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booksmarts and broomsticks
act ii , take a breath
chapter twenty-eight , it's a cruel world

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➖JACKIE O'HARE ➖
may 1993

        "ARE YOU SURE WE'RE allowed to be in here, Jackie?"

        Dria found herself feeling unsettled as her and Tess lingered inside the Hufflepuff Quidditch tent as they watched Jackie fasten her shin pads — all the while avoiding the sharp gazes of her teammates, who looked less than impressed to see two Gryffindors in their tent before a match.

         "Do you really think the staff are going to kick off about you being in the Quidditch tent?" Jackie asked amidst a chuckle, not sparing a glance at her friends who stood huddled together in their discomfort.

         "Not the staff, your teammates!"

         Dria's statement caused Jackie to look up and turn around in order to look at the other players on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. The Irish girl spared them an insincere smile, before turning back to the two Gryffindors who had plastered tight-lipped smiles on their own faces and spared them awkward waves.

        "Don't mind them." Jackie huffed, getting to her feet from the bench she was sat on. "They're shitting themselves."

         "We are not!" A voice called out, in objection to Jackie's observation.

          Dria looked across to see the voice belonged to one of the Hufflepuff Beaters, a burly fifth year called Anthony Rickett who was stood next to one of the team's Chasers, Maxine O'Flaherty who was quick to add:

         "Maybe you should stop consorting with the enemy, O'Hare."

        Dria felt Tess edge a little closer towards her and link their arms together.

         "Why are we being attacked?" The Robbins girl whispered to her blonde friend who simply shrugged, not daring to look away from the team that was gradually squaring up to them.

        "It's Quidditch players — they're fucking lunatics."

         "They're Gryffindors." Malcolm Preece, the team's Seeker, added as Jackie let out a bored sigh. "They're probably here to sabotage us."

         "You highly overestimate our abilities." Tess cut in with an awkward laugh, taking a step forward and subsequently dragging Dria with her.

         "Yeah, I couldn't give two shits about Quidditch." Dria added in, mimicking Tess' attitude in order to mask her discomfort.

        Jackie cast a look back at the blonde with wide eyes that caused Dria to realise just what she had said. Tess also jabbed her in the side and shot her an incredulous look.

        The blonde looked back to the rest of the Quidditch team, who had fallen into deathly silence as they stared at her.

        Dria stifled an awkward chuckle before clearing her throat, and making a sorry attempt at trying to redeem herself.

          "And upon reflection realise that was a pretty stupid thing to say to a tent full of Quidditch players."

The silence persisted as Dria shot Jackie a desperate look, and the Keeper groaned before turning back to her hostile teammates.

"They're not leaving, so get back to your knitting or whatever it was you were doing, yeah?" She told them casually, before sinking back down onto the bench and beginning to tie her boot laces.

A few grumbles could be heard from the other players but they eventually subsided and went back to their own forms of preparation for the game.

Dria spared Jackie a grateful smile which she shrugged off with a wink as Tess shook her arm out of Dria's and moved around to start plaiting the Keeper's hair back.

With a short sigh, Dria edged towards one of the corners of the tent where a small gap in the canvas was. Upon reaching it, she widened it and allow herself to look through and gaze upon the pitch.

A bright sun hung upon a clear blue canvas of sky, with a few clouds sketched upon it, moving ever so slowly as a sign of a light breeze. The time was just before half past two, and the stands were filling in anticipation for the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

"Just for the record," A voice with a Welsh lilt spoke up, catching Dria off guard. "I'd welcome you into my tent any day."

Looking away from the sight beyond the tent, Dria looked behind her to see Nathaniel Squire standing there. The boy stood at a strong six foot with broomstick in hand, clothed in canary yellow Quidditch robes — much like his teammates — with a smirk upon his lips and a flirtatious twinkle in his eyes.

"Excuse me?" Dria chuckled with an arched brow, folding her arms across her chest as she stomached what he had said to her.

