Pov Fey

"Now that we have agreed, Miss Sterling, I believe you have a few guests waiting to see you," Dumbledore said gently.

"No," The word was out before I could think about it.

"Are you sure? They have been worried for quite a long time. Barging into my office all hours of the day," he looked up at the ceiling, "I still don't know how they managed to get the password…"

A nervous giggle bubbled up, "I don't know… The clothes I'm wearing don't even fit anymore. I would literally die if anyone saw me like this."

His gaze dropped to meet mine with a twinkle, "We can't have that now, can we."

Reaching down toward the floor, he pulled up a paper bag from Madam Malkin's Robes.

"You'll find that these robes should fit perfectly. Your parents provided them. Apparently, you forgot them under your bed after purchasing them this summer."

The bag was heavy in my hand. Holding not only the weight of my robes' weight but the unknown's weight, "Thank you…"

"You're welcome. I will let the young Slytherins know you need a moment but will be out shortly."

With that, I was alone, with no option but to change into the fitted robes. I moved slowly to put off the confrontation I knew was waiting in the corridor.

They were going to be pissed with me.

Livid that I disappeared.

Aggravated, I hid from them.

Angered that I lied to them.

Displeased with how I looked.

Mad that I'm not more.

Furious, they wasted their time.

Outraged that I'm not better.

Infuriated, I'm prettier.

Ballistic that I'm not thinner.

I finally looked in the mirror and fixed my long ashy hair. It had grown an inch or two, settling in at the middle of my back. It had been so long since I had to worry about this appearance that it was strange.

My face, still pale and clear, was covered in tiny little freckles, faint but annoying. My nose was still too long, and my lips too full compared to others. The more I looked, the more it seemed to belong to a stranger, and as I moved, my body seemed as if it wasn't my own. My thighs were still too wide, my legs too short, my stomach too round, and my breasts too big and not high enough.

None of it was enough, but I had no choice.

I took a deep breath and pulled back the curtain. The hospital wing was dark now, lit only by small candles. The voices led me to the large door, and my hands almost violently shook as I pushed it open into the dim corridor.

The voices stopped, and their eyes rested on me.

….

Pov Lorenzo

There she was after nearly four weeks missing, and she was the goddess from the train—the girl I had planned to find and woo from day one. Her curves, voice, and everything had drawn me in and taken hold, but I had lost her, and now I knew why.

She had hidden from me. From everyone.

Now she stood in the door of the hospital wing fucking, glowing in the candlelight. Her eyes were on the floor, but I could see her, finally.

I threw my arms around her and lowered my head to fit into the space between her neck and shoulder. She smelled like tea, soap, and fucking parchment.

Fey was back.

"Lorenzo give her some damn space," Mattheo growled behind us

I shook my head. I didn't give a damn.

A hand grabbed me by the shoulder and yanked me back.

…..

Pov Blaise

I yanked Lorenzo back and pulled Fey into my arms. God damn, he was such a hog.

"Where the fuck were you?" I asked in a whisper, crushing her soft body to me. I needed to know where she had been. Why she had been hiding, because if someone had tried to hurt her, I would beat them to bloody fucking pulp.

This wasn't about Slytherin honor anymore. It was just about her. She shouldn't need to hide.

She didn't answer at first, and when she did, her voice seemed to shake, "I was in class…"

I pulled back and frowned at her, "No fucking shit."

She flinched back.

I let my eyes travel down her frame and truly take her in now. She was a foot shorter than I was. Her hair was long and pale as moonlight.

Fuck, her tits were heavy, and her thighs were soft, meeting in the middle, enough to suffocate between. This was not the Fey that we knew before. This was someone new to look at, but the same Fey was inside.

One thing I knew for sure.

Fey was fucking perfect.

…..

Pov Draco

Fey rested her head against my chest when I pulled her in. She felt so right against me. She had always felt so right even when she had looked so, so different.

She had always fit.

Her soothing personality fit within out little group of rough and hard edges. I knew it that first night in the carriage when I pulled the door open. Her eyes had been shocked, but she had let us in and watched us silently.

Not judging, just watching, listening.

Now that she was here stripped of her disguise, it seemed she belonged even more in an aesthetic way. She blended. A natural beauty to fit with us. Softness to fit with our hard and sharp ways.

I couldn't find the words to tell her I was glad she was back. So I squeezed her tight against my chest and breathed her in before one of the others pulled her away.

…..

Pov Mattheo

Fucking hell.

They were all like my family. Brothers, really, and they were getting on my nerves. Hogging her when we just got her back.

Draco was squeezing the life out of her, and I was at the end of my damn rope. Taking hold of her wrist, I pulled her away from him and into my arms, where she stiffened.

I knew she couldn't help it, but fuck if it didn't hurt.

"You are in trouble, little fox."

She turned her face into my chest and hid, "I am?"

I nodded with my face pressed against her head, "For hiding, for running. Shit, you had us all worried."

"I didn't think you'd care…" she admitted softly

"Wouldn't care? Of course, we care, " I struggled for words. I didn't want to scare her. I didn't want to admit my attraction to her shy and submissive personality, so I settled on, "A friend of ours goes missing, and you think we wouldn't care? You must take us for monsters."

