Since the disastrous episode of the pixies, Professor Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class. Instead, he read passages from his books to them, and sometimes reenacted some of the more dramatic bits.

Which Y/N absolutely hated.

Speaking of Y/N, Lockhart usually picked him to help him with these reconstructions; so far, Y/N had been forced to play a simple Transylvanian villager which he didn't find amusing at all. All the students could do was watch as Y/N and Lockhart acted out the script from the books. He had a feeling Lockhart was doing this to get under his skin, which he was already at anyway but clearly Lockhart didn't care but Y/N bloody well did. Just when he couldn't take anymore of it, the bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet.

"Homework – compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!"

The class began to leave. Y/N returned to the back of the room, where Harry, Ron and Hermione were waiting.

"Ready?" Y/N muttered.

"Wait till everyone's gone," said Hermione nervously. "All right..."

She approached Lockhart's desk, a piece of paper clutched tightly in her hand, Harry and Ron right behind her.

"Er – Professor Lockhart?" Hermione stammered. "I wanted to – to get this book out of the library. Just for background reading." She held out the piece of paper, her hand shaking slightly. "But the thing is, it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so I need a teacher to sign for it – I'm sure it would help me understand what you say in Gadding with Ghouls about slow-acting venoms."

"Ah, Gadding with Ghouls!" said Lockhart, taking the note from Hermione and smiling widely at her. "Possibly my very favorite book. You enjoyed it?"

"Oh, yes," said Hermione eagerly. "So clever, the way you trapped that last one with the tea-strainer–"

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Y/N muttered as he watched the shameless display act out.

"Well, I'm sure no one will mind me giving the best student of the year a little extra help," said Lockhart warmly, and he pulled out an enormous peacock quill. "Yes, nice, isn't it?" he said, misreading the revolted look on Ron's face. "I usually save it for book-signings."

"Probably not all he saves it for." Ron whispered into Harry and Y/N's ears, making the boys gag.

Lockhart scrawled an enormous loopy signature on the note and handed it back to Hermione.

"So, Y/N," said Lockhart, while Hermione folded the note with fumbling fingers and slipped it into her bag. "Tomorrow's the first Quidditch match of the season, I believe? Gryffindor against Slytherin, is it not? I hear you're a useful player, alongside Harry."

Obviously knowing nothing about seekers or Chasers, or Quidditch for that matter.

"I was a Seeker, too." Looking at Harry for a second before turning to Y/N."Was asked to try for the National Squad, but preferred to dedicate my life to the eradication of the Dark Forces. I heard your mother was a remarkable Chaser. Too bad for her, though I helped her become who she was, without me she would've been nothing." Lies, lies and lies. All of them.
Y/N knew that for a fact. Though the fact that Lockhart may of known his mother made his skin crawl. "Still, if ever you feel the need for a little private training, don't hesitate to ask. Always happy to pass on my expertise to less able players..."

Y/N made an indistinct noise in his throat
and then hurried off after Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"I don't believe it," Harry said as the four of them examined the signature on the note. "He didn't even look at the book we wanted."

"That's because he's a brainless git," said. Y/N "But who cares, we've got what we needed-"

"He is not a brainless git," said Hermione shrilly as they half ran toward the library.

"Yes he is!" Y/N suddenly exclaimed, his tone quite irritable. "The guy couldn't workout a toaster if his life depended on it!"

The sudden outburst made the three of them yelp, obviously not expecting him to reach such a volume.

"What's gotten into you?" Hermione asked in a small voice, after several minutes of silence.

"What do you mean?" Y/N questioned after he managed to calm down.

"Ever since Lockhart showed up, you've been more angrier, more open. What's the reason?" She asked innocently.

Y/N sighed, turning his gaze towards her. "Because I don't like seeing you parade around Lockhart like he's some famous and unique prize, the man's got you wrapped around his little finger and it's honestly infuriating. I hate seeing you so- so, flustered over someone you barely know." He admitted, of course it wasn't the complete reason but it was true enough, Hermione knew nothing about Lockhart, she didn't know the things Y/N knew. And it angered him to see her being ridiculed, turning such a bright and talented person into a babbling, for the better word, idiot. But of course Hermione wasn't one. That's what made it so much worse, because she wasn't any of those things but here Lockhart was influencing her to such a degree and Y/N wasn't having one bit of it.

Hermione was speechless, she didn't know what to say or think. All she felt was a blush creeping up her neck and to her cheeks. While Ron and Harry wore smirks which Y/N didn't realise because his attention wasn't on theirs, but Hermione's.

