"Come on Jehan, we need to get up," The familiar voice of Marius Pontmercy roused Jehan from his sleep. Yawning, the young poet opened his eyes to see that Marius was already dressed, and was starting to throw his books in his bag for lessons.
The first day back at classes was nobody's favourite time, but Jehan knew that Courfeyrac, in particular, hated the first day of lessons.
"What have we got today?" Jehan mumbled, pulling the yellow bed sheets higher, wishing that he could drift gently back into sleep.
Marius thought for a second before reciting his timetable.
"Em, we've all got Divination-"
The large lump in the bed opposite, which was Courfeyrac, let out a groan,
"Then we have Charms before lunch with the Slytherins-"
Marius said the word with distaste, and even Jehan allowed himself to make a bit of a face; he had always found Slytherins a little… well, mean. They just seemed too aggressive and foul-mouthed. But the Charms Professor was one of Jehan's favourites, so he supposed that it wouldn't be too bad.
Marius' voice pulled Jehan out of his thoughts "And then after lunch you have Ancient Eunes, while I have Muggle Studies, and Courf has nothing."
The lump in the bed let out a small cheer.
"Oh, but Enjolras wants to have the first meeting tonight," Marius sighed, as Jehan began to pull oh his shirt and tie. A sound not dissimilar to a dying frog rose from Courf's bed.
Grinning slightly, Jehan pulled his bad towards him, and stated to neatly place his books within it, not forgetting the small notebook he carried with him at all times to scribble ideas for poems.
"Personally, I like going to the meetings. They're kind of inspiring, you know?" The poet said absently as he carefully started to braid his hair.
"But, first day... Lessons, homework, ugh!" Courfeyrac groaned, finally emerging from beneath the sheets. Jehan was unable to stifle a laugh at his friends ridiculous hair, which was now sticking up at all angles. Courfeyrac raised an eyebrow playfully.
"Oh come on, how can you resist this much sexy?"
Heat rushed to Jehan's face, and he forced himself to double check his books again to hide it. This didn't go unnoticed by Courfeyrac.
"Come on Courf! We're gonna be late!" Marius whined as his curly haired companion slowly started to get dressed. Luckily for the other two Hufflepuffs, Jehan had had the foresight to prepare Courfeyrac's bag the night before, meaning when he finally finished getting dressed they could get it of the common room fairly quickly.
Courfeyrac didn't even seem to have the energy to flirt with the girls in their house as they watched him exit the common room. Although Jehan would never tell anyone, he really disliked listening to Courfeyrac flirting with girls. But he wasn't jealous! He just... Liked having as much of Courfeyrac's precious attention as possible.
The three Hufflepuffs walked past the kitchens, and further along the corridor full of portraits until they reached the entrance hall.
Courf groaned as the bright morning light hit him.
"I'm melting!" He hissed raising his hand dramatically in front of his face.
"Courf, you're not a vampire! Please just hurry up." Marius muttered, his eyes fixed on the distant image of Cosette sat at the Hufflepuff table. Sighing slightly, that his joke hadn't received the reaction he'd hoped for, Courfeyrac followed Marius and Jehan towards the grand oak doors which led into the great hall, past a group of four Slytherins milling around the entrance to the great hall.
Though he wouldn't dare call himself an acquaintance, yet alone a friend, Jehan recognised the boys in group; the silver blond hair of Scorpius Malfoy was hard to miss, and next to him was Grantaire Labelle, the Slytherin that Jehan had sat next to last year in Charms class. The blond haired boy tried to smile at Grantaire, but the boy was staring intently into the hall with tired looking eyes - Jehan wouldn't rule out the possibility that the Slytherin boy already drunk at ten to nine in the morning.
And Bahorel, the burly Slytherin seventh year who stood with them, was basically a Hogwarts legend; it seemed that no one had ever gotten as many detentions as Bahorel. Courfeyrac had always said that Bahorel was the main reason Slytherin had never won the house cup in all the time they'd been at Hogwarts.
The girl, on the other hand, was recognisable, definitely from his year, although Jehan was unable to recall her name. But as they passed, the poet saw her eyeing the group, looking almost shy... Perhaps she was one of the many girls in love with Courfeyrac.
Breakfast passed relatively uneventfully; Enjolras, Joly and Combeferre said a brief hello, but the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had Transfiguration first, and they wanted to be early in order to get some work done.
