「 ✦ caught red-handed!  ✦ 」

     She aggressively ran her fingers through her hair, frustrated by its refusal to cooperate. Normally her hair was flawless, this was something that Aithne prided herself on. Today just did not seem like it was going to work out that way. With a sigh of frustration, she reached for her wand and muttered a spell to fix it before this ruined her day.

     Constance stood beside her, carefully observing in hopes of trying to recreate the spell she had just done. Noticing Constance's struggle, Aithne couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips. With a subtle flick of her wand, she cast the spell once more, expertly smoothing Constance's hair into place. This had started to become a habit, whatever Aithne did, Constance had to do. Aithne found it endearing that her friend liked what she did so much that she wanted it too.

     "There you go," she said with a reassuring smile, understanding the importance of presenting themselves impeccably. Together, they headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

As they approached the Slytherin table, Aithne noticed Phoebe already there, her hair slightly tousled, indicating her usual struggle with mornings. The pair went to sit down next to her, and Constance leaned in with curiosity evident in her voice, "What's the latest?"

     Phoebe offered a dismissive shrug, "I don't care. I just woke up." It was a well-known fact among their circle that Phoebe was never a morning person.

     Noticing Phoebe's disinterest, Aithne transitioned the conversation, "Have you gotten your timetable yet?"

     Before she could respond, Professor Slughorn (their head of house) approached the Slytherin table, a stack of parchment in hand. "Good morning!" he greeted cheerfully, his face beaming with enthusiasm. It was way too fucking early for this. "Here are your timetables for the new term. Study hard, excel, and perhaps you'll earn yourself a spot in my exclusive Slug Club!"

    Aithne and Phoebe exchanged a judgemental glance before accepting their timetables. Aithne was unfortunately part of the Slug Club, she hated it. It was a group that made Slughorn feel like he had bragging rights. They scanned through the parchment quickly, and their expressions fell as they realized they had History of Magic first thing.

     Constance let out an exaggerated groan, "Oh, not History of Magic again. Professor Binns is the worst. How will I deal with that in the mornings? I'll fall asleep."

    Aithne nodded in agreement, her frustration evident. "Agreed. I'd rather duel blindfolded than sit through another one of his lectures."

     Phoebe looked down at her parchment in disgust, "I swore I dropped this subject..."

     Despite their shared annoyance, they gave in to the inevitable and made their way to the History of Magic classroom, mentally preparing themselves for another horrid lesson with the ghost. It wasn't that Aithne hated him because she didn't. He was just so boring! As she thought about it, she could not recall a single fact about him, other than he was dead. She had heard many rumors about his death, but what ultimately led to his demise was his falling asleep in the staff room.

✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦

     The three made their way into Binns' room, Aithne had to repress a cough. It had gotten a bit dusty over the break. Could ghosts clean? She doubted it. It seemed Filch had not gotten to this classroom yet. She beelined it for the desk in the back, this way she could go back to sleep. It was rare that anyone paid attention, she would just read the textbook later. Binns got so enamored - or bored - with his teaching, that he never noticed when students started to doze off.

Aithne took her seat, setting down her notes and books. She raised a brow in surprise as Constance darted forward and pushed Phoebe out of the way to sit next to Aithne. Phoebe, thrown off balance, collided with a nearby desk. She emitted a scoff before sitting at the desk in front of them.

     Aithne spared a glance at Constance who looked pretty proud of herself. Before Aithne could speak up, Phoebe beat her to it. "That was very strange, Constance." She said bitterly, turning to face the girl.

     "I focus better in the back," she argued, trying to justify her behavior. Aithne would admit, it was weird behavior. But then again, that was Constance.

    "Doesn't make it any less strange," Phoebe bit back before turning towards the front just in time for Binns to begin.

     Aithne's eyes widened in surprise, normally Phoebe was pretty chill. Her eyes roamed over to a few desks ahead of them. A chill crept up her back as she noticed Theodore sitting next to Lacy. A bitter feeling she hated washed over her. It wasn't like she cared, Aithne didn't really like him. But she was Aithne Greengrass! Why didn't he like her?

✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦

     Aithne felt like she was going to die. Now, she knew this was dramatic, but how dramatic can you be when it is Binns teaching? He had been going on about the same topic for ages now. He occasionally branched off from his original topic onto something completely unrelated. It always got confusing listening to him. So, Aithne chose to not. It was also getting awkward to sit where she was. Phoebe kept glaring back at Constance, this caused Aithne to not want to fall asleep. She needed to prepare herself in the event Phoebe lunged backward for Constance's throat. She wished this was a joke and not a rational worry, but Phoebe tended to become violent when mad.

     In hopes of distracting herself, she turned to the opposite side of the classroom. Maybe there were students there who didn't want to rip their friend's head off. They had this class with the Gryffindors, who appeared to be listening on and off just like the Slytherins. Her attention was caught by the only group of students who were blatantly not listening. Aithne rolled her eyes as she thought about what they call themselves: The Marauders.

     She had no idea what it was supposed to mean. She assumed it was a joke that only those four were in on. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were inseparable. She could not recall a time when they were not this way. They wandered around the school pranking everyone, it was a tad bit funny. They also referred to themselves as weird nicknames, Aithne could never remember what they were called. Was it Wormfoot? No, that wasn't right...

     "Slytherin Princess seems to fancy Prongs!" A voice rang out bringing Aithne back to reality. She turned to the guy beside Potter with long black hair she recognized him to be Sirius Black. It seemed the lesson had ended and one of Potter's friends noticed her eyes on him.

     Aithne's cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she noticed everyone looking at her now, including Potter. She was not used to this, nobody in her house dared to call her out. She hated the pressure of everyone waiting for a response. This was a rare time when Aithne could not come up with anything.

     There was a lump in her throat as she hesitantly said in her most falsely confident voice, "What's up your arse, Black?" Seriously! She only looked at them when she was bored. It was not like she fancied him. She has Theodore, he was perfect for her. If Aithne were to humor Black for a second, it would never even work what he might be suggesting. A Gryffindor and Slytherin? Never, ever, ever.

     She now focused back on Potter, he was looking at her carefully. As if deciding what her intentions were. She inhaled a nervous breath as she awaited Black's response. Aithne was fighting hard to keep her face calm like she couldn't care less what he was insinuating. Like she almost enjoyed getting to argue with someone from Gryffindor. Little did the others around her know, her heart was beating wildly against her chest.

     "I notice you looking at James," he said simply, now grinning in a way she did not like. She hoped it would just be this simple statement and then she could continue with her day, but that seemed to be wishful thinking. He continued, "Thought it was kinda cute at first. The princess staring at someone she is supposed to hate. But now I decided I don't care for it."

     "Everything always has to do with you, huh?" She started, forcing the lump in her throat down. "I assure you I'm not looking. That's kinda cute that you think so."

     This seemed to work in her favor because her response was met with shrieking laughs from the Slytherins. Aithne let out a relieved breath as she looked around. She and her friends got up to exit as the laughs died down. They sent her approving looks as they left the classroom, Aithne spared a look back at Potter, who was still looking at her inquisitively.

★・・・・・・★