It had been pretty normal at Hogwarts lately, or as much as it could be there anyways. Students enjoyed Halloween as it came and passed as much as one could when it was a Saturday with no classes and little to no homework. So, it was pretty strange - actually alarming - to be ordered out of their dorms late at night by Head Boys and Girls in their pajamas.
Personally, Romina felt like cattle being herded from the dorms. She didn't know whether or not to feel better when they learned that the entire student body was being 'herded' into the Great Hall. They were all to sleep there tonight. Murmurs were quick to start about the reasons behind this sudden arrangement, and it wasn't until the Gryffindors began to arrive that the other Houses started getting some answers. The moment Romina heard about Sirius Black's attempt to get into the Gryffindor tower, her legs went wobbly. Angel had to swoop in and catch her before she actually crashed onto the floor.
"I wonder why she's scared," Pansy began to tease her. "I bet it was her who helped Black into the school."
"Shut your mouth, Pansy," snapped Arden. "That makes literally zero sense!"
Angel took Romina away from the two arguing girls to make sure she was okay. "You do look a little pale," he remarked, taking one of her hands in. "Even if Sirius Black did manage to get into the school, I don't think he stuck around much. You don't have to be scared."
"I don't think this is about me," Romina said, swallowing hard. She felt people were already looking her way. She looked around, trying to spot one specific boy in the sea of students. "I need to see Harry, find out what happened."
"I don't think that's a very good idea," Angel said, "At least, there's no point. What happened, happened."
"Then I need to know what happened," Romina said with a slight edge in her voice. She wasn't one of those people who could live without knowing, at least not for some things. She pulled her hand out of Angel's and told him she'd be back later. She went in search for Harry right after.
She eventually found him setting up his sleeping bag next to Ron's and Hermione's and sat down with them, immediately asking what happened.
"It's fine, we weren't even inside yet," said Harry.
"So...do you think it was actually him then?" Romina asked nervously.
"Well, I believe something happened," Hermione said. "Somebody definitely tried entering the portrait hole - the Fat Lady's been marred. Poor thing."
"It was Sirius Black!" Ron cried again, drawing the attention of other students.
"Ron," Harry hissed at him. "Shut it, will you? I don't want the extra attention on us, if that's alright with you!"
"Ditto with that," Romina said. "I bet the stories and conspiracies about how Sirius Black entered the school will be flying by tomorrow morning. I mean, all this still leaves the question, doesn't it? How did Sirius Black get into the castle?"
"Maybe it wasn't even him!" Hermione insisted with the alternative.
"It was him, Hermione," Ron said sharply. "Stop trying to convince yourself it wasn't."
"Sorry if I'm a little bit hesitant when people are swearing that Sirius Black just apparated into the school," Hermione said with a huff. "Honestly, am I the only person who's ever bothered to read Hogwarts, A History?"
Harry shook his head as the two started going back and forth. He looked at Romina and saw she'd fallen pensive. "Rom, you alright?"
Romina blinked several times as she brought herself out of her thoughts. "I was just thinking...well...if he got in once...what's stopping him from doing it again?" Her quiet question managed to silence Hermione's and Ron's bickering, and leave Harry a little pale.
"I'm...I mean..." Hermione started stammering trying to come up with an answer to ease everyone's nerves, "Well, this is Hogwarts. He can't...he can't do it again. Surely Dumbledore will up the security, plus - the Dementors! The Dementors are lurking about!"
But it didn't really matter to Romina, nor Harry for that matter. They all thought the same: if Sirius Black escaped the Dementors not once, but twice already, what would stop him from doing it a third time?
Romina thought that was enough for the evening and decided it was time to go find her sleeping bag. On her way back, she definitely felt some eyes were on her. She swore a trio of Ravenclaw girls were talking about her because when she passed them, they quickly ducked their heads and stopped mumbling.
"You're going to yank your hair out in clutches at this point and I don't think you have enough hair for that," Draco said as soon as Romina had sat down on her sleeping bag.