So the three Hufflepuff boys, along with Cosette, walked to their divination class together.
The class had continued as it had always done: the entire class was bored senseless. At one point Courfeyrac had actually fallen asleep, only to be jerked awake by Jehan when he was asked to make a prediction by the Professor.
Courf had then deduced that, due to the unusual movements of Jupiter, Jehan would be attacked by a Blast-Ended Skrewt, and then proceed to be killed by a Griffin. Professor Trelawney, the ancient Divination teacher - or as Courfeyrac referred to her "that old hag" - had rewarded him with 10 points to Hufflepuff. Meaning that Courfeyrac had been almost unbearable (he'd probably never gotten that many house points in one go before).
"That was worse than I remembered," Marius sighed as the three walked towards the Charms corridor along with the rest of the Hufflepuffs, a few Slytherins mixing in with them.
"Well, personally, I thought it was a great lesson!" Courfeyrac announced walking with a bit more of a swagger than usual. Jehan couldn't help but grin slightly; Courfeyrac always got so adorably pompous if he ever actually got something right in a lesson.
Be in spite of that the curly haired Hufflepuff visibly deflated as they came to a stop outside their Charms class.
After just a minute of waiting outside the dark wood door opened and Jehan's favourite Professor appeared.
Professor Golightly was very young - the youngest Professor at the school. She was a short, thin woman. Her dark hair pulled off her face in a braid, and a pair of spectacles balanced on her slightly upturned noose. Her high-pitched voice rang out like a bell.
"Please come in class, and find a seat," she gave an extra smile to Jehan; the young Hufflepuff was liked by most teachers, but Professor Golightly in particular considered him her best student. That was partly one of the reasons why she was Jehan's favourite Professor.
The class trooped half-heartedly into the class room. The Slytherins and Hufflepuffs remaining separate, as they continued chattering to other members of their house. Jehan could see that his two friends were busy with pretty Hufflepuff girls; Marius with the love of his life, and Courfeyrac with some girl whose name he probably didn't know. But that was just what Courfeyrac was like: his whole life was one more one night stand after another. Not that that should bother Jehan... Except that it did.
Either way, Jehan didn't want to awkwardly hang around his friends as they flirted, so he quickly moved away from the group of students to get his favourite desk situated right at the front of the class. That might have been considered too keen by some, but Jehan was always one to throw himself into everything he did, whether it was gaining equality for magical creatures, lessons, or his poetry; Jehan would always try his absolute hardest.
"Come on!" The Charms Professor chimed, as she saw most of the students still standing around talking "Now, I want you to sit next to someone who is in the other house." She said sternly, looking over her glasses, as the class let out a collected moan.
Jehan waited patiently, wondering who he would be partnered with, whilst he fiddled with his braid. As long as it wasn't Scorpius he didn't really mind.
"Not at the back, Mr Labelle," Professor Golightly said without even looking up from the papers on her desk "I'd like you to sit at the front again this year," she continued, gesturing vaguely at Jehans desk.
Well, Jehan thought to himself, it could be worse; at least he knew Grantaire, and the drunkard was easy to get on with, if a little cynical.
The poet turned in time to see a groggy looking Grantaire skulk out of the shadowy corner of the classroom and slump unenthusiastically down onto the chair next to him.
"Hello Grantaire," Jehan said politely "How was your summer?" He asked, not really knowing what else to say.
In reply the Slytherin boy just muttered something darkly, picking at a half healed cut on his arm.
Jehan opened his mouth, about to comment on the weather, when a voice interrupted.
"Hey R, thought I'd join you in the Eager Squad," Jehan turned around to give an indignant look at the dark haired girl he'd seen with Grantaire this morning, as she sat casually at the desk behind Jehan and Grantaire.
"Don't usually sit this far forward, 'Ponine," The Slytherin boy said slowly, his words slightly slurred.
The girl flicked a strand of dark hair out of her eyes before replying "Well it was either here or in front of Scorpius, and, quite frankly, the further I am from him, the less likely it is I'll concede an STD."
The blond Hufflepuff stared at the ground whilst Grantaire snorted, his cheeks flushed; this was not the kind of conversation he was used to.
Luckily for Jehan, the Professor spoke up before the Slytherins could continue their vulgar conversation.
