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booksmarts and broomsticks
act ii , take a breath
chapter sixteen , not a chance

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➖ DRIA LOCKABY ➖
september 1992

       "DON'T FROWN SO much, you'll get lines." Tess told her blonde friend, who was sulking at her side, as they navigated their way up to Gryffindor Common Room.

       The Sorting Ceremony had passed in a blur of annual bets and a dozen or so new additions to the house — one of which being Ginny Weasley and last, and only daughter, of the Weasleys.

       The last few days of summer had dragged on at an infuriatingly slow pace, in Dria's opinion. The atmosphere in the Whitehall townhouse had remained cold and hostile, due to the tension between Julia Appleton and her eldest daughter, until the morning which the group of students left for the platform, where they had loosely reconciled. Although, Dria's mood had yet to brighten and all through the train ride, Sorting and feast, she had continued to sulk much to Tess' infuriation.

"I can't help it if I'm perpetually pissed off, Tess." The blonde groaned, pulling a grim expression, not enjoying the feeling just as much as her friend.

"Don't start bleating on about your mum again—"

"Not my mum!" Dria cut Tess off with an exasperated sigh, as they jumped from one staircase to the next. "McLaggen stealing my money!"

While Dria's mood hadn't been exactly on top of the world when they arrived at the castle, what certainly didn't help was the fact that, during their annual bet over the Sorting of the new students, McLaggen had beaten her on every single bet.

Of course, he'd been insufferably cocky and it took everything in Dria to not reach across the table and strangle the boy — well, actually it took Tess, because she did actually try to do so and the dark-haired Gryffindor had to hold her back.

The others in their dining group did find the whole altercation rather humorous however. Hettie, while leaving the Hall with the Prefects, had mentioned to Dria that she'd have preferred it if Tess hadn't restrained her, so the blonde could have been left to maul the cocky bastard.

This got a laugh out of Amir, who also would have loved to see his best friend get beaten up by a girl — it was no surprise that Lorcan was far too much of a pretty boy to actually know how to fight back, and would undoubtedly lose. This earned him a smack across the head from the boy in question who looked less than impressed.

The only person who mirrored his expression, of course, was Isolde. As usual, she was seated right next to him, and while the group around him were laughing at his expense, she nestled up to him and whispered words of support.

The sight made Dria's eyes roll so far back in her head, Tess was worried she may have fainted.

A strand of Isolde's hair was being twirled around her fingers as she had spoken to the pretty boy and — much to Dria and Tess' amusement — she had made a big fuss in pointing out to the boy that she had dyed the ends pink, much like how a certain Hufflepuff had done the year before.

Of course, it was an attempt made in vain as the boy was still fixated by that certain Hufflepuff who was cackling away at her house table across the way.

All in all, while their dinner had passed in a series of a good few laughs, none of them had succeeded in getting Dria out of her bad mood, from losing a good portion of her change to the McLaggen bastard.

"To be fair, you were terribly off your game tonight." Tess tutted with a slightly amused smile, as they arrived at the portrait hole, her words still regarding Dria's poor performance at the traditional game of gambling.

"I know!"

The Fat Lady let the two Gryffindors in after Tess told her the password — which Dria made a mental note to remember, due to forgetting it too many a time, the year before.

As they stepped through the Portrait Hole, they were met with a strange atmosphere. Expecting the usual warm and welcoming sound of the log fire crackling and idle chatter, they were disappointed when they were met with hushed whispers instead from those remaining in the Common Room.

"What's everyone whispering about?" Dria voiced her thought aloud, furrowing her eyebrows as she turned to Tess, any lingering feeling of misery being quickly replaced with curiosity.

The dark haired simply responded with a shrug, before scanning the room to find someone who would know. After a quick minute, Tess started forward, with Dria hot on her tail, making for a particular Gryffindor Chaser who was whispering with her friends.

"Angelina, what going on?" She asked, arching on eyebrow in curiosity, as she nodded to the masses of whispering people gathered about the Common Room.

"Haven't you heard?" The Chaser responded her eyes growing wide, before she took a step towards the two older girls. "Potter and Weasley missed the train this morning, and stole a flying car to get here."

"You're joking."

