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booksmarts and broomsticks
act i , a lovelorn lockaby
chapter three , place your bets

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➖ THE SORTING CEREMONY ➖
september 1991

       "MOVE IT, MORONS!"

       The hour now stood at much later, the evening sky had transitioned from the light blue of afternoon into the navy tones of dusk. The Hogwarts Express has pulled into Hogsmeade station some moments prior, still spilling clouds of smoke from its funnel that flooded onto the dimly lit platform.

       Bustling through the door now dressed in their house robes, Penny shook her head at the abrasive words of Jackie as she held the door — as her Prefect duties required her to — for the Hufflepuff and the two Gryffindors that chuckled behind her.

       "Jackie, you can't call first years morons!" Penny called after her friends, as they manoeuvred their way through the crowding first years scattered along the platform, leaving the Ravenclaw behind, to carry out her duties.

       "You can't control me, Penelope Clearwater!" Jackie cried at the top of her lungs in response before throwing her arms around the shoulders of the two Gryffindors at her side.

       "God, you're going to turn Penny grey by the end of the year." Tess chuckled at the high maintenance girl, as they quickly navigated their way off the platform and in the direction of the carriages lined up just beyond it, that acted as transportation for the other school years.

       "That is my goal." Jackie grinned, as she opened the door to the nearest carriage and stepped back with exaggerated bow to allow her friends to enter before her.

       Gathering up the hem of her robes in her hands, Dria rolled her eyes at the Hufflepuff girl before clambering up into the carriage and settling herself in the corner. It didn't take two seconds before Tess had followed suit and Jackie behind her, slamming the door shut and snapping the carriage into action.

       Dria let out a large breath as she began to get used to the tottering motion the carriage made as it trundled them along in the direction of the castle. She allowed herself to drift off slightly as she watched her breath condense on the glass of the window, her mind still troubled by the encounter on the train.

       "Dria, for God's sake, cheer up." Tees said suddenly, for where she sat opposite the girl next to Jackie who wore a similar expression that screamed I-am-sick-of-your-shit. "You're getting the Threstrals down."

       "How are the Threstrals looking, Tess?" Jackie interjected quickly, craning her neck to glance at the front of the carriage where, of course, she would not see anything.

       "As gaunt and depressed as ever." Tess chuckled in response, casting her gaze upon the skeletal horse-like carriages that towed the carriage.

        "Good to hear."

       Out of their group of four, Tess was the only one able to see the ghostly creatures — that they had only discovered to tow the carriage the year before — after she'd seen her Muggle grandfather die in hospital over that summer.

       Tess viewed it at somewhat of a superpower much to the amusement of Dria and jealousy of Jackie, who would be irrationally disappointed she hadn't witnessed someone dying just yet, every time they boarded one of the Threstral-led carriages.

       Lifting her head off the window, Dria looked at her friends with an expectant expression, waiting to see just what they had to see in response to her humiliation.

       "Look, you always make a fool of yourself around Wood—"

       "Not really a comforting sentiment, Tess."

       "What I mean is you've made an impression now!" She replied enthusiastically, looking at Jackie for support, who merely responded with her signature smirk.

       "I screamed at him for asking me about toad, Tess!"

       "Well, he didn't actually get to the toad bit." Jackie added, only to earn a scowl from her fellow blonde.

       "This year's really getting off to a good start, isn't it?" Dria groaned, deciding in that moment to feel sorry for herself as she folded her arms across her front and slouched in her seat.

       "Shut up, I still have hopes for the two of you." Tess smiled, dismissing Dria's frets with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

       "Why does that sentence terrify me more than reassure me?"

       "That's just part of my charm."

       The remainder of their carriage ride went by in more mocking comments from Tess and cackles from Jackie, before they pulled up at the foot of the castle and began their ascent to the top. Dria may or may not have deliberately paced herself to be a few good steps ahead of her meddlesome friends, just to earn a couple of moment quiet, but found it to be in vain as their voices carried themselves to her ears the entire journey.

       Stopping halfway up the hill, Dria let out a laboured breath and groaned at the ache in her legs, stalling so as to throw her arm around Jackie so she could force her much fitter friend to lug her up the rest of climb.

