtail is... well, he's useless with girls. As you know," he added quickly. "Like, none of them have ever been in a serious relationship. The most attached Padfoot got to a girl was Marlene in third-year." He tapped his chin in thought, darting his gaze to her. "Have you? Ever been in a relationship, I mean."
"Nothing serious." Gwen shrugged, averting her eyes to her blank notebook. "You don't have to listen to me or anything, I just-"
"No, no, no!" he interjected loudly, earning a sharp look from Rookwood who was speaking with another student. James waved apologetically and ducked his head towards Gwen like they were conspiring.
"No, I appreciate it. Really," he said. "It's hard to get a girls opinion on this, you know? I guess Alice was, like... maybe she was testing me?" Gwen didn't doubt that for a second. The girl was known for being brash and protective over her friends, so it wasn't out of character. "Where else could I take her?" he pondered. "There's not much in Hogsmeade that's date-worthy. The Three Broomsticks gets a bit repetitive after a while."
That much was true. "Then let her decide," the girl advised. James looked unsure, so she carried on. "You know Lily more than me so you don't have to, but I feel like it's something she'd appreciate. She might want to go shopping, to the bookshop or just find a bench to sit on and talk. Either way, you'll both enjoy it."
He considered that, humming under his breath. "I guess," he said, then relaxed his posture with a grin. "Thanks for that, Gwen."
She sent a small smile back. "No problem.
A/N: I know this is a boring chapter for waiting such a long time and I'm so sorry. I lost someone very recently so it's been difficult to motivate myself to write, but I think I'm back on track now. I know I shouldn't say I hate this chapter, but god I hate this chapter. There'll be a lot more Sirius next chapter, I promise!
Added some links for my art, social medias and a playlist for this fic in my bio so check those out if you're interested:)
HisLordFluffiness: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter! Writing and planning Gwen to be completely oblivious to the Muggle world is one of my favourite parts, she's such a sweetheart. As always, thank you so much for your review:)
av23: Thank you sm! I'm glad you're enjoying!