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Chapter Text

“Don’t you see, it was an initiation. A ceremony.” Harry insisted.

“What are you saying?” Ron asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Harry is under the impression that Malfoy is now a Death Eater.”

“Don’t you see, it all makes sense! Hermione saw it with her own eyes!” Harry exclaimed.

“I'm telling you, I'm not sure what I saw!” Hermione said, defensively.

“What would he even want with a tosser like Malfoy?” Ron asked.

Y/N butted in, “I think I’m going to have to agree with Harry on this one. Malfoy is friends with Riddle. It kinda makes sense for him to join if he's a part of that group.”

That silenced them. For the past five years Harry had managed to ignore the presence of the son of his parents’ murderer, Mattheo Riddle. While Malfoy constantly antagonized them, Riddle kept to the Slytherins. He picked fights with others, leaving them alone. Even on the Quidditch pitch he let his teammates occasionally swing a bludger straight at Harry but he stayed more focused on the game.

“I need some air.” Harry said, having just grabbed his invisibility cloak. Ron, Hermione, and Y/N all watched as he snuck out of the compartment, puzzled.

“Where do you think he’s going?” Y/N asked.

“Who knows?”

Conversation soon resumed, the three of them discussing what classes they wanted to take this year. Hermione, naturally, wanted to take them all.

Y/N had a feeling that this year everything was going to change.

She looked out of the train window out into the darkness, the moon was barely visible. In the distance loomed Hogwarts, home. For some reason she had missed it more this summer than any other. Last year had been a shit show with everything that went down with Umbridge and Dumbledore being gone for so long but the worst part was that now the whole wizarding world was in a panic now that it was official. Voldemort was back.

Y/N’s parents had been unsure about letting her return this year. Especially given her friendship with Harry. Being friends with the boy who lived didn’t exactly scream your child will be safely out of harm’s way.

The train started to slow down half an hour later, signaling that they were about to arrive. As they were leaving they all looked for a glimpse of their friend but none of them spotted Harry.

“Where’s Harry?” Y/N asked.

“He must have gone ahead.” Hermione suggested. She seemed unconvinced.

Knowing that they couldn’t wait out there forever they all climbed into the carriage and let the thestrals pull them up to the castle.

Pushing their way through the crowd the three of them soon reached the Great Hall where they all sat together at the Gryffindor table. Scanning the crowd, Y/N saw no trace of Harry. Worry didn’t really start to hit her until Dumbledore started his speech. Once the first years were sorted into their houses and the food appeared, everyone dug in, including Ron.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be here any minute.” Ron promised through a mouthful of food.

Hermione hit him with a newspaper, “How can you possibly eat while your best friend is missing?”

If Y/N wasn’t so worried she would have been amused by Hermione reprimanding Ron for starting to eat when Harry was missing only for him to come strolling into the Great Hall with blood on his face.

“Oi. Turn around ya lunatic!” Ron said.

There he was, strolling in late with blood trickling down from his nose that somehow didn’t look broken.

Ginny asked, more to herself than any of them, “Why is it he’s always got blood on him?”

It was a fair question. In the past five years of friendship he had somehow managed to get in trouble several times, usually resulting in him taking a trip to the hospital wing. He took a seat next to Ginny who used a napkin to help with the bleeding.

“Thanks.”

“Where have you been? What happened?” Hermione questioned in a hushed yet urgent voice, leaning across the table.

“Later.” He said, taking the napkin from Ginny who sat right next to him and held it to his nose.

At the front of the hall, Dumbledore approached his podium. “Very best evening to you all.” The room went silent, turning to face him. “First off, I’d like to start off by welcoming our new Potions Master, Professor Horace Slughorn. Now, not to worry. Professor Snape will be taking over Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

There were scattered claps throughout the room, mostly from the Slytherins. They all exchanged worried looks.

“Now you were all searched upon your arrival and you have the right to know why. Once there was a young man, who, like you walked these very corridors, sat in this very hall, slept under its roof. He seemed like a student like any other. His name, Tom Riddle. Today of course he is known by another name.” There were scattered murmurs. A handful of people glance over at the boy with dark curls who sat with the Slytherins, waiting for his reaction. Y/N glanced over herself, unable to stop herself from doing so. There he sat next to Malfoy and Nott and Parkinson. He remained stony faced, staring into thin air.

“As I look out tonight at all of your facesI am reminded of a sobering fact. That every day, every hour, every waking minute dark forces attempt to penetrate these castle walls. But in the end, their greatest weapon…is you.”

Y/N found herself looking at the other students, wondering just how many had felt the school was unsafe enough to not return this year. She couldn’t exactly blame them.

Snacking into her dinner, she wondered what school was going to be like this year if Snape was going to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. He couldn’t be worse than Umbridge was last year, she didn’t even teach them any spells. But then again, he had it out for everyone except his precious Slytherins. Maybe this year she could at least enjoy Potions now that they had a new professor.

After the feast ended most of the older students hurried up to the Gryffindor common room, hoping to get there ahead of the first years. Y/N wasn’t all too surprised by how small the new group of first year, some parents had most likely elected to try to send their children to a different wizarding school, away from Voldemort.

Usually the Gryffindor common room was full of laughter and conversation but now there was something hanging in the air. Murmurs echoed through the once joyous room. The older students had grave expressions on their faces, wondering if a war was on the horizon.

“Hey Y/N, are you still planning on trying out for the quidditch team?” Harry’s question pulled her out of her thoughts.

She nodded, “Yeah.”

“Hopefully we’ll both get on.” Ron chimed in. He had recently mentioned trying out for keeper. Maybe this year all three of them would be on the team.

“Hopefully!” She agreed, smiling. Yawning Y/N said, “I’m off to bed. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight!” They all said.

Y/N went up to her room and plopped down face-first on her bed. As expected her trunks were beside her bed and her clothes were already folded and put away. Her books were on top of her dresser, a photo frame placed next to them. She turned over to look at it. The photo was old, from when she was just a kid. Y/N had just turned nine so for her birthday her parents had taken her to the zoo. That had been and still was her favorite memory form when she was a kid.

She missed those days when she didn’t have to stress out about classes and an impending war. Her only worry had been whether or not she would be able to convince her parents to get her ice cream.

Sighing, she sat up and looked around at the empty room. The rest of the girls in her year, like Hermione, must still be downstairs. For a minute she considered going back downstairs but thought better of it. If she opted to hang out with her friends she would probably stay up until the early hours of the morning. Y/N was determined that she would be well rested for her first day of classes even though her first class of the morning was her least favorite, historically. She dreaded Potions.

Changing into a set of pajamas, she pulled the blankets over herself and closed her eyes, willing sleep to take over. Y/N must have fallen asleep quickly because when she awoke it was still dark out and everyone else was in bed asleep. Despite her best efforts, she could not go back to sleep.

When she finally fell asleep she awoke a minute later to light streaming through the windows of the dorm room. Hermione was already up and dressed.

“Morning, sleepyhead. We need to get to Potions.”

“Huh?” Y/N asked.

“We’re in the same class for Potions. Come on, get up.” Hermione said, impatiently.

“What about breakfast? I need food.” Her stomach grumbled.

“You slept in. I tried to wake you up but you kept on saying that you needed more sleep.”

A few minutes later the two girls were both dressed and ready to go, walking to Professor Slughorn’s classroom. Once inside they walked over to a table together, setting their potions books down at their station.

Professor Slughorn had just started his lesson when Harry and Ron burst into the classroom. Staring at them, bewildered, Y/N wondered why they were here. She thought that they both had a free period.

“Harry my boy, I was beginning to worry!” Slughorn greeted, “And you’ve brought someone with you!”

“Ron Weasley, sir. But I’m awful at potions so I’ll probably just…” He jerked a thumb towards the door.

“Nonsense. We have room for two more. Get your books out.”

“Oh, we don’t have ours.”

“Not to worry, grab one from the cupboard."

While the two of them were grabbing their textbooks from a cabinet, she exchanged a glance with Hermione as if to ask why are they here? only for her to shrug in response.

“Now, can one of you tell me what this one here is?”

Hermione, as usual, raised her hand way before anyone else in the room. She was one of the few who already knew the material.

“Yes…?”

“Granger, sir.”

“Right, Granger. What is it?”

“That one is Veritaserum. It’s a truth-telling serum.”She said, pointing at the first one. “This one’s Polyjuice Potion.” All four of them had used that one back in second year. It had taken weeks for the taste to go away. “It’s terribly difficult to make.”

She approached the third potion, “And this one’s Amortentia. The most powerful love potion in the world. It smells different according to what attracts a person the most. For example, I smell freshly mown grass, parchment, and…”She paused. “Spearmint toothpaste.” Hermione went back to her seat.

Are you okay? Y/N mouths.

She nodded. Unconvincingly.