She turned around and followed his gaze to her hand that had made it to the short tips of her hair. She instantly dropped it to her lap; she had no idea when her hand had even reached up to her hair. "Oh, shut up," she said with a tired sigh. She could hear Arden and Pansy bickering behind her.
"Could've told you that going over to your little Gryffindor friends would do you no good," Draco said, eyes briefly flickering to said Gryffindor group. "Now you're looking phenomenally pale."
"It's not their fault."
"It never is, is it?"
Romina's face fell straight. "You think it's their fault that Sirius Black broke into the castle, then?"
Draco scoffed. "You think Sirius Black broke in at all?"
"You...don't?" Romina was genuinely shocked to see Draco easily tell her 'no'. Everyone else around them was buzzing with rumors and whispers about the escaped inmate and he didn't believe not one of them?
"I hardly think that he'd come in here to have a chit chat with one of us."
In that moment, Romina envied Draco. She envied his easy, almost naive, outlook on the world. What he thought could so easily be what many other students would think about the whole situation. Why would an escaped inmate risk everything to come into a school? It didn't make sense...to those who had no idea what really ran through said school.
"I wish I was like you," she said abruptly.
Draco blinked at her. "What?"
"I wish I could have your easy perspectives on things. You don't seem to really think about things as much as I do."
"That's because I don't overthink things, Oswell. You should really try it, although I don't quite like what you insinuate about my thought process."
"I'm not insinuating anything, Draco. I just mean that you think pretty easily about things."
Somehow, the scowl on Draco's face kept getting deeper and deeper. "I'd also say that maybe the reason you overthink things is because you don't say everything. We both know why you're so overwhelmed with the Sirius Black thing. It all goes back to the boggart."
"You and your bloody boggart — let it go already!"
"It's you who needs to let it go, Oswell. All of it. You could self-combust you know."
Romina's scowl could now match Draco's easily. "You ever self-combust when you stick your nose into other people's business?"
"Oh, so now this is my fault again?" Draco scoffed. "All I do is try to help you but you don't seem to care."
"Well, you get mad at everything!"
"You're one to talk! The most minimal mention of your parents—"
"Be quiet!" Romina hissed at him. "They're not my parents and if you dare say that again, it'll be the last thing you do!"
"Oh, I think I'm done doing things for you," Draco retorted. "I think this is where we part for the night, and tomorrow and—"
"Draco, I didn't mean to argue—"
"You don't 'mean' to do a lot of things lately! You just open your mouth and let it run like a—" But Draco took a breath to stop himself. He was irritated and he wanted to stay like that...no matter what kind of pouty face she had on. Without saying another word, he turned his back on her to go to sleep. She could do whatever she wanted for all he cared.
~0~
Autumn was beginning to enter its last phase of the season - the Whomping Willow was shaking off its last leaves to get ready for the incoming Winter. As the weeks progressed into November, Romina was tasked with more tutoring from McGonagall towards various year 1 and even year 2 students. She was now sure McGonagall was doing her part to keep the girl busy and probably distracted from the growing rumors about Sirius Black's break-in. Romina had heard way too many that involved herself and it was hard to ignore all of them. Whether it was a tactic from McGonagall or she was just better at transfiguration than she thought, tutoring turned out to be a pleasant distraction.
She enjoyed teaching and what's more, she enjoyed talking to students who had no care for the Dementors and Sirius Black. Romina always ended up laughing when she tutored Luna Lovegood, and most recently Ginny Weasley. The second years had become close friends because one or the other always ended up at each other's tutoring session towards the end. Today's was no exception.
Luna ended up poking her head into the classroom.
"Ginny, are you done?" Luna poked her head inside the classroom. Her eyes scanned the room until she found Ginny. "I was hoping to get to Charms with you."
"You're right on time, Luna," Romina said as Ginny went to get her belongings on the desk beside them. "We were done a couple minutes — erm, Luna, are you shoes still missing?"
Because Luna was once again shoeless.