'Maybe I really am jealous' Y/N thought.

They decided they'd continue the conversation later, they finally made it and dropped their voices as they entered the muffled stillness of the library. Madam Pince, the librarian, was a thin, irritable woman who looked like an underfed vulture.

"Moste Potente Potions?" she repeated suspiciously, trying to take the note from Hermione; but Hermione wouldn't let go.

"I was wondering if I could keep it," she said breathlessly.

"Oh, come on," Y/N said, wrenching it from her grasp and thrusting it at Madam Pince. "I'll get you another autograph if it pleases you so much."

Madam Pince held the note up to the light, as though determined to detect a forgery, but it passed the test. She stalked away between the lofty shelves and returned several minutes later carrying a large and moldy-looking book. Hermione put it carefully into her bag and they left, trying not to walk too quickly or look too guilty.

Five minutes later, they were barricaded in Moaning Myrtle's out-of-order bathroom once again. Hermione and Y/N had overridden Ron's objections by pointing out that it was the last place anyone in their right minds would go, so they were guaranteed some privacy. Moaning Myrtle was crying noisily in her stall, but they were ignoring her, and she them.

Hermione opened Moste Potente Potions carefully, and the four of them bent over the damp-spotted pages. It was clear from a glance why it belonged in the Restricted Section. Some of the potions had effects almost too gruesome to think about, and there were some very unpleasant illustrations, which included a man who seemed to have been turned inside out and a witch sprouting several extra pairs of arms out of her head.

"Here it is," said Hermione excitedly as she found the page headed The Polyjuice Potion. It was decorated with drawings of people halfway through transforming into other people.

"This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," Y/N said as they scanned the recipe. "Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass," he murmured, running his finger down the list of ingredients. "Well, they're easy enough, they're in the student store-cupboard, we can help ourselves, look, powdered horn of a bicorn – don't know where we're going to get that – shredded skin of a boomslang -. that'll be tricky, too and of course a bit of whoever we want to change into."

"Excuse me?" said Ron sharply. "What d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it–"

Hermione continued for Y/N after the boy had given Ron a judgmental look.

"We don't have to worry about that yet, though, because we add those bits last..."

Ron turned, speechless, to Harry, who had another worry.

"D'you realize how much we're going to have to steal, Hermione? Shredded skin of a boomslang, that's definitely not in the students'cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores? I don't know if this is a good idea..."

Hermione shut the book with a snap.

"Well, if you two are going to chicken out, fine," she said, gesturing to Harry and Ron. There were bright pink patches on her cheeks and her eyes were brighter than usual. "I don't want to break rules, you know. I think threatening Muggle-Borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, We'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in."

"I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules," Y/N murmured to which Hermione eyes brightened at the statement.

"All right, we'll do it. But not toenails, okay?" Ron said.

"How long will it take to make, anyway?" said Harry.

"Well, since the fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days... I'd say it'd be ready in about a month, if we can get all the ingredients."

"A month?" said Ron. "Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!" But Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously again. And Y/N looked as if he was going to punch him but Ron added in quickly. "But it's the best plan we've got, so full steam ahead, I say."

However, while Hermione was checking that the coast was clear for them to leave the bathroom, Ron muttered to Harry, "It'll be a lot less hassle if you or Y/N can just knock Malfoy off his broom tomorrow."

With that done Ron and Harry left but however before Y/N could leave, Hermione placed a gently hand on his forearm to stoop him.

"Best we talk now rather than in the common room."

"You sure? What if someone comes in here?" He asked, an eyebrow raised.

Hermione shook her head. "Nobody comes in here, Y/N." She insisted, the two sat down near a broken toilet, luckily Moaning Myrtle wasn't in at the moment.

"So, what you said back there, about me being 'flustered' over Lockhart. Did you mean it?" Hermione asked, but the tone in her voice suggested that she was curious rather than offended, which Y/N was grateful.

"Yes hermosa." The Spanish nickname rolling off his tongue, the nickname itself bursted Hermione full of butterflies. "I just hate it when you just defend him blindly, fair enough he's a teacher but when have you ever completely defended one without a single doubt?" He questioned her.

"Well I- I can't see him doing such a thing unless he says he has. What evidence do you actually have that he's lying?" She also questioned which was a valid one, he didn't have proof but he just knew it, something in his bones told him so.

