Sigh, Teenagers

It was chaos as soon as Y/N stepped back into the common room later that night. Either loud gossip or the scuffle of students running around filled the small space. Leave it to the good-mannered Weasley twins to throw a party for a boy who'd accidentally stolen their coveted glory as the Triwizard champion. Y/N swore on her life that the two boys wouldn't stop pestering her about it all the way up the grand staircase and down the corridors.

The girl and Hermione tried their best to assure all their fellow housemates that Harry Potter was no cheat, he did not intend to enter the tournament in the slightest bit, and there was a possibility his entry would be disqualified. But alas, the words of wisdom from the two girls fell on deaf ears as the Gryffindors riled themselves up at the fact that they would have a champion representing their house.

As there were no "Congrats on swindling your name into a life-threatening tournament" decorations to be found, the excited Gryffindors settled on their usual set up of butterbeer and food. Unfortunately, it was Fred and George who were in charge of sneaking in the supplies, and that meant Y/N too. She'd almost gotten away from the task too if it weren't for her getting stuck behind a crowd on the way up to stairs to freedom.

No one quite knew of when their champion would return, so no time was spared in rushing down to the Hogwarts kitchen and stuffing their bags full of treats and beverages that the house elves were more than happy to supply. As soon as the trio were back in the common room, however, Y/N was quick to slip through the crowd of students and away from sight. Though, not wanting to miss speaking to her friend, she stayed in the dark, unlit areas of the balcony connecting the boys and girls dorms.

Harry soon appeared through the portrait hole to the jubilant cheers and shouts from his fellow Gryffindors. Even from her spot above the party, Y/N could tell the boy was uncomfortable with the attention. Y/N couldn't fully understand what her friend was thinking or going through, but she could certainly guess that he hated being accused of entering the tournament whether it was in a positive or negative light.

Hermione, from her expectant spot in the common room, nearly threw a fit as the boy walked in, her wild hair managing to make her look mad as she scolded Harry and demanded answers. It was the same old distressed pleas of innocence from Harry, that Hermione had no choice but to accept.

Fred and George were grouping around Harry as he tried to weave through the crowd of students. As Y/N approached the balcony railing for a better view of the boy, she could faintly hear the twins asking him how he'd managed to do it or congratulating him for achieving such a feat.

Once again, Harry denied all association with the crime as he and Hermione brushed past the rowdy twins, looking around for his other friends. He found Y/N leaning against the railing, looking down at him with worry written all over her face, but couldn't manage to find Ronald anywhere through the mass of bodies.

Y/N stared at the black-haired boy as he and her friend arrived at the top of the stairs. Hermione left to go to bed, but Harry stayed.

"Just so we're clear. You didn't put your name in the goblet of fire," Y/N stated, almost question like.

Harry, with the exasperation of a boy who'd repeated the same thing all night, nodded.

Sighing, the girl ran a hand through her hair as she stared holes into the floor. "What did Dumbledore say?"

"I'm a Triwizard champion now."

"Merlin Harry! Why can't you go a single year without almost dying?"

"It's not like I'm trying. Bad things always happen around me," he responded in what would be considered an angry manner if Y/N hadn't known the boy so well.

"Well if there's nothing we can do, then we'll have to make sure you don't die. Or well maybe Hermione will. Ron and I can cheer you on," Y/N affirmed.

A look of sudden remembrance flashed across the boy's face. "Have you seen Ron?"

The girl nodded her head no and walked past the boy to the stairs leading to her dorm room. "I'm sure you'll find him eventually. It's not like you two don't sleep next to each other. Night Harry."

"Goodnight Y/N," Harry replied, watching as his pretty friend shut the door behind her before he himself dragged his tired body back to his dorm room.

~

Something had happened that night, and not a single soul knew a thing about it. When Y/N sat down next to her friends the next morning, there was a thick air of tension that she was sure had even reached the Slytherin table. In fact, she was completely sure Malfoy had gotten a load of whatever feud was happening between the chosen one and his best friend.

Y/N and Hermione couldn't even bear to look at either boy. Harry was mad, sure, but Ron was fuming, absolutely bubbling over with hate and rage. Neither girl knew why, and Y/N even had to forgo sitting beside Fred and George to try to solve the mystery of the quarreling boys.

