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booksmarts and broomsticks
act ii , take a breath
chapter fourteen , luck of the irish

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➖ DRIA LOCKABY ➖
august 1992

       "OOF!"

       Dria groaned as she felt her body slam into the sandy ground, her bag thankfully still in her grasp, as she prised open her eyes that had been very tightly squeezed shut until that point.

       "Now that was quite an entrance." A familiar Irish tone interrupted Dria's groans, as its owner smirked from the sidelines of the scene.

       Dria let out another groan at Jackie's words and slowly began gathering herself up from the floor, and approached the Hufflepuff who stood with her arms crossed as she looked upon the blonde's grumpy face.

       "I hate Portkeys."

       Dria had caught the ten forty-five Portkey — which had turned out to be an old lampshade — from Stoatshead Hill to Ballycastle beach. The passengers had only been Dria herself and an older wizard who had landed a lot more smoothly than the blonde had, and swiftly walked away from the scene and across the beach in the direction of the small town.

"Well, this time next year you'll be able to Apparate across." Jackie said with a light-hearted smile as she helped pull her friend to her feet.

"Apparate to Northern Ireland?" Dria scoffed, beginning to brush the sand off her clothes and readjust her bag on her shoulder, "Dream on, Jackie."

Dria stopped brushing herself down for a moment and turned to face her friend front on, before the two girls burst into joyous laughter, and wrapped their arms around one another.

"Missed you." Jackie said in Dria's ear, her smile could be heard through her words.

"Missed you too." Dria replied with a soft sigh and boy, did she mean it.

As the two pulled out of their hug, Dria dusted herself once more and the two began walking along the beach in the direction the elderly wizard had taken towards the town of Ballycastle.

       "Well done on your OWLs." Jackie smirked, nudging Dria's side with her elbow as the blonde let out a bashful laugh.

       Despite the nerves that had paranoid her throughout the entirety of the summer holiday, Dria was relieved to have found out that she'd had passed all her exams, getting Os in all subjects but Arithmancy in which she got an E. On the bright side, it meant she could tell Oliver he wouldn't need to be eating the Sorting Hat—

Or at least, she would tell him if he'd actually written to her over summer.

Despite him having her address, she had yet to hear from the Gryffindor Keeper. The notion upset the Lockaby girl a little bit, but with her new found resolve to move on from her schoolgirl crush on him, she intended not to think on it too hard and merely take it in stride.

Shaking herself out of her daze, she turned her attention back on her Irish friend who had yet to properly notice the blonde's absentminded demeanour.

"You too, Miss O in Muggle Studies." Dria retorted, nudging her friend back as they waded across the sandy path that led towards the seaside town.

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they trudged along, and the blonde adjusted her bag upon her shoulder.

"Heard anything from—?"

"No."

Jackie pressed her lips together at the sudden answer from her friend, whose gaze was fixed permanently ahead of her and she let out a small sigh.

"Well, not yet, anyway." She expanded, sending her friend an apologetic smile for snapping at her.

"I mean coming here didn't really help the cause, did it?"

Dria rolled her eyes at Jackie's point, but she disagreed. She was glad to be away from home, it was a distraction from sitting around her dad's cottage and waiting for Gizmo to shoot through the window with a letter from the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.

Sensing the disheartenment the topic had brought upon her friend, Jackie gave a small huff before linking arms with Dria and speeding up their pace.

"C'mon, Auntie Lor'll be getting anxious." Jackie told her friend, who smiled at the thought of seeing Jackie's aunt, Lorna.

       Jackie's mother and father had passed away in a bout of Dragonpox that had plagued the Wizarding World in 1979, when Jackie was three and her brother was seven. Since then, they had been raised by their dad's sister, Lorna, who treated them as her own and as a mother should. Every time Dria met her she was reminded just how much Lorna put her own mother to shame.

       "And remember no matter what if she offers you tea, say no. She can't make it for shit."

"Right."

       The distance from the beach to the lane of Jackie's house was probably a good twenty minute walk, but at the rate Dria and Jackie were walking, they got there in a good ten.

       Abbott Lane twisted and turned in a topsy-turvy way that Dria found incredibly difficult to navigate, however for Jackie it was second nature. Her house was third from the end of the road, many of the houses had pastel exteriors and Jackie's was no exception being a pastel yellow — not to the surprise of her guest, who knew the girl was from a lineage of Hufflepuffs. 