"Yes, but I'm not worried," Luna gave a casual shrug of her shoulders. As she looked around the empty classroom, Ginny gave a deflated glance at Romina. It seemed that no matter who talked to Luna about it, she just wasn't that concerned with all her shoes disappearing constantly.
After the two girls were gone, Romina headed back to the common room to replace her books. They would be having DADA in about an hour. She walked straight into the dormitory and started getting ready. As usual though, she spent a lot of time staring at herself in the mirror instead. She didn't do it to be vain, nor to see any flaw on her. No, there was a specific reason she stared at herself more often nowadays.
She leaned closer to the mirror, staring at her eyes. Little by little, her nose crinkled with disdain. She turned to her bed and slipped a hand underneath her pillow and pulled out a small picture. If she stared at herself, it was to compare, and try to fix the similarities.
The older woman bobbed her head back and forth with a smug face in the picture. She had long black hair in stylish curls over her chest and malevolent blue eyes. She was rather taunting next to the taller dark-haired man with dark brown eyes who seemed more quiet but equally devilish with a smirk on his face. Both were young, probably no more than 17 or 18. Both were beautiful and handsome, elegant even, wearing their regal robes at some celebration but the sight of them made Romina shudder every time.
The truth is, Elora and Caplan Oswell terrified Romina. Because behind all that pretty makeup and regality, they were coldblooded murders. Romina wanted nothing to do with them and unfortunately for her, she looked a lot like them. She had her Caplan's dark eyes, Elora's cheekbones, their hair color, and so on. She had to fix what she could. She'd done her hardest so far, starting with her hair. Hair could change someone so much about a person, but there was still the matter of everything else.
Suddenly, the door burst open, startling Romina. She nearly dropped her picture when Pansy and Millicent burst into the room.
"Hurry up!" Millicent yelled at Pansy. The latter skidded to a stop in the middle of the room and looked at Romina as the girl slipped something underneath her pillow.
"What are you doing?" Pansy made a face.
"Nothing," Romina said quickly. Her eyes fell on a pair of significantly colored shoes in Pansy's hands. "Since when do you wear rainbow shoes?"
"As if," Pansy walked calmly to her bed, though still eyeing Romina rather oddly. "Some Ravenclaw handed them to me - it's a chain game, you see."
"Chain game...with shoes?"
"Yeah. Ravenclaws start it - they take the shoes from this one weird girl and then they handed them to Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors and us."
Romina heard several wrong things about that so she started with the one thing that really stood out. "Wait...what weird girl?" Her eyes narrowed on the two girls.
Pansy shrugged and went to her bed to hide the shoes. She stuck them underneath it.
"Some girl with corknuts for earrings," Millicent said, "Loony Lovegood."
"Luna Lovegood," Romina corrected, "And you're stealing her shoes!?"
Pansy scoffed as she turned around and saw the anger flashing across Romina's face. "What's it to you? It's hilarious. You could use a fucking laugh this year, you know. You've been an extra pain in the ass so far. C'mon, Millicent." She started for the door, leading Millicent out.
Affronted, Romina went after the two in the hallway. "Pansy, you can't just do things like that! Luna's done nothing to you guys! She's a second year! That's just lazy bullying and so beneath you!" She followed the girls into the common room. "How can you be okay with letting some poor girl walk around without shoes?"
"It's not like they take all of them," Pansy waved it off with casualty. "Clearly they leave a pair for her to use in class."
"That's not the point! Luna is so sweet she doesn't deserve that."
Pansy turned around, seeming more than bored with the conversation. "She's weird. If she wasn't a Pureblood, she'd have it worse."
"Oh, well as long as that's being taken into consideration then I suppose it's fine!" Romina sarcastically threw her hands in the air.
Pansy let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you used to be more fun. Now you're just getting more and more annoying. It's either you whine and then cry or vice versa."
"Would you stop insulting me already? This is about you and this ruddy game!"
"If you got a problem, then you should talk to the rest of the school since, you know, they're in on it," Pansy said, flipping her hair when she turned around, smacking Romina's face in the process. "C'mon, Millicent!"