Much telepathic communication occurred between the two girls that morning. Both were far too worried about speaking and had to settle on sending looks at each other over their toasts. Hell, even the twins wouldn't attempt to break the silence that engulfed their portion of the Gryffindor table.

"What's up between you two dimwits?" Ginny suddenly asked, causing Y/N to choke on her orange juice in shock. The now hacking girl was just glad she hadn't spilled the drink out through her nose or something stupid.

Her eyes trained on Ron, hoping to receive an answer, but the ginger only got up from his seat and walked out of the doors of the Great Hall. "Do I follow?" she whispered to her female companion.

"No you stay with Harry, I'll go talk to him," Hermione responded as she took all her things with her and hurried out the door after their redhead friend.

Y/N then turned her attention to Harry, who quietly sipped his cup of orange juice and stared down at the table as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. His emerald eyes finally left the table to look at the girl sitting across from him sheepishly. "So, guess it's just us now," she spoke. "Want to go to class?"

"Yeah."

Y/N knew that the fiasco during breakfast wasn't going to end as soon as it started, but she really wished it did. Throughout the day, Ron had been avoiding a disgruntled Harry. When Y/N asked about it, the black-haired wizard shrugged his shoulders and looked away.

The rift wasn't doing anything for their group of friends. Ron had taken to hanging around Seamus Finnegan and Harry had begrudgingly hung around Neville Longbottom. Meanwhile, Y/N and Hermione switched between the boys as if they were their chaperones keeping the friends from tearing each other apart.

Y/N had begun spending more time around Harry when he and Ron drifted apart. The twins were unsatisfied with the outcome and chided their little brother for taking their best friend away, but never got mad at Harry. Maybe they knew it was because the boy needed the company. Either way, the Weasley family present at Hogwarts assured Hermione and Y/N that Ron would get over it eventually with time.

But time was not enough for the impatient Y/N. So she found herself sitting aside Hermione in the library whispering away about their withering friendships.

"Fix this," Y/N hissed.

"How am I supposed to fix this?" Hermione hissed back. "I don't even know why those two dimwits are fighting."

"Well go ask Ron."

"Why don't you go ask Harry?"

"Because Harry doesn't know why Ron's angry, but he's too proud to ask," Y/N grumbled as she slammed her head onto the desk in despair.

Hermione scoffed, breathing out a harsh "Boys!" before speaking again. "Well, why don't you ask Ron?"

"Hermione, Ron doesn't like me as much as he likes you. Besides, he's too much for me when he's all moody," Y/N whined.

"Fine, I'll ask Ron later," Hermione huffed, much to Y/N's relief.

"This seat is taken?" A new, deeper voice interrupted. The two heads of hair flung over to look at the intruder.

Y/N's (E/C) eyes slowly widened as she saw just who was stationed next to their desk. She had to take a double-take and look to her friend who by the way, was entirely unaffected. Maybe the stress had gotten to her head because Hermione was not surprised one bit. Maybe Hermione really was involved with the famous Viktor Krum somehow.

But then the girl's eyes caught sight of a blonde head of hair passing by their table. Oh right! Their tutoring session.

"Yeah this spot's free, I was just about to go," she yelped before collecting her stuff, scrambling out of her seat, and zooming away down the walkway down the side of the bookshelves without giving Hermione or Viktor the chance to react. The girl had a goal and she was going to get it no matter the cost.

Her eyes focused on the blur of black robes that she was silently leaving behind in her unspoken race. Finally nearing the end, the girl took a sharp turn and speed walked to the stack of books just in front of her. One step, two steps, three steps, Yes! Just in time!

The girl, now standing in front of the hideout of books stood proudly in front of Draco Malfoy as he glared down at the girl in displeasure. "Beat you," she singsonged before sticking her tongue out at the Slytherin and squeezing through the pile of books.

"What a dense child," Malfoy insulted as he followed Y/N into their meeting place. He couldn't help it. Even if he didn't mean it, the words just seemed to slip out of his mouth. Sure, he didn't actually think Y/N was dense or a child. Well maybe she acted like one sometimes, but it's strangely, endearing? Blimey! Draco couldn't be thinking nice things about a Gryffindor of all people!

"You're just mad I beat you to the spot today," she teased halfheartedly, setting her stuff down on the desk.