Slughorn continued with the lesson, “Now Amortentia doesn’t create real love, that would be impossible. It does however create a powerful infatuation or obsession.” All of the girls in the front started to drift closer to it before he put the lid back on. “We will have a more in depth lesson on it later in the year.”

Some girl in the front pointed out, “Sir, you haven’t shown us what’s in that one.”

“Ah, yes. A curious little potion. Named Felix Felicis or more commonly known as…”

“Liquid luck.” Hermione blurted out.

“Yes, Ms. Granger. Liquid luck. Tricky to brew, disastrous should you get it wrong. One sip and you will find that all your endeavors shall succeed at least until the effects wear off. One vial is what I offer to the first person who, in the hour that remains, manages to successfully brew an acceptable Draught of Living Death. You will find the recipe on page 10 in your books. Good luck to you all, let the brewing commence.”

Y/N pulled out her book and turned to page 10, ready to start. She could really use some luck this year.

All throughout the room her classmates started to prepare, cutting up ingredients.

“How did you do that?” Hermione asked accusingly.

Harry shrugged, “Crush it, not cut.”

“No. The instructions specifically say to cut.”

“Trust me.”

Harry continued making his potion. Hermione let out a frustrated sigh. Taking the cue from Harry, Y/N also crushed it instead. After all, she didn’t plan on doing anything with potions later in life anyway. If there was a later in life to look forward to.

A few tables away Seamus’ cauldron exploded in smoke like it always did. Sometimes she swore he did it on purpose.
At the end of the hour Slughorn came around testing everybody’s potions.

“Ah, perfect!” He exclaimed. “So perfect I daresay one drop would kill us all.”

He then handed Harry the small vial of liquid luck.

“Use it well.”

“I will, sir.”

Everyone else watched with envy in their eyes. She looked over at some of her classmates that were standing in the back only to make eye contact with a pair of chocolate brown eyes that seemed to be able to peer into her very soul. Y/N quickly turned around to face the front, straightening her posture. A chill raced down her spine. It was hard enough being friends with the chosen one, she didn’t want to provoke anyone into noticing her outside of that.

Chapter Text

Y/N raised her hand, knocking on the door to Dumbledore’s office.

“Come in.”

She opened the door, walking in. Y/N hadn't been in his office since the year before since everything with Umbridge and dUmbledore’s Army. It hadn’t changed one bit. Except for a shelf covered in vials. She wondered what that was about.

“Ah, Y/L/N. You got my message.”

“You wanted to see me, sir?” She asked, wondering why.

“Yes. I have a favor to ask of you. One last mission if you will.”

She approached his desk, “What do you need me to do?”

“I need more eyes on the students. One in particular in fact. Mr. Riddle.”

“Why not have Professor Snape look after him?” She asked, questioning Dumbledore’s thought process.

“I require his services elsewhere. You, however, I would like for you to watch over Mr. Riddle and report back to me about any suspicious activities.”

“Of course. Whatever is needed.”

“Good.” She started to walk away when he said one more parting word.

“And one last thing, Miss Y/L/N. If you could refrain from mentioning this task to anyone, that would be much appreciated.”

“Even Harry?”

“Especially Mr. Potter. I have a separate task for him that he needs to be focused on. It is imperative that no one suspects what you are doing.”

“Of course, Professor.”

She walked out of the room and down towards the Great Hall, hoping to get some food. Some students were roaming the halls but most of them were probably eating so there were few people around to see her duck into the abandoned girls' lavatory.

She looked around at the very place that she had spent months of time with Harry, Ron, and Hermione back in second year. Y/N hadn’t been back since then. For once Moaning Myrtle wasn’t to be seen. Odd. How on earth was she going to do this? Even if she managed to find a way to watch the Slytherin’s without making them suspicious, her friends would ask questions about her sudden interest in the enemy.

Hearing someone run into the bathroom, she hid in one of the stalls. It was someone crying, loudly. Slowly opening the stall door she came up behind the girl. A Slytherin by the looks of her green accented robes.

“Hey, are you okay?” Y/N asked softly, trying not to startle the girl.

She whirled around, it was Pansy Parkinson. Her tearstained face became apprehensive, suspicious almost immediately.
Wiping away at her tears, smudging her mascara, she asked, “What do you care?”

“I wanted to make sure you were okay. I don’t like seeing people cry. Even you.”

“How big of you.” She sneered.

Well, this wasn’t going well. If Y/N was going to spy on Riddle it would make more sense for her to befriend his social circle. She had to at least try to find an in and Pansy seemed like the best option. Draco would bite her head off, Theodore Nott didn’t talk to anybody outside his friends, and Blaise Zabini didn’t exactly have a favorable impression of her after she got him detention in fourth year. Suffice it to say, they all hated her.

“I’m being serious. What happened?”

“Nothing.”

Y/N gave her a look.

“I’m not telling you.”

“Look, I get it. You have no reason to trust me but if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here.”

“What would your precious friends think about you associating with the enemy?” Pansy spat.

“Probably the same as Malfoy would if he knew you were talking with a Gryffindor.” Y/N shot back.

She huffed a watery laugh. “We’re not all that bad.”

“Oh, you are. And worse.”

They stood there in silence for a heartbeat before Pansy spoke, breaking the silence.

“I told someone I liked them and they told me that they didn’t like me back. I put my heart out there for the first time in my life and it got stomped on. “ She said, bitterly.

“I’m sorry. If it makes you feel any better, it was their loss.”

Pansy gave her a look of doubt.

“I mean it. You may be a Slytherin and you might not exactly be nice to everyone but you’re pretty and from what I can tell, you are also really smart even though you try to hide it. I saw how well you did on your OWLs, it wasn’t that different from what I got.”

“You mean that?”

“Yes.”

“Thanks. I needed to hear that.”

Y/N nudged Pansy’s shoulder, “You’re not as bad as I thought you were.”

“Neither are you.”

They shared a smile before leaving the lavatory. The two girls went their opposite ways and Y/N grinned. She had found a way in. Maybe this task of Dumbledore’s wouldn’t be as hard as she thought it was going to be.

On her walk back to the common room she did her best to avoid others, knowing that it was close to curfew. She passed near an area of the castle that was very familiar after all of the time she and the rest of them had spent there last year. After sneaking into the Room of Requirement almost daily, it was no surprise that she had managed to arrive back there, her feet carrying her there due to muscle memory.

She had almost passed by when she heard footsteps echoing through the halls. Nervous, she ducked behind a corner to keep out of view. Curious, Y/N peeked around the corner, wondering who could possibly be walking around at this hour towards the Room of Requirement. Then, moving into view, was Draco Malfoy. What was he doing here?

Suddenly the conversation on the train came to mind. Was he really a Death Eater? If so, what was he up to? She waited and watched as he disappeared into the room before continuing on her way.

The next morning she awoke with a smile on her face and butterflies in her stomach. Today was quidditch tryouts. She had spent all summer practicing in her backyard so hopefully she would make it. Y/N spent the entire day feeling like she was walking on clouds, a bounce in her step as she went from class to class.

Everyone had remarked on how energetic she seemed. Even her first Defense Against the Dark Arts class couldn’t undermine her good mood. It wasn’t until her last class of the day finished and she started walking over to the quidditch pitch when the jitters started to set in.

“Hey Y/N!” Ron greeted.

“Hey.”

“You ready?”

She shrugged, grimacing slightly. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“You’ll get on the team. I’ve seen the way you can fly.”

“Thanks.”

“Shut it!” Ginny yelled from her place next to Harry.

They all quieted, turning to look at her.

Harry then spoke up, “Thanks. All right. Now, if you had a spot last year that does not guarantee you a spot this year. Is that clear?”

There were a few scattered nods from the group.

“Good.”

Another Gryffindor who was also trying out approached them. Cormac McClaggen.

“No hard feelings, eh Weasley?”

Ron looked puzzled. “Hard feelings?”

“Yeah. I’ll be going after keeper myself. It's nothing personal really.”

“Really, a strapping guy like you? You’ve got more of a beater’s build don’t you? Keepers need to be quick, agile.”

A fly started to buzz around them, its humming loud in Y/N’s ear before it flew towards McClaggen who seemingly managed to crush it between his fingers without even looking.

Ron’s face turned worried.

“I like my chances.”

“Show off.” Y/N muttered, unimpressed.

Cormac glanced over at her as if it was the first time he’d noticed she was standing there in the whole time he had been talking.

“Say, think you could introduce me to your friend Granger? Wouldn’t mind getting a first name basis with her, know what I mean?” He nudged Ron, a suggestive look on his face. He clapped him on the shoulder and walked away.

Drifting closer to Ron, Y/N said, “What a douche.”

“Yeah.” Ron said, unenthused.

“Right. So I’m going to run you through a few drills to assess your strengths.” Harry called out now that everybody had settled down. He went on to detail the first drill but Y/N wasn’t paying attention.

