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booksmarts and broomsticks
act i , a lovelorn lockaby
chapter twelve , the legendary pebble

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➖ DRIA LOCKABY ➖
june 1992

"I MEAN, IT REALLY was a shame that your team couldn't quite catch the Snitch." Penny said with a smug smile on her lips, as she let out a fake sigh of disappointment. "Such a shame."

"Okay, Penny, stop gloating." Dria muttered, with an amused smile creeping at her lips at the sound of her friend's uncharacteristic bragging. "Ravenclaw won."

"Yes, we did."

The OWLs has passed in the space of three weeks which seemed more like a blur — the more Dria thought back on them — and the blonde, in the present moment, found herself alongside Jackie and Penny laying out on the lawn by the Black Lake, basking out in the sun, on a Friday lunch time as the end of the summer term neared.

They sat in their uniform but with cloaks discarded in the heat of the burning sun, and noticed how some students had even taken to swimming in the lake to cope with the temperature. And while Dria was predominantly filled with relief from that fact that their exams had finished, the sun only reminded her of the approaching summer where she'd be forced, once again, to spend two months away from the place she considered her home.

"Smugness doesn't suit you." Jackie addressed Penny with a nudge, but the Ravenclaw shook her head in objection to the Hufflepuff's statement.

"I disagree." She smirked, before turning her attention to Dria who was lying flat on the ground with her eyes closed to protect them from the sun. "Why couldn't Potter play anyway?"

The Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor Quidditch match was always the final one of the Hogwarts Quidditch season, and that year the eagles had triumphed over the lions, much to Penny's joy. However, Dria had a sneaking feeling that it may have had something to do with the absence of the Gryffindor Seeker, who had been replaced last minute with a nervous fourth-year, roped in by Oliver.

"Rumour has it he was in the Hospital Wing." Dria told her friend, with a small sigh, not knowing anything more on the subject that what she'd heard from her siblings.

"What for?"

"Well, wouldn't you like to know?"

       The chirpy tones of Tessa Robbins entered their midst as she replied to Penny's question, plopping down on the grass next to her group of friends who merely chuckled at her omniscient expression.

       "I take it, you know?" Dria pursed her lips as she rolled onto her front to look at the dark-haired girl who merely replied with a scoff.

       "Whenever do I not?"

       "Go on, then." Jackie nodded, with a mouthful of pumpkin pastie — she'd refused to share them — as she looked on Tess.

       "Well, would you believe it if I told you that all year the Philosopher's Stone has been hidden in the castle?" Tess replied with a growing smirk, as she outstretched her legs before her.

      Her friends looked at her in confusion, wondering just what on earth that had to do with Harry Potter being in the Hospital Wing, but Jackie still went with it, asking a question with a confused look upon her face.

       "What the fuck is the Philosopher's Stone?"

       "Not really sure, but it's a big deal."

       Shrugging at Tess' explanation and with a few mutterings of 'fair enough', the girl's became quiet once more and turned to face Tess again in order to listen further.

       "And just the other day, somebody tried to steal it!" She gasped, deciding to the deliver the news to her friends in the most faux-dramatic way possible, much to their growing confusion.

       "Who?"

       Well, all but Jackie's growing confusion, who sat with wide eyes thoroughly enjoying the delivery while Penny and Dria stifled small chuckles.

       "That's the big finale, be patient." Tess dismissed the Hufflepuff, with a soft scowl sent in her direction for interruption, before she continued. "So who goes to stop said intruder? Why, none other than Harry Potter, the boy who lived, no less."

       "Why did we bother asking, again?"

       "Accompanied by his trusty friends Weasley Jr and the girl who's better at History if Magic than me and she's in first year—"

       "Her name's Hermione, and she's a very sweet girl—"

       "Not the point, Dria!" Tess cut her off, waving a hand in her direction to silence her. "So, they go to stop the thief and who is it?"

       "Fred and George Weasley?"

       "Nope."

       "Marcus Flint?"

       "Nope." Tess pressed her lips together to suppress her excited grin, before dramatically revealing the culprit with jazz hands. "Professor Quirrell!"

        "Fuck off!"

       In a normal situation, the harsh exclamation said by the two blondes would be reprimanded by Penny but the Ravenclaw sat with her mouth agape, much like her two friends, and eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She was far too confused to even bother scolding Jackie and Dria.

       "You couldn't make it up!" Tess cackled, gleefully, revelling in relaying the information she'd found out. "And turns out Quirrell's a supporter of You-Know-Who and he has been living on the back of his head all year!"

       At her final sentence, Dria found herself recoiling in bewilderment, making a time-out signal with her hands as she interrupted the excited laughter of her fellow Gryffindor.

