✮˚. ᵎᵎ 𖦹彡⋆｡˚

I waited until Sirius had delivered dinner to start asking any questions.

"Ruthie-poothie! Your late lunch/dinner is served." He announced. I gave him a small smile,

"Hey Sirius, Reece left me this note saying he has a date?" I questioned, accepting the plate gratefully. He nodded,

"Oh yeah, I think he's in Hogsmeade."

I nodded, I mean that is the go to spot for all first dates here. I thanked Sirius for the food and watched him go, then I sat up, quickly ate and then for the second time in weeks, I got dressed.

Reece going on dates is a big deal in my family, especially since he started his rebel phase. He's only took interest in spending one night with them and not actually getting to know them. It's disgusting and I've been begging him to stop, there have been one too many times where I've had to comfort girls based on my brother's actions.

Dates mean something stable, something that never happens for Reece. When Reece agrees to a date, he actually thinks the girl has a chance at loving him. I can't wait to tell Mom and Dad.

First, I need to see the girl.

I sought out Elise, who was playing with her cat Crescent in the common room.

"Elise." I asked, breaking her attention away from her pet. She looked up at me, holding a ball of mustard yellow yarn in her hand.

"Yes?" She replied, Crescent crawled into her lap.

"Do you know where Reece is going on his date tonight?"

"I have an idea of where, why?" She blinked, "Did you want to spy on him or something?"

I stared at her and said nothing, her eyes widened.

"Oh Merlin, you do!"

I retaliated, "Well of course I do! You know how he is with this stuff! Aren't you at least the tiniest bit interested?"

She hesitated before scoffing at me, standing up and making her way over to James. He was in the middle of a very intense game of wizard chess with Sirius, and was losing badly.

"I need your invisibility cloak." She told him, tugging at his sleeve. James broke his concentration and sneered playfully.

"When are you going to stop hanging out with that oily-haired git?" He snapped.

"Cloak!" She said angrily. James smirked and went upstairs, moments later he came back down with the shimmering piece of fabric.

"Tell Snapey-poo I said hi." He chuckled, handing it to Elise. I watched her turn around as her face got red. She muttered an incantation while pointing her wand that made James' head encased into a white pumpkin.

I heard Sirius laughing as Elise and I ran down the corridor, wrapping the cloak along the both of us.

"He told me he would be at The Three Broomsticks."

When we made it to the gates of Hogsmeade, I had to stop for a moment. My chest was heaving, Elise's eyes locked on me in concern. I explained I was okay although she insisted we walk the rest of the way.

By the time we got into an alley before The Three Broomsticks, we had the cloak completely covering us. We waited until someone opened the door before slipping in.

Elise and I scanned the restaurant, and she caught sight of Reece first. The girl had light brown hair and her back was turned. Reece looked pleased for the moment, I think it was from something the girl said.

Elise and I moved closer, but still far enough away so it wasn't weird. Elise whispered,

"It's Aries Harbour."

My eyes widened and we both did an exchange of places so I could see, it was indeed Aries. She was talking about her marks on our Transfiguration exam over the past week.

"Yeah, I could've done better but I still think what I got was good." She finished, "What's your favorite class Reece?"

"Defense against the Dark Arts. But I'm bored of talking about school," he said lightly, leaning towards her, "let's get to the deep stuff."

I watched Aries frown a little, "The deep stuff?"

"What's your favorite color?" He asked playfully.

Aries smiled, "Pink," she said confidently, "but not like hot pink, more soft, sunset pink." She added quickly. Reece nodded,

"I like forest green. Your turn."

I watched her eyes flicker from his eyes to his lips, even if it was a split second. My face grew hot, Elise was watching carefully as if a pin dropped and the date would be over.

"What's your middle name?" She asked, Reece scoffed,

"Well now you've just crossed a line." He pretended to be hurt, which made Aries laugh. "It's Alexander."

"Mine's Grace."

He nodded, "Aries Grace Harbour." He said slowly, as if taking it all in. She looked at the table.

"Reece Alexander Wilson."

Elise and I made eye contact with each other and nodded, we both slowly made our way to the door. We were inches away from the handle when it swung open, almost knocking us to the ground.

I looked over and Reece didn't even seem phased. For all I know we could've almost been exposed.

Swiftly, Elise and I walked outside and went a few feet behind a building before sliding the cloak off. We've been spying on Reeces' dates for years now.

"Aries Harbour." She announced. I leaned against the wall and nodded.

"I mean, it looked like it was going well." I responded, "We should get back." I added, Elise agreed and we walked back to the castle together.

"So how's the school year going for you?" I asked, making conversation. Elise shrugged,

"It's okay. Keeping bullies away from Severus, tutoring first years in Potions. Hanging out with Reece. It hasn't been bad at all." She concluded.

"So Severus huh?" Elise's face didn't show any sign of fondness towards him. She never really showed her emotions that much, sometimes it can be confusing.

"What about him?" She asked, crossing her arms. I retaliated,

"Nothing! It's just that Reece kind of told me about your crus-"

"There is no crush!" She cut me off, "It's not like he even sees me like that anyway." She stormed off into the doors of the castle, the sound of her footsteps receding with every step.

I paused when I stepped into the corridor, formulating a plan to help her.

✮˚. ᵎᵎ 𖦹彡⋆｡˚
ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙𝟘 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕠𝕠𝕟
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