Glancing up into the stands she saw Hermione with the other handful of spectators. Raising her hand, she waved. Hermione smiled and waved back. Good luck, she mouthed.

Y/N mouthed back, Thanks!

Out of their friend group, Hermione was probably the one she was closest with. She loved all three of her friends but Hermione was the first of them to reach out and befriend her. It was towards the start of their first year before she had become friends with Harry and Ron. Y/N hadn’t had the best time with making friends because all of the people she knew were pure-bloods. Her parents were only friends with others like them with few exceptions so all of the kids her age that she grew up with were sorted into Slytherin.

They had started to ignore her once she was put in Gryffindor, saying that she couldn’t hang out with them anymore. Hermione had heard her crying herself to bed one night and the very next day wouldn’t leave her side. Despite everything she had been taught about muggle-borns she couldn’t help but see that Hermione was the nicest person she knew. Their friendship was the final straw for her old friends though. From then on most of them would ignore her but some of them would insult her right alongside her new friends.

Hopefully this history wouldn’t present a problem for her mission. After all, it was six years ago. Then again, Slytherins never forget a slight. Being friends with the chosen one, a blood traitor, and a muggle-born was a pretty big offense.

Oh, well. She would worry about that later. For now her main focus was on the tryouts. Everybody was put into two teams. Y/N and Ron were on one team with Harry, Ginny, and a few others while Cormac and the rest were on the other team.

The quaffle was tossed and they were off, Y/N passed it to a teammate, a fourth year she didn't know that well, only for the other team to steal it. She was in the perfect position to steal it back, and she did. Flying straight into Katie, feinting to the side just in time so she could grab the ball without colliding into her.

She raced over to the other side, wind whipping in her face and people from the other team on her heels. As Y/N neared the goal, she pretended to go for one goal, only to go for the other one, barely managing to get it past Cormac.

A few onlookers cheered and Ginny yelled, “Nice one, Y/N!”

She felt a surge of happiness, a grin on her face. Maybe she had a shot.

The scrimmage continued on, the two teams practically tied. The other team was in the lead by a few points, thanks to one of their chasers being really good at getting by Ron. Y/N could tell he was getting disheartened, feeling like he was letting them down with every lost point. Then something odd happened.

Ginny had the quaffle and was being chased by the other team. She soared through the air and slammed it into the goal. McClaggen was right there, in the perfect position to stop it when he suddenly swerved out of the way. A teammate of his asked him what happened but he just looked confused. Weird.

On the next point, Ron surprised everyone by flipping upside down on his broom, using his head to block the ball. Onlookers started to applaud and everybody looked on incredulously, wondering how that actually worked. From that point on it seemed as if he had regained his confidence and all of a sudden they started to catch up to the other team, scoring goal after goal.

In the end they won.

“Okay everybody, the team lineup will be posted in the common room tomorrow morning. Good job, everyone!” Harry announced.

They all walked over to the locker rooms to change out of their quidditch robes.

“Nice playing Y/N! I had no idea you were that good!” Katie said.

“Thanks! I’ve been practicing.”

“Well, it paid off.”

Y/N smiled. Hearing that from Katie Bell, one of the seventh years on the team, who had been playing for Gryffindor for years meant a lot.

Ginny chimed in, “Yeah, you looked good out there.”

“Thanks, you too. You played really well!”

“You’re going to make the team for sure, then all three of us can play together!” Katie exclaimed.

“I hope so.”

The three of them got dressed and headed out, walking out together.

“Hey, Y/N, nice job!” Hermione said, standing up from where she had been sitting, waiting for them to come out.

“Thanks!”

The four girls walked back to the castle, the sky darkening overhead. Some rain started to sprinkle down on them, the breeze suddenly feeling a bit cold. Once they all made it back to the castle, they all hurried up to Gryffindor tower where Ron sat on a couch, Harry on the ground by the fire.

Katie and Ginny went to find their respective friends while Y/N plopped down on the chair next to the couch. Hermione took a seat between the chair and the couch.

“I thought I was for sure going to miss that last one.” Ron mused. “I hope Cormac isn’t taking it too hard.”

Hermione made a sound, drawing all of their eyes onto her.

She shook her head, “Nothing.”

The boys returned to staring at the fireplace, the light of the flames flickering brightly. Y/N however, kept her gaze on Hermione, thinking through everything that happened. Cormac’s sudden movement out of the way had seemed unnatural. Almost as if he had been influenced.

Her friend looked up at her, feeling her gaze. Hermione raised an eyebrow, silently questioning her.

Did you? Y/N mouthed.

Hermione’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment before she nodded.

Y/N chuckled quietly, amused. She knew her best friend could be a bit diabolical but she never expected her to break the rules like this.

“He’s got a bit of a thing for you ‘Mione. Cormac.” Ron said.
Hermione shook her head, picking up a newspaper. “He’s vile.”

They sat there in silence, Ron looking at the flames, Hermione reading the newspaper, Harry reading a book, and Y/N mulling over her plans.

Harry leaned over to show his book to Hermione. “Have you ever heard of this spell? Sectumsempra?”

She sighed, exasperated. “No, I haven’t. And if you had any common sense you would turn it into Professor McGonanagall.”

“Not bloody likely. Why would he?” Ron asked. “He’s top of the class. Slughorn thinks he’s a genius. He’s even better than you Hermione.”

“I wonder whose it is.” Y/N pondered.

“Yeah, is it signed? Can I look?” Hermione asked, grabbing at Harry’s potions book. He snatched it away, standing up.

“No, the binding is fragile.”

Hermione also got up, the newspaper forgotten. “The binding is fragile?” She asked in an incredulous tone.

“Yeah.” Harry kept on backing up, away from her. Y/N watched as Ginny, who had been listening in from where she stood talking with Dean, walked over and grabbed it out of Harry’s unsuspecting grasp. Staying just out of reach of him trying to get his book back, she opened the book.

“The Half-Blood Prince. Who’s the Half-Blood Prince?” She asked.

“Who?” Hermione questioned.

“That’s what it says. Property of the Half-Blood Prince.”

Harry seized the opportunity to get his book back. “No clue.”

They all exchanged puzzled glances while he walked away towards the staircase that led to the boys’ dorms, wondering who that could possibly be. Hermione was probably already planning to head to the library first thing in the morning to figure it out.

Y/N and Hermione said goodnight to Ron and Ginny before walking up the spiral staircase to their dorm. Once inside they walked over to their beds, both of which were on the far end next to each other. The rest of the girls in their year were already getting ready for bed. The two of them never really paid attention to them though. Parvati and Lavender mainly hung out with the Ravenclaws, ignoring the rest of them. Especially after fourth year when Parvati and her sister, Padma, had gone to the Yule Ball with Harry and Ron only to end up ignored.

The only other Gryffindor girl in their year was Lily Moon. Lily was nice, a red-head who was sometimes mistaken for being yet another addition to the Weasleys. She mainly hung out with Neville, the two of them sharing a love for Herbology. While they did sometimes hang out together during class, outside of that they didn’t have much in common with her.

There used to also be one other girl, Sally-Anne Perks, but she left after Cedric’s death in fourth year, never to be heard from again. Her bed remained empty, devoid of any personal touches, unlike the rest of them with their pictures of family, books, jewelry, etc.

Taking a seat on her bed, she looked over at Hermione. “Did you seriously use the Confundus Charm on Cormac so he’d miss that shot?”

“Yeah.” She admitted, sheepishly.

“Wicked!”

Lavender looked over at them, a bit judgemental. Y/N smirked. She still remembered how annoying she had become last year, gushing over Ron. Surprising really, considering how he had acted when he took Padma to the Yule Ball. All three girls had given him dirty looks, along with Y/N and Hermione by association.

After getting dressed for bed, she lay on her mattress waiting for everyone else to be ready so they could turn off the lights. Soon, the only light illuminating the room was from the moon shining through the window. She was feeling a bit anxious, wondering if this was the year that she would finally make it onto the team. After spending the last five years watching Harry play from the stands along with the rest of the team had been fun but she longed to be a part of it. She had always loved flying but, outside of learning how to in first year there hadn’t been many chances except for during the summer when she visited the Weasleys.

Chapter Text

“Congrats on making the team!” Katie said, before walking over to sit with her friends.

“Thanks!”

Random people in Gryffindor had been coming up to her all morning to congratulate her on making the team. Taking a seat at the table she grabbed some food.

“Morning.” She said.

“Hey Y/N.” Harry greeted from his seat across from her.

Ron looked up, “Hey! Congrats!”

“You too!” She said, “Now all three of us will be on the team together!”

“Yeah. Speaking of, when’s our first practice?”

Harry looked over and said, “We start next week on Monday.”

Changing the subject, Y/N turned to Hermione and asked, “So, what’s your schedule for today? I have Charms then Divination.”

Hermione made a face of disgust. She had never liked Divination and had always wondered why Y/N continued to take the class. Y/N didn’t particularly like the class but since she had managed to pass with high enough marks on her OWLs she figured she might as well give it a chance.