The two girls laughed together as they left the common room. At the same time, Arden and Carolinha walked in from their previous classes. They were pushed by the leaving girls, instigating a rude call from Arden in the process.
Carolinha focused on Romina's irritated face as she walked further inside the room. "What's the matter?"
Romina shrugged her shoulders. "Apparently there's this game between the Houses and this Ravenclaw second year. She's one of the students I tutor for McGonagall and they keep stealing her shoes!"
"Loony Lovegood's shoes?" Arden asked, letting her bag drop onto the couch.
"Oh I heard about that game!" Carolinha gasped.
"You too, Carol?" Romina wearily glanced at the girl. "Her name's not — her name's Luna, you guys."
"I saw a pair of small black shoes the other day hidden underneath the couch…" Carolinha pointed a languid finger at the couch Arden was standing in front of, "...there. Hold on!" she went to go fetch them.
"How did I not know about that?" Romina made a face.
"You've been in your own world so far this year," Arden sat on the couch's armrest. "You're kind of missing out on a lot of things, you know."
Romina nodded silently. It wasn't the first time she heard that, after all. "You know what, I've got to get ready for DADA class. I was getting my books when Pansy and Millicent walked in..." She was about to head back into the dormitories when she saw Draco coming out of the boys' hallway. Soon as he saw her, he huffed and moved faster towards the entrance. "Draco, c'mon," Romina sounded like a child whining but it did no good. He still had not forgiven her for their disagreement back when they were all sleeping in the Great Hall.
"I told you I was fucking done, Oswell," he spat, not even sparing her the glance she wanted.
"I know, and I've tried to apologize but you're being more dramatic than usual so it's hard making it clear!"
"What's the point in apologizing if you're just going to do it all over again?"
"Well, I-I'm trying not to—"
"Try with someone else!"
"Please?" Romina's soft plea stopped Draco at the entrance. He finally looked in her direction, sans the emotions she was hoping for. "It's just been hard, alright? I'm...I'm trying to get myself together but you have no idea how difficult these things are."
"Well, you seem to prefer handling them all on your own so I'll let you keep doing that," Draco said, flashing her one sour smile.
"Don't be like that please," Romina said. She was truly tired of arguing and it showed. There was no ire in her eyes, nor her voice. In fact, she seemed pretty dejected and she wouldn't stop pouting. It almost made him—
Draco paused for a second, something shifting in his face. For a second, he almost felt compelled to go back to her. What the hell? He shook his head, hoping to get rid of whatever that was and just to make sure of it, he left the common room without saying anything else to Romina. That should help him. But it didn't really...
"Are my eyes deceiving me or are you staring after Draco?" Arden's voice drew Romina's attention off the entrance, reminding her that, yes, Arden and Carolinha were still in the room and witnessed everything.
"They're deceiving you," Romina muttered and turned back to the hallway.
"I don't think they were..." Arden's eyes flickered to Carolinha, her lips stretching into a smirk.
~0~
Getting to DADA, Romina found the entire class lively as ever. Professor Lupin had turned the class into something it hadn't been for quite some time now (possibly since she started school). Fun. He had presented the class with interesting creatures that were actually fun. There was no fear of the professor, no fear of the lessons, and definitely no doubt that anything was directly involved with you-know-who conspiracies.
"Where've you been?" Harry asked when Romina took a seat at the desk in front of them. "We caught Ginny a while ago and she said your tutoring sessions were over twenty minutes ago."
Romina hummed as she plopped down on the empty desk. "Problems." Hermione still wasn't there but as of late, that wasn't really surprising. She seemed to be slipping from classes and somehow, miraculously, getting there in the end.
"What else is new?" Ron shrugged. "But check it out..." Romina glanced over her shoulders and found Ron holding out a muggle Chinese finger trap. "Look what your friend Arden King gave me last class?"