"Well apart from the pathetic display with the pixies... I- I don't have any. Just a feeling, I guess that's all we have nowadays, feelings."
Y/N took a deep breath and continued. "Just promise me you'll take his actions and words into more consideration, not everyone's as completely honest as you." Y/N joked to which she laughed.

Actions speak louder than words... and Lockhart had yet to do anything worthwhile in the action department but his choice of words were certainly sharp.

Y/N had to admit, that same laugh, it sent a churning feeling through his stomach. It was delightful to hear and he would never get tired of it.

"I promise..." Hermione whispered slowly, so low that it was a miracle that Y/N even heard it. She smiled at him, and he returned the gesture.

Hermione didn't believe that Lockhart could be lying, that his books were fake but every time Y/N had said such, she found herself edging closer to doubting the teacher, but she didn't know what to make of it.

"Can you be honest with me?" Hermione asked him moments later, a shy smile on her face,
Y/N merely nodded.

"Are you jealous?"

Y/N blinked. "What?"

She had noticed it a number of times, whenever she would mention or gloss over Lockhart, Y/N would instantly become protective, trying to prove or just plain insult Lockhart. And a part of her found it sweet that Y/N would be so quick to defend her as much. She wouldn't admit it, but she thought it was rather cute.

"You sound awfully jealous whenever I mention Lockhart." Hermione stated, her lips tugging upwards into a teasing smile.

"No." Y/N denied. "I- I don't know." He stammered, it was true. He didn't know what he felt, was it jealousy or something else?

At his stammer, Hermione giggled, the boy's sheer awkwardness in that moment was amusing to say the least, even Y/N had to admit.

They didn't know what it was, but something felt different. The two of them felt closer after opening up on the matter, like a big weight had been lifted off their shoulders and they found themselves looking at each other in a new positive light.

A light that would never cease to brighten...

—

Saturday morning came around and it was finally time for the Quidditch Game. Of course, Gryffindor vs Slytherin. Y/N had the half thought of sleeping in, but that was before he realised there was a game on. Himself and Harry were... nervous? yeah let's go with nervous. Clouds were settling in and the skies were looking quite grey so the chance of thunder and rain coming in was likely.

Ron and Hermione made their way up to the Quidditch stands, house flags bearing in the wind as Quidditch players arrived on the field with their brooms. While Harry and Y/N were on the field.

"On my whistle." Madam Hooch said, eyeing each other the players carefully,

"Three... Two... One..."

With a hounding roar from the crowd, the fourteen players took to the skies, with Harry flying higher than others hoping to catch the snitch.

The students in the crowds watched as Harry went flying through the sky, Malfoy close on his behind voicing something to the boy that
Y/N couldn't tell what, as he dodged an angry looking Miles Bletchley who was attempting to steal the Quaffle

Immediately a big black bludger came out of nowhere, belting right towards Harry but he managed to dodge it.

The Weasley twin, George then streaked past him, battering the bludger away with his club towards the direction of another player. But something odd happened, the bludger changed course, charging straight at Harry again.

Harry had to dive quickly as it almost hit him and George once again managed to hit it again, this time heading straight towards Malfoy which caused Y/N to smirk widely as he watch platinum boy shriek in terror from atop his broom.

This time Harry put on a burst of speed, zooming towards the end of the pitch, with the bludger still after him after changing courses yet again... much to Y/N's disappointment.

Fred Weasley was stationed at the end of the pitch waiting for Harry and as the bludger zoomed past, he hit it away but again, like pure magic, the bludger went after Harry once more.

"What the fuck is going?" Y/N cursed, eyeing the bludger going back and fourth between the young Quidditch Seeker.

Just as they thought it was going well, Harry was struck by the bludger, hitting him in the arm as he descended down in a heap. Crashing to the ground.

The entire crowd gasped in shock as they watched it unfold while Hermione, Ron and other Gryffindors rushing down to the pitch, hurrying past other spectators.

Y/N broke off his attempt at striking the Quaffle into its goal, and broke away. Speeding down to the field towards Harry. He finally made it down there as Hermione and Ron joined him, huddingly around Harry as he looked unconscious.

Hermione took out her wand and pointed directly at the rouge bludger, "Finite incantatem!" She hissed, a striking pale white light shot out and completely destroyed the bludger. Y/N then turned his attention to Harry as he got right up to the boy, inspecting his arm which appeared to be broken.

"Out of my way!" Came a way too cheering voice. "I'll have him fixed in no time." The annoying voice proved to Lockhart who was flashing his wide and arrogant smile for all to see.

"Oh for the love of god." Y/N muttered as his eyes looked back to Lockhart and then Harry.