“We have Charms together, then after I have Arithmancy.”

“Nice. I wonder who will be in Divination.” Y/N mused. She hoped that she would at least have some people she knew. Lavender and Parvati would be in it but she didn’t really like hanging out with them.

A little later in the day, after Charms class, Y/N trudged up the stairs to the Divination classroom. It was not for the faint of heart. When she got to the class she took a seat near some people she vaguely knew which unfortunately included Lavender and Parvati. They exchanged polite smiles but nothing more.

“Welcome, students to the class of Divination!” Professor Trelawney greeted in a breezy voice. Y/N looked around, most of the people in the class were Ravenclaws. She knew a few, but not well.

“For this class, I ask you all to please pair up with someone. They will be your partner for the rest of the year.”

Parvati and Lavender paired up together, leaving her no other option. She was going to have to find someone that would at least be bearable. Standing up she walked around, trying to see if there was anyone who wasn’t partnered up yet.

“Y/L/N! You can be my partner.” She turned around to see Pansy sitting at a table next to the only two other Slytherins in the class, Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott. Naturally, the two boys had paired up already, leaving Pansy without any alternative. Both Slytherins looked at their friend astonished that she would willingly ask a Gryffindor, a friend of Harry Potter no less, to be her partner.
She walked over and took a seat across from the black haired Slytherin girl.

“Thanks.”

The girl’s somewhat approachable expression turned to a disgruntled look. “Don’t thank me.” Message received. Pansy might be acting nicer but that didn’t mean that they were all of a sudden friends. She was going to have to work to ingratiate herself.

“Today’s lesson will be a review of what we learned in third year. Tessomancy, the art of reading tea leaves.” Cups of tea, already brewed, appeared at every table. “Drink up!”

Now, tea wasn’t bad but the kind of tea that Trelawney used tasted horrible. Everybody started to sip the tea, including Y/N.

“Ugh! This tastes worse than it did three years ago.” Draco complained.

“Just like your mother's cooking.” Theodore joked. Weird. She hadn’t been over to the Malfoy’s residence in years but she didn’t recall Narcissa ever cooking. Maybe she only did so when there weren't any visitors?

Y/N snorted, amused. All three pairs of eyes were suddenly turned onto her.

Malfoy turned to look at her with narrowed eyes, sneering, “So, Y/L/N. I’m surprised you were able to take this class. Weren’t you given an Acceptable on your OWL?”

Raising an eyebrow she responded, “Didn’t realize you concerned yourself so much with my OWL results. Perhaps next time you should check your facts. Professor Trelawney takes Acceptables for the NEWT level of Divination.”

“She’s right. How d’you think I got into this class Draco? You know I suck at Divination.” Pansy said.

“I thought you passed.”

“I did. With an Acceptable.”

He made a disgruntled sound before turning back to his table.

Her tablemate looked over at her, “What do you see in yours?” Pansy asked.

“Oh, not much, just a lump of tea leaves.” Y/N said, tilting her cup for Pansy to see.

“It kind of looks like a skull.”

She looked at again, “Huh. I guess so. What does that mean again?”

She was about to open her book when from next to her she heard Theodore say, “It means ‘danger in your path’.”

“Thanks.” That was easily the third time she’s ever heard him talk in all of her years at Hogwarts. The first was in first year when she had still sort of hung out with Draco and Theodore had first joined the friend group. The second time had been a lot more memorable however. In fourth year, after the ‘Incident’, he had been the only other one besides Blaise who knew the truth. She had expected him to tell the truth and get Blaise out of detention. He never did.

“What about yours, what does it say?”

Pansy showed her her cup, “I don’t know. What do you think it looks like?”

“It kinda looks like a bird.”

“Yeah, but what bird? They all have different meanings.”

“Falcon, I think.”

She hummed before leaning over to the boys’ table, “Hey Theo, what does a falcon mean?”

He sighed and without looking up said, “‘A deadly enemy.’”

Y/N pointed out, “But look, there’s also what looks like a sun. That’s ‘great happiness’.”

“So basically I’m going to almost die?”

“Looks like it.”

“Well, shit.” She scooted her chair a bit over to Draco and Theodore’s table. “What about you?” She asked while peering over his shoulder.

“A cross and an acorn.” Draco said.

“Well that’s not too bad.”

“It’s actually pretty fucking accurate considering…” He trailed off, both of them looked over at Y/N.

Interesting, she thought. A cross meant ‘trials and suffering’. Maybe he was connecting that to himself being a death eater. She mentally shook her head. They didn’t know that for sure. Although he was acting pretty suspicious, going into the Room of Requirement late at night. She probably should have mentioned that to Harry but he was already watching his every move on the Marauders Map so he most likely knew already.

By the end of class they had all shared their observations, with a few seemingly taking their predictions very seriously to the point of tears. Idiots, she thought. Most predictions that she had heard made in this class never came true, except for a handful. Then again, her views on the subject might be slightly colored by the fact that none of her friends liked this class. Hermione thought it was a load of dung while both Ron and Harry saw it as fairly useless. Both of them had barely passed the class, only doing so after coming up with all kinds of made up predictions so Trelawney thought that they were successful.

It was for this reason that she didn’t think much of her supposed future. ‘Danger in her path’? With Voldemort back from the dead of course there was going to be danger in her path. Only a fool would think otherwise. She may be a pureblood but she was considered a blood traitor for consorting with muggle borns and other blood traitors. Funnily enough, people had more of an issue with her being friends with Ron and Hermione than they did with Harry.

Grabbing her bag, she shoved her textbook in and took her cup over to the rack. She then followed the other students as they left the class. Finally, all of her classes for the day were over and she could now focus on the mountains of homework that had already been assigned.

“Why is there so much of it?” Ron whined, looking over the assigned writing for Defense Against the Dark Arts. “I swear he’s trying to torture us into quitting.”

Hermione looked up from where she was diligently working on the assignment, “Snape was right about one thing, we are woefully unprepared. Every year we have a new teacher who changes up the curriculum. We didn’t even learn anything from Umbridge. Thankfully we had you Harry, but there was only so much you could teach us.”

Harry gave her a grateful look from where he was pouring over his Potions book.

“It’s a miracle we all passed the OWL for the class, I didn’t even know some of the spells on it.”

“At least some of the curriculum this year is going over things we already know like the Cruciatus Curse. I mean, how can we forget Mad-Eye Moody’s approach.”

Harry made a noise but didn’t say anything. They all remembered the version of Mad-Eye that they had met first. How he got away with demonstrating the Cruciatus and Imperius Curses on students was unimaginable. It all made sense now that they knew he had actually been a Death Eater but still.

“That and Dementors. We know a bit about them thanks to third year. Plus, now we all know how to cast a patronus thanks to Harry so that part of the class shouldn’t be too bad.”

Ron looked over at her, “Yeah. What was yours again?”

“I can’t recall.” She said, shifting a bit in her seat.

“Wasn’t it a snake or something?” Hermione asked.

Y/N shrugged, changing the subject quickly to Slughorn. “So, Harry. I heard you joined the Slug Club. I thought you said you weren’t going to.”

He shrugged, “Changed my mind.” Well that was odd. He didn’t usually keep secrets from the group.

“But why?” Ron asked. He was still a bit put out that both Harry and Hermione had been invited.

“Slughorn knew my mom. I figured maybe he could tell me a bit about her.”

They all shared a look of understanding. It wasn’t something they talked about that much but there was always an undercurrent of knowing that all three of them had parents. Harry on the other hand barely knew anything about his. Sirius and Professor Lupin had both been friends with them but he didn’t get to spend much time with them. She still laughed a bit when she remembered all of the stories Sirius had told about him and Harry’s dad when they were all at school.

“How was Divination?” Hermione asked, her upper lip curling a bit when she said the word. Her long standing disdain for the class had become a running joke ever since third year.

“It was fine. It was mostly Ravenclaws.” Y/N wasn’t quite sure how they would all feel knowing that she had willingly sat with Slytherins, especially suspected Death Eaters. It was a well known fact that their parents were so it was only a matter of time before they joined in their eyes. She knew they wouldn’t understand unless she told them why she did it but she couldn’t do that. Dumbledore made her promise.

She looked down at her assignment for Ancient Runes. Merlin, she hated that class. The only reason she passed was thanks to Hermione. She didn’t have it again until Monday so she decided to wait to do it later. Instead she opted for finishing her assignment for Divination which was an illustration of her tea leaves, her observations, and what she thought that meant. Once she did that, she continued her DADA assignment. Only Snape would assign a ten page essay on Inferi on the very first day.

Later that night, after already being in bed she tossed and turned, unable to sleep. After what felt like hours she accepted her fate and sat up. Everyone else was fast asleep. Tossing her covers she pulled on a pair of boots and grabbed a jacket.