"Crashed into the Whomping Willow when they landed and all." Angelina added, stifling the smallest of chuckles before turning back to her group of friends.

Sparing her a quick nod in thanks, the two girl left her be and moved across the room towards the fireplace where a few seats lay vacant, beside Lee Jordan and the Weasley twins.

"Funny, isn't it?" Dria chuckled, her bad mood completely eradicated as she slouched into an armchair.

"What?"

"How the boy who lived keeps getting himself into these near death situations." Dria smiled with a light shake of her head, as Tess responded with a similar expression, also slouching in her seat.

"Ironic." She mused, with an amused grin, her voice suddenly alerting the three fourth-years beside them.

       "What's ironic?"

       Dria's head whipped from facing Tess' direction, to the identical smirking faces of the Weasley twins who sat beside her friend, as well as Lee Jordan who was sat on the floor with the wide grin as he leaned against the bottom of the sofa, looking up at the two sixth-years.

       "The boy who lived nearly dying, again." Tess clarified, earning an array of understanding nods from the three boys.

       "Ah, yes."

       "That is ironic."

        "I assume you already know about your brother crashing a car into the Whomping Willow?" Dria asked, with an arched brow as she addressed the twins, her head resting in her hand that sat upon the arm of the chair.

       "Well, it was a little hard to miss, due to the entire school chatting about it." One of twins replied, with a wild guess Dria decided she was going to assume it was Fred.

       "I'd have put such a feat upon your shoulders." She smirked, earning a small faltered sigh to emit from their identical mouths.

       "Dria, you really are too kind." The other replied; George.

       "It's a shame we didn't think of it, eh Fred?"

       Dria let out a silent groan, leaning back in her as she realised her assumptions had been incorrect. But she found herself sitting up again, once she'd reminded herself that she'd would probably never be able to tell the difference. 

       "We'd have executed it much more smoothly, I assure you." Fred turned to the blonde girl with a cocky expression as he folded his arms and nudged his brother.

       "I hate to say it but your brother is really putting you to shame." Tess mused, as she kicked off her shoes and crossed her legs upon the sofa. "First the troll, now this."

       Dria stifled a chuckle at the horrified expression that crossed the twins' face at Tess' comment, before to join in with her teasing.

       "Yeah, I mean your reputation is suffering quite a bit at his hands." The blonde nodded, lips pursing in faux seriousness.

       The twins' expressions slowly shifted from ones of horror into ones of nonchalance, as Lee continued to laugh at their expense with the two girls. 

       "Well ... he needs the attention." George said light-heartedly, leaning back in his seat and turning to his twin with a small shrug.

       Fred replied with a nod of agreement, before mirroring his twin's stance and leaning back in his seat too, with a devilish grin.

       "He's a bit of a sorry git, after all."

       In a light array of chuckles, the five of them by the fire soon fell into a comfortable silence with each of them falling back into their seats, with a content sighs.

        Shaking her shoes onto the floor, Dria was happily curled up in the armchair within a couple of seconds much to Tess' amusement, who often compared the girl to her cat, who would be, no doubt, adopting the same position upon her bed upstairs in their dormitory.

       The two girls fell into a mutual silence, as the ambient noise of the Common Room morphed from gossiping whispers into the more comforting idle chatter and occasional laugh.

       Dria focused on the fire as she let out a content sigh, her blue eyes fixated on the flickering flames that cracked across the rough exteriors of the burning logs.

       "Alright, stranger?"

       "Oh, shit!"

       Dria suddenly brought out of her tranquil state by a Scottish lilt that caused her to jump in her seat, in surprise.

      Looking behind her, her blue eyes landed on a familiar pair of coffee coloured ones that were squinted slightly by a gentle smile that rested upon his lips as he looked down on the blonde, from where he stood leaning on the edge of the sofa.

       "Oh, hi!" She gushed suddenly, trying to mask the growing blush on her cheeks as she greeted Oliver Wood. "You made me jump."

The boy's shoulders shook a little as he chuckled at the reaction of the girl in the armchair before him.

"Did you get my letter?" He asked, pressing his lips together as his eyebrow arched in curiosity.