"No, Courfeyrac! There's only one desk left, so please just make things simpler and sit down next to miss Thénardier," She sighed, already seeming exhausted from the rowdy students.
As it turned out, Courf had been trying to convince a Hufflepuff girl to swap places with him, as he'd have a better chance of falling asleep unnoticed at the back of the class than in the front. But, unfortunately, the Charms Professor had caught onto his plans.
Courfeyrac didn't look too happy; sitting at the front of the class had never been his sort of thing, but his eyes lit up as they saw the girl he'd be sat next to, and as he took his seat he had that painfully familiar expression in his face.
Jehan willed Courfeyrac not to... But he did.
"So you're Éponine right? That's a pretty name,"
Jehan winced at the girls cutting reply, which contained the words off, fuck, bastard and cactus. Though Courf just looked unfazed as ever, Jehan was about to make some kind of subtle hint to Courfeyrac not to attempt to flirt with Éponine, when something caught his eye.
Grantaire had taken out a small flask from his bag, the heavy sent of fire whiskey wafted towards Jehan. The poet had known that Grantaire had had a drinking problem last year when he'd sat next to him... But it hadn't been this bad! Okay sometimes he'd skip lessons, and he'd usually come into class a little more than tipsy. But never before had he actually drunk in the lesson.
What had made him suddenly get worse? Jehan wondered unable to stop himself feeling sorry for the drunkard. Had something bad happened to him during the holidays?
Someone cleared their throat behind Jehan, and he turned around to see Professor Golightly standing right behind them, about to hand out the text book.
With a sinking feeling Jehan realised that the Professor had just witnessed Grantaire's actions as well. Grantaire also seemed to pick up on this fact.
"Honestly Professor, I'm not drunk!" Grantaire slurred, raising his head, causing Jehan to wince a little; Grantaire's entire appearance contradicted his comment. As the Slytherin shifted slightly, Jehan caught a glimpse of his hands, which were shaking uncontrollably, and the Hufflepuff couldn't help gagging slightly as the scent of alcohol and muggle cigarette filled his nose. Grantaire's tightly curled hair fell in a knotted mess across his forehead. His skin was sickly pale and clammy, aside from the dark purple, bruise-like circles beneath his eyes, that were huge and bloodshot, but slightly glazed.
Professor Golightly hesitated, clearly wanting to scold the Slytherin student for appearing to the lesson on the first day of lessons already hung-over. But by the sixth year of Hogwarts Grantaire's drinking habits had become legendary, and most of the teachers had come to accept the dark haired Slytherin as somewhat of a lost cause. Either the professors would try their best to help Grantaire, by at least letting him get away with more than most, or they would pick on him in order to "motivate" him into stopping his undesirable habits.
But Professor Mary-Jane Golightly wasn't one of the latter; she was considerate, fair, and above all, sympathetic. This was one of the main reasons why she was Jehan's favourite teacher, and also why she didn't grow angry at Grantaire as most would.
A slight frown appeared on the witch's face. Pursing her lips she turned to Éponine, sat behind Grantaire "Do up your top button Miss Thenardier!" But the dark haired Slytherin girl made no attempt to sort put her uniform, she merely made a rude had gesture at the professors retreating back, before turning to face her bleary eyed friend.
"Nice one, R. Only thirty minutes into school and you've already had to lie your arse out of something."
Grantaire just sank further into his chair muttering something that sounded like fuck off, as Courfeyrac lent forward trying to gain the girls attention.
"So 'Ponine, you like Charms? Cause I do, you know. I think we're gonna work well together." the Hufflepuff purred.
"You're crap at Charms and you know it," Éponine snarled far more aggressive than needed.
Courfeyrac turned an incredulous face to look at Jehan "Where are people getting these misguided rumours about my charm-casting skills?! I'm actually pretty damn good at most things; Charms included!"
Letting out a short laugh, Éponine sneered "Yeah right Courfeyrac! You're so useless; you got fired from a blow-job!"
"...Speaking of blow-jobs"
"Bastard"
"Bitch!"
"Man-whore!"
"Excuse me!" The Professor shouted from the front of the class, looking as though she might finally be loosing her temper. "Would you all be so kind as to answer question 24 on page 601. In silence!"