"I'm just saying I have no problem welcoming a pretty girl into the team tent." Nathaniel shrugged, mirroring her stance and crossing his arms across his front. "Even if she is the enemy."

Nathaniel Squire was the Hufflepuff team Captain that had been chosen at the start of their fifth year as a result of Jackie declining the role due to the responsibility — she said she didn't take to be relied on, yet had quite the talent for micromanaging everything Squire did. Not that any of her friends would ever tell her that.

"Then maybe your loyalty needs checking?" Dria hummed in response, pursing her lips. "You call yourself a Hufflepuff?"

Dria had a few classes with the boy although never particularly exchanged with him — not because she didn't like him, she always thought he seemed quite intelligent and certainly agreeable, but his reputation of being a synonymous flirt preceded him throughout the school.

"Besides I'm hardly the enemy." Dria assured him, mirroring his smirk.

"I don't know." Nathaniel tutted, narrowing his eyes playfully. "Just what are you doing on our territory, Gryffindor?"

"Wishing a friend good luck clearly." She retorted, narrowing her eyes back at him.

"Only her?"

Dria let out an amused scoff, rolling her eyes lightly, feigning slight confusion.

"I thought I was the enemy?" She asked, earning a smile from the boy opposite her. "You suddenly expect well wishes from me?"

"You're a tease."

"Decidedly so."

Nathaniel pursed his lips and lowered his voice, leaning a little closer to her.

"Do I have to say please?"

Dria rolled her eyes, and gave him a light shake of her head, leaning against one of the poles that supported the ceiling of the tent.

"I'm surprised you even need luck, you've won every match up until now based on your scoring alone." She informed him, casually.

Her facts brought a smirk back to his face, as he arched an eyebrow at the blonde.

"Been keeping tabs on me, have you, Lockaby?" He asked, catching Dria slightly off guard as she realised how her comment had sounded.

Over the last few days, Oliver had been gradually turning their study sessions into ones of strategy planning. Dria didn't have the heart to tell the boy she had little to no idea what he was talking about, but she continued to amuse him in the hope it would cause any stress surrounding the game to dissipate. And as a result, she has learnt quite a lot about the strategies of the opposing team — more specifically the fact that Nathaniel Squire was one of the greatest Chasers in the school.

"No, I—" Dria quickly caught herself — Nathaniel didn't need to know precisely how she knew. "I've just been working out the odds. Lee Jordan's operating bets, again."

Although, the blonde thought her lie was relatively smooth, the look on Nathaniel's face told her otherwise.

"I'm not sure I believe you." He tutted, narrowing his eyes again, earning a scoff from her.

"Oh? And why not?" She retorted, narrowing her eyes right back at him.

"I think you're a crazed fan who snuck in here just to get a glimpse of me before the game." He theorised, in a humoured manner at which Dria nodded along in understanding.

She held her hands up in feigned defence, and gave a tut with a loud exhale.

"Oh no. Busted."

Nathaniel let out a light chuckle, before quickly plastering a smirk back on his lips and arching a brow at the blonde.

"You know you really don't have to go these extremes, I'd gladly take you out to Hogsmeade and you could stare at me all day."

Dria let out a light chuckle and her gaze shot to the floor, bashfully, as she felt a blush rush to her cheeks.

"Your ego is painfully apparent, Squire." She shook her head before looking back up at him, regaining her composure.

Nathaniel gave a light shrug, before sparing the Lockaby girl a wink.

"Well, at least I've got charisma."

"Whatever you say." Dria chuckled, noticing Tess shooting her a look from across the room.

"Come on, Lockaby." Nathaniel smiled, tilting his head slightly as she began walking back across to Tess. "Don't tell me you're not charmed."

"See you later, Squire." She rolled her eyes, and shot him a brief wave, before returning to Jackie and Tess with a chuckle still on her lips.

Although that chuckle quickly disappeared as she clocked the expressions on their faces.