       However, after much complaining about leg pain and stitch, the three friends eventually reached the summit of the grounds and found themselves in the Entrance Hall of the castle, with rosy cheeks and tired smiles on their lips.

       "Alright, Jackie piss off and sit with your own house." Tess told her friend with a sharp pat on the shoulder between laboured breaths.

        "They're all twats."

      Unlike Jackie's friends who took her sardonic humour and vulgar dialogue on the chin, her fellow Hufflepuffs were less than impressed with her carefree attitude as it tended to lose them many house points.

A grin broke out across Dria's face, shaking her head at the pout resident on the Hufflepuff's lips, as she supported Tess whose arm was still thrown around her shoulder as she dramatically emphasised her fatigue from the climb.

"No, you're the twat." Dria corrected her friend, earning a sly smirk in response, before shooing the girl away to her own house table. "Now, go and make friends."

An exaggerated pout emerged on the Hufflepuff's lips once more, as she sulkily left the two Gryffindors by their table and trotted off her own. 

"How long do you reckon the Sorting'll take?" Tess groaned, leaning her head on Dria's shoulder as they clambered onto the bench that lined the Gryffindor table, as it gradually filled up around them. "I'm famished."

"My bet's on one to two hours if they let Binns do the welcome speech again."

Dria chuckled at the comment, looking up to see the grinning face of another one of her and Tess' fellow Gryffindors, Amir Patil.

       "Yeah, we were all ghosts by the time that was over." Dria groaned, as she reflected on the memory of how their History of Magic professor had given the welcome speech the year before.

       Amir let out a laugh in response as he slipped into the seat on the other side of Dria, his jet black that scruffily sat atop of his head shaking into his face at the action. Across the table, another figure sat down with a smoulder on his lips, sparkling blue eyes and nearly combed blonde hair — Amir's best friend, Lorcan McLaggen.

        The McLaggen was renowned in their year group for being quite the heartthrob, and although Dria had never particularly seen him in that light, Tess had been on multiple dates with him, for which most of the school envied her for.

       But none envied her more than the girl that slipped into the seat beside him, with an eager smile on her lips and her azure eyes shining as she nonchalantly twirled a lock of sandy hair around her finger.

       Dria and Tess couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, and were soon joined by Amir as they surveyed Isolde Crawley. She was one of the other two Gryffindor girls who shared a dormitory with Tess and Dria — the other being Hettie Picard, who was performing the Prefect duties assigned to her.

       Isolde has been pining for Lorcan's attention ever since their first year in the least self-respecting way possible — which often helped Dria ground herself whenever she fretted about how she acted around Oliver Wood. However, much to her dismay and the amusement of everyone else in Gryffindor, Lorcan had been blissfully oblivious to her attempts at flirtation since the day she first tried.

       From across the table, Isolde spared Tess and Dria a polite nod of greeting before immediately launching into a conversation with Lorcan about his summer.

       Still chuckling to herself, Dria found herself inspired by Isolde's choice of conversation and turned to the boy beside her with a small smile.

       "Good summer, Amir?"

       "Not bad," The boy shrugged, pressing him lips together, "My dad insisting on my family driving to France and back, and I'm pretty sure I lost brain cells listening to my sisters chat the whole way."

       Having known the boy for the best part of four years, she managed to piece together the extra bits of information she knew about him to fill in the gaps of his story.

       She knew his dad was Muggle, which would explain the insistence of driving abroad, and that he had two younger twin sisters, Parvati and Padma, who were the same age as Maisie and Michael, which of course had provided the two older siblings with a talking point for years — as they had discovered that there is no such thing as moaning too much about having twin siblings.

       "Your siblings are starting this year too, aren't they Dria?" He asked with a quirked eyebrow to which Dria nodded, wondering whether the two of them had made it across the Black Lake in one piece.

       "Yep, there goes my peaceful school year."

       "As if we'd ever have a peaceful school year." Tess scoffed from Dria's other side, causing her and Amir to turn in her direction.

       "Apparently Harry Potter has come as well."

