prospicere futurum

The music and cheers from the Common Room could be heard all the way through the dorms, and Corinne hoped someone had had the common sense to charm the portrait hole to contain the noise from McGonagall's ears. Not that she would have minded a party to celebrate Harry Potter. Or a Gryffindor win of any kind.

The party had begun even before Harry had returned, though the sound certainly amplified on his arrival. Corinne watched as a few members of the Quidditch team hoisted him onto their shoulders, the golden egg still between his hands now thrust into the air to everyone's applause.

Corinne had waited with Cedric as the rest of the contestants had their turn with their dragons, sneaking glances at the rapidly healing burn on the side of his face every few minutes, only letting him leave her side when the four students had been called to the podium near the judges to announce the winners.

Cedric had gotten second place, though she was sure were it not for the burn, he could have won. It was easy to see the disappointment in his eyes, yet he held his smile as he clapped for the rest of the group before returning to her side, tucking the golden egg beneath his arm and starting back up to the school, Lucas, John and Mark racing to our side and attempting to tackle Cedric to the ground.

Now, nearly an hour later, she was hurrying to pull a cozy sweater over her shirt, trading her muddy boots for some fuzzy ones and climbing back down the stairs to her friends. She had promised them a bit of time at the Gryffindor party before heading down to the Hufflepuff dorms where Cedric had invited her on their walk back to the castle.

"Finally!" Taylor grinned as she spotted her friend, forcing a drink into her empty hands in the deafening common room. "That's what you're going to wear to Hufflepuff? Won't you be burning hot?"

"I don't know?" Corinne glanced down to her sweater, feeling perfectly content at the moment, even in the crowded room. "Is it hot down there?"

"That's what I've heard." Taylor shrugged, waving as Harry walked past them, only partially listening to Ron at his side, his mouth moving a mile a minute. "Congrats, Potter!"

"Thanks." Harry offered her a small smile and a nod, accepting a drink from another quidditch player who Corinne hardly recognized.

"Alright, I've heard there have been some complaints in the past with the music?" The familiar voice boomed over the Gryffindors and Corinne winced before turning to see Fred on top of the same coffee table from months ago. There was a murmur of slight agreement and a few loud cheers paired with some low groans, which Fred shook off with a grin.

"Do we want better music or not?" He asked once more, the crowd finally breaking into applause, his cue to continue.

He aimed his wand lazily at the table behind him, the music cutting off and morphing into a new beat entirely. "Jessie is a friend..." Fred started off, a small smirk on his face as the cheers around the room grew louder. "Yeah, I know he's been a good friend of mine..."

Taylor glanced between Ella and Corinne, an uneasy smile on her face. "This one can't possibly be about you, huh?"

"Taylor." Ella called back over the music, warningly.

"But lately something's changed that ain't hard to define, Jessie's got himself a girl and I want to make her mine."

"Oh, shit." Taylor could barely be heard over Fred's words now and Ella let her face fall into her hands.

"And she's watching him with those eyes! And she's loving him with that body, I just know it."

Corinne's stomach jerked as she raised her cup to her lips, an excuse to look away from the redhead. Yet everyone else's gaze had started to drift to her, following Fred's line of sight until she couldn't stand it any longer.

"Yeah, and he's holding her in his arms late, late at night..."

"I'm leaving." Corinne practically spit the words out, forcing her half-full drink back into Taylor's hands and shaking her head, willing the anger to wait a few more seconds before she was in the safety of the hallway.

"Corinne!" Taylor called after her, the blonde offering her best attempt at a smile and a wave goodbye.

"Want us to walk you down?" Ella asked, racing to catch up with her before she neared the exit.

"You know, I wish that I had Jessie's girl!" Fred called, jumping from the table and starting towards her. "Baker, don't go!" He was grinning, as if everything was all in good fun. As if she should have been laughing along with him.

She spun away from Ella, forcing the portrait hole open and racing outside, the music continuing though Fred had lost interest in singing along. The crowd nearest the phonograph had picked up where he had left off, though most of them were wide eyed, watching as Ella shook her head at Fred before returning to Taylor's side and snatching Corinne's drink from her hand with a large gulp.