"What was that?" Jackie smirked, her hair now successfully tamed back into a plait as a result of Tess' handiwork.

"Were you flirting with Nate Squire?" Tess added in, excitedly, with wide eyes as Dria began to incessantly shush their giggling.

"No!"

"That's not what it looked like." The Hufflepuff grinned, wiggling her eyebrows as she budged up so that the blonde could sit beside her.

"Shut up, it was just a light-hearted conversation." Dria continued to dismiss her, with a shrug as she wedged herself in the gap between the two girls on the bench.

"Then, why are you blushing?"

Dria's eyes widened and her hands quickly shot to her cheeks which she hated to admit were slight warm and flushed.

"I'm not!" She quipped back, narrowing her eyes at the smug expressions on her two friends' faces.

"Dear, oh dear." Tess tutted, folding her arms across her front. "What would Oliver have to say?"

"This has nothing to do with Oliver." Dria retorted, causing Tess to let out a disbelieving chuckle while Jackie gave her shoulder a reassuring pat.

"Alright, calm down, feisty."

Dria let out a tired groan as she buried her face in her hands, and let out a disgruntled apology.

"Sorry."

"Your temper's been very on and off since you and Penny fell out." Tess informed the blonde as she gradually sat back up again, exhaling gently.

"Well, what can I say?" Dria shrugged, taking a hand through her hair. "I don't take well to animosity."

Roughly three days had passed since Dria and Penny had their altercation outside the library, on Wednesday evening — with it now being Saturday afternoon, and the blonde had hardly seen the Ravenclaw in all that time. She hadn't been deliberately avoiding her — well, maybe she had a little.

Dria didn't know what she was waiting for, particularly. She was tired of being angry with her friend and longed to make amends, but her pride also had the better of her and she had convinced herself that it would have to be the Ravenclaw who would make the first move towards making up.

"You'll have to make up, eventually." Jackie let out a loud sigh — the Hufflepuff had no tolerance for arguments that she felt could be solved with a simple conversation.

"I don't know, I'm not sure I feel like it." Dria replied in a soft voice, with a shrug. "Besides, I haven't seen her properly since Wednesday night."

"I saw her this morning," Jackie told the two girls — who had come down to breakfast late that morning after deciding to give their dormitory a good spring clean. "I gave her my vanity mirror — said she needed it for a Transfiguration thing."

Dria only responded with a tight-lipped smile as the three girls fell into a comfortable silence. This brought her attention back to the other people in the tent who were beginning to look rather agitated as they paced the floor with their broomsticks in hand. Dria furrowed her brows in a confusion that Tess quickly voiced soon after.

"What's the hold up?" The Robbins girl asked, sparing a glance at Jackie after looking at her watch. "I thought it was supposed to start at half-past?"

Jackie could only shrug but the expression on her face told her two friends that she too was beginning to get concerned by the tardiness of the teachers orchestrating the match.

        Luckily, for the worries of most occupants of the tent, it wasn't too long before there queries were answered — signified by an older Scottish witch walking in through the entrance way of the tent.

         "About time." Jackie muttered, getting to her feet and urging her two friends to follow as she made her way over to the Professor. "Professor McGonagall—"

        "Today's match has been cancelled." The Professor cut her off succinctly with a pointed look.

         "What?!"

        Dria wasn't completely sure what reaction Professor McGonagall had been expecting from a tent full of Quidditch players who launched into a frenzy of uproar at her statement. Yet the Professor seemed to be rather unfazed by their reaction — that was until Jackie let out a rather abrasive string of curses.

       "Mind your language, Miss O'Hare!" The witch silenced the girl and, along with her, the entire Hufflepuff team.

       Pressing her lips together in a fine line and falling her nostrils slightly, the Professor let out a sigh before giving Jackie a pointed look.

        "You, Miss Lockaby and Miss Robbins need to come with me." She said, her tone holding a slight edge that Dria was unfamiliar with.