Harry slowly opened his eyes as he regained awareness, he immediately let out a groan of pain as it started to hit him.

"Hey, Hey, Harry it's gonna be alright." Y/N soothed him, grabbing ahold of the boy's shoulder and pulling him up gently, holding onto the boy to steady him up.

Harry soon spotted Lockhart.

"Oh, no, not you," He moaned.

"Doesn't know what he's saying," said Lockhart loudly to the anxious crowd of Gryffindors pressing around them. "Not to worry, Harry. I'm about to fix your arm."

"No!" said Harry. "I'll keep it like this, thanks..."

"Yeah with your luck you'll end up killing him." Y/N gritted out, slightly anger spilling out.

"Nonsense." Lockhart shrugged off, aiming his wand at the boy. ""Lie back, Harry," said Lockhart soothingly. "It's a simple charm I've used countless times–"

"I think it'd be more practical for him to go to the infirmary, you know? Get some professional help-" Y/N argued, his voice calm but features showing great despise. But alas it was too late, Lockhart directed his wand at the boy and just like that, it happened.

Harry's arm went limp, almost as if it had deflected. It was in fact, the boy's arm had lost its bones.

"Ah," said Lockhart. "Yes. Well, that can sometimes happen. But the point is, the bones are no longer broken. That's the thing to bear in mind. So, Harry, just toddle up to the hospital wing – ah, Mr. L/N, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, would you escort him? – and Madam Pomfrey will be able to – er – tidy you up a bit."

Y/N looked dumbstruck at the situation, but what was once confusion turned into anger.

"I'm going to kill him." Y/N said seriously, as he tried to lung at Lockhart but Hermione held him back, tugging her bare hand into his own, squeezing to relax the temperated boy.

When Y/N calmed down, the three of them took Harry to the medical wing and Madam Pomfrey wasn't at all pleased.

"You should have come straight to me!" She raged, holding up the sad, limp remainder of what, half an hour before, had been a working arm. "I can mend bones in a second – but growing them back–"

"You will be able to, won't you?" said Harry desperately.

"I'll be able to, certainly, but it will be painful," said Madam Pomfrey grimly, throwing Harry a pair of pajamas. "You'll have to stay the night..."

Hermione waited outside the curtain drawn around Harry's bed while Ron helped him into his pajamas. It took a while to stuff the rubbery, boneless arm into a sleeve.

"How can you stick up for Lockhart now, Hermione, eh?" Y/N called through the curtain as he and Ron pulled Harry's limp fingers through the cuff. "If Harry had wanted deboning he would have asked."

"Anyone can make a mistake," said Hermione but something in her voice sounded different than usual, perhaps a slight sliver of doubt? "And it doesn't hurt anymore, does it, Harry?"

"No," said Harry, getting into bed. "But it doesn't do anything else either."

Hermione and Madam Pomfrey came around the curtain. Madam Pomfrey was holding a large bottle of something labeled Skele-Gro.

"You're in for a rough night," she said, pouring out a steaming beakerful and handing it to him. "Regrowing bones is a nasty business."

"I want to know how he fixed that Bludger," said Hermione darkly. "We can add that to the list of questions we'll ask him when we've taken the Polyjuice Potion," said Harry, sinking back onto his pillows. "I hope it tastes better than this stuff..."

"I highly doubt it will." Y/N made a slight gagging noise as he thought back on everything he read about it, if all were true then it won't be good at all.

"Yeah, If it's got bits of Slytherins in it? You've got to be joking," said Ron.

The door of the hospital wing burst open at that moment. Filthy and soaking wet, the rest of the Gryffindor team had arrived to see Harry. "Unbelievable flying, Harry," said George. "I've just seen Marcus Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing. Malfoy didn't seem too happy." They had brought cakes, sweets, and bottles of pumpkin juice; they gathered around Harry's bed and were just getting started on what promised to be a good party when Madam Pomfrey came storming over, shouting, "This boy needs rest, he's got thirty-three bones to regrow! Out! OUT!" And Harry was left alone, with nothing to distract him from the stabbing pains in his limp arm.

The three students soon left Harry in the medical wing.

—

For the rest of the day everything was fine,
Y/N and Hermione had spent the day going over the Moste Potente Potions book. Some of the ingredients were hard to come by since they were locked up in the store-room of Snape's classroom.

But most of them could be found easily. So Hermione and Y/N spent the day gathering up the ingredients, the harder stuff would have to come at a later date.