       At Isolde's interruption, the three Gryffindors sat on the opposite side of bench turned their attention to her; she couldn't mean the Harry Potter.

       "Where did you hear that?" Tess asked with a hint of a scowl, no doubt unimpressed that the piece of gossip had passed her by.

       "Some first years on the train." Isolde replied, resting her hand on her chin as she kept shooting glances at Lorcan who also seemed interested in the topic.

       "Please, tell me that they were looking for a toad—"

       "Tess, don't even go there."

       "Yeah," The girl responded with a confused nod, which triggered a grin from Tess as she turned to face Dria, "But they were muttering about him being on the train."

       "What house do you reckon he'll be in?" Amir asked, turning to his four fellow Gryffindors with a curious look.

       "He's got to be in Gryffindor," Lorcan surmised with a confident nod, "Can you imagine a Hufflepuff trying to take down You Know Who?"

       "Jackie could probably do it." Dria muttered, sparing a glance at Tess, who gave a nod in response.

       "He'd run away screaming." Her dark haired friend agreed with a chuckle

       "Has she dyed her hair?"

       Their attention faltered for one another as they turned back to face Lorcan, only to see him craning his neck to get a better look at the Hufflepuff table.

       "Yeah." Tess confirmed with furrowed eyebrows at his statement.

       "It looks good."

       The three Gryffindors opposite him let out a various array of chuckles at his words, while the sandy haired girl at his side scowled, as he continued surveyed the Hufflepuff from afar.

       "Alright, McLaggen, keep it in your trousers." Tess grinned, with a roll of her eyes.

       "She'd eat you alive, Lorc." Amir added, with a raised eyebrow and chuckle at his friend.

       "I disagree." The blonde boy replied, before bringing his finger to his lips and letting out a sharp whistle. "Oi, O'Hare!"

       His fellow Gryffindors turned in the direction of the Hufflepuff table to catch Jackie's reaction as he caught her attention. She looked on him with a challengingly raised eyebrow, before he sent a wink at her, to which she very quickly flipped him off.

       His face falling at the gesture, McLaggen gritted his teeth and he sank down a bit further in his seat in result of the rejection.

       "Fair point." He granted with a nod at his friend, but not before another grin broke out across his face. "Still, I love a good chase."

       Suppressing her laughter at the flaring of Isolde's nostrils at Lorcan's words, Dria found her attention drifting in the direction of the doors of the Great Hall where the selected Prefects were emerging, having completed their duties on the platform.

       Her gaze landed on Penny for a moment who spared her a quick wave before settling herself with the other Ravenclaw Prefects at her house table, before returning to the group of Gryffindor Prefects approaching their table.

       Hettie Picard and Percy Weasley walked down the length of the Great Hall side by side in light conversation, before Hettie slipped into the seat beside Isolde and Percy continued further down the table. Dria couldn't help but notice the red haired boy sit himself with a group of other fifth year Gryffindor boys, among them being Oliver Wood who was animatedly chatting with Percy's younger twin brothers, and the Beaters of the house Quidditch team, Fred and George.

       "Hi, Hettie." Tess smiled politely at the dark-skinned girl, who replied with a bright smile that reached her coffee coloured eyes.

       "Congrats on getting Prefect." Dria added in with a reciprocated grin, catching the girl's attention.

       "Thanks, you like the badge?" Hettie asked with a wiggle off her eyebrows as she puffed out her chest to show off the badge, light-heartedly.

       "Very shiny." Dria chuckled in response, to the girl's new brooch.

       Before the group could continue conversing, the light clinking of spoon hitting the side of a glass interrupted the chaotic hubbub of the chattering students in the Hall.

       All gazes turned to fall on the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. The man was around one hundred and fifty or so the girls had guessed at one point, and his old age was showcased clearly through the whiteness of his long hair and curling beard, as well as the dainty wrinkles that appeared one his face when he wore one of his signature smiles.

       His eyes twinkled with satisfaction as the Hall fell silent, and he directed his hands towards the doors at the far end of the Hall which opened upon his silent command to reveal Professor McGonagall, leading a stream of first years students.

