Lavender Brown
The grand hall seemed to go silent the moment he lowered himself to his seat. Lavender noticed, but the boy beside her didn’t. He glanced around them, looking at the groups of people that were no doubt whispering about him. She felt something inside her tense up- not in nervousness, but anticipation. She specifically asked Dean to change seats today in order to sit next to Chuuya, and defensively holding her bag in place and quickly shoving it under the table the moment Chuuya was close enough to see was absolutely worth it, even if she spilt the ink in it. While he placed his things under, she checked.
Nope, she was just too perfect to ruin her bag like that. She smiled, satisfied, while also taking a peek into Chuuya’s open bag. Her eyes widened minutely. Not enough for anyone else at the table to notice, of course (seeing as she had a near perfect poker face), but it was still surprising, nonetheless. A bright red box sat at the top of the bag. No logo or anything. It was decently small as well. Underneath it, though... Who knew someone could be so neat with their belongings?
Merlin, every new thing she discovered about him made her fall in love twice as quickly.
“H-hey, Chuuya?”
Chuuya looked up from where he was sifting through his things. Neville, who sat on Chuuya’s other side, dared to interrupt him during his task? Ah, but... From here, she had a pretty good view of Chuuya’s somehow neat and fluffy hair. She resisted running her hands through it. Luckily, it paid off once she noticed his hair tie. Red surprisingly suited him well, unlike the Weasleys.
“Yes? Is there something wrong?”
His finger glided across the box, almost as smooth as his voice. She didn’t know if she could continue this.
“A-ah. No, of course not! A-actually, I wanted to thank you.”
“Oh, yeah, absolutely,” Seamus chimed in from across them, “perhaps Draco and his goons will think to leave us alone once in a while now. Sorry to hear about the detention, though. I mean... Snape? Maybe McGonagall doesn’t like you too much.”
“Really? What could be so bad about a professor? There’s no need to worry about me, though I definitely should tone down on my anger sometimes. I mean, I just couldn’t stand for anyone getting bullied for something they hold dear, of course.”
Without a word, Chuuya grabbed onto the box and set it on the table in front of Lavender (OMGOMGOMG) before grabbing something to eat. It wasn’t placed in a way that anyone would assume he had just set it there for safekeeping. Across from her, Parvarti giggled behind her hand. Lavender’s face was most likely bright pink, and looking at Chuuya, his ears were slightly tinted as well.
He cleared his throat awkwardly, hand out of the way while he decided on which bread he’d eat. Her hand closed around the box with a soft smile. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed the later arrivals. Among them, walked in Hermione and Ron, who walked through separate doors and refused to look each other in the eyes.
Chuuya, ever the kind soul (like an angel, she had thought at once), ushered Hermione over once she found out there was nowhere for her to sit. It makes sense that the Weasley’s would take Ron’s side in whatever argument they’re having again, although there was a dull aching in her chest that it was Hermione that he had invited to sit with them. She took her place beside Neville without any questions, though, and just as quickly as she was invited into the conversation, went out on a complete rant about Ron’s behaviour.
Apparently, he was looking for a girlfriend. And Hermione- poor Hermione, who had a major crush on him- wasn't even considered an option to him. Everyone was quick to console her, but Chuuya held a big role in this, offering to lend her a book to keep her mind off Ron. When Neville, Hermione, Dean and Parvarti got engaged into conversation about if Hermione had any other crushes, Chuuya turned to her.
“How long until our first class, anyway?”
She laughed quietly, quickly giving the answer. The two of them were having a conversation, completely on their own! She knew it was wrong to fall head over heels over someone she met just yesterday, but she would wait however long it took for him to recuperate her feelings. His eyes widened at her answer.
“Wait, we’ve only got ten minutes left?”
“Mhm. That's plenty of time, right?”
“...I kind of wanted to try everything. Maybe tomorrow, then,” he replied, moving his hand away from the hashbrown he was about to pick up. Lavender is set on this. Even if Chuuya was somehow the Demon Student #2, she’d still be truly in love with him. Speaking of, Chuuya had massive eyebags today. She couldn’t help but notice the ones on Dazai’s face earlier this year, but after noticing Chuuya’s, she attempted to see Dazai’s again, but... They were gone. Without a trace.
...Huh.
That’s a little strange.