The school was illuminated by the torches but the lack of natural light and other students made it feel creepy. Walking slowly, she paid attention to any little noise or shadow. Some of the castle ghosts were floating around in the halls but they paid her no mind. Soon she reached her destination.

The courtyard was dark and gloomy, the arches creating odd shadows. What was, during the day, full of students hanging out, had now become spooky. She continued walking away from the castle and into the main area. A sound echoed through the air, a stone on the ground. She whirled around at the startling noise, praying that it wasn’t Mrs. Norris, or worse, Filch. Y/N stepped out into the open courtyard, the moon finally visible and lighting her way. It was peaceful at this time of night, despite the threat of being caught out of bed past curfew but after five years of breaking rules now was not the time to start worrying.

Hearing another sound, she called out, “Hello?” Making sure her voice didn’t carry too much.

All was quiet until she heard yet another noise, if she wasn’t mistaken it almost sounded like the sound of a lighter being flicked on. Odd. Most of the students here used magic for light. Even fewer smoked so she heavily suspected that it was one of the older Slytherins. There were rumors of their use of alcohol and drugs at the parties they liked to throw. As a Gryffindor she had never been, but she had heard about them.

About twenty feet away, partially behind the shadowy figure of a tree was a small, flickering light. Curious, she hesitantly drew closer to it. The closer she got the more she was able to see. It was a student, that much was clear.

“Lumos.” Almost blinding light illuminated the courtyard, allowing her to see who sat before her. It was Mattheo Riddle.

“Lost, little lioness?” The light’s reflection dancing in his dark eyes.

“Don’t call me that.” She snapped.

“What would you prefer?” He smirked, leaning in a bit, his voice lowering, “Princess?”

Pulling back a few steps, she shot back, “Shouldn’t you be plotting to take over the world?” Trying to keep her cool. There was a reason so many girls fawned over him despite his heritage. He was beautiful, like a fallen angel, and had a voice that created butterflies in unsuspecting victims’ stomachs. That didn’t mean he was affecting her. She was strong.

Somewhat bitterly, he grimaced. “That’s my father.”

Arching an eyebrow, “And here I was, thinking it was genetic.”

“The same could be said of you. All of your family are Slytherins and yet here you are, a Gryffindor.”

Her brow furrowed. How the hell did he know that?

In answer to her silent question he simply said, “Malfoy.” He looked away, taking another drag of his cigarette. Her eyes caught on his ring. It was silver but she was fairly certain that she had seen it before.

Of course, Bellatrix Lestrange. They had only met once, last year but she remembered it. It had been on her hand when she had been restraining Hermione before the Order had answered their call. There had been a rumor that she was his mother but there had never been any confirmation. People assumed, based off of his hair, just as curly as hers, and his friendship, if you could even call it that, with Draco.

Lost in thought, she didn’t realize that he had stood up and was putting out his cigarette with the heel of his shoe. Before she could do something he turned to her and said, “Good night, princess.” Before disappearing into the darkness as if he had never even been there. The only thing that indicated his presence was the smell of smoke and the silver lighter.

Bending down, she grabbed it, turning it over in her hand. An MR had been carved into the side of it. Brushing her finger against the carving, she pocketed it.

Chapter Text

“So, for the project we need someone to do research on the origins of crystal-gazing and someone to talk about famous examples. I can do the famous examples?”

“That’s fine with me, I’ll do the origins.” There was sure to be a book or two on it in the library Y/N thought.

“Great.” Pansy said, “We’re all meeting up in one of the abandoned classrooms to study after lunch. If you’re free, we could work on the project then.”

“You sure about that?”

“It’ll be fine. We need as many girls as we can get. It’s mostly boys so the testosterone levels are off the charts.” She stook out her tongue in faux disgust. Waltzing off ahead, her robes swishing behind her.

Y/N walked over to the Great Hall like everyone else while Pansy seemed to be heading outside. The weather, she remarked, was nice. Bright blue skies with not a cloud in sight. Turning away she walked through the massive doorway, spotting her friends already seated. Dropping onto the bench next to Ron she set her bag down beside her, her stomach rumbled. She hadn’t had time for breakfast in the morning.

“Hey!” Hermione greeted her. A relieved look on her face. Glancing at her other friends’ faces she noticed how stormy they looked. As if they were engaging in a silent argument.

“Can you tell Harry that he needs to stop spying on Malfoy on that bloody map?” Ron asked suddenly, his gaze still trained on Harry whose eyes were boring into his plate, using his fork to move the food around. “He’s bloody obsessed with that thing!”

Harry looked up at him, a fiery look in his eyes. “I’m not obsessed!” He denied.

“Then what do you call staying up until all hours of the night watching his every move? If he were a Death Eater Dumbledore would know.”

Forever the mother hen, Hermione looked at him sharply. “You need your sleep Harry. Let Dumbledore handle it.”

He sighed, “I know.”

She looked at him, skeptical, but didn’t say anything else.

When they finished eating, she stood up ready to find Pansy so they could work on their project.

“Where are you going?” Hermione asked, puzzled. They usually hung out outside with Hagrid or went up to the common room after lunch.

“Group project for divination. See ya!”

“Bye!”

After leaving the Great Hall she headed to the library to get a book on crystal gazing before leaving in search of the classroom Pansy had told her about which was completely empty, save a few people. One of them turned around to look at her, his eyes piercing her soul. He looked slightly amused, a smirk on his face.

“Are you following me?” Mattheo drawled.

“What? No! Pansy invited me.”

“I doubt that, princess.”

Before she could assure him that she was indeed invited by Pansy, the girl in question flounced into the room and quickly approached them.

“Are you behaving?” Not waiting for a response she turned to Y/N. “I swear he’s like a dog, always snarling at outsiders. He won’t bite though. He’s really just a big softy.” She ruffled his hair. He playfully snapped at her hand causing her to laugh before taking a seat at the table.

When Y/N also sat down he leaned in to whisper in her ear, “I won’t bite. Unless you want me to.” She jerked away, scooting her chair a few inches to the left. Disgust causing her cheeks to flush. Laughing he got up and walked out of the room.

Shaking her head, Pansy turned to the task at hand. Taking out a piece of parchment Y/N began writing down some details from the first section of the book she had grabbed, ‘Crystallomancy: The Ancient Art of Crystal Gazing.’. It wasn’t long until she had some of the basics about its origins and the first practitioners of it.

At the table across the room a few Slytherins she didn’t recognize were huddled together, discussing something in hushed tones. None of them were from her year she realized, they were all second or third years. Confused, she asked the raven-haired girl sitting across from her, “Pansy?”

“Mhmm?” She didn’t look up from whatever she was doing.

“Where is everyone else?”

Pansy looked up, her eyes narrowed in confusion, “Everyone else?”

Trying not to seem too interested she responded, “Yeah, I mean where’s Malfoy and Nott?”

She shrugged. “Probably with Mattheo. Outside”

“Don’t they need to work on the project too?”

She smirked self-deprecatingly, “You’re talking about the two Slytherins who are top of the class constantly. Right up there with your mudblood friend.” She spat the word out like it was a curse.

“Don’t call her that.” She retorted but there was no heat to it. She knew how purebloods viewed muggleborns, especially those who were once Death Eaters like a lot of her parents’ friends. Y/N couldn’t bring herself to hold it against her.

Pansy shrugged and continued to work. After a while it was nearing dinner time so they all left, eager for nourishment after hours of studying.

“Same time, tomorrow?” Y/N asked.

“Sure.” The Slytherin replied before making a beeline for her friends.

When she sat down Hermione turned to look at her, “Hey, where were you?”

“Studying.”

Hermione hummed, seemingly unsatisfied with her answer but let it slide, turning to face Ginny who had asked a question. Y/N leaned in as well, curious to hear what was going on between her and Dean. They had been on the outs for the past few days and yet earlier, between classes they had been spotted all cozy in the common room. Luckily Ron hadn’t seen them. It was already awkward enough having to share a dorm room with his younger sister’s boyfriend, he did not want to hear about it.

“So what’s going on with you and Dean? Have you made up yet?” Hermione asked.

“Yeah, he finally apologized for his remark, explaining that it was meant to be a joke but that he realized he took it too far.”

“That’s good, I was getting a little worried there for a second that you two were over.”

Ginny smiled, “Nope, not yet at least.”

Too bad, Y/N thought, they were getting to be kind of toxic. Not that she would say that out loud.

After dinner they all went back to the Gryffindor tower. Once in their room alone Hermione asked, “So who were you studying with?”

“Huh? Oh, um Lavender and Parvati. Why?”

The curly haired girl shrugged, turning to her stack of homework that she was still finishing up. “You go on ahead of me, I’ll come downstairs later.

“Mkay.”

Y/N changed into more casual wear before heading back down to the common room.