Professor McGonagall was the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, the Head of Gryffindor House and the resident Transfiguration teacher at the school, and demanded the respect her job titles as well as overall demeanour gave her. She walked with her head held high as the young children followed behind her like lost ducklings, her emerald green robes swishing against the floor as she passed. As far as Dria was concerned, Minerva McGonagall was the most impressive witch she'd ever met.

"God, they get smaller and smaller each year, I swear." Tess whispered in Dria's ear as the first years passed, curiously looking around them at the atmospheric Great Hall.

Dria stifled a chuckle at Tess' statement but couldn't but also gaze up at the surroundings she sat it. She remembered being as mesmerised as they were when she had first seen the a Great Hall, with its towering walls leading up to a ceiling of the night's sky, the air in between containing thousands of hovering candles — Dria couldn't imagine a more welcoming or magical place.

"Will you wait along here, please?" Professor McGonagall's voice rang out across the Great Hall as she directed to the first years to stand at the front of the Hall. "Now, before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words."

Turning her back to the first years for a moment, Professor McGonagall nodded in the direction of Professor Dumbledore who stood at the action with that same twinkle in his eyes as he surveyed the students of the school.

"I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce." The older wizard cleared his throat as he rested his hands upon the tabletop, "The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students.

"Also, our caretaker, Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death."

If there had been any faint murmuring before the last sentence left Dumbledore's lips, by that point it had ceased, and students looked between one another with wide eyes.

"Thank you." The Professor concluded with a light smile before settling back down into his seat, seemingly very pleased with himself.

A quiet choking sound echoed from Dria's right, as she realised with a light chuckle that the minor matter had caused Tess to snort into her drink.

Sparing her friend a discreet slap on the back, Dria soon turned back around to face the front of the Hall, leaving Tess to regain her composure as she coughed into her sleeve.

"It's nice of Filch to even warn us," Dria muttered under her breath, "I would have thought he'd gladly send us to our deaths."

Though she didn't look round, Dria heard a light chuckle from Amir's direction and saw his shoulders shake slightly in amusement, but nonetheless focused on the front of the Hall.

"When I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses."

"Alright, people, it's that time we've all been waiting for." Lorcan grinned as he spoke in a hushed voice, turning to the group of Gryffindors surrounding him. "Place your bets."

Dria groaned at his words while the others around her began diving into their pockets for various pieces of change.

"You realise it's a pointless exercise, Lorcan." She whispered with an incredulous look, as she crossed her arms across her front. "The odds are one in four of getting it right."

"Which makes it all the more painful when you lose, Lockaby." The blonde boy opposite her smirked, before raising his eyebrows challengingly at the girl.

Dria's jaw clenched and before her rational self could tell her otherwise, she found the competitive side of her taking over and her hand dove into her pockets.

"Alright, you're on."

Ever since the six Gryffindors had first started grouping together at opening feasts in their second year, Lorcan had originated the idea of placing bets regarding what house each new student would be placed it.

The whole idea was very simple; guess right, win the betted money. Although, as Dria had reminded him — which she had done every year without fail — the odds were only one in four. And every year in some way or another, Lorcan would say something to spur her on into playing anyway.

"Abbott, Hannah." McGonagall read out from the long list in her hands.

From the crowd of first years emerged a girl with short blonde hair cut into a bob, her hands clenched nervously at her sides as she slid onto the stool and the hat was placed on her head.

"She's blonde. It's a Hufflepuff." Lorcan muttered throwing a single Knut into the middle of the table.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dria countered, her eyebrows furrowed dangerously as Lorcan continued to smirk at her.

"Ravenclaw." Tess smiled smugly, as she placed her own bet atop of Lorcan's, siding with her friend and using the boy's logic against.

"Yep." Dria agreed, with a nod also placing a Knut on top the pile forming in the middle of the table.

Amir soon followed suit, while Hettie and Isolde politely declined involvement and instead opted to watch the events play out, while they eagerly waited for the verdict.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bugger!"

The curse left Dria's lips before she could comprehend it, but luckily was masked by the loud cheers of the table next to theirs as they welcomed their new house member.

"Get in!" Lorcan grinned, scooping the pile of money towards him.