The blonde's face soured as he tried to erase the thought of ever liking someone like Y/N, even platonically. "Merlin, you Gryffindors are insufferable," he complained as he tossed his books onto the table and took a seat down at his usual spot, trying his best to sound annoyed rather than conflicted.

Y/N shrugged, pulling out some notes she had jotted down in class and marked for her unwilling tutor to explain to her in addition to the plethora of assignments Snape had decided to assign that week. When she finally looked up again, the girl realized something was wrong. Not necessarily wrong in the negative kind of way, because she could have cared less if the boy sitting in front of her fell out the window that very second, but a different kind of way.

Usually, Y/N would catch the boy staring bored out of the window, generally hating existing in the same plane as his partner. Today though, she had caught the blonde fiddling with something in his hands, turning it over his fingers and running a thumb over unreadable words. It was too large to be their currency but still small enough to be hidden in his hands and out of sight.

It wasn't just his fiddling though. The boy was happy. Too happy. He had that sickening smug look of victory over his face like he had just won the Triwizard tournament or pushed an unsuspecting first year to the side, knocking their books over. Y/N wouldn't have put it past the boy. He'd done it to her before.

"What's got you glowing today? Kick a puppy on your way here?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at Draco.

For a second, Y/N swore he almost looked offended, but she wasn't sure. The Slytherin hid his emotions too well sometimes, especially when it was anything but disdain. "None of your business," he snapped harshly.

"Whatever," she sighed, holding her hands up in mock defeat. "Would you like to explain homework now or is it just going to magically answer itself?"

"If you weren't such a rubbish witch, maybe it would," he answered, insulting the girl.

"Hey!" She called out, eyebrows furrowed. "I'm a good witch," she defended indignantly. "Besides...There's nothing wrong with being like a muggle."

He scoffed. "There's not a single good thing about filthy mudbloods."

Ooh, girl, Y/N had never wanted to slap Draco Malfoy so hard in her life. She hadn't a clue how the conversation got to the topic of types of blood, but she was certainly going to end it. Angrily. "You hypocritical arse!" You know Wiliam Shakespeare is a muggle author," she stated.

"Rubbish book," he said.

"Liar," she spat.

And just like that, all conversation died down. Both teens worked in a thick, heavy silence for a while. Y/N let her anger fester and grow as her mind began to overthink their argument and add more and more comebacks. How did she forget to bring up Hermione of all people? Oh wait, because she'd knew he'd call her a mudblood to her face, and Y/N despised hearing those words with a passion.

The girl had been so frustrated about her lack of good arguments that she hadn't written a single thing onto her parchment. Frankly, it sort of looked like she hadn't a clue about the potions homework, which she didn't since Malfoy didn't want to help her in the slightest.

"So is it true?" Draco's sleazy voice finally spoke.

Y/N's head snapped up from her blank paper, momentarily forgetting she was even mad in the first place. "What's true?"

"That Precious Potter and his sidekick Weasley are finally fighting like a bunch of little girls," he drawled smugly, leaning back on his chair with his arms crossed. "I bet the whole Weasley lot'll lose their hovel without Potter's wittle galleons."

"Shut up Malfoy, don't you have any friends to worry about? Stop butting into other people's problems you rat, you foul creature. I hope you end up alone with truly no one to comfort you. I hope you realize how much everyone hates you. Don't you realize your friends only use you for your daddy's money. For daddy's fame. What's all that pureblood worth if your blood is as black and rotted as a dead flobberworm. The day you gain the capacity for empathy will be the day the world ends! The only thing you've got going for you is your stupidly engorged head but not even that would make up for the fact that you are a despicable person! I would rather fight off every Dementor in Azkaban AND kiss a Dementor before ever working with you again." Y/N snapped, a look of disgust on her face.

The words had just kept bubbling out of her mouth like a boiling potion of hate and misery. At that moment, she had wanted to hurt him as much as his actions had hurt her dear friends for the past four years. At the moment, all the stress of school, of Harry and Ron's friendship, of Harry's championship funneled her words. By the time she was done, Y/N was breathless, heaving, and red in the face. Most of all, she felt almost embarrassed at her outburst.

The look of hurt crossed the boy's face as if he had been slapped by Y/N herself but it was quickly replaced with anger. It seemed that emotion was the only way Malfoy knew how to processes opposition. In a flash, the boy was out of his seat with his books and stomping out of their spot. Oh Y/N had done it now. Maybe she was too mean. Too mean to charm the snake. Did she perhaps hit a soft spot?