Romina's eyebrows raised upwards, an amusement expression sitting on her face. "What? A Chinese finger trap?" She almost laughed on the spot. She leaned back to catch sight of Arden in the back desks. She was busy chatting with Daphne and Carolinha to notice Romina.
"Is that what it's called?" Ron stared at the finger trap in amazement.
Harry was careful not to laugh as much as he wanted to. He'd been there when Arden gave the Chinese finger trap to Ron. "Arden thought it would make a nice Christmas present for Ron."
"Did she now?" asked Romina. She was in the same boat as Harry trying to keep a serious face. Knowing Arden, they were sure that she gave the trap to Ron to see how it would get him.
Ron nodded his head excitedly. "Yeah! She said it was loads of fun for the Muggles!"
"And did she say how it worked?"
"Nope," Harry popped the 'p' as he set his book on the desk. Romina snickered behind her hand.
"But she said it was fun!" Ron exclaimed and raised the finger trap in the air to examine it better.
Goddammit Arden, Romina laughed within. That was such a foul trick to play on poor Ron but didn't it stop being funny. "Maybe we should call her over..." Romina leaned back again to try to get Arden's attention. Instead, she found her attention drifting to the desks next to Arden's.
"...did you want me to help you with your notes, Draco?" Pansy was asking.
The words slipped out of Romina's mouth before she even finished thinking about it. "Oh please!"
Ron and Harry were quick to follow her gaze and each one scoffed at the sight. Pansy was already preparing herself to write down Draco's notes.
"What a git, he's milking this to the impossible," Ron muttered to Harry. Because of course Draco was handing over anything Pansy could ever need to do the note taking on his behalf.
Romina rolled her eyes. He wasn't even wearing the sling anymore. "It's not about the injury. He just loves all her fucking attention..." she muttered.
"I think you're the last one to find out, Rom," said Harry without much interest. It was a lot more fun watching Ron trying to figure out the trap. He had yet to stick his fingers through the ends.
"But why does it have to be her of all people?" Romina insisted on the subject. "She's so mean to me now, you know."
"All Slytherins are mean," Ron said bluntly.
"Ron..." Harry warned his friend not to push it. Romina would snap any moment...except she didn't.
She kept staring until Draco eventually noticed her. Her pretty saddened face made him reconsider the reasons why he was upset with her again — why was he upset again? He suddenly couldn't remember.
"Rom?" Harry snapped his fingers in Romina's face to snap her out of her trance.
The girl blinked quickly and noticed Ron trying to crush the finger trap. Arden's joke was turning out to be very boring indeed, or sad. She wasn't sure yet. "Oh, give me that!"
"I was playing with it!" Ron frowned as she plucked the trap out of his hands.
"You were not!" She laughed and finally turned completely to face both boys. "You want to use this for real?" Ron nodded eagerly. "Then let me show you." She held the finger trap in her hand, allowing Ron to get a good look. Then, she stuck her two index fingers on either side of it. "Trick is you gotta pull your fingers out from it without tearing it. Not that you could."
Ron was severely disappointed, or disillusioned with the whole thing. "What? That's it? I can do that! A baby can do it!"
"It's harder than you think, Ron," Harry said while Romina did whatever she needed to do to get her fingers free. He never quite got that either.
"Please," Ron snorted.
"Ta-da!" Romina wiggled her free fingers with a big smile on her face.
"This is ridiculous," Ron continued to say.
Romina raised an eyebrow then, holding the fingertrap to him. "Oh yeah, then you try it, Mr. Bigshot."
"I will," Ron mimicked her face and took the fingertrap out of her hands. He shoved his fingers into both sides then, with a smug face, proceeded to pull them out...until he found he couldn't. He pulled once...twice...thrice...
Now Romina did her best not to laugh until she really couldn't hold it. Two minutes in, Ron fell from his seat because of his excessive force of pulling. Romina burst into laughter, along with Harry. Their laughter attracted some attention from the class, specifically a blonde sitting in the back.