"Don't look so smug, McLaggen." Dria said with a set jaw and a light scowl, feeling very tempted to smack Lorcan's smug grin right off his face.

"Bring it on, Lockaby."

The same sequence repeated itself for some time and soon Gryffindor house had gathered four new students including Lavender Brown, Fay Dunbar, Hermione Granger and Seamus Finnigan. The betted winnings had been inconstantly swapped between the four players — predominantly between Lorcan and Dria. And the tension was building as the list of names bit by bit got closer to the L section.

"Ooh, first one's up." Tess nudged Dria's arm, as McGonagall called out Maisie's name while her older sister watched her slowly step up to the Sorting stool.

"Come on, Dria, you've got to get this one." Amir muttered, turning to face the group, his eyes landing on Dria's pursed lips and fixed expression.

"Hufflepuff, all in."

Pushing all her winnings out in front of her, Dria shot challenging a look at McLaggen who continued looking back with the same smugness he retained through the whole game.

"Ouch, bold move." The blonde boy let out a low whistle, before somewhat following suit and challenging with around three quarters of his own winnings. "I challenge, Ravenclaw."

"What about your Hufflepuff theory?" Dria quirked an eyebrow at her fellow Gryffindor as his lips curved into a crooked smile.

"I'm playing a wildcard."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Oh, fuck!"

Lucky for McLaggen, the sound of applause from the Hufflepuff table drowned out his cursing. Dria spared a moment from the game, to join in the applause and happily watch her sister, with a bright grin stretched across her face, slide onto a seat at the Hufflepuff table. Looking further up the table, Dria's eyes landed on Jackie who was applauding with her house and spared Dria a wink. The wink did enough to assure the blonde Gryffindor that her sister would be well looked after in Hufflepuff.

But as the cheering began to die down, she turned back to Lorcan with a smug smile on her lips.

"Seems you should have gone with your initial thought after all, McLaggen." She smirked as he begrudgingly pushed the winnings closer to her. "Thank you."

"Shut up."

But McLaggen didn't allow his sombre mood to last long as the second name of her siblings was called out.

"Lockaby, Michael."

Just like she had with her sister, Dria watched as her younger brother emerged from the shrinking crowd of first years and he awkwardly placed himself on the Sorting stool, with his lips pressed together nervously.

"He looks like a Slytherin." McLaggen mused, with a sure nod. "Thoughts, Dria?"

"Got potential, McLaggen, I grant you." She replied with a light shrug, her brother certainly had the ambition that wouldn't be misplaced in Slytherin.

"Five knuts."

"I raise you to ten." Dria challenged, pursing her lips before putting forward her bet. "Gryffindor."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Motherfucker!"

Just as it had done with the arrival of the other first years, the Gryffindor table erupted in applause as, with a relieved smile, Michael hopped down from the stool and approached the table.

Dria sent him a proud smile as his gaze met hers from down the table and she scooped her winnings towards her, at which he quirked an eyebrow, but a quick shake of her head brushed him off.

"You're a cheat." McLaggen accused with a cross expression, and small frown lines appeared along his forehead.

"No, you're just a bad loser, Lorcan."

The Sorting proceeded with more and more Gryffindors being welcomed into the house following Michael, including Neville Longbottom — who had tripped up the steps on his way to the stool — and one of Amir's sisters, Parvati. The other, Padma, had been sorted into Ravenclaw much to the dislike of Parvati, who looked on her with a sad gaze as Amir groaned, while he spectated. 

"Great, they'll be crying about that tonight." He sighed, with a roll of eyes before getting a harsh nudge form Dria in the girls' defence, as she distributed some of the money back over to Lorcan.

However, the next name to be called out silenced the Hall in such a way, that the notion of betting suddenly became irrelevant in the group's mind.

"Potter, Harry."

The silence that followed was oppressive and only interrupted by a few whispers as a boy of small stature emerged at the front of Hall. His jet black hair sat untidily at the top of his head, and circular glasses sat on the bridge of his nose and, if Dria squinted hard enough, she could just about make out the pink lightning bolt scar scratched into his forehead beneath a few lose strands of hair.