"Hello Dria!"

Dria's lips curved into a large smile as her eyes fixed on the woman stood in the doorway of the house, her auburn hair tied at the back of her head as she waved enthusiastically from the doorway.

"Don't you look gorgeous?" She gushed as she stepped back allowing the girls to pass through the doorway and into the kitchen, where the smell of cinnamon lingered in the air.

"Hi Lorna." The blonde chuckled, with a bashful smile as the woman wrapped her arms around the Lockaby girl who slowly returned the hug, unsure initially of how to respond to such a display of maternal affection.

Withdrawing from the hug, Lorna O'Hare placed her hands either side of the blonde's face and looked her over for a second, before dropping them back to her side and arching an eyebrows at her.

"Tea?"

"Um ... sure."

The sound of Jackie's palm hitting her forehead was masked by the sound of the her aunt clapping her hands together and turning away to boil some water.

"Brilliant, that's the whole afternoon gone." Jackie muttered into Dria's ear as the blonde responded with an apologetic smile, and a light chuckle.

Jackie motioned for Dria to set down her bag which she did, quickly hanging it over the back of a chair at the dining table.

"Auntie Lor?" Jackie called, catching the woman's attention, with wide eyes as she forced a smile upon her lips. "I don't think there's time for tea. We're going to go and watch Eoin practice."

"Oh, of course!" Lorna cried, clasping her hands together quickly before turning around and waving her wand in the direction of the stove and switching it off, before her eyes landed upon the bag Dria had hung upon the chair. "Is that all your brought, dear?"

"My dad charmed it with an extension charm." Dria explained, patting the side of her satchel trustily, in which was the contents of all the belongings she had brought with her for the week.

"Well, just leave it there, darling." Lorna told her softly, moving over to the table with a gentle smile. "I'll take it upstairs to Jackie's room while you're out."

"If you're sure," Dria replied with a sheepish smile, sparing a glance back at Jackie who was munching on a biscuit — that Dria noted bore the same cinnamon smell as the whole kitchen. "Jackie and I can always—"

"No, I insist." Lorna shushed her, with the shake of her head and patting her hand affectionately, before looking back at her niece and nodding towards the door. "Now, be off with you."

After a firm ushering from Jackie's aunt, the two girls found themselves out of the door as quickly as the woman had pulled them through it, a few minutes prior.

Stifling a few more chuckles at the behaviour of the eccentric Irish woman, Jackie and Dria began walking down the street in the direction of a large stadium looming in the distance.

Despite Dria being new to the Quidditch culture, her reaction to seeing the stadium of the Ballycastle Bats resembled the same as someone who had been a Quidditch fan for years. Her blue eyes went wide and her jaw dropped, as Jackie dragged her through the stands, while seven players robed in emerald green engaged in various drills several feet in the air above them.

"This place is immense!" Dria crowd gleefully, as Jackie kept a firm grip on her sleeve, her lips curved into an amused smile at the blonde's wonder.

"It's the home stadium, of course it is!" Jackie cackled in response, sinking down into a seat and pulling Dria with her, who still gaped at the enormity of the place.

       "Where's Eoin?" Dria asked Jackie, after digesting her surroundings and turning to the girl as she enquired after her brother.

      "Alright, frogface?!"

       Jackie gave a groan as an enthusiastic call entered their midst, and squinting slightly in the strong sunshine as she looked up, Dria couldn't help but laugh as her gaze landed on Eoin O'Hare, Jackie's older brother, hovering above them upon a broomstick.

       His hair was windswept no doubt from all the flying he'd already done that morning, and was the same colour that Jackie's was naturally, a dark brown. He had a crooked smile that shone down on the two girls as he chuckled, and the same forest green eyes that his aunt had, that shone out brightly complimenting his emerald robes.

Jackie's jaw hardened as her eyes fixed on her older brother and sneered at him, before elegantly flipping him off in response to the use of her childhood nickname that, of course, Eoin had given to her.

"Looking a little rusty up there." Jackie nodded at her brother who manoeuvred the broomstick to hover just before them.