The girl held her head in her hands as she stared down at the paper. She would never be able to finish it on her own. But then again, what was a mere paper to her actions? Did she actually hurt Malfoy's feelings? She certainly wanted to at that moment. Did Malfoy even have feelings to begin with? Should she apologize? Did she mean truly mean the things she said? Was she that type of witch? Had she finally stooped to Malfoy's level? Would the blonde even come back to give her a chance to apologize? Should she even apologize in the first place?

With a heavy sigh, the girl collected her stuff and left. Y/N peered over to where she'd last seen Hermione only to find the seat devoid of the bushy-haired girl. Drat! More walking for Y/N then. After all, she still needed help with Snape's homework or he'd rip her to shreds the next time he saw her in class.

Y/N's intention of searching for her nerdy friend was sidetracked for a moment as she approached a turning point in the hallway. She'd yet to see who was talking, but she had certainly heard them. Specifically, a girl's voice was whining while a very familiar Slytherin's voice pierced through the other's words.

"Does that mean you won't be busy on Wednesdays now?" The female voice wondered.

There was a pause. Y/N debated turning right back and suffering away in the library rather than getting caught by Malfoy and whomever the girl was.

"That's none of your business."

Malfoy sounded angrier than usual and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. Y/N gulped and began to take a step back when the unknown female made herself known by turning the corner. Pansy Parkinson's sharp eyes met Y/N's shocked ones and narrowed dangerously at the girl.

Not a single word was exchanged as the brunette Slytherin walked past Y/N, harshly shoving into her shoulder and sending the Gryffindor's books and papers tumbling across the stone floor. In an entirely unnecessary move, the Slytherin stepped on one of the scattered papers as she continued on. Y/N didn't need to look back to know that Pansy was strolling casually away, having the time of her life. With her teeth gritted, she bent down to collect her materials from the dirty floor, cringing as her fingertips briefly brushed across the dirt-smudged paper.

Promptly, the very boy who'd been arguing with Y/N minutes earlier rounded the corner. His steel gaze instinctively fell to the girl crouched on the floor, picking up her fallen books. Having heard footsteps, Y/N looked up only to see Draco Malfoy looking down at her. She could have sworn his fingers twitched as if he were aching to be a gentleman for once and help her.

But Malfoy was still Malfoy: a prick. The boy looked away guiltily and walked away, his dazed eyes focused on the end of the corridor as if forcing himself to ignore the girl like it was their first year again. It seemed he was finally done with her. Well good riddance because she certainly felt the same way.

"Whatever," Y/N huffed as she collected her last book and set off to look for much better company.

After what felt like an eternity of walking through the castle, Y/N finally arrived at the middle courtyard. Low and behold, her three friends were sitting casually on a stone bench chatting away about school work. And before you ask, no not the three friends composed of one ginger, one chosen one, and one academically inclined scholar. Though that description was exceedingly close as Ginny, Caroline, and Hermione were the occupants of the bench.

"Y/N I thought you were in the library," said Hermione as the girl approached.

"It got a bit...boring." It pained her to say it but she had to. "Uh I need help on potions homework," she mumbled shyly, giving her Ravenclaw friend and Hermione a sad attempt at puppy dog eyes as she sat down next to Caroline.

"Sorry Y/N I've got rehearsal," the Ravenclaw apologized, holding up an oddly shaped French horn case. "Flitwick switched my horn," she sighed, tracing the additional three bells attached to the traditional singular bell.

"Rehearsal? But you guys never usually put on a performance."

"Apparently Dumbledore wants the band to play for some big event coming up," She replied.

Y/N tilted her head with confusion. Was the Triwizard tournament not enough?

As if the ginger girl had read Y/N's mind, she spoke up. "It's the event mum was talking about in the summer."

"Did you ever find out about that?" Hermione asked curiously.

Ginny shook her head no, sending locks of fiery red hair to and fro. "I guess we'll have to find out. Caroline, do you know?"

The brunette girl did nod her head yes, but with a sneaky smile. "Flitwick told us but I'm not supposed to tell anyone," she explained. "But I'm sure Y/N will hate it," she added before standing up and dusting herself off. Briskly, the bespeckled girl walked away.

"Wait, Caroline! What do you mean I'll hate it?"

