Nicki's POV: While Hatchet had been close to a good potion, none of us had actually succeeded.
"This... this damn ARGH!", I said angrily, while Angelina, Wood and I walked to the Great Hall for lunch.
"How can this man be a Professor and still have the audacity to be this much of an ass?"
Angelina shushed me and looked around. "Be quiet, Nicki. You know that there's always someone listening and you ranting on and on about Snape doesn't exactly help your case, does it?"
I growled but had to admit that she was right. Snape had ignored me from day one at this school. Yes, he graded me just fine but in lessons? I was air to him. No, less than air. I could work as well as Hatchet, and sometimes even better, but it got me nothing. No compliments, no house points, not even a glance. To be fair, I didn't care about all of that as single things but in comparison to Hatchet? I cared a lot. Angrily I let myself flop down at our house table. I sat with my back towards the rest of the hall because I really, really couldn't be bothered to see the Slytherins who I had noticed laughing at their table.
"I'm full of so much rage", I said, then grabbed a sandwich and took a big bite out of it. I chewed, angrily of course, without tasting any of it. My mind was off being angry and there was no space for anything else.
"Nicki, calm down", Wood said. "You know full well that Snape has never had any love left for Gryffindors, any of us."
"But the way he hates all of you and ignores me? It makes me... ugh! I want to scream. I can do perfectly and get no reaction from him. I can fuck up completely and still get no reaction except for a displeased look or something." I finished my sandwich and stood up.
"Where are you going?", Katie, who just came to sit with us, asked.
"I don't know", I said, maybe a little too loud because heads were turning in our direction.
I threw my hands up in annoyance and stormed out of the hall. Without a plan in mind, I just walked out the gates and into the winter sun. It was cold but I was so heated up that I didn't notice. Or better yet, I didn't care. I walked down the hill and to the black sea, the kraken paddling happily around not too far from the shore and sending waves towards me. While I watched it, I calmed down. Why had I been this angry? After seven years of the same procedure everytime I entered Snape's classroom, you'd think I was used to it. And I was but I was so riled up lately, so emotional. In a last burst of rage, this time over myself and how pathetic I was, I kicked one of the many boulders before sitting down on it. I just let the sun shine its warmth on my face, enjoying the tickling rays on my skin. It was then that I heard voices from one of the small bays near me and saw Hatchet and Flint sitting there. How long had they been there? Had they noticed me? And my outburst? With everything else, that would be just kind of typical. I sighed and got up, their heads whipped around to me. I shot them a glare and walked around aimlessly for a while, not yet ready to go back up to the castle.

Lexie's POV: "I mean come on is she following us or what?"
"Relax Lexie, it's probably one of the last sunny days this year, many people could have the same idea to go to the lake one last time."
"Well, then why do I only see her out here?" I asked folding my arms in front of my chest.
Marcus just sat there and smiled, letting the sun warm his face. "Mhm funny, isn't it?"
"What?" I asked. "So there are only two people who came up with this idea."
"Are you really that bad of a comedian? Why is that funny."
"For two people who hate each other so much, you two have actually a lot in common."
I gasped. "Marcus Flint, you take that back!" I said before throwing myself at him and wrestling him to the ground.
Marcus laughed and quickly won the upper hand, pushing me to the ground. In my desperate attempt to wiggle myself out my gaze fell on Shelley who stood on the path, staring at us. She eyed us up and down and when realizing that I caught her view, quickly turned away and started walking again. Marcus rolled over so that we could sit next to each other. We sat there a couple of minutes in silence just enjoying the last rays of sunshine.
"I bet I have an idea Shelley wouldn't think of," I said smiling at him.
Marcus opened one eye to look at me.
"Let's go swimming tonight! We meet up after your Astronomy class and take one last dive as long as the weather allows it."
Slowly a smile emerged on his face.
"Ah well, what would I do without your great mind, Lexie?"
"Bore yourself to death probably?" We both laughed and sooner than we thought the time for his Astronomy class came around. Marcus got up and offered me his hand.
"Thanks, but I think I'm going to stay a little longer."
"Alright, see you tonight!"
"Bye!" When I made sure that he had entered the castle, I got up and made my way down to the Whomping Willow. In my 2nd year, I had discovered a secret path underneath it, leading to a wooden room. Since it was already quite demolished I liked to use it as a training space for spells, charms and potions. I've always been the kind of person who learned the most efficiently by doing things themselves. So, when my time in Hogwarts began and that bighead Shelley actually showed to be competition, I made sure to find myself a place where I could train without getting detention for doing magic outside of class. I made my way through the little tunnel into the room. My wand enlightened a small circle around me, just enough to make out the familiar features of the bed, the cupboards and a desk.