Fey pulled back before I was ready to let go. Her eyes met mine, and I let myself take her in.

She was different. Definitely not like the other girls you'd meet. She was soft inside and out. Shorter, shy, and thicker than the other girls roaming the halls.

She had everything I was looking for.

…..

Pov Theo

"Fey?"

Her eyes turned to me, and I got to take her in entirely for the first time. She was stunning. Her beauty was indescribable. Accentuated by the most minor details and hidden by her tiniest movements.

She was used to hiding. Used to going unseen.

Never again.

On the bridge of her nose were the smallest freckles that scattered across her cheeks. The smallest birthmark was on the left side of her neck, a light, almost heart-shaped freckle.

"Theo?" The way she whispered my name sent a shiver down my spine. Her voice was soft, pliant, and submissive. Waiting to be commanded, waiting to be survived.

"We're here for you," I told her firmly.

The words settled over her, and her entire body seemed to give out all at once. She fell only to be caught by Mattheo, supported by Draco, and held by Lorenzo and me.

She was pressed between us all when the damn broke. Her tears fell, and the sobs poured free, shaking her.

"Don't worry, we've got you."

…..

Pov Fey

They held me as I cried in the corridor. All of their voices were soothing, practically purring words of care. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but it felt like forever. I would have been willing to stay there forever, but Madam Promfrey shooed us off and told us to head to our common room.

We stood outside the stone wall, and I froze there, with puffy eyes clutching my robes around me, "I don't want to go in."

Mattheo raised a brow and pulled me into his side, "Why not?"

"Just look at me? I'm a mess…"

"No one will say a word," Draco muttered threateningly before uttering the password and opening the door.

They led me inside, and the entire common room grew silent. Draco glowered at anyone daring to look our way, and Mattheo did the same. Lorenzo led the way down to the boy's dormitory, where they all shared a space.

It was much bigger inside, with a common area for people to sit and lounge outside their bedrooms. I had a feeling they made some changes without asking…

Lorenzo sat me down on a puffy couch and tossed me a blanket before sitting in an overstuffed armchair.

"We want the story."

I sighed, "There is nothing to tell…"

"Don't give us that bullshit, Fey." Draco snapped

Lorenzo smiled reassuringly, "There has to be something, someone, to make you want to disappear for weeks."

I looked at them. Really looked at them now.

"Why?" I asked

"Why what?"

"Why do you care?" I sat back and pulled the blanket around my neck, "and don't give me that bullshit, 'we just do.'"

The group of boys shared a look, but it was Draco who spoke first.

"You seem to fit with us. It feels right to have you around."

I rolled my eyes, "You only had me around a day and a half before I left. Try again."

Mattheo smirked, "Have some fire in you, do you, little fox?" he moved from his place near the door and plopped on the couch next to me, "I'll tell you why we care because when you were gone, and we couldn't find you, it was like a fire was lit under our asses."

Blaise chuckled, "Yeah, that's right. I'd never felt more motivated to do anything. I knew you were gone and needed to get you back where you belonged."

"Madam Promfrey wouldn't tell us shit," Theo added, "She said you were supposed to be in your hospital bed, and she had no idea where you were. We thought the worst."

Lorenzo ran his fingers through his hair, looking stressed, "We asked everyone if they saw you. For days, we couldn't find you. No professor had seen you, and even Dumbledore…"

"...the asshole," Mattheo grumbled

"Wasn't any help. No matter what we did… it wasn't good enough."

"We couldn't help you," Draco said, "We weren't good enough to find you."

"We knew you were important to us. You fit in with somehow Fey. Maybe trying to find you was us just being 'good guys,' but now that you're back…" Theo explained, "I know it wasn't. We were being selfish. We wanted you back because having you around was right."

I was at a loss for words.

"No one has seen me like this in years. Except for my parents and Professor Snape, he forced it because he thought I had some big secret. When I'm just scared of everything. When I got to the hospital wing that day, I told Madam Promfrey," I swallowed the lump in my throat, "She told me it's not a big deal. That there's nothing to be scared of. When I told her why I was hiding, because…."

My heart thudded in my throat, and my palms began to sweat.

"When I told her I hate myself, she told me all girls do. So I ran back to my dorm, and I thought she would tell you all, so I changed how I looked and hid from you because I didn't want you to hate me."

My head dropped into my hands. I waited for them to call me crazy to confirm all my fears that what she said was right, but they didn't say anything.

"What do you mean you're scared of everything?"

"You hate yourself?" Lorenzo asked confused

I nodded, keeping my head down and away from their prying gazes, "I'm scared of being late to class because if I don't get there on time, I'll have to walk in front of everyone, and their eyes will be on me, and I can't stand to have them judge me.

"I have a house elf wake me hours early because I'm terrified of not waking on time for class. I am horrified of anyone seeing me as I am right now, and that's why I haven't attended school like this since my first year, and I hate myself because of my stupid freckles, and most of all because I'm fat."

The silence that followed was deafening.

"Fey…"

Someone dropped to their knees before me and took my hands, prying them from my face. They forced me to look up. Forced me to be subject under their stairs.

From his knees, Blaise squeezed my hands and whispered, "Are you alright?"

Tears filled my eyes for the millionth time that night, "No…"