After their little endeavour of acquiring the things, the two of them went back to Myrtle's toilets and Y/N had the urge to make some funny remark about her wailing but Hermione soon shut that idea down, they hid the ingredients, along with the book there and would start working on it on Sunday, they hoped by then that Harry would be back to normal.

Hours had passed and the two decided to split, it was already getting late so they decided to head to their separate bedrooms before curfew hit. When Y/N arrived to the Gryffindor dorms, Ron was already asleep, drool dripping from his mouth as he slept.

So Y/N got changed into his sleep wear clothes, which consisted of a white plain t-shirt and a pair of shorts, and climbed into bed.

—

He awoke a couple hours later, it wasn't a wake up as normal, rather something had stirred him awake. Y/N blinked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he got up out of his bed. His eyes peered over to the source of the noise, it was Midnight.

She was curled up into a protective position, her tiny tail wrapped around her body as she chewed on something, her whiskers tottering. Y/N lifted off his bed and crept towards her slowly, eyeing the tiny pet.

"What you got there girl?" Y/N whispered, his curiosity getting the better of him. He crouched down so he was just a fair cm away from her, it was then that he noticed what was in her claws. A small note of parchment.

He slowly reached down to try and grab it but Midnight snarled, almost aggressive like, warning him off from it.

"Midnight." Y/N said sternly, his finger pointed directly at the cat. "Give it here." Again Y/N tried to reach for it but this time Midnight snapped, her claws slashed at the boy's hand which caused a slight yelp in surprise to escape his lips. It wasn't serious, just a small scratched but Midnight behaviour was very troublesome, she wasn't like this when he first got her.

This time Y/N lunged fast, grabbing ahold of the parchment and ripping it from the cat's paws and this time Midnight just shrieked, an angry meow coming straight from her yet she didn't strike him like before.

'Weird.' Y/N thought as he unfolded the note, as he saw Midnight watching him closely, her amber- 'Wait amber?'

Her usual blue ocean eyes had turned colour, it was the first time Y/N had noticed but just as he was about to question it they turned back to blue, Midnight lowered her head down almost like she felt defeated, ashamed maybe?

Y/N shook his head, the slight pain his hand had all but vanished. He peered away from Midnight and brought his gaze towards the note in his hand. What he found was rather bizarre. It read:

Z : 25

"Z-25? What the hell is that?" Y/N pondered aloud, but not enough to wake any of the students just meters away from him. He sat back down on his bed, clutching the note tight as he tried to rack his brain around it. Due to only just waking up his brain was in shut down mode; it only took a few minutes to click in his brain.

'It's a number isle for the sections of the library but... Section Z is in the restricted area of the library. Why would she have it?'

He considered just leaving it, shrugging it off like it was nothing but again, he was a curious guy and couldn't help himself. Y/N got off his bed and quietly slumped his way over to where Harry would usually be sleeping, grabbed the boy's invisibility cloak and took off.

'Hope you don't mind, Harry'

Y/N walked down a flight of stairs and arrived into the common room, he only got a few meters to the portal door before a forced cough sounded behind him, causing him to yelp. He turned around and spotted someone... no, her.

"Ah." Y/N chuckled nervously. "Hi Hermione." He backed up slightly.

Hermione was in full pyjamas, a disgruntled look across her face as she marched up to Y/N.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Hermione asked shrilly, which made Y/N flinch, "You'll get into-"

"Trouble, yeah I know, I know. Anyway, what are you doing out of bed?" Y/N questioned her, a strong confident look on his face but soon crumbled upon Hermione's eyes pointing daggers at him.

Hermione got closer so that they were about two meters apart, she sighed, her face scrunched up. "I couldn't sleep." She simply answered.

"Uh Huh?" Y/N said, his eyes brows rising rather high, "Okay."

"Never mind that, what are you doing down here?" Hermione asked again, her tone in a whisper, she looked down at Y/N's right hand which was starting to change in colour. Midnight may be small but she's tough as nails. "And what happened to your hand?" She exclaimed, loudly but soon shushed as Y/N clasped his left hand around her mouth, blocking any sound out. The sudden action made her blush, her eyes widening far.

Y/N lifted a finger up to his lips to signal her to be quiet, she nodded and he let go. So he started explaining to her what happened, how he was suddenly woken up be a loud noise although nobody else heard it, about how Midnight was acting strange and more importantly, the mysterious note.

"You want to go to the restricted area of the library?" Hermione gasped, almost again raising her voice but stopped when Y/N gave her a look.