But alas, the Ravenclaw was already in the corridor by that point, walking towards the band room. Y/N looked over to the rest of her friends now. "So have any of you got any ideas? What's something I hate?" Truthfully, the girl wasn't sure if she hated anything in the first place, aside from Bertie Bott's every flavor beans of course.

"What if it's spiders? I can already imagine Y/N screaming her arse off," Ginny giggled only to get a rough shove to her shoulders.

"No way," the older girl huffed.

"Ignore her Y/N. I'm sure it's not too bad," their vastly more mature friend assured.

"Oh yeah, Hermione can you help me with Potions?"

The bushy-haired girl sighed and shook her head with disappointment. "I told you not to wait till the last minute to do your homework! It's due tomorrow! You should've done it yesterday."

"I know I know, but I was busy hanging out with Harry."

"Fine," Hermione huffed as she stood up from the bench. Y/N's eyes widened for a second as she watched her friend stand.

"Woah Woah Woah, where are you going?"

"I'm getting my potions book and homework. Just wait here."

"Oh wait Hermione I'll come too. Someone's got to keep that loser Ron company," Ginny called out as she left the bench and followed Hermione out of the courtyard, leaving Y/N alone.

The girl, feeling quite awkward and out of place, looked around for a second, taking in all the other students conversing with their friends. Though there was no one around to express her emotions to, Y/N presented a wonky, tight cheeked smile to...well the tree she supposed. With her hands settled on the edge of the bench, the girl swung her legs a bit childishly, musing to herself about how the bottom of her shoes just barely grazed the tip of the grass growing wildly out of the ground.

She'd also let her mind wander off to her two friends. Truthfully, Y/N was scared. Scared that her group of friends would never be the same again. Scared Ron would start resenting her for choosing to hang out with Harry rather than him, though the ginger and the girl had never been very close in the first place. Her tight-lipped smile slowly faded from her face as she lost herself in her thoughts.

Then the girl caught something move out of the corner of her eye. Not something far away, but up close, right next to her. Looking up from the grass, the girl was surprised to find a certain brunette haired Hufflepuff sitting down next to her on the bench.

"Hey," he greeted softly.

"Hey," she returned stiffly. What was he doing here? Cedric's never willing approached Y/N before. Oh, wait, what a dimwit Y/N was. There was a reason that she decided to sit in this very courtyard in the first place.

"You looked lonely," said Cedric.

Oh, Merlin! What if the boy thought she was some loner with no friends now?! Worse, what if he thought she was stalking him because he hung out here? Y/N was quick to scramble to find the words to explain herself. "Oh well, I-, you see, uh. Hermione's just gone to get her books," she mumbled sheepishly.

"I see," he paused, looking up at the bright sky distantly. "I know it may be a bit of a personal question, but are you alright? You looked a bit down."

Y/N's eyebrows rose with shock. "Oh no, not at all. It's just that well..." She looked down at her feet, wondering if the boy would even like to hear such a foolish issue. "My friends, Harry and Ron. They're fighting, and I'm not sure how to go about it."

"Ahh, do you know why?" From Y/N's view, Cedric's pretty sky blue eyes seemed to flick over to the girl.

She shuddered, feeling self-conscious about her side profile. Still, she kept her eyes on the blades of grass peeking out under her shoes. "I don't."

"When'd they start fighting?"

"I think after Harry was announced as the Triwizard champion."

"And there it is," he chirped decisively as if coming to a conclusion.

"What do you mean?" Y/N asked as she finally looked at her companion. Her eyebrows were furrowed with confusion and her eyes were squinting as if she would find the answer by literally looking for it.

"I think your friend is jealous," Cedric stated.

Come to think of it, that did make sense. A whole lot of sense really. It surprised the girl that she didn't think of it sooner. "Merlin," she breathed out. "Over a bloody tournament! How stupid can boys get?!" She let out under her breath to no one in particular.

"I hope you don't think I'm stupid. Seeing as I am participating in the tournament after all," Cedric joked lightheartedly. Y/N's face paled. Bloody hell! She didn't mean to insult the boy or anything. Oh no no no! This was bad, really bad.

The girl shook her hands vigorously in front of her as if she were shooing away the suggestion. "No, I-, that's not what I meant! I mean like Harry and Ron can be idiots sometimes. Well, most of the time, but I didn't mean they were stupid cause they're boys. Just that you know, as boys, they're complete dimwits, ya know?"