“Oh, look who it is! Just in time for a game of wizard’s chess!” Ron called from where he sat by the fireplace. His favorite game had become a ritual, every night they would play at least one or two matches while the other two observed. Over time Y/N had gotten better, managing to beat him a few times.

Weaving through the other Gryffindors who were also hanging out together she sat down across from him, awaiting his first move.

“Pawn to E4.”

And so the battle began, going back and forth, taking each others’ pieces until they were nearing a stalemate.

“Ready to give up?” She taunted.

Ron grinned, “Not yet.” Before smoothly moving his last piece, save the king. “Checkmate!”

“Wait, what? Oh.” In her pursuit to win she had left her own king open for the taking. Shit.

“Better luck next time!”

“Yeah, yeah. Stop gloating.” She told him, pretending to be hurt but not fully hiding her smile so he would know that she wasn’t.

“Rematch?”

Shaking her head, “Not tonight, find someone else to wipe the board with.” Y/N stood up and wandered over to the stairs. Hermione still hadn’t come down. She wasn’t too worried though because her best friend had a habit of getting sucked into her homework, completely disregarding the time.

When she did make it upstairs Hermione was lying on the bed, her notes covering the bed, some partially tucked under her.

Knowing that she wouldn’t want to go to bed without brushing her teeth, the occupational hazard of being the daughter of dentists, she gently shook her shoulder.

“Hey, wake up.”

Her brown eyes opened, blinking owlishly. After taking a second to readjust she reorganized her notes before going to brush her teeth.

The next day she made it through Alchemy before retiring back to the dorms to take a nap in preparation for the late night ahead. Why did she think that taking Astronomy was a good idea? She barely knew anyone in the class. That question kept circling in her head as she walked up to the Astronomy tower once it got dark.

The rest of her classmates were there, mingling. Some were already at their stations. Picking an empty one on the end she gazed out into the distance. The moon was especially bright, its silvery glow washing over the ground below.

“Mr. Riddle. I see you finally found your way after a month of classes. Join Ms. Y/L/N on the end.”

The Slytherin sauntered over to her station. “Well, well. Imagine seeing you here princess. Twice in two days, you must be obsessed.”

“Says the one who came here after me. If anyone is the stalker here, it would be you.” She retorted, her finger pressing into his chest punctuating her last few words.”

“Fair enough.” He admitted, grabbing her hand before she could pull it away. “And yet, you can’t keep yourself from touching me.”

Yanking her hand out from his grasp she pulled out the star chart and began that assignment.

After a few minutes she looked over to see that Riddle wasn’t doing anything.

“Why’d you even bother coming if you weren’t going to do the work?”

He shrugged, teasing her. “Maybe I came to annoy you.” Before giving her what she could only describe as puppy eyes. He had the most beautiful brown eyes that just made you want to trust him. But she couldn’t.

“I’m flattered,” She deadpanned, giving him an unimpressed look she continued working diligently, studiously ignoring his deadly gaze.

“Well, this is boring,” He said, grinning over at her, “Wanna see something fun?”

Shaking her head in despair she turned away. Before she knew it there was a crack and something heavy fell from the castle and onto the ground below.

“Mr. Riddle!” The teacher yelled, “Detention. And 200 points from Slytherin!”

One of the other Slytherins nearby groaned, probably upset that his house had just lost so many points.

When he didn’t move their teacher came over and told him to leave, she would see about his detention task in the morning.

The troublemaker shrugged nonchalantly, slowly getting to his feet. “So long princess.”

Rolling her eyes, she shot him a look of disgust before turning back to her work, definitely not watching as he walked away.

She spent the rest of class pushing out thoughts of him. He’s just a mission. He’s a Death Eater. He’s Voldemort’s son. His dad killed Harry’s dad and has repeatedly tried to kill Harry. His friends have made her life a living hell. The devil may wear a beautiful face but an ugly soul lies beneath.

Y/N hated Riddle.

Chapter Text

It had been a month since Riddle had gotten that detention during Astronomy class. She had soon discovered that they actually had a few classes together, he just didn’t show up. They never talked, not even when Pansy invited her to join them. Only for studying purposes though.

She had still made no headway with her mission, he was so unpredictable. Thankfully Professor Dumbledore hadn’t asked for any updates yet, she would hate to seem as if she hadn’t been doing anything.

Y/N had done her best to follow him but it seemed that all he did was smoke and hang out with his fellow Slytherins, causing mischief. They were only two months into school and Riddle along with his partners-in-crime had already cost Slytherin house five hundred points, points they had also won back with ease by simply answering questions in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Snape’s clear favoritism working in their favor.

Walking through the halls she nearly crashed into a certain old friend. He gave her a curt nod.
“Y/L/N.”

“Malfoy.”

They continued walking in their separate directions. A spectator would never have known how close of friends they used to be. Running around the Malfoy Manor playing hide and seek with Dobby. Back when life was simple. He had changed since then, no longer the boy who used to tell her of all of the grand adventures they would go on when they got to Hogwarts. Now he was the boy who teased them, insulted them. The boy who made her friends’ lives a living hell. She couldn’t forgive him for that.

All that was left between them now was a nostalgia for a friendship long since broken.

When she turned the corner she spotted a familiar head of curly brown hair and green robes. Finally. She watched as he crept through the hallway towards one of the abandoned wings. In such an immense castle, there were many classrooms that had been long forgotten. He ducked into one of the hidden pathways that Harry had been informed of when he got the Marauders Map.

To herself she muttered, “Where are you going?”

His footsteps echoed through the tunnel, masking her own. Keeping her steps in time with his, she trailed behind, hoping that his destination would be of interest to Professor Dumbledore and be something connected to his father’s return. It was doubtful that it would be anything of any real interest but maybe…

Quiet as a mouse she followed as he opened a door and stepped into the room behind it. Cloaked in shadows she crept up to the door, peaking through the crack to see what was behind. The smell of smoke wafted through the space between the door and the wall, the only sound that of his breaths. Then she heard it. It was far too quiet to tell but she thought she could hear music. An indiscernible melody barely audible through the door that separated them.

Shaking her head she turned and walked back to where she came from. Here she had been, hoping that he was up to something and all he was doing was smoking and listening to music. Gods, she felt so stupid. Did she honestly think that she would find anything of interest?

“The Smiths.” She realized aloud. That’s who he was listening to. Tucking away that insignificant piece of information, she walked back to the Gryffindor tower, her head hung low.

Walking straight past Hermione she sighed, taking a seat on her bed. Not saying anything she started rethinking her game plan. If Riddle was involved with Voldemort’s return, and he must be, he would cover his steps. The evidence would not be easy to find. She would need to find a way for the Slytherins to trust her more and quickly. Lost in her thoughts she barely heard her friend ask something.

“What?”

“You know you can always talk to me, right?” Hermione asked.

“Of course.” Y/N said, moving away, not meeting her best friend’s eyes.

Her flippant attitude only irked Hermione. Something was going on with her best friend and she intended to find out what.

“Y/N…” She gently placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“I’m fine, just really tired. Talk more in the morning?” Without waiting for her response she laid down on her side, pulling the covers over herself. “Good night.” With a flick of her wand her bedside light went out.

Watching her best friend lay there, facing the opposite direction, the covers rising up and down with every shaky breath as she pretended to be falling asleep Hermione stood there deep in thought. They had been friends for over five years now, she was of the opinion that she knew her best friend pretty well, maybe better than anyone else and yet there were moments. Moments where she looked over at Y/N and thought, who is this person? Lately she’d been acting odd, always sneaking off and having all of these study sessions. Maybe she was secretly dating someone? Hermione thought hopefully. She had been writing a lot of little notes that when questioned had simply said ‘it’s a secret’ with a little smile. Maybe it was someone in a different house? Although that was ridiculous, why would she think they wouldn’t accept someone from a different house? Unless it was Slytherin. None of them were ever nice to Gryffindors.

All of these what ifs swirled around in Hermione’s head until she eventually settled on the one that made the most sense. She was secretly dating someone in a different house who might not be a guy. Maybe she liked girls? Satisfied with that idea for now, she got ready to go to sleep.

The next morning Y/N awoke and everything was as if nothing had happened. Although Hermione has started giving her these really weird looks and acting like she knew something.

“What?”

Hermione gave her a blank look, “Huh?”

“Do I have something on my face or something?”

“No?”

“Are you sure cause you keep on giving me really funny looks like there’s something off.”

“Sorry, I must’ve spaced off or something. You don’t have anything on your face Y/N.”

Not entirely assured, she simply said, “Okay.”

In Divination class they were supposed to be reviewing for a test. It wasn’t actually a test. Professor Trelawney didn’t believe in tests. But she was required to give one so all it was was a few questions about basic material they had all first been taught back in third year. The study guide itself was only three questions that every student finished within the first five minutes of class.

“Your taste in music is shit.” Nott joked. Or at least Y/N thought he was joking. It was always so hard to tell.

Malfoy sneered, “And yours isn’t?”