"Yeah, so what? We've snuck out before." Y/N said defensively.

"Yeah and everytime we do sneak out something always goes wrong. And what about what happened to Mrs. Norris. We don't wanna turn out like her." She argued, which to be truthful she wasn't wrong. Everytime they had gone against the rules something not in their favour had always happened.

"Okay, I understand, we'll be extra careful I promise. But c'mon I want to see what this is about, it could be important." Y/N tried to get her to agree, "Please?"

'Please? What am I, five?'

Hermione sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose and looked behind at the common room until finally turning her head back to face Y/N. "Fine." He was about to say something but Hermione did something quite bold, she clasped her own left hand around
Y/N's mouth, just like he had done before. "But I'm coming with you." She said in a tone that would leave no such room for argument.

Y/N blushed furiously as she did. After a few seconds, Hermione removed her hand. "Lets go." She urged as she took the cloak from him and wrapped herself up, Y/N exhaled, his stomach full of butterflies.

'What is going on right now?'

—

The two of them made it to the library, sneaking in while no one was around. They had barely just sneaked past Filch, who was looking rather gloomy. No doubt feeling saddened by Mrs. Norris's absence and in the hospital wing. Poor cat.

After evading Filch again, Hermione and Y/N made their way into the library. The place was the same as it was the day before, books on their respectable shelves, tables and chairs lined up through the giant hall. And in the back far right of the room housed the restricted area. They checked that the coast was clear before even thinking of entering.

Y/N sneaked through the room, Hermione following closely behind him as they got closer to the section. Unfortunately though they almost got... caught. Y/N wasn't watching where he was going and bumped into a chair, almost toppling it over.

"Oops." Y/N whispered, grabbing ahold of the frame of the chair, quietly placing it back where it was originally.

"Really?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Are you planning on getting us into more trouble."

"What do you mean more? We're not in any trouble at all." Y/N rolled his eyes. "Plus it's only trouble if we get caught." He justified, continuing ahead.

"Yes. Which you are doing a remarkable job of." Hermione said with sarcastic smile.

"Thank you." Y/N replied with his own smile, though his was more brusque than hers.

After the two of them were done, they finally got into the restricted area, all they had to do was find the actually location of the isle from which the parchment came from.

"Nope that's not it."

"That's not it either."

"...Come on it's gotta be here somewhere."

"Fuck Where is it?"

"Son of a b- Oh hey look!"

Hermione came hurrying over as Y/N seemed to have found what he was looking for. Usually where the sign for the section and isle would be plastered on the shelf but it was not there, which proved the piece of parchment Midnight had was from there. Y/N got it out and held it up to the scratched shelf, it was a perfect match.

"Well we've found it," Hermione commented. "Guess we should see what the shelf has to offer u— oh that's..."

"Weird." Y/N finished, his eyes trailing up and down the shelf that had proved to be the one they needed. Although, it was certainly strange, the shelf was completely bare except for one book. It was a medium sized book, made of grey dye and boiled leather. Sitting in the centre.... all alone.

"Huh." Y/N reached out with his right hand to grab it but was immediately stopped by Hermione as she grabbed ahold of his hand and pulled him back cautiously.

"Are you sure we should be touching it?" Hermione asked, caution in her voice as she eyed it.

"Hermione... it's a book. Since when have you ever denied yourself one?" Y/N questioned.

Hermione merely stared at him before sighing, her eyes trailing slowly back to the book. There was something about it, something she felt. It wasn't supposed to be. "Fine." She grumbled.

Y/N again reached out with his hand, more slowly this time for Hermione's sake. He clasped his hand around the edge of book and tugged it out, bringing it closer to his chest.

"See nothing to w-" But before Y/N could continue to voice his reassurance, the book lit up in a shade of light. So much that it blinded them, Y/N immediately dropped it in a panic and it made a thudding noise as it fell to the floor, the two of them shielded their eyes. Minutes passed before the two of them turned back to see the book on the floor, the light had finally extinguished.

"Well that happened." Y/N said dryly, rubbing his chin thoroughly.

"I told you there was something off about it." Hermione scolded him to which he rolled his eyes.

"Alright, alright. You were right. Lets try it again— Seriously?!?"

Hermione smacked his arm slightly, stopping him from picking the book up again.

"What if it lights up again?" Hermione warned as she again eyed the book which she was so certain was distraught.

Y/N sighed heavily, "Look if it lights up again, I'll put it away, but if not. I'll be reading it."

"Fine " Hermione huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, obviously not liking the idea.