"Not on this, I don't think." He smirked, slapping the handle of the broomstick he rode upon and he leaned back, leisurely.

Jackie raised an eyebrow challengingly before she and Dria leaned closer to inspect the handle of the broomstick which bore the gold embossing of its model name—

"A Nimbus 2001?" Jackie whispered incredulously, with a loud scoff before grinning up at her brother, who replied with a smug smile.

"What?" Dria asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she looked between the two siblings. "They just brought out the 2000?"

"A year ago, Dria." Jackie chuckled, casting a look at her brother who laughed along with her, his green eyes lingering on the blonde beside his sister, and a small smirk settling on his lips. "They're always releasing new models."

Dria let out a large sigh, her eyes wide in disbelief as she'd only just become familiar with the workings of the Nimbus 2000.

"I can't keep up." Dria huffed with a light-hearted chuckle as she took a hand through her hair, feeling her gaze drift over to the older O'Hare still sat astride the broomstick.

The look he gave her as she looked at him reminded her of Jackie greatly. Though from the outside the siblings could not have looked more different, it was in the small nuances and expressions that Dria was able to see the similarities in the pair. His lips were curved into a smirk, and his green eyes sat fixated on her. And while Dria expected the sudden attention to cause her cheeks to go red, she was surprised at the boldness that washed over her as she returned his gaze with pursed lips and an arched eyebrow.

"Little Lockaby, huh?"

       Dria rolled her eyes at the nicknames that Eoin clearly had a tendency for assigning. The Quidditch player was only four years older than both the girls, but the last time he had seen Dria she had been a third year, and it was apparent the difference three years had made.

       "Not so little anymore." Dria chuckled in response, crossing her arms across her chest.

       "Clearly." He replied, his smirk broadening on his face, before he leaned a little closer to her and lowered his voice. "Well, you grew up gorgeous."

       Jackie was grimacing at the interaction between her brother and friend, and felt the urge to vomit as Dria chuckled in response to her brother's compliment.

       "You're a fucking creep, Eoin."

       "What?" Her brother laughed in defence, while Dria pressed her lips together to suppress her own laughter. "Am I not allowed to compliment your friends?"

      "No."

       Eoin let out a humoured scoff, looking between Dria and his sister, his smirk slowly reappearing on his face as he shuffled upon the room, preparing to fly off back to his teammates.

      "Good thing I don't listen to you then, isn't it?" He tutted, grinning, as he saw Jackie's nostrils flare before sending Dria a quick wink and soaring off back up the pitch.

       Dria shook her head at the flirtations of Jackie's brother with a fond smile on her lips as she turned back to face the Hufflepuff who wore a face of pure disgust as her eyes followed her brother as he flew off.

       "What a wanker."

       "He's sweet."

      "Dria, he's my brother." Jackie looked at her friend incredulously, her hazel eyes wide. "He's a twat."

       "I don't think so."

       "Dria!"

      "What?" Dria shrugged with the ghost of a smirk on her lips, thrilled at the notion of getting under Jackie's skin, despite not particularly meaning any of what she said. "I'm trying to move on after all."

      "But not with my brother!"

       "Why not?" Dria scoffed, leaning back in her seat, with a thoroughly amused look on her face, "Jackie, you've been hitting on my dad for three years!"

      At this reminder, Jackie's words fell flat and she let out a grumpy sigh before slouching back into the seat next to Dria.

      "Is this my karma?"

       "Maybe." The blonde chuckled, her gaze following the older O'Hare who was blocking various shots hurled in his direction as he swerved near to tall hoops of the pitch. "I'm undecided."

       Jackie let out another hopeless sigh, as she followed Dria's gaze and noticed something at which she let out a light chuckle.

      "Seriously, what is it with you and Keepers?"

***

       THE REST OF THE week of Dria's stay in Ballycastle passed in a blur of beach trips, heated games of Exploding Snap and late night talks on the house's terrace with Jackie and Lorna, as the three leisurely drank from bottles of Firewhisky.

       On the final morning of Dria's stay, the Lockaby girl and the three O'Hares sat at the kitchen table, conversing idly over their breakfast. Eoin had the day off from his practice and returned to the house, although not without a black eye — that had come as a result of him accidentally tossing the Quaffle at his own face ( Jackie had laughed a lot )  — and had placed himself opposite Dria as they chuckled over plates of fry-up.