Ron glared at Romina and Harry as he got back in his seat, even elbowing Harry when he got a chance. He swore he also heard Arden King cackling in the back of the classroom. "Nice friends you are! I'm only in this mess because I was trying to help you!" He made a motion with his trapped fingers at Romina.
"Me?" Romina repeated incredulously, slowly sobering from her laugh.
"Yeah, you know, I cared to see a little laugh from you—"
"Ron Weasley, do not lie to my face because Chinese muggles outsmarted you!" Romina giggled.
"I was not outsmarted!" Ron pulled on the finger trap to no avail.
"And you didn't care either," Romina countered with her smile fading a little. "No one cares nowadays, and when they do I mess it all up." Her eyes briefly flickered to the back of the room but Draco was now engrossed in a roll of parchment, scribbling something Pansy was desperately trying to get a glimpse of.
"That's not true," Harry pointed at Romina, getting her attention again. "I told you, you could always tell us anything."
Romina merely gave a small smile and turned to face the front of the class. She busied herself by taking out her things, wondering in the meanwhile when Hermione was coming over. She could use another back up against Ron.
Just as she was reaching for her quills, a paper crane landed gracefully over her closed DADA book. Romina blinked and curiously glanced around until she met Draco's gaze. He nodded her to open it up and, confused, Romina took the paper off her book and opened it up.
"Happiness is a warm puppy."
And underneath it was a pretty well drawn sketch of a puppy.
Romina's first instinct was to laugh, so she did.
"What's so funny?" came Ron's disgruntled voice from behind. Harry looked up from his book as well.
Romina didn't even bother with him. Giggling, she glanced back at Draco, who was waiting with his own smile. She mouthed 'thank you' and another 'I'm sorry' at him. He nodded at her and after a minute of lingering looks between them, they each went back to work. Harry threw a glare in Draco's way, not that he saw, and Pansy threw a glare Romina's way but she didn't see it either.
Suddenly, the blinds of the classroom started going down in snaps. Snape was making his way down the center of the classroom, closing down everything that gave even an inch of sunlight. Once he was at the front of the room, he pulled down a screen over the blackboard and turned to the confused students.
"Excuse me, sir, but... where's Professor Lupin?" Harry asked, confused.
"That's not really your concern, is it, Potter? Suffice it to say, your Professor finds himself incapable of teaching at the present time," Snape idly responded and started the lecture.
The first slide was that of an ancient woodcut of a beast - a werewolf.
Romina frowned at the slideshow then started opening her book. They hadn't reached werewolves yet, had they?
"But, sir, we've only just begun learning about Red Caps and Hinkypunks," Hermione's voice startled Romina. The black-haired girl gave Hermione a wide-eyed look. "We're not meant to start nocturnal beasts for weeks—"
"Quiet!" Snape hissed.
"When did you get here?" Romina whispered to Hermione. The girl in question gave a shrug of her shoulders.
"Now. Which of you can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a werewolf?" Snape waited coldly for someone to grace him with an answer.
Hermione seemed to be on the verge of raising her hand since no one wanted to answer. Behind her, Harry was giving a questioning glance at a second flying paper in the air, though this time it had the shape of a moth. He frowned, wondering if this was another little note from Draco to Romina. His thoughts were appeased when it tried landing right on his desk.
"No one?" Snape's voice drawled in the silent classroom. "How...disappointing."
Hermione just couldn't take it. "Please, sir, an Animagus is a wizard who elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice in the matter. Furthermore, the werewolf actively hunts humans and responds only to the call of its own kind…"
And at that moment, Draco released a mock wolf's howl, causing everyone to laugh.
"Quiet, Malfoy!" Snape ordered but there were no intentions of punishment for the interruption. "Though one must admit to feeling your pain." His eyes flickered to Hermione with all intentions of lashing. "That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger. Tell me. Are you incapable of restraining yourself? Or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?"
Hermione's face stilled and went all red. Before anyone could see her teary eyes, she looked down at her lap and probably would not speak for the rest of the class.