"Yes, I was at Jackie's but my dad sent it on." Dria nodded in response, her head resting on her hand as she looked up at the Keeper standing over her. "But, yes I did. Well done."

"Well, it's all thanks to you." Oliver shrugged nonchalantly in response, nodding at her with a slightness of pink dusting his cheeks. "How about you? Do I need to a plan out an elaborate capture of the Sorting Hat?"

Dria let out a laugh catching the attention of Tess' who shot the blonde a very alarmed look at her sudden change in mood.

"Thankfully, no." Dria smiled in response, suddenly remembering the bargain they'd made the year before. "I got an E in Arithmancy, but the exam was torture so I consider myself lucky." 

"Well, I can't say I'm not glad that I don't have to eat the Hat."

"I can't imagine it would be very compliant."

        "Good summer?" He asked, casually with an arched brow, moving on to another topic of conversation, as she sat up straighter in her seat, her mood finally beginning to lift since the arrival of the Keeper.

       "Not bad," Dria shrugged, with a nonchalant smile. "Saw some Quidditch you'll be pleased to know."

        "Yeah?"

      "Yeah, I went to Jackie's over the holidays." The blonde nodded, leaning her head on her hand that rested upon the arm of the chair. "Her brother's the Keeper for the Ballycastle Bats, so we got to see him play a fair bit."

       She looked up to gauge his reaction when she noticed that he hadn't said anything in response, although it probably had something to do with the fact that he was stood staring at her, mouth agape as he listened to her.

       "You alright there?" Dria chuckled, blushing a little under his gaze and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, as he shook himself from his daze.

       "Eoin O'Hare plays for the Ballycastle Bats?" Oliver asked, coffee-coloured eyes still wide in amazement as he tried to piece together what she was saying.

       "While he's on the National team now—"

        "The National team?!"

        "I should have known all this would send you through the roof." The blonde continued to chuckle at his amazed grin, looking like a boy with free rein in a sweet shop.

       "That sounds like the most brilliant summer ever." He smiled, a glimmer of excitement still glinting in his eyes.

       "It was average, to say the least." Dria shrugged in faux nonchalance, as the boy opposite her rolled his eyes in good humour. "How was your summer?"

The Keeper's marvelled gaze slowly transitioned a more casual expression as the girl before him shifted the conversation onto him.

       "Well, I spent it devising a whole new training programme for the team." He told her with a sheepish smile, moving to sit on the arm of the sofa.

"Working them into the ground then?"

"Of course, I've got a reputation to uphold."

The two of them fell into a series of light chuckles as they basked in the warmth of one another's company for a few moments.

"Busy year ahead." Dria muttered within a content sigh, as she sank back into her chair.

"What about you?" The Keeper asked with an arched brow, at which the blonde responded with the same expression. "Didn't you say about doing some work experience with Madam Pomfrey?"

It took a couple of moments for Dria to muster up a response, slightly taken aback by the fact that he'd remembered what she had so casually mentioned at some point last year. A wide grin threatened to break across her lips at the notion, but pressed her lips together to suppress it and save looking like a mad woman.

"Yep." She nodded, an excited glint in her blue eyes at the thought. "I'm meeting with her at some point this week to talk it over."

"So if I ever want to see you, I'll have to find a way to get myself in the Hospital Wing?" The boy said with a light smirk, as he folded his arms across his front, earning a light laugh from the blonde.

"With the amount of training you've got planned, I don't think you'll be struggling to find an excuse."

Their conversation proceeded in a series of disguised blushes and hearty laughs, as the world around them seemed to slip away as they focused solely upon each other.

Tess had shuffled down the sofa when Oliver first approached Dria, and left them alone to talk, while she engaged with Lee and the Weasley twins. She cast a glance back at her blonde friend whose face wore a smile that made it seem like the frown she wore earlier that day had never even occurred.

"Do you reckon he has the faintest idea that she's in love with him?" Tess asked, turning to look at the three boys at her side, who craned their necks briefly to look on the scene unfolding at the other end of the sofa.

The Weasleys twins and Lee exchanged wide grins as they looked between themselves and the two sixth-years, and letting out light scoffs at the question of the Robbins girl.

"Not a chance."

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖆 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘!
i love lockwood,
i love them a lot

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