       "Okay, pause." The blonde shook her head with an incredulous look at the Robbins girl. "You mean to say that an eleven year old child tried to stop our Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher — who just so happens to have You-Know-Who on the back of his head — from stealing a pebble?"

       "A legendary pebble." Penny muttered at the side, although her eyes were still round in surprise from the news.

        "And he succeeded!" Tess cried with a clap of her hands, as she continued to smirk on her gobsmacked friends.

       It was safe to say that the story Tess had told them was the last reasoning they'd expected to hear as to why Harry Potter ended up in the Hospital Wing, and it seemed to be a fairly solid excuse for missing the Quidditch match, or at least Dria thought.

       "I mean if he really didn't want to play against Ravenclaw, he could have just feigned Dragonpox or something."

       "Seriously, Penny?"

       The girls broke into a small array of chuckles at the Ravenclaw's comment, their shock slowly beginning to fade into understanding as they processed the news.

       "So You-Know-Who has effectively been teaching us Defence Against the Dark Arts all year?" Dria asked with furrowed eyebrows as she tried to work out how exactly Quirrell managed to teach them throughout the year.

       "Holy shit, is he marking our exams?"

       "Of course, he's not!"

       "And no, Quirrell was still teaching us." Tess cut in over Jackie and Penny's small kerfuffle, much to Dria's amusement. "Apparently, he was sharing his soul or something with him, because you know Potter basically destroyed him he was too weak to have his own body—"

       "How on earth do you know this?" Dria asked, with narrowed eyes looking on her friend suspiciously.

       "I heard Dumbledore telling McGonagall in the corridor, and do you honestly think I wouldn't treat myself to a bit of Hogwarts gossip as an end of exams treat?"

While her other two friends fell into laughter as Tess' explanation, Dria's mind still kept ticking over the details of what her dark-haired friend had disclosed, still not a hundred percent sure she believed her.

"Wait. So what happened?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing again in curiosity. "Is You-Know-Who dead? Did Potter destroy him again?"

"And what about Quirrell?" Penny chimed in, nodding along and wanting to know more, like the blonde beside her.

Tess pursed her lips for a moment, as she attempted to recount the information required to answer her friend's queries.

"Okay, so Quirrell's dead."

Jackie let out a cackle, earning a smack on the arm from Dria while Penny nodded at Tess to continue relaying the information.

"As for You-Know-Who, they think he escaped."

"Oh, brilliant." Jackie scoffed with an incredulous look, rolling her eyes at Tess' words. "Nice one, Potter."

"Jackie, he's eleven."

"But he was literally right there with the bastard, he could have finished the job while he was there." Jackie complained with a groan, shaking her head in contempt, "I would have."

"Don't we know it." Tess scoffed, failing to hide the smirk that crept onto her face as the group of four fell back into a fit of giggles.

       Dria let out a light chuckle as she sat up to rest on her elbows, finding humour in the idea of Jackie taking on the darkest wizard of all time.

       The shared amusement of the four girls consumed them for a moment and left them unaware of the figure approaching them with a small smile on his lips as his coffee coloured eyes landed on the Lockaby girl.

       With the clearing of his throat, he gave them a sheepish grin as he caught their attention and earned a warm smile from the blonde, sitting upon the grass before him, when her blue eyes met his.

       "Alright, you guys?" Oliver asked, casually, his eyes looking on all four of them despite only really being acquainted with Tess and Dria, and mildly scared of their Hufflepuff friend.

       "Alright, Wood?" Tess replied with a firm nod, but he only looked on her briefly and responded with a nod as his eyes settled themselves on the blonde across from her.

       "Not bad." He answered nonchalantly, before arching a brow at Dria and casually nodding behind him, "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Dria offered him a small smile and a casual nod, before getting to her feet and brushing legs free of grass.

"Sure." She replied, stepping over Jackie's outstretched leg, before turning back to her three friends. "Won't be long."

"Take as long as you want!"

Dria looked back at Tess' smirking face with narrowed eyes only causing her friends to burst out laughing, as she and Oliver walked a short distance away from them, the blonde trying very hard to mask the blush on her cheeks.

"Sorry to hear about the match." She spoke up as they stopped their walk under the shade of one of the trees that overlooked the Black Lake.

"Yeah, well there's only so much you can do without your Seeker." Oliver said through a light hearted sigh, as he leant casually against the trunk of the tree.

"Watching that fourth-year trying to play was quite amusing though." Dria told him with small chuckle, leaning just beside him.

Oliver stifled a chuckle as he looked out across the lake, Dria couldn't help but let a dreamy smile spread across her lips as the light breeze ruffled through his dark hair.

"I can't believe Slytherin won again."