XXX
Marius and Jehan sat at the the long Hufflepuff table the two of them had just finished their afternoon classes, and were ravenously gulping down the dinner on the table before them.
"Oi!" The pair looked up to see Courfeyrac strolling towards them looking pleased with himself; what he spent his free afternoon doing, the other didn't really want to know.
"Shove up, you two!" Courf whined, forcing a space between Marius and Jehan, and squeezing himself onto the bench.
Marius didn't even seem to notice - he was too busy smiling vaguely at Cosette as she talked to two other Hufflepuff girls further up the table, occasionally catching her eye and grinning even more.
Jehan on the other hand tensed up; Courfeyrac was sitting so close to him, that his entire left side was pressed against Jehan, his sweet warm scent was easy to detect. Every time the dark haired boy moved, his shoulder would slide against the poet's, sending tremors though his veins. As Courfeyrac shifted slightly to become more comfortable, his hip brushed Jehan's.
Blushing scarlet Jehan hurriedly announced "I, er, just need to go to the library before the meeting, I-I'll see you two there!" Before standing up from the table so fast that his books slide out of his bag and cascaded across the flagstone floor.
Sighing, Jehan knelt on the floor and began to pick up the contents of his back. Flicking his braid out of his way, Jehan realised that Courf had bent down to help him gather up him books, and now as he looked up, their faces were almost touching.
They stared at each other.
As he blinked, Jehan counted each eyelash, as they scattered the sunlight, illuminating the myriad of colours in his eyes. Each different shade of blue-grey in his eyes seemed more beautiful than the last; the colour reminded him of the open ocean. Jehan had obviously noticed them before, but he'd never prepared himself for seeing them this close; he could feel himself getting lost in the depth of those eyes…
Swallowing, Jehan looked down at his shaking hands and continued to pick up his books, refusing to let himself blush.
Jehan took the last few books from Courfeyrac and stuffed them hastily into his bag, before standing up and beginning to walk in the direction of the library, still feeling a little dazed.
Courfeyrac watched him go, a small smile tugging at his lips; he'd seen the look in his eyes when he'd stared at him.
XXX
"What the hell took you so long?" Courfeyrac complained, he and Marius, had had to wait long enough for Jehan to come and meet them. After which Enjolras had been late showing up.
"I'm sorry, I was busy working," Enjolras muttered distractedly, as he began to walk in the direction of the stairs.
"Wrong way," Courfeyrac called after them, causing all three of them to stop and face him.
"But the classroom we use is up the stairs," Marius said uncertainly. Enjolras nodded in agreement.
"Awww cute," Courfeyrac smirked.
"What?"
"You're all so innocent!" Courfeyrac let out a laugh "Come along children," he mocked as he led the other three sixth years further down the corridor, stopping in front of the portrait of Gregory the Smarmy.
"Courfeyrac why are we here? We need to get to the meeting," Enjolras huffed.
"Because, goodie-goodies, this happens to be my secret passage that no one else knows about. And lucky for us it goes right to the floor we want." Courf smiled at the shocked looks on his companions faces, as he drew out his wand and tapped on the painting three times.
The portrait swung open. But much to Courfeyrac's surprise a person fell out of it.
"You're secret passage that no one else knows about?" Marius repeated, smirking slightly.
Courf stared at the first year Gryffindor with dirty blonde hair who was now sprawled across the floor.
"What the hell were you doing in there?" Demanded Courfeyrac.
"Exploring," the boy replied "Why? You angry?"
Clearly he had been listening to the sixth years conversation.
"Angry... I couldn't be prouder!" It was easy to see from his face that Courfeyrac had already taken to the young rebel.
"Oh, 'ello again!" The first year said cheerfully spotting Enjolras, who replied with an emotionless "Hi,"
"What's your name?" Courf asked grinning down at the first year. Jehan always loved how easily Courfeyrac could make friends with people.
"Gavroche, what's yours?" The Gryffindor first year answered flashing the older boy a toothy grin.
"I'm Courfeyrac,"
"You were all talking 'bout a meeting. Can I come?"
"No!" Enjolras said harshly, but Courfeyrac was louder.
"Course you can," Courfeyrac replied taking no notice of the leader. "Follow me, good friend!"
As they ran up the passage together, racing and whooping in a childish manner, Enjolras muttered, mostly to himself.
"It's the beginning of the end."