“Whatever, at least I’m not the one who will be arriving unaccompanied.”

“Like I care.”

His friend snorted but let it rest.

After class while they were gathering their things Pansy stayed behind, waiting while her friends disappeared into the crowd on the staircase.

“Hey, you want to come?” Pansy asked.

Looking over at her, “To the party?”

“Yeah.”

“You sure? Won’t it be weird.”

Pansy rolled her eyes, “Who the fuck cares? It’s only weird if you make it weird. If you want to come, come, if you don’t want to, then don’t come. It’s that simple.”

“Okay, I guess?”

“Great, see you there!”

At lunch people were excitedly talking about All Hallow’s Eve. She remembered back in first year when Hermione had to explain the concept of Halloween and dressing up in costumes before she had overheard Ron and spent all of the feast in the bathroom before the troll came. Second year the four of them had decided to dress up. It had all been great fun but the best part, according to Harry, was the trick or treating. As a kid he never got to but his cousin had. Hermione, being the child of two dentists, had also never gotten the experience. Y/N and Ron had spent days meticulously planning to get some candy so they could all experience a version of it. Third year, once they were able to go to Hogsmeade, was when it truly became a tradition of sorts.

“I can’t believe it’s tomorrow!” Ron said excitedly.

“I know? We’ve already been at Hogwarts for two whole months!” Harry exclaimed. Time always passed quickly at school, rapidly leaving them at the end of spring and facing the return home.

“Time flies.” Y/N remarked.

“So, nine o’clock we meet in the room of requirement?”

Hermione nodded before taking a sip of water. “Nine.”

Standing up abruptly Y/N breezily said, “See you guys later.” Before walking out of the Great Hall leaving her friends staring after her with furrowed brows.

Finding a quiet place outside she pulled out a book and flipped to the pages her bookmark was nestled between. The birds chirping sweetly was the perfect background noise, the fountain drowning out any other noise.

The pages flew by as time went on, her mind fully focused on the plot of her book instead of her surroundings. Just when the double agent was revealed a shout broke the silence, piercing through her calm environment.

Grimacing, her eyes boring into the page she continued to read.

Whipping through the air a quaffle hit her square on the side of her head, the force of it nearly knocking her over. Setting her book down she picked up the quaffle. Moving to her feet she searched for its owner only to be met with a familiar smirk.

“You okay?”

Snarling, “Like you care.”

“Can I have my ball back?” He asked, trying to grab it.

Stealing it out of his grasp she shook her head. “Apologize.”

“Sorry, princess.” There was that infernal smirk again.

With gritted teeth she repeated herself. “Apologize like you actually mean it.”

“I am sincerely sorry.” She was about to relent when he smirked, “Princess.”

Pulling her arm back she threw the quaffle as far and as high as she could, clearing the surrounding trees and landing it squarely on top of a statue’s sharp sword. Perfect.

Riddle glared at her, his smirk wiped from his face. She gave him a coy smile before turning back to where her book rested on the ground.

Behind her she heard a muttered curse, “Fuck.”

Gritting her teeth she took a seat once more, opening her book. Her gaze refused to stray from her page. The yells from across the courtyard echoing in her eardrums. By the time she finished her book it was nearing dinner time so she got back up, dusting her robes off a bit as she walked inside.

In the privacy of the dorm room she put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, not having anything else more suitable for a party. Grabbing a coat in case of a chill she walked out and ran straight into Lavender.

“Oh, hey. Where are you off to?”

Keeping up with her lie she shrugged, “Study group.”

Brushing past the girl she headed out of Gryffindor tower and followed the corridors until she was just outside of the dungeons. The door was left ajar, music thumping through the stone walls, echoing through the corridor. Students of all ages were roaming around the Slytherin common room, some weren’t even Slytherin. In fact a significant number of them were Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs that she recognized from classes over the years.

Not a single Gryffindor was in sight. Weaving through the crowd she spotted a familiar head of silvery blonde hair. Switching directions she found a fellow sixth year student from Hufflepuff.

“Hey!” She shouted in greeting, her voice barely audible over the noise.

“Oh my god, hi! Imagine seeing you here?” The girl, Hannah, gave her a genuine smile, her eyes lit up. She was practically bouncing up and down like a rabbit. The girl gave her a quick hug before showing her to the table with all of the snacks and what looked like firewhiskey.

“So, how’d you manage an invitation? Gryffindors aren’t allowed to these parties last I heard.”

Taking a sip Y/N responded, “Pansy invited me. We sit together in Divination.”

“Oh. Okay cause I assumed that it was a rule or something that only certain Slytherins could invite people. I guess Pansy made the list.”

In a low, sort of mutter she echoed, “Guess so.”

As if on cue the Slytherin girl appeared, her black hair in a chic bob, the ends slightly curled. She was wearing a green top and a black skirt, paired with silver jewelry. Suddenly Y/N started to feel a bit self-conscious. Nearly everyone else was dressed somewhat nicely. Some of the guys were more casually attired though. Shrugging, she decided she didn’t care if she stuck out like a sore thumb.

Pansy gave her a small smile, “You came.”

“I sure did.”

“Oi, Parkinson. What’s she doing here?” Some Slytherin boy barked from where he sat on a couch. Malfoy turned his head to see that the she in question was indeed Y/N. Shaking his head he mentally berated Pansy, giving her a disappointed frown. She simply shot him a sweet smile in return.

Placing her hands on her hips she glared daggers at the Slytherin boy. “I invited her.”

“And who told you you could do that? It certainly wasn’t me.”

“I don’t need anyone’s permission.”

He shook his head, “Yes, you do.”

“Bullshit. She’s my friend.”

“She’s a Gryffindor! Slytherins aren’t friends with Gryffindors.” He glanced towards the others as if to say, “Come on, back me up here!”

“Whatever.”

Before he could respond an arm was casually slung across her shoulders. “She’s with me.”

Even if she hadn’t recognized his voice she would have known by their faces. All of them went blank. The Slytherin who had been harassing them was suddenly bowing and scraping as if that changed what he had just said.

“I apologize. We didn’t realize.”

“Don’t make that same mistake again.” Riddle warned.

Pulling her over to the side, away from that group he turned to face Pansy who had followed.

He gave her a pointed look, “You’re welcome.”

She rolled her eyes, “We didn’t need your help.”

“Well you got it.”

In a flat, sarcastic tone she gave him a reluctant, “Thanks.”

He gave her a smile before turning to Y/N.

“Don’t get in any more trouble, princess.”

She opened her mouth to respond but he walked away, disappearing into the crowd.

Seizing her hand, Pansy tugged her along onto the dance floor. A bit hesitant, she observed others for a cue. Following suit, she began to jump up and down to the beat of the music. The song shifted into another, a bit slower, song.

Swaying to the beat she noticed a guy in her periphery. She had never met him before and under normal circumstances would never have gone up to him but liquid courage filled her veins and not the potion kind. Shifting towards him he gave her a welcoming nod and a half-smile. Their dancing intertwined seamlessly, both of them just moving to the beat as if they had been dancing together for their whole lives. Standing behind her he placed his hands on her hips. Glancing upwards he noticed a Slytherin boy glaring at them from where he sat next to his friends. Raising an eyebrow in challenge he leaned his body further into hers.

He was playing with fire but he quite enjoyed getting burned.

Riddle jumped to his feet, walking towards the hallway, his hand encircling a girl’s wrist and dragging her behind him. Y/N, oblivious to everything going on around her, continued to dance until the song changed to one she hated. Scowling, she apologized and exited the dancing throng.

Tossing back another drink she paused, waiting for the magical buzz to hit her. A golden glow filled her veins, leaving a fiery burning sensation. Spotting Pansy heading over she stayed standing there.

“Hey, having fun?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah!” Her head started to spin. “Actually, I’m not feeling too great.”

“Okay, do you want to sit down for a bit?”

She nodded. Pansy found her a spot on the couch to rest.

“I should probably head back.” Y/N admitted. She needed to lie down.

Pansy nodded. “Do you want me to walk with you?”

“No, I’ll be fine.” She waved her off as she attempted to stand on legs that wobbled like a foal.

Stumbling out of the Slytherin common room she came face to face with Riddle sucking the face off of some poor girl.

“Ugh! Get a room.”

They both turned to look at her with hooded eyes, their lips swollen. “Stop watching.”

Scoffing, she stormed down the corridor and out of the dungeons. Making her way to the Room of Requirement she hoped she would make it on time. When the door opened it was empty. No Hermione, no Harry, no Ron. No one.

Puzzled, she hurried to Gryffindor tower, sneaking past Filch on his mission to find misbehaving kids.

When she crept through the entrance she stopped in her tracks. Sitting there on the couch waiting for her were her friends.
No one uttered a word.

Breaking the silence she gave them a sheepish wave, “Hey guys.”

“Where were you?” Harry asked. “It’s almost eleven.”