At his words, Dria found herself awakening from her daze, her blue eyes landing on the troubled expression that washed over the Keeper's face, and felt her own smile drop as his did.

"There's always next year." She told him, tentatively as he looked over at her and she spared him an encouraging smile. "One day, you'll win the Cup, I'm sure of it."

"Well, I've only got two chances left." He sighed, giving her a tight-lipped smile in response.

"I believe in you."

"You always do."

Dria tried desperately to ignore the blush she could feel rising up her cheeks as his eyes met hers. She watched as the slight sadness that once resided there dissipated and transitioned into brightness as he surveyed her. Oliver cracked a small smile as he looked away from the blonde and across the lake once more, shaking away the slight daze that had overcome him.

"Um, I wanted to ask you something." The boy started, casting her a glance causing her eyebrows to furrow in curiosity.

"Yeah?"

"Would I be alright to write to you over the summer?" He asked, his lips pressing together nervously as he did.

Dria's lips slowly curved into a smile that she desperately tried to suppress, feeling her heart beginning to do somersaults in her chest. But she didn't prepare herself for how suddenly the feeling would cease, with the words that the Keeper hurriedly added.

"I mean— to let you know my Potions results, of course."

"Yeah, of course. Potions." Dria repeated, hiding her disappointment by plastering a smile on her lips as she nodded.

She turned away from him momentarily to look across the lake and took a hand through her hair as she let out a shaky breath. After a quick moment, she centred herself and turned back to him, hiding her slight heartache behind her smile.

"Um yeah, I'll give you my dad's address at some point." She told him, nodding as she told him before adding with the slightest of smirks. "I want to know if my tutoring paid off."

"Fingers crossed." The boy chuckled, nodding with her before casting a glance behind him at where her friends still chatted idly a few metres away from them. "I'll let you get back to your friends."

Dria wanted to nothing more than to refuse going back to her lunatic friends and insist upon spending more time in his company. But, upon reflection, realised just how moronic that would sound, so simply sent him a small smile as he kicked off the trunk of tree with the same sheepish smile she'd learned to adore and slowly retreat in the direction of the castle.

"Alright, I'll see you." The blonde replied with a small wave, which he reciprocated, before turning on her heel and letting out a large sigh as she rejoined her friends.

It wasn't hard for her friends to notice her mood had changed once she returned and threw herself back down on the ground, offering them a meagre smile in greeting.

"What was that about?" Tess asked, from where her head lay against the leather of her bag.

"He wants to write to me over the summer." Dria said in a small voice, trying to find the silver lining of the conversation.

"You're joking!" Jackie cried gleefully, as the other two girls sat up with excited smiles upon their faces at the news.

"Don't get too excited." Dria sighed, letting out a light chuckle at their instantaneous reaction, trying to lift her spirits as she relayed the news, her gaze intently focused on picking at her nail polish. "It's just to let me know his results."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

Dria plastered on another smile that didn't convince her friends in the slightest as they offered her sympathetic glances, with Jackie being the one to break the silence.

"Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again." The Irish girl declared, sitting up straight. "Wood's an arse."

"Jackie!"

"He's stupid not to fall in love with with you." The Hufflepuff told the blonde adamantly, folding her arms across her front.

"Thanks, Jackie." Dria chuckled, shaking her head as she felt her mood lighten, something she knew the Hufflepuff to be very good at doing when she was down.

The other two girls wiped off their sympathetic expressions as they saw the blonde before them chuckle, and allowed small smiles to creep onto their lips in their place.

"Are you alright?" Penny asked Dria, tilting her head with a sincere smile.

Dria stomached the question and furrowed her eyebrows as she thought. She knew she was disheartened by Oliver's words which made the action of him writing to her seem like nothing more than a polite gesture, but it didn't destroy her.

"Weirdly, yeah, I think so." The blonde answered with a small smile, looking up at her friends, tucking her hair behind her ears. "We're friends, that's more than I ever thought we'd be. Maybe that's all we're meant to be."

"Don't give up just yet." Tess put in, nudging Dria's foot with her own in a gesture of support.

"I'm not." Dria chuckled, knowing that moving on from the Keeper would be a lot harder than simply dismissing her feelings for him. "I'm just being realistic. Maybe I don't mind the facts, I can move on."

"Good luck with that." Jackie scoffed, at which the other two girls chuckled while Dria rolled her eyes but smiled in agreement.

"Yep, I'll definitely need it."

Dria felt content in the knowledge that maybe her and Oliver weren't meant to be, but knew full well that it would take a lot of time for his smile not to make her knees weak. But nonetheless, in that moment, she very much tried to accept it.

"He's still an arse."

"Jackie!"

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖆 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘!
jackie should have
defeated voldemort,
it would have saved
harry A LOT of hassle

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