"What is wrong with you?" George hissed. "Is it truly your goal to ruin every party? It's bad enough we have to listen to you sing, quit making everything weird." He offered his brother an eye roll, smacking the empty cup from his hands and storming to fix the music once again.

By the time Corinne had reached the final corridor, the warm hallway that Cedric had directed her to earlier, she had very nearly pushed the song from her mind, thanks to the hundreds of stone steps she had stomped violently over, cursing the Weasley twin under her breath.

Now she stood outside of the barrels, which Cedric had informed her would lead her into the common room, though if anyone but him had told her this she would have been sure she was being pranked. She only had to wait a few seconds, pondering her next steps, before the barrels began to glow, sliding apart easily, her boyfriend stepping through, still facing the common room behind him, one finger in the air.

He turned to her, the laugh fading from his lips as his eyes fell to hers, a sweet smiling pulling to his face at once.

"You're here!" He beamed, his arms opening at once as she raced into them, sighing as she felt them close around her back, pulling her inside the doors easily. "Are you okay?"

She nodded into his chest, stalling a few seconds to take in his scent, the citrus and cedar, before looking up to his eyes.

"Just miss me that much, Corinne?" He teased, his hand falling lazily to her hip and pulling her deeper into the common room, ducking through a few oversized plants hanging from the rafters and finding their way to his friends scattered on the couches. It was evident that they were all celebrating, though it was nothing compared to the Gryffindor party raging upstairs, much to Corinne's relief.

"Now, Corinne, listen." John leaned forward, locking eyes with her. "We're not loaning you Diggory for all of this 'study' time for second place. We expect some victories."

"Will you shut up." Cedric chuckled, pulling the blonde into his side and leaning deeper into the couch. "No more talking about dragons for the next month. How was the Gryffindor party?"

"Shitty." She answered, the boys sputtering into laughter at her words.

"Good. Welcome to the real celebration." Lucas grinned, "Want a drink?"

"I've got it." Cedric rolled his eyes at his friend, reaching for Corinne's hand and pulling her up with him, starting towards a crowded corner of the room. "I'm glad you came."

"Me too." She answered at once, watching as his messy hair fell into his face as he poured her drink from a few bottles at the table.

"I mean it. I know you had to go to Gryffindor's but... I miss you, when you're not here. And I don't like... You know, not being able to get to you."

She had the distinct feeling that they were talking about the Weasley's, or rather, one in particular, though she plastered on a winning smile and took the drink from his hands.

"I missed you too." She said softly as they returned to the couch, the Hufflepuff boys already locked into a heated debate over what the next task would hold.

"He won't even open the egg for us. Obviously there's going to be something insane inside, but-"

"I can't just have one night of relaxation before I face yet another deadly creature?" Cedric reasoned with a lazy grin, leaning back into the couch and throwing an arm around Corinne's shoulder, pulling her easily into his side.

"Constant vigilance, Diggory!" Mark sat up straight in an uncanny impersonation of Moody which had everyone around them breaking into laughter.

"I'll bet it's another creature you've got to battle. Or a bunch of them. Hence, the egg. A swarm of something!" Lucas offered, finishing off what Corinne had to assume was not his first drink.

"A bunch of baby creatures? That's what you think they've got lined up for them?" John rolled his eyes, leaning back onto the couch to stare at the ceiling in deep thought.

"Imagine it's a bunch of Acromantulas!" Lucas fought back, Corinne's mouth pulling into a frown at the unsettling thought. "Or Dementors!"

"Dementors cannot possibly hatch from eggs." Mark chuckled through another sip.

"They don't." Cedric confirmed, sneaking a grin to Corinne and biting back a laugh.

"Basilisks!" Lucas sat up, "Definitely from eggs!"

"I think those are a bit rare!" Cedric could no longer hold a laugh back, watching as Lucas stumbled from the couch to grab another drink.

"You'd better pray it's not a basilisk, Diggory, or Potter's got you beat for sure."

Cedric's chest vibrated as he laughed, turning slightly to let Corinne's head fall into the crook of his neck, pressing his lips gently into her hair.

"You tell me when you get tired, alright? I'll walk you upstairs."