"Don't worry Y/N, I know," he chuckled.

"Right, yeah, I knew you knew, definitely," she said awkwardly, looking away as her ears turned red in embarrassment. Merlin, Y/N probably seemed so stupid right now. Their conversation seemed to die out at that moment and the girl was completely desperate to find a way out of the silence. Maybe it was as awkward for him as it was for her.

What to say? What to do? Both Harry and Cedric were competing in the Triwizard tournament, right? So then what would she talk about with Harry? "How'd your interview go? Or uh wand weighing ceremony? " She finally asked.

The Hufflepuff boy seemed to perk up, either happy to be talking about the tournament or maybe talking to Y/N at all. "Yeah, our reporter was a bit, interesting."

"Interesting?" The girl tilted her head out of habit, reminding the blue-eyed boy of a confused puppy dog.

"Her name's Rita Skeeter. Asked a bunch of strange questions," he added.

Y/N would have replied if not for her bushy-haired friend approaching her and Cedric with a stack of books held tightly against her chest. It was almost comedic really, the girl stumbling into the courtyard with her books nearly toppling into a mess on the grass as they spilled over her arms. In fact, the witch nearly dropped her belongings as she caught sight of Y/N and Cedric sitting beside one another and conversing.

Cedric too noticed Hermione's entrance and sprung into action, leaving the seat and hurrying over to help the girl carry her books. "Here, let me help," he offered, relieving some heavy books from the girl's load. In return, Hermione muttered a small thanks and set her books down onto the stone bench, which Cedric also did.

"I'll leave you two to it then, I don't want to bother," the boy said as he nodded to the two girls.

"I guess I'll keep an eye for your article in the Daily Prophet then," Y/N added cheerily.

Cedric flashed her one of his dashing smiles and gave her a soft pat on the shoulder before walking back to where he had been previously. His Hufflepuff friends seemed to cheer the brunette on as he approached. Y/N, noticing this, looked to her friend for some explaining. Hermione, who usually had all the answers, simply shrugged.

"You didn't move us here because you liked the ambiance did you?" Hermione asked despite knowing the answer.

Y/N held back a smile as she thought about why they'd come to this spot to spend their time. "I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered, picking up one of Hermione's excessive books to scan through with zero interest. Truthfully, the book was to hide her ecstatically goofy, lovestruck grin from Hermione, who would've said the book did no good.

~

True to her word, the next morning, the girl kept an eye out for the piece written by this "Rita Skeeter" that Cedric had told her about. It had arrived as they all sat quietly eating their breakfast, still without much talking. Y/N hadn't yet graduated back to sitting with the twins, which still frustrated them more for lack of time with their best friend. Ron was mostly quiet despite having moved to set next to Seamus and Harry hadn't muttered a peep. Still, even sitting at the same table caused tension between the two boys.

The emerald-eyed boy did break his silence when a prim little copy of that morning's newspaper dropped briskly in front of his lunch. Both Y/N and Harry stared at the rolled-up parchment in front of them warily. "So...Are you gonna read it?"

The boy shook his head of messy, wild black hair. "I don't even want to think of it," he firmly stated, though Y/N could see the curiosity seeping out of the boy plain as day. He did tell her about the strange interviews he'd been subjected to, which gave the girl the idea that maybe Rita Skeeter wasn't the most respectable author. Especially not after Harry had told the girl about the reporter's uncalled for comment about the broom cupboard.

Eventually, though, Harry did indulge in his sparkling curiosity that night. Not a single soul reported seeing the boy pick up the paper and reading through it, but according to Harry, it was tossed into the fireplace seconds before Sirius Black emerged from that very pile of firewood burning away. Naturally, Y/N was the only person the boy had expelled his secrets to as she tended to sit on information and never act on it unless in an extremely dire situation.

Other than the girls dancing around the subject of the horribly inaccurate article and Ron's moodiness, life wore on as normal. Sure, Y/N wasn't Ron and she knew that Harry missed his friend dearly, but they got along perfectly, even forming a new routine in lieu of their old, discarded routine.

There wasn't anything special about it. In fact, their new routine was just the remnants of what the whole group had done before Ron's departure. Only, Ron was away and Hermione tended to flit between Harry and Ron every once in a while to keep the flimsy balance between her friendships. It was usually only Harry and Y/N who sat across from each other on the plush red couch, basking in the warm glow of the fireplace.