Ron became furious, and despite having his fingers still trapped in the trap, he made himself known. "You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don't want to be told?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the entire class felt for him. Romina shut her eyes just as Snape moved for the boy's desk. Oh, he's gonna get it now.
"Detention, Weasley," Snape lowered down to Ron's eye level. "And if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed."
After that, class was silent as a breeze. Snape gave the lecture on werewolves without a single comment nor question from any student.
At the end of the class, the students were held back to be given an assignment. "You will each write an essay, to be handed in to me, on the ways you recognize and kill werewolves. I want two rolls of parchment on the subject, and I want them by Monday morning. It is time somebody took this class in hand. Weasley," Snape only paused to make Ron stiffen, "stay behind, we need to arrange your detention."
As the class finally left, every single one had something to say over their substitute professor.
"I feel so bad for Ron…" Romina glanced back at the classroom, but the door had been closed shut. "I get that he was rude to Hermione" — she cast Hermione a sorrowful glance — "but he should have known talking out like that would just make it worse."
"Snape can't do anything rash can he?" Hermione anxiously bit her lip, feeling like their waiting was turning into agony. She felt incredibly guilty for Ron's outburst.
"Wouldn't hold my breath," Harry muttered.
"Well, we can't dwell on it," Romina said with a sigh. "Whether we worry or not, Snape will punish Ron and that will be that. Believe me, I know about 'dwelling' and it's not good."
Hermione nodded, hoping to appear convinced. As an effort to lighten the mood until Ron came out of the class, she asked Harry over his upcoming Quidditch game on the weekend.
"Aren't you guys going to basically be drowning in rain this weekend?" Romina made a face when she remembered the weather forecast. "Shouldn't the game be cancelled or something?"
"And lose to Hufflepuff?" Harry immediately shook his head. "I can play...at least...I hope I can play."
"Just avoid the lightning and you should be fine," Hermione meant as a joke but Harry grimaced.
"Not the first one to tell me that, Hermione. Although in Malfoy's case, I suppose he would the opposite."
To better explain, Harry pulled out the crumpled parchment from his bag and handed it to Hermione. Soon as Hermione saw it, her eyebrows rose but with no surprise. "Great sketcher, isn't he?" she decided to go light about it.
"Not the point he was trying to make, Hermione," Harry mockingly glared.
"When'd he do that?" Romina frowned at the crude drawing in Hermione's hands. It was of Harry being repeatedly struck by lightning in Quidditch.
"Probably after you got a note from him, Rom," Harry didn't fail to make a sour remark about it. He'd been trying to figure out what that was about all during class. Even then Hermione shot her a suspicious glance. "What's Malfoy giving you notes for?"
"It was something stupid," Romina played it down as much as she could. She didn't know why her face went warm so suddenly but she hoped that it wasn't visible. She threw a couple more glances at the classroom hoping Ron would come out quicker.
"What? Did he draw you like this too?" Hermione waved the parchment, indignant. Harry snatched it from her, wanting no one to see that, and stuffed it in his book bag again.
"What? Of course not," Romina said automatically.
"Then what was it?"
Whatever Romina was going to make up - because she was not going to divulge something that didn't encumber them - didn't matter because Ron had just stormed out of the classroom.
"D'you know what Snape is making me do!? I've got to scrub out the bedpans in the hospital wing. Without magic!" he still struggled to pull his fingers from the Chinese finger trap in his rage. "Why couldn't Black have hidden in Snape's office, eh? He could have finished him off for us! Argh—! Romina would you take this stupid thing off!?" He was frantically waving his hands up and down but nowhere near close to getting the fingertrap off.
"When did you get a Chinese finger trap?" Hermione made a face, thoroughly confused.
Romina pulled her wand out from her bag and with a quick spell had the finger trap on the floor. "You could have just done that from the very start," she said bluntly. "Harry and I would've done it for you."
"I hate Arden King!" Ron said lividly.
A/N:
P.S. As always, I have an AO3/Wattpad account under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)
For the reviewer: They will literally bicker until the end of time/end of their lives I promise xD