He seemed so young, so naïve. The thought that he'd destroyed the darkest wizard of all time when he was simply a baby seemed ludicrous when you looked at him. His green eyes were wide in panic, as the Sorting Hat shuffled about his head, and Dria remembered that he'd been immersed into this world without any warning, and felt sorry for him; for he had legacy to live up to in a world he didn't even know.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The triumphant shout broke the blonde girl out of her reverie as she exchanged smiles with the group around her, before rising to her feet with the rest of the house and cheering at the outcome of boy's Sorting.

"We got Potter! We got Potter!"

A rhythmic chant broke out of nowhere — most likely from the Weasley twins — and Dria did all that she could to stop herself from laughing at their excitement, as her hands began to ache from clapping.

"I bloody told you so." Lorcan scoffed as they sank back into their seats.

"Ah, but you placed no bet, McLaggen."

***

"I COULDN'T EAT another thing." Tess groaned, as her head once more rested itself on Dria's shoulder, earning a laugh from the blonde.

"I'm not surprised." Dria replied with a chuckle, remembering the great pile of mashed potato that had since disappeared from Tess' plate.

"Oh, shove off." The dark haired girl responded, elbowing Dria in her side with her head still on her shoulder.

       The Great Hall was beginning to empty out gradually following the end of the welcome feast. After the Sorting of Harry Potter, Gryffindor had gained a further two first years, Dean Thomas and Ron Weasley, another one of Percy's brothers, although the latter was hardly a surprise.

       The Prefects had left with the first years some ten minutes prior to guide them to their specific common rooms, while the remaining years were instructed to wait a few moments before making their own way back.

       "Alright, dickheads?"

       At the sound of the endearing greeting of Jackie, Tess lifted her head from Dria's shoulder to see their Irish friend sink into the seat beside her. 

       "Shouldn't you be with your own house, O'Hare?" Isolde cut in, her lips pursed in contempt, apparently not quite over Lorcan's fascination with the girl opposite her.

       "Shouldn't you be up McLaggen's arsehole, Crawley?" Jackie retorted with a sickly sweet smile.

       Dria found herself pressing her lips together to mask her own laughter, but quickly found it to be ineffective after Amir's spluttered his drink at Jackie's retort. Lorcan, however, paid little attention to the disgruntled look on Isolde's face as her nostrils flared at Jackie.

       "Hi, Jackie." The blonde boy smirked, with a quick raise of his eyebrows.

       "Fuck off, Goldilocks."

       With a small shake of his head, he spared a nod in Amir's direction, who was still chuckling away, and the two gradually rose up from the table, with Isolde trailing behind them as they went.

       "I'm telling you she's into me." The faint sound of Lorcan's determination could be heard as the three of them walked towards the exit, much to the amusement of the three girls still sat at the table.

       "What are his chances exactly, Jackie?" Tess wondered, with an arched eyebrow as the Hufflepuff at her side replied with a grimace.

       "I'd sooner give the giant squid a lap dance."

        Dria shook her hand at the girl, her eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion as she chuckled, trying to work out exactly how one would perform such a task.

       "What's this about giving the giant squid a lap dance?"

       A new voice cut into their midst, and the three girls looked up to meet the grinning faces of  Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, two third-year Gryffindors, who were well known for being Chasers on the house Quidditch team.

       "Oh, just Jackie's plans for the evening." Dria smirked, sparing a look at Jackie who merely rolled her eyes in response, before looking back at the giggling third years.

"Good summer, you two?" Tess asked the girls, nodding at them invitingly to sit down with the older girls.

"Yeah, not bad." Angelina shrugged as she threw her legs over the bench, "Alicia got a new broom."

At the mention of the new broomstick, Jackie perked up and looked in Alicia's direction with an arched brow.

"Which model?"

"Comet 260."

"Not bad." Jackie nodded with a slight grin, "Sounds like our Chasers'll have their work cut out."

"You bet they will." Angelina grinned back at the Irish girl, much to the amusement of the older Gryffindors. "Hufflepuff are going down this year."

"Not until you replace Charlie Weasley, we're not." Jackie retorted in a childish sing-song tone, sparing Angelina a wink.