"Expecto Patronum" I said and a wolf leapt out of my wand, filling the room in silvery lights. Over the years I got used to calling him to have company in here. And to be honest, a little bit to have the most amazing lamp ever. I opened the cupboard in which I hid my ingredients to try potions and unloaded the new ones from my class today. For the next two hours, I worked on different transfiguration spells. When I crawled out of the entrance under the Whomping Willow, it was already dark outside. I quickly walked to the Slytherin common room, changed into a bikini, threw my cloak back on and waited for Marcus to return from Astronomy.

Nicki's POV: I was the first person on the Astronomy tower. Not even Professor Sinistra was there yet. Besides Herbology, Astronomy was my favourite subject. I had always loved nighttime, the quiet of everything, the stars twinkling above and the moon illuminating the earth with her silvery light. It was just after sunset now and so far there was only Venus to be seen. This time of the day was beautiful, especially from up here. Right now, the Forbidden Forest wasn't more than dark silhouettes, swaying in the soft but cold wind, the mountains black against the last light that coloured the sky in deep pinks and purples that gradually went to the darkest blue in the east. And it was beautifully quiet up here, there were some hoots and caws from the birds but other than that I was alone in my solitude and I enjoyed it. It was peaceful. I was peaceful.
I leaned against the balustrade and took out the homework we had to prepare for today. For the first months of the year, our lessons were about planets. During the winter months, there were many of them on the night sky and it was our assignment to find them on the sky and track their progress on a chart. Because of that, our lessons were at different times each week because some of the planets were visible during the morning- and some during the evening hours. The planet we wanted to have a closer look at this week was Saturn. I had meticulously marked his position in the sky at different hours and had been in the library to get more info on it.
When there was only a sliver of light left in the west, I heard steps behind me and turned towards the stairs. Was it Professor Sinistra? I really wanted to ask her for more literature on the planets and especially Saturn, for me personally one of the most interesting planets with its rings. Also one of the youngest. There was so much to discover and I wanted to learn it all. But it wasn't the professor coming up the stairs.
I sighed and turned back to look at the sky as soon as I realized it was Flint. But instead of ignoring me as I would have expected, he came to stand next to me. I turned my head to face him.
"What?" I asked. He looked at the parchment I was still holding in my hand.
"Ever the geek, huh?"
What was that supposed to mean? I raised a brow in question. But he just shook his head.
"Nevermind. Anyways, what were you doing by the lake today? Were you spying on us or something?"
"Spying on you?", I repeated.
"Why would I do that? I see more of you both than I want to every single day. Why would I torture myself and come after you to spy?"
"I don't know... isn't spying something you do with people you don't like?", he mused without looking at me, instead staring at a spot somewhere over the forest.
"Oh Flint, don't flatter yourself, there's no reason to. In fact, I was content to just be alone until you two showed up."
"Content alone kicking boulders?" He asked and smirked. So they had seen me. I felt myself going slightly red from both anger and embarrassment. How dare they intruding my privacy like that? But also... god, why did I have to kick a boulder and be sad and angry somewhere everyone could have seen me? It was bad luck it had been Hatchet and Flint. I finally turned around fully.
"Yes, I was content kicking boulders. I was angry and to be honest, I kinda wish that boulder would have been you or Hatchet." I narrowed my eyes at him. "You two annoy the hell out of me and what happened during quidditch practice was actually freeing. It felt good."
I took a breath and waited for his reaction. He looked at me for a moment, his emotions plainly visible on his face. Anger, uncertainty, annoyance to finally settle on something I couldn't identify.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you that badly", he finally said. I couldn't do anything but blink. And my mouth stood probably open, making me look dumb. That was not what I thought he'd say.
"Just forget it", I finally said, unsure if I meant quidditch practice or the apology. Unsure if I meant him or myself. Confused, I took a step away from him to look over the now-dark landscape.
There were more and more stars twinkling overhead and I could finally hear Professor Sinistra talking to other students on the stairs. She immediately started her lesson and we all took turns with the telescope, watching Saturn as a tiny fleck of brown. Afterwards, I couldn't have said what exactly we did during the lesson or what I'd learned. I even forgot to talk to Professor Sinistra about the books. When had I ever been so unfocused during an Astronomy lesson?