        The blonde spared an anxious glance at Tess who spared her only a confused shrug, as another one of the team tried to interject.

        "But, Professor—"

        "Mr Squire, I suggest you discard your broomstick and lead your team back up to the Hufflepuff Common Room." McGonagall turned to Nathaniel, giving him the same pointed look, ensuring that he did as instructed.

        It took only a few moments for the rest of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team to exit the tent —through the same entry way that McGongall had just come from, leaving just Dria, Tess and Jackie alone with the woman.

        The Professor let out a light sigh before composing herself, this time her gaze landing on Tess.

         "Miss Robbins, if you would, please collect Ronald Weasley from the Quidditch stands and meet us by the Gryffindor tent."

       Tess' eyebrows furrowed in persistent confusion, trying to make sense of the scenario.

        "But, Professor—"

        "Quickly, Miss Robbins." McGonagall cut her off, leaving Tess no choice but to obey and leave the tent.

        It appeared whatever the reasoning for the Professor's requests was, they weren't going to find out just yet.

        "You two, come with me." She continued, just after Tess had left their midst, before turning on her heel and leading the way out of the tent.

        The trio walked for no more than two minutes, weaving around the Quidditch grounds in the direction of the Gryffindor Quidditch tent, with no words exchanged between any of them.

       Stepping down from part of the stands they walked through, Dria's confusion left her momentarily and was replaced with calmness, as her eyes landed upon the Gryffindor Quidditch team exiting their tent — or more specifically, their Keeper who led them forward.

         "Professor McGonagall." He greeted upon seeing his Head of House, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips upon seeing the blonde by her side.

        Dria sent him a quick smile in return, before her attention was brought to the Hufflepuff on her left, whose gaze had fixated upon the Gryffindor team's Seeker and edged backwards slightly.

       "Honestly, Jackie." Dria whispered harshly, rolling her eyes as she grabbed Jackie's arm and dragged the disgruntled Keeper to stand with her.

        "This match has been cancelled."

"What—?" Oliver's eyes widened in disbelief, as he tried to process the professor's words. "You can't cancel Quidditch."

"Silence, Wood." She dismissed him quickly with a pointed look. "You and your teammates will go to Gryffindor Tower. Now."

Oliver's mouth opened as if to argue but it quickly closed as the professor's gaze stared him down, and he started to back away to do as she requested.

Dria saw him look back and shoot her a curious glance at which she gave him a helpless shrug in response, all the while McGonagall's attention had fixated on Harry Potter, who was stood nearby in his red and gold robes and Nimbus 2000 in hand.

"Mr Potter, you will come with myself, Miss Lockaby and Miss O'Hare." She explained, gesturing to the two girls behind her who offered the young boy awkward smiles of greeting. "Miss Robbins has gone to find Mr Weasley."

The Professor took a deep breathe before sparing a glance round at all three of them, her eyes still bearing an unnerving edge that Dria couldn't quite place.

"There is something you all have to see."

        Only at this point did Dria's feelings of suspicion morph into those of concern, which was conveyed in a look she spared to both Harry and Jackie as the Professor began leading the way towards the castle.

        Tess joined them soon after, with Ron following close in step with a very confused look upon his face. Not many words were said between anyone in the group, Dria put it down to the fact that none of them knew what to make of the situation — not even Jackie could seem to diffuse the tension with a light-hearted quip.

As they made their way up the hill to the castle, Dria spared a glance behind her where she could see the stands of the Quidditch stadium gradually beginning to empty — she supposed the rest of the school had also been informed of the cancellation.

But with a small huff, she looked back and broke into a light jog so as to catch up with the rest of the group who, she could have sworn, had sped up.

The silence persisted as the group entered the castle which only caused the sound of Dria's heart to start pumping in her ears, as her nerves grew — and when the Hospital Wing came into view, Dria swore her heart stopped.

Professor McGonagall had turned a pasty shade of sickly white as she stopped just before the open doors and turned to face the group of students in her wake.

