Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter related, just the words below.
Isaac yawned widely as he sat down at the Slytherin table for dinner. The day had been really taxing on him and it didn't help that he had had to do Prefect rounds before going to Astronomy class the night before. Luckily for the wizard, the weekend started tomorrow. All he needed to do was stay awake long enough to have a meal then just go straight to bed leaving homework, studying and figuring out how to break this year's curse for tomorrow afternoon.
"You look exhausted, Isaac." Rowan noted with concern as he watched his best friend load his plate. "Have you gotten any rest at all lately?"
"Not really. Classes, Prefect duties, Rakepick…I'm definitely not waking up until lunchtime tomorrow." Isaac replied, giving Rowan a tired smile before tucking into his meal.
"But I thought you were playing in tomorrow's quidditch friendly. Are you pulling out?" Rowan asked in puzzlement causing Isaac to nearly spit out a mouthful of mashed potato.
Given his heavy workload, he had completely forgotten about the quidditch friendly he and Charlie had arranged to allow the Gryfindor captain a chance to help get his new keeper ready for the first official game of the season while Isaac used the game to get a better feel of being a seeker.
"It's not until ten." Isaac tried to shrug off but Rowan wasn't as willing to drop the issue.
"Isaac, you really need to take some time away from it all." He pressed as Skye Parkins sat down across from them.
"What's going on?" She asked before tearing into a chicken drumstick.
"Isaac needs some time off to recuperate from all that's been happening this year. And it's only October!" Rowan quickly summed up for Skye before Isaac could get a word in.
"Yeah, you do look…How would Orion put it…Like a human pretending to be a ten headed Hydra." Skye agreed.
Isaac was going to chalk it up to tiredness that what Skye had just said sounded exactly like something their former quidditch captain would have said. That still didn't sort the issue out of what he could do tomorrow to unwind instead of playing quidditch. Surprisingly, Skye was the one to come up with an alternative.
"We're allowed to go to Hogsmeade this weekend. Why not go there instead of joining in the friendly?" Skye suggested ignoring the looks some of them were giving her. Just because she was a Parkins didn't mean she always needed to be thinking solely about quidditch.
"I can't." Isaac shook his head. "If I'm not out there tomorrow, Penny's going to worry. And she's barely keeping it together as is these days."
Even as he spoke, Isaac couldn't help but glance over to the Hufflepuff table where the witch in question was half heartedly picking at her meal. Penny was already a quidditch fanatic and that was before Isaac began his career in the sport. But that was before her little sister got trapped in a painting and Isaac knew full well what she had been trying to do since then.
"Why not take her with you?"
Isaac spun round to see Erika join their little conversation as she sat down beside Rowan.
"You both look like you need some time away from everything. So why not take her to Hogsmeade with you?" She elaborated. "That way, Andre can square off against Charlie and the bloodthirsty badger won't have to worry about why you're not in the game."
"I always wondered why you were a Claw and not a lion or snake." Skye remarked goodnaturedly before turning back to Isaac. "There you go Isaac. Problem solved!"
"Easy for you to say." Isaac sighed, forcing himself to dig into his supper getting looks of confusion from the others.
"What do mean, Isaac?" Rowan asked in puzzlement having seen the two ask one another things plenty of times in the past, from gobstone matches to more serious matters like brewing potions for Cursed Vaults and the like.
"Come on, Isaac. It's not like you're taking Penny out on a date or anything." Skye joked not realizing she had hit the bludger right on the mark as Isaac kept his head down to prevent the others from seeing his cheeks heat up.
No one else currently knew about the other day where he had helped Penny in gathering ingredients for an experimental potion and that he had finally admitted his feelings for her. And while she did admit that she had a crush on him, they both mutually agreed that freeing Beatrice from imprisonment was far more important than taking the next step in their relationship.
Even though he knew her since first year, Isaac had no idea how Penny would respond to him asking if she wanted to go with him to Hogsmeade, even as friends, and he had yet to see the witch when she was really hacked off. This was definitely something he would want to do away from onlookers.
Fortunately, the perfect opportunity to ask her presented itself. No longer interested in her meal, Penny got up from the table and headed out of the Great Hall. And Isaac had a pretty good idea where she was going.
"See you in the common room." He told Rowan, tiredness long forgotten as he headed off in pursuit of the Hufflepuff witch.
Been playing Hogwarts Mystery for a couple years now & not only is this my fav couple, the idea for this story has been in my head for over a year. Sadly, I've developed a bad case of Procrastination over the years. I'm hoping I'll eventually overcome it and get back to doing fics as I've got a passion for it. Fingers crossed this will be updated again at least once before the year's out.