       "Girls!" Lorna's voice called out, as she entered the room, her auburn hair tied up onto of her head and a floral dressing gown wrapped around her as she entered the room. "Your Hogwarts letters are here!"

       In her hand she held a stack of letters, but on the top sat two sealed with the unmistakable red wax of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and emerald green ink scribbled across their fronts.

       "Oh, shit!" Jackie cursed, frustrated at the reminder of them imminently going back to school, as Lorna handed her a letter before promptly swatting her head for using bad language, while Dria chuckled as she took her own from the woman

"Language, Jacqueline." Eoin warned with a smirk, as he raised his eyebrows and took a bite of his toast, watching as her jaw hardened at the use of her full name.

"I will hit you, Eoin—"

"You can try, frogface—"

"Enough!" Lorna cried, and with a flick of her wand sending the two siblings harshly back into their seat from where they had been leaning forward on the table, earning pained groans in response. "I expect it'll be your reading lists."

The woman sank back into her seat calmly as her niece and nephew continued to groan, rubbing their necks that had hit the backs of their chairs at funny angles.

"Good job, you're heading over tomorrow isn't it?" Lorna smiled, beginning to cut up her bacon and sparing a wink at Dria, who was still chuckling at the siblings' antics.

"Which is a true loss." Eoin sighed with in a melodramatic sulk as he spared a forlorn glance at Dria who simply rolled her eyes, in a good humour.

"Gee Eoin, you'll really going to miss me, huh?" Jackie narrowed her eyes, which an insincere smile as she glared at him.

"I was obviously talking about our beautiful guest here." Eoin replied, his smirk broadening on his face as Jackie's contorted into one of disgust.

"Our beautiful guest here." Jackie repeated in a mocking voice, flaring her nostrils as she sneered at him, which of course launched them into another argument much to Dria's entertainment.

The blonde continued to watch the scene unfold as she took a spoonful of baked beans, while Lorna took a deep sigh and sank back into her chair, shuffling through the rest of the letters.

"Oh Dria, there's another one here for you." The auburn haired woman said suddenly, catching the blonde's attention and silencing the argument of her niece and nephew. "Your father must have attached it with Gizmo."

Dria stood a little as she reached across the table to take the letter from Lorna, her eyebrows furrowed as her eyes landed on the writing upon the envelope as she sank back into her chair.

"That's not my dad's writing." She muttered, as Jackie's leaned over her shoulder, as sudden realisation washed over the blonde. "It's—"

"It's not!"

At Jackie's cry of disbelief, the two girls exchanged a quick glance before Dria tore into the envelope and pulled a sheet of parchment from within.

       Dria,

       Sorry I took so long to write to you, I know
       we've had our results for a while now but
       I kept procrastinating writing to you as I
       couldn't quite figure out what to say.

       Well, all of that was complete rubbish, as
       all I really have to say is thank you. I ended
       up with an E which exceeded my
       expectations let alone the teacher's.

       I really owe it all to you. I have no doubt
       that yours went even better, and I'll be
       looking for an opportunity to eat the
       Sorting Hat at some point this year, if I'm
       keeping to my word that is.

       I hope you've a great summer so far, and
       I'll be glad to see you when we get back
       to school.

       Oliver.

Dria folded the parchment back up as a small smile began growing on her lips, and she tucked it back inside her envelope.

"Rubbish excuse, if you ask me." Jackie muttered as she turned back to her meal, while her brother and aunt looked on the two, curiously.

"I didn't." Dria chuckled, a small blushed creeping up cheeks as she placed the envelope beside her, and also turned back to her food.

"I thought you were getting over him?" Jackie chuckled, sparing her glance as she took a mouthful of fried egg.

"I am."

Jackie scoffed with a light-hearted smile as she rolled her eyes, as the blonde beside her began chuckling at the ridiculousness of her statement.

"Sure, when you get that stupid smile off your face maybe I'll believe you."

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖆 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘!
welcome to act two !
i want to be adopted
by the o'hares, who's
with me? also make
sure you check out my
new cedric diggory fic
blessing in disguise,
which is part of the same
series as b&b so ready
yourselves for a couple
appearances from some
familiar faces

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