"I warn you, this could come as a bit of a shock." She said gently, her eyes gleaming with empathy which only unsettled Dria further as McGonagall allowed the group to pass through the doors ahead of her.

That was when all of them froze in place upon seeing the sight before them.

"Oh no." Dria said, barely audibly, her hand shooting to hold those of Jackie and Tess. "Not them too."

        Before the group of students, two bodies were laid out across two hospital beds, with their eyes wide in fear and bodies frozen stiff. It was Penny and Hermione; petrified.

"Hermione." Dria heard Ron let out a strangeld whimper from beside her, although the blonde could not seem to drag her eyes away from her Ravenclaw friend that lay nearest her.

"Oh, Penny." Tess muttered, moving gently over to her bedside which Jackie mimicked on the other side of the bed.

Dria couldn't move, and remained at the foot of her bed as the silence came creeping back in.

"They were found near the library." McGonagall told them all, shakily, before moving to the table that sat between the two beds and picking up a small vanity mirror from its surface. "Along with this. Don't it mean anything to any of you?"

She showed it first to the two boys who shook their heads in response before moving to sit by their friend, looking defeated. McGonagall then turned to the group of girls to show them the mirror at which Jackie began slowly nodding.

"It's mine." She got out in the quietest voice Dria had ever heard her speak in. "She borrowed it this morning for — um — Transfiguration practice."

"I see." The professor replied, her eyes scanning across all five pupils who were all evidently wracked with grief. "I'm sorry to all of you."

Tess cleared her throat and spared the Professor a small smile of thanks, Dria was surprised how the Robbins girl seemed to be the only person holding herself together.

"Thank you, Professor."

Professor McGonagall returned that same small smile before clearing her throat and slowly backing away towards the door.

"I'll let you all have a moment."

Dria felt a slight movement in the air which informed her that the Professor had left the room but the blonde barely paid it any attention as she found herself unstable to tear her gaze from her Ravenclaw friend, laying immobilised upon the bed before her.

An overwhelming wave of guilt crashed upon the blonde as she shut her eyes momentarily in attempt to compose herself and subvert the despair threatening to explode from within her.

Her mouth opened and shut a few times as she tried to stomach the sight before her, and figure out what words could possibly be said.

"If I'd have known—" She began, her words were no more than a whisper but were still loud enough to catch the attention of Tess who quickly cut her off.

"We couldn't have known, Dria." Her fellow Gryffindor responded at the same volume, shooting Dria a sympathetic glance and inviting her to sit beside her.

Jackie hadn't said anything in response, Penny's frozen hand was grasped tightly in her own from where she crouched by the bedside, her gaze absentmindedly settling on her other friends over the other side of the bed.

"I was so angry with her." Dria whispered as she slid in the seat beside Tess who wrapped an arm around her as the blonde leant forward and placed her hand upon Penny's arm. "And what for?"

"She's going to be fine." Tess replied, clearing her throat once more, her gaze shooting between Jackie and Dria in attempt to try and provide the both of them with some kind of support.

Although, the blonde did know that — with the way the antidote was brewing — it would most likely do the job of curing those that had been petrified, she couldn't help but feel Tess' words were said to also reassure herself. Dria spared a glance over at the dark-haired girl by her side, and saw her anxiously biting her lip and wrapped her arm around her, returning her embrace.

Jackie, too, outstretched a hand to Tess from the other side of the bed which she also took gladly. Leaving the three girls in silence once more as they basked in their heartache of the suffering of their friend that lay so close to them yet seemed so far away.

Dria sniffed gently, as she tucked her head into Tess' shoulder and joined her hand with that of Penny. It was cold to the touch and her heart ached with every stroke of her thumb against her smooth skin, as she choked out in a ghost of a whisper:

"I'm sorry, Penny."

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖆 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘!
on a happier note,
y'all, nathaniel is
my fave — no cap x

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