Tonight was a bit different. Harry and Y/N had gotten too distracted in practicing a new spell to the point where they'd disregarded all other homework-namely Professor Binn's who's assignments were gladly put off to the very last second in procrastination.

Long into the night, Hermione had decided to call it a day and warn the two in her motherly fashion that they should too. Naturally, Harry merely shrugged and Y/N whined about having homework to complete.

And that was why the two friends were still perched across from one another on the sofa, scribbling away at the individual parchments about the effects of the goblin rebellion. Clearly, both students struggled to remember a single thing about the subject except for the basic "goblin guillotine bad."

At some point, when the dying fire was just a few flickering ashes, Y/N looked up from her parchment and found that she was staring directly into emerald eyes. Harry set his book down, and Y/N followed suit. "Agree to copy Hermione's work?" She suggested.

"Agreed."

Despite technically being done with their homework for the day, neither teenager felt like leaving their seats. What more could they ask for? Y/N wouldn't leave now that her butt had sunk comfortably into the red cushion, and Harry was at ease with his surroundings for once.

The girl being ever so bored picked up a spare bit of parchment and began to doodle away on it.

"What are you drawing?" Harry asked curiously.

"Look!" Y/N replied enthusiastically as she showed her friend a badly illustrated mess of lines that seemed to form some monstrosity of a winged ave.

"A blob?"

The girl gasped, feeling just the tiniest bit of offense. "This is a bird! I can't believe you don't even recognize Hedwig," she huffed.

"Well Sorry," Harry replied, unintentionally giving away a sassy undertone.

"Shut up before I start doodling you too," she threatened, pointing her quill at the boy.

It went quiet for a bit as Harry stared into the flickering flames in the thought of his godfather and Y/N...Well, what was Y/N doing? At the moment, carrying out her threat. She'd found that she wasn't the best at depicting winged creatures so she decided on drawing something she could see: Harry Potter.

Every few seconds, (E/C) eyes would flick up from the parchment paper to study a different part of the green-eyed boy. From his untamable black hair to the tiny scars on his cheek from their misadventures years prior, to the undone tie hanging around his neck, Y/N had captured it all. Or at least she tried to. After all, no matter how many times she observed the boy, she would not become a good artist. Either way, the beauty that was Harry Potter would not be captured that easily.

After about the fiftieth glance, Harry had finally noticed, like the oblivious boy he was. "What?" he asked, a bit self-conscious but also a bit annoyed by the constant attack of glances.

"Nothing," the girl squeaked, holding her parchment close to her chest to protect it.

"Lemme see," he grunted as he leaned over and wrestled the paper out of Y/N's hands.

His emerald eyes looked down at the paper, then back at Y/N, then back down, and up at his friend again. Y/N's (E/C) eyes looked at the back of the paper, then at Harry, then down at the paper, and back at her friend again.

"I do not look like that," he announced indignantly, pointing at the shoddily drawn almost stick figure-like portrayal of a boy with a lightning scar on his forehead and broomstick in his hand.

"Yes you do," Y/N protested.

"How?"

"How can you not see it, Harry?" She asked seriously. "It looks just like you. You can see the ghost of your past in your eyes!" She squealed, devolving into a fit of unstoppable laughter and drowning out the groan of her friend.

"I can't believe you ('ve done this)," Harry groaned, folding up the piece of paper and stuffing it away in his robe pockets as if that action would erase the ghosts of his past.

But then, Y/N's fun was interrupted when the portrait entrance creaked open. The teenagers froze like deer caught in headlights. Sure they weren't exactly breaking any rules, but two students staying out past curfew on a couch together in front of a dim fire was highly suspicious.

The atmosphere tensed as Harry and Y/N caught sight of the boy who had just walked through the portrait hole.

"Ron," Y/N quietly greeted.

"Y/N," Ron stiffly answered.

"Ron," Harry said begrudgingly.

"Harry," Ron nearly spat before walking up the stairs to the dormitory and disappearing out of sight.

The remaining teens sat in silence for a few seconds, feeling that the mood had been soured tremendously. Y/N decided that she was no longer comfortable. "Night Harry," she bid as she collected her study materials and left the boy alone by the dying fire.