Angelina responded with a light grimace that she shared with Alicia, at the reminder of their team's loss. The second oldest Weasley brother had been the renowned Gryffindor Seeker since Dria and her friends first started school, and the loss was taking a heavy toll on the existing members of the team, knowing that they were going have a tough time finding a replacement.

"Do you know if Wood has anyone in mind?" Tess asked the girls, shooting a quick look down the table where Wood still sat chatting with the Weasley twins and the other Gryffindor Chaser, a second year called Katie Bell.

"If he has, he hasn't told us." Alicia responded with a shrug, "But I doubt it."

"I doubt we'll ever find someone to top Charlie." Angelina agreed, looking forlornly on the older students who reciprocated with sympathetic glances — well, except for Jackie, of course.

"So, it's good news for Hufflepuff." The girl grinned, crossing her arms across her chest contently, much to the distaste of the younger girls.

Dria couldn't but shake her head at her friend's response, and focused on keeping a polite smile of her face while the Quidditch conversation continued much to her displeasure. It wasn't that she hated the sport as such, she just found the constant obsession, that apparently everyone in the Wizarding World had with it, a little irritating.

Luckily for Dria's aching cheeks however, Angelina soon turned her attention to the blonde girl opposite her and away from the talk of Quidditch.

"Dria?" She called, to which she received a quick smile of acknowledgement. "I know it's your OWL year but is there any chance you'll still be tutoring?"

While Tess had gained her popularity within the house from her dynamic personality and reputation as the school gossip, Dria was known — especially by those in the younger years — through the voluntary tutoring she gave to multiple students throughout the year.

"Yeah, I imagine I will be." The blonde girl nodded, not particularly having thought about the arrangement but assuming so.

"Good," The Chaser replied with a relieved grin, "Because I know I'm going to hate Potions just as much as I did last year."

Her grin vanished in almost an instant at the mention of the class that apparently in the school despised with a burning passion with the exception of Dria, and was replaced with the sound of a groan that the blonde girl chuckled at in good humour.

"Well, I could never turn you down when you're so enthusiastic."

"Thanks Dria, you're a saint." The young girl beginning to stand from her seat after Alicia nudged her, and walked away down the Great Hall, calling behind her as she went. "Saving Hogwarts from Potions, one student at a time!"

       A small smile rested upon Dria's lips as she watched the girls leave the Hall, before her gaze landed back on the face of her Hufflepuff friend, who was still intently staring down the length table at a certain Gryffindor Keeper with her eyes narrowed.

       "Jackie, stop looking at him!" The blonde hissed at her friend, her eyes widening. "It's creepy."

       "I'm trying to read his mind."

       "Jackie, you're as much a Legilimens as you are a Metamorphagus." Tess cut in with a light scoff, while Jackie's brown eyes remained trained on the Keeper.

      "In training, then." She smirked, before diverting her gaze slightly to look at her friends as she addressed them. "I want to know who the new Seeker is going to be."

       "Burning holes in the back of his head won't tell you that!" Dria exclaimed, leaning forward to block Jackie's eyeline.

       "And you heard Angelina, they don't know yet." Tess added, with a nonchalant shrug.

       "Not good enough, toad girl."

       Dria's face immediately contorted into a scowl at Jackie's words, while the speaker herself broke out into a wide grin and the black haired girl beside her began to laugh.

       "Screw the two of you, I'm going to bed." Dria said, defiantly, as she rose to her feet, her nostrils still flaring.

       "Sweet dreams, toadie!"

       "I'll poison your pumpkin juice."

       "You wouldn't!" Jackie replied with a look of faux horror, before looking on her friend with a smirk.

       "I'm an O grade Potions student, Jackie." Dria surmised with a smirk of her own, "You know, I know how!"

       And so, with the laughter of her friends ringing in her ears and the sound of her bet winnings clanging within her pockets as she walked, Dria left the Great Hall, with a ghost of a small smile threatening to break across her face.

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖆 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘!
here's another chapter
and i apologise for my
lacking self restraint but
the hype i have for this
story is still going people
so prepare yourselves

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