Y/N picked it up again but this time the strange light did not come back to haunt them. He inspected the cover and it read:

DESCENDANTS

"Descendants? Hmm." Y/N readout, the two left the isle and found themselves a table to sit down way out of sight of the main room, hopefully away from Flich.

He placed the book down on the table and took a seat, Hermione sitting on his left, both eyeing the book with intrigue and cautious.

Y/N opened up the book slowly, as if thinking that the strange light would appear again. But this time it opened with a simply pop.

"A bit anticlimactic, oh well."

They were greeted with many pages of.... words... lots and lots of mysterious words and drawings. None readable.

"What language is that? Q-u-o-d? What the f-"

"It's Latin." Hermione interrupted Y/N, glaring at him before sitting and setting her gaze on the book in front of them.

"Latin? Oh great, a book we can't even read." Y/N exclaimed dramatically. "Who reads Latin anyway?"

"A lot of people." Hermione said dismissively as she graced her hand across one of the pages but something happened unexpectedly... the book closed itself as soon as Hermione's finger's brushed against it.

"What the...?"

"Ha, looks like that's one book you're not getting yourself into." Y/N joked.

"Shut it." Hermione said, not taking her eyes away from the book. "It just closed itself." She said, confusion etched on her face. "It just closed itself." She repeated.

"Very funny, Hermione." Y/N said, not taking it seriously at all.

"I'm not joking." She exclaimed in a harsh whisper. "It just closed itself!"

"I heard you the first time." Y/N rolled his eyes. "I'm sure it was just the wind." He took a hold of the cover and pulled it, the book opened itself again. "See, its still there."

"Let it go." Hermione ordered.

"What?"

"I said let it go." She ordered more firmly.

Y/N did as he was told and let the book close in on itself. Hermione this time, tried to open the book... and to their surprise it didn't open. She pulled and pulled and nothing worked, no matter what she did, nothing could seem to open it.

"Okay... that's-"

"Weird." Hermione finished for him, the two of them sharing semi-frightened glances.

Y/N opened up the book again and the two scanned through, both coming across many pictures and drawings, some of animals and creatures, but what caught their eyes were one particular one... a Wolf. It occurred in almost every drawing in the book.

The drawings showed mostly a Wolf either fighting, its eyes amber. But what was weird, the Wolf didn't look like any ordinary Wolf they had seen. It looked like a cross between a normal Wolf and what they could only assume was a werewolf. Where the Wolf-like-creature had amber eyes, it's fur was darkened black, almost black as night. And it's claws were not as pointed as a werewolf and not as large nor in height either.

Another page showed the Wolf-like-creature surrounded by darkness of the night, only it's amber eyes as it's lighting source. More drawings surrounded the Wolf, one looked like a dagger, the other some sort of relic and more, quotes etched around the page.

Ira, Temptationem, Furorem and periculum.

When they reached near the end of the book, they happened upon a page which showed something ominous and familiar. It contained a drawing of pupils, eyes of amber.

"Okay this is... I've seen this before." Y/N thought back to the an hour before, when Midnight had been acting aggressive. He swore he saw her eyes amber then turned to blue.

"You have?" Hermione questioned, as her fingers almost touched the book. She had to stop herself every time, she couldn't help it.

"Yeah, an hour ago. When I found the piece of parchment, Midnight...." Y/N explained his eyes staring out into space, Hermione clicked her fingers in front of him to get his attention.

"What happened with Midnight?"

"...She had amber eyes."

The two of them again shared looks of confusion but more of horror.

Y/N went through the book until he hit the end, a layer of words were laid out on the page. Placed into spaces and far apart. It read:

Lupi est occultatum inclusumque cauo et capti. Qui videbantur vinculis liberare.

Mollis cattus sequitur vestigia subsecuti, et ira, et famem patientur doloris sensu quaedam visibilia confusione. Infelix est signátum in collo, et horror inferni peius. Et visio electri ocellos splendentes oculi quia vident omnes atque obtestatus peccata eorum pessimi et maxime detestabilis, seu potius suam odio.

Videtur autem amissa siti fameque elicit sanguinem proprium nudare. Adversus eos sed Nemesi manifestum serpentem devium principem tenebrarum.

A/N : For anyone curious about the translations, they will be revealed in the next couple of chapters. But feel free to try and find out on your own, but a word of advise, don't spoil it in the comments for any who doesn't wish to be spoiled! :D

"Great! More words we can't understand." Y/N groaned, they weren't any closer to understanding what it all meant but whatever it was, it was certainly bugging him and Hermione. "I speak, read and write in two different languages and the one I need the most is not one of them." Y/N grumbled.