"I'll be fine."

"I'll still walk you."

"You just like the power trip of being out after hours and knowing you won't get in trouble." She pointed out, craning her head to meet his gaze which was already locked on her.

"Or maybe I just want any extra time with you I can get." He moved his free hand at her left to link one finger with her pinky.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere yet." She mumbled, taking the last sip of her drink before holding it up to him for a refill which he happily clambered over to get her, helping Lucas craft another drink in the process.

✵

There were no more than two minutes left before class started, and while Corinne was thankful for the Weasley twins absence, she couldn't help the eye roll that slipped out when she realized how late they were again. How they had managed any OWL's at all was beyond her.

She spun towards the door at the sound of Moody's wooden leg scraping against the stone walkway to find the two gingers and Lee slipping in the doorway on his heels, the door shutting on it's own the second they were all inside.

"Good day, class. You can get your notes out, we'll be going over a lot today..." Moody began, Corinne looking down to her notebook which had been out since she had sat down beside Ella and Taylor nearly ten minutes ago at this point.

"Oh, my bad." The irritatingly familiar voice spoke softly, just behind her ear as his leg had wrapped around the leg of her desk, her notes and quill flying to the floor. She pressed her lips together until they formed a thin line to resist telling him off, assuring herself that it was truly an accident before leaning down to retrieve them.

"I've got it, traitor." He smirked, setting the notebook on the desk and handing her the quill, eyes locked to hers before finally letting her take it. "Tell Cedric congrats on his second place, will you?"

She didn't answer, spinning back to the front and willing him to continue to his seat before Moody came to her rescue at last.

"Mr. Weasley, I didn't mention your tardiness, but I may if you don't find your seat in the next three seconds." He shouted, gruffly, a few snickers echoing throughout the room as Fred took his seat with a grin, leaning back and making no move to gather any notes for the lesson. "We're going to be talking about nonverbal spells again today,"

Corinne looked down to her blank page, starting a new line across the top.

Non-Verbal Spells

"Non-verbal spell casting is essential during a fight, for a couple of reasons. Who can name one?"

One of the Ravenclaws in the corner of the room shot her hand up at once, and Moody nodded for her to speak.

"Your opponent doesn't know what you're casting, or when, they'll be less prepared and less likely to be able to block your attack."

"There's one!" He called, gesturing towards their notes for them to copy down the girl's answer.

Corinne looked down, her quill flying towards the next line before her eyes shot back to the top of the page.

Night-Vulture Species

Her eyebrows curved downwards as she looked to Ella and Taylor who were both scribbling the final words of their notes before Corinne shook her head quickly and scribbled out the random words, re-writing the subject and hurrying to mark down the notes as Moody began again.

"Another great reason to master nonverbals... the number of spells out there that can silence you? During battle, without nonverbals? That's a death sentence. Langlock? Silencio?  As long as you can think, you can fight."

Non-verbals counteract silencing charms-

Her mind went blank, eyes flickering back to the top of the page, below the scribbled out Night-Vulture Species now read National-Volume Spectrum. The words below these were also varying degrees of gibberish, and even the most recent entry now said Novice-vermin captures strawberry camels-

She felt as though her brain was imploding, looking to the front of the room at the blackboard, all of the words there making perfect sense. She looked back to her page, scribbling her name at the top corner and waiting for only a second before it changed. Carrots Boiled.

Before she could even tap Ella's shoulder to make sure she wasn't in fact in some sort of nightmare, there were matching snickers from the back row, Corinne spinning to face Fred, George and Lee barely containing their laughter.

"Piss off, Weasley. When will you grow up?" She hissed, understanding at once and chucking the quill at his face, hoping to draw blood but not caring to watch if it did.

"What's wrong, Baker?" She could practically hear the grin in his tone, "Falling behind? Need a tutor?"

"All three of you shut up, because I'm getting pretty good at non-verbal spells these days and I'd love some more practice." Ella threw the boys a glare as Corinne tore the ruined page from her book, hurrying to catch up on the notes with a new quill, the letters thankfully staying put, though she still caught herself glancing over the first sentences every few minutes to make sure.