The two slumped back in their chairs, huffing and rubbing their eyes of sleep, or rather lack of.

"Perhaps we could get someone to translate it for us?" Hermione suggested, propping her elbow up on the table as Y/N merely shrugged. "Or we could get a language book to help translate it?"

"Maybe..." Y/N trailed off.

—

It was very late by the time they had finished and it was a miracle that they weren't caught, (lets not jinx it) The two of them decided to place the book back in its place and to sneak back to the dorms, though it wouldn't prove to be in their favour.

Y/N and Hermione had passed through a set of corridors before coming across the stairs leading to the medical wing where Harry was. What they found terrified them.

An audible gasp sounded to Y/N's right, It was Hermione. At first Y/N had no idea what she was so petrified about (too soon? Probably not) At the base of stairs was Colin Creevey, slugged over the stairs, laid on the floor motionless. It was in that moment, that Colin Creevey... had been prettified. (Ok too soon)

"Jesus." Y/N clasped his hand around his mouth while Hermione looked close to tears, the two backed up slowly, so much that their backs hit the wall. They stood frozen for a few seconds before hurried footsteps broke their thoughts.

Professor McGonagall came rushing through the corridor, a shocked expression on her usual stern face, as she came upon the petrified student.

"Dear god." Minerva muttered, it took a second for her to regain composure, once she did, she grabbed ahold of Colin's frozen body and took off, hauling the student up to the medical wing where Harry would be undoubtedly having a good conversation with Dobby.

If it wasn't for the invisibility cloak then they'd surely been spotted. The two of them hurried back to their dorm, silence between them choked with unsaid tension of before, their previous thoughts were now filled with thoughts of Colin's motionless body, frightening them to the core.

When the two made it into their house common room without being seen, they took off the cloak and let it slump to the floor. The two stood silent some more before Hermione  was the first to speak.

"He's been petrified like Mrs. Norris." She whispered, not even bothering to mask the fright in her tone of voice.

"Yeah.. so it would seem." Y/N whispered back, turning to face Hermione who looked as shocked as him.

"That could've been us." Hermione cried. "We were out there, that could've happened to us as well, what if we- what would they-" She began frantically pacing the room.

Y/N walked up to Hermione, placing his hands atop her shoulders. "'Mione, it's okay. Breathe. We're fine, we're still here and nothing has happened to us, okay?" He soothed her, however his own words didn't seem to comfort her or himself for that matter, so he brought her into an embrace, hugging her close as she did the same, her arms hanging loosely around
Y/N's neck. Hermione's heart beat was beating fast, too fast. But calmed down after a few minutes in their embrace, her frantic breathing lowered.

"See? we're fine." Y/N pulled back and gazed at her, "Nothing happened." He smiled reassuringly at her and she returned a sad smile.

The two separated from each other and stood aimlessly, the tension had dispersed. But the two were struck in silence, although it wasn't an uncomfortable silence.

"Y/N?" Hermione finally spoke, in a small voice.

"Yes?"

"Do you promise?" Hermione asked, her voice a mere whisper.

"Promise what?" He gulped, but he knew what she wanted for him to promise, but he wasn't sure if he could, he couldn't exactly say no but he couldn't say yes as well.

"Promise me that it won't happened to us, promise me that you'll....." Once again came like a whisper, though this time it was, different. More vulnerable and open, it surprised him.

"I..." Y/N thought for a second, Hermione's worried gaze piercing through his very soul almost enough to pain his heart. He didn't like making promises he might not be able to keep, but he could, couldn't he? All he had to do was watch out for her and himself, and if he couldn't do that then he wasn't worthy of being her friend, friends watch out for each other in times of distress and he certainly was going to do so.

"Okay..." Y/N whispered back, "I promise." He nodded, adding a sad smile to his features.

Hermione said nothing, her expression unchanged, still filled with worry. Until she latched onto him, crushing him in a hug, her head pressed again his chest so much that she could hear his steady yet climbing heartbeat. Hermione closed her eyes and listened to the boy's heart, each beat soothing her horrid thoughts, calming her back to her usual bubbly self.

Y/N let out a struggled breath, the feeling of Hermione's soft hands against his robes, the sweet smell of her hair lingering in the open air and the comfortable silence capturing the both of them, it calmed him too... so much that...

For once in his life... Y/N L/N felt content.

"I promise..."