“I’m sorry, I lost track of time.”

Ron nodded, chiming in, “We were worried sick!”

“I’m sorry.”

Hermione sighed. Both of the boys looked over at her, waiting for her to say something.

“Let’s just go to bed, it’s late.”

Disappointed, they stood, walking up to their room.

Once they were gone Hermione asked, “Did you have a study session again?”

“Yes.”

“For which class?”

Unsure where she was going she went with the first class that popped into her head, “Divination.”

“With Lavender, Padma, and Parvati?”

“Mhmm.”

“That’s strange.”

“Why?”

“Because they were all hanging out here together. All night.”

Y/N stood still as a statue, not a hair moving. Shit. Thinking quickly she explained, “They are usually in our group. Today they decided not to come.”

Not quite willing to give up, Hermione questioned her yet again. “Then why did you say that you were studying with them?”

“I don’t know! I usually do but today they didn’t come. Look, I said I was sorry. I screwed up, I lost track of time. I am sorry. Why are we still talking about this?”

“I don’t know Y/N. You tell me.”

“Well I have no idea what you want from me!”

Her best friend gave her a look. “I want answers. Where have you been sneaking off to lately? Why are you always lying about studying with Lavender and her friends when every time they say that they haven’t seen you all day?” She lowered her voice a bit. “You’ve changed Y/N. You’re always disappearing for hours at a time with little to no explanation. I’m worried about you.”

“You don’t have to be.”

“Then how about you tell me what’s going on? If there’s nothing to be concerned about then why don’t you tell me what you’re hiding? Are you dating someone? Is that it?”

“No. I’m not dating anyone. I just have a lot going on with my family.” Hermione took a step back, an apologetic look crossing her face.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. I just am not really sure what or if there is even something that I can do to help them. They are scared for their lives now that he’s officially back. Right now they are in Guatemala, they sent a postcard a few days ago. By now they might be in a different country. I just didn’t want to talk about it with you guys.”

She nodded, a soft smile with watery eyes. “I’m sorry for yelling at you. I know how much you care about them.”

“Thanks.”

Hermione stepped forward, wrapping both arms around Y/N, squeezing gently. After a few seconds later she pulled away, wiping her eyes.

“I am really sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I should have been a better friend. I should have noticed something was up.”

“It’s really not. That was kind of the whole point of not telling anyone. I didn’t want you guys to know and feel bad for me.”

“We’re your friends Y/N. If something is going on we want to be there for you. Please let us.”

Y/N nodded.

“Good. Okay. Wow, it’s late. Let’s get to bed.”

“Okay.”

Chapter Text

“Come on, hurry up!”

All four of them were dressed warmly, ready to venture out into the snowy wonderland that Hogwarts’ grounds had become overnight. The pale light shining through the clouds, the snow glittering every place it touches. Icicles hung from the trees and a chill was in the air, biting at their cheeks. Trudging through the snow, they shivered despite being all bundled up.

Something hit her in the back. What on Earth? Y/N whirled around to see Ron with a grin on his face and another snowball in hand. Not wasting any time she gathered some snow in her hand, throwing it at him. He jumped to the side, the snowball clipping his shoulder. Ron threw another at her which she managed to dodge.

“Missed!” She taunted. A snowball hit her firmly on the side of her face leaving bits of snow all over her scarf. Harry had joined in. Tossing one back at him she ducked away from another. Ducking behind a tree she gathered a few snowballs before peeking out. Harry and Ron were tossing them back and forth, not paying attention to her. Tucking them all into her side she threw them one by one right at them.

“Hey!” She chucked a snowball right as Harry turned. It struck him right in the chest. Suddenly a snowball hit her on the shoulder. Turning around she realized her fatal mistake, Hermione hadn’t been out there with the boys. Instead she had been waiting for the ultimate take down. Not one to be defeated, Y/N scrambled to retaliate. Snow flew through the air back and forth. Tackling Harry to the ground, their friends followed suit, piling on top of each other. Their laughs were infectious.

They kept on playing and joking around, the snow providing a much needed laugh, until their stomachs began to complain.

------------------------------------

“For weeks you carry around this book, practically sleep with it and yet you have no desire to find out who the Half Blood Prince is?” Hermione berated.

Offended, Harry retorted, “I don’t sleep with it!”

Next to Y/N Ron muttered, “Yeah ya do, mate.”

“I do not!”

“Do too! Every night I look over to say good night and you’re reading that bloody book! It’s like being with Hermione.”

She glared at him.

Shrugging, “What? It’s true!”

Groaning, Harry continued on, insisting to Hermione, “And I am curious!”

“Oh really?” Hermione said with an arched brow. “Well I was curious so I went to…”

All three of them chimed in before she could say anything, “The library.”

Giving them all a stern look she admitted, “Yes.” Her expression fell, “And I couldn’t find anything.”

“Really?” Y/N asked, surprised.

“No. There’s no mention anywhere of a Half Blood Prince.”

“There we go! That settles it!” Harry said, vindicated.

Up ahead stood Professors Slughorn and Flitwick discussing something.

“...Emergency choir practice I’m afraid. Some other time!” Flitwick said, already heading in their direction towards the castle. Slughorn continued towards Hogsmeade.

Harry’s eyes were glued on the Potions professor, “Anyone fancy a butterbeer?”

“Yeah.” Ron said, Y/N and Hermione echoing that sentiment. Following closely behind Slughorn they eventually reached the Three Broomsticks.

Y/N watched as Harry led them to a table in the middle instead of one of the booths along the wall like usual. His seat faced the counter where Slughorn was buying something. While they were all taking off their coats Draco appeared out of nowhere. The Slytherin was alone, an unusual sight. He met her gaze for a moment, his eyes shadowy. He hadn’t been sleeping well. Not that she cared. He shot a pointed glare at Harry but it lacked the heat.

Distracted by the server, they all ordered a butterbeer each. Hermione thanked her as she walked away.

“Oh bloody hell!” Ron said, his gaze trained on a booth across the room. They turned to look. Dean and Ginny.

Turning back she said, “Oh Ronald, they’re only holding hands.” Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

“Yeah and snogging.” Y/N said having not fully turned away.
Ron’s face turned red, “I’d like to leave.”

Their drinks all arrived right as Hermione exclaimed, “What? You can’t be serious.”

“She happens to be my sister!”

Hermione snorted, taking a sip. “So? What if she looked over and saw you snogging me, would you expect her to get up and leave?”

Ron stared at her stunned.

Y/N and Harry exchanged a look. Unable to hide their grins they both took a sip of butterbeer. Spotting someone behind her he raised a hand, “Professor!”

She turned around, it was Slughorn.

“Harry, m’boy! It’s good to see you.”

Harry stood up, “And you, professor.” Shaking Slughorn’s hand, “So what brings you here?”

“Oh me and the Three Broomsticks go way back! Further than I care to admit. I remember when it was One Broomstick!” He chuckled to himself, accidentally spilling a bit of his butterbeer on Hermione’s sleeve. “Careful, all hands on deck Granger!” She gave him a smile, nodding, but he turned to Harry. “So listen, Harry. Back in the old days I used to throw together the occasional supper party. For the select student or two. Would you be game?”

Not missing a beat, Harry replied, “I’d consider it an honor.”

Glancing over at Hermione, “You’d be invited too Ms. Granger.”

Quickly swallowing she replied, “I’d be delighted to.”

“Splendid! Look for my owl!” Turning towards Ron, “Good to see you Wallenbee, Y/L/N.”

Both of them gave him a pained nod, before turning towards Harry who sat down with a small grin on his face.

“What’re you playing at?” Ron asked.

Still smiling, he replied, “Dumbledore asked me to get to know him.”

“Get to know him?” Y/N asked.

Harry shrugged, “I don’t know. But it must be important or else Dumbledore wouldn't have asked.”

All of the pieces clicked together. Slughorn must have something to do with Dumbledore’s task for Harry.

”You’ve got a little bit.” Ron motioned to his upper lip. Swiping at it Hermione still didn’t get it.

Reaching over he used his sleeve to wipe it away before sitting back down. Face flushed, Hermione thanked him.

Standing up Y/N told them, “I’ll be right back.”

Ducking into the restroom she bumps into Pansy.

“Hey Pans.”

The Slytherin whirls around, hiding something behind her back. “Hey.”

At Y/N’s curious glance at whatever she was concealing she simply shrugs. “Just a gift for a friend. I don’t want anyone finding out until I give it to them.”

“Oh.” Still curious Y/N walks into one of the stalls. When she comes back out Pansy is touching up her makeup like nothing happened. Whatever she was hiding in the hand between her and the sink. After washing her hands she pauses by the door.

“Go on, I still need to go to the bathroom.”

Nodding, Y/N exited to find someone leaning against the wall outside.

“Riddle.” She gritted through her teeth.

Flashing her an arrogant smile that she longed to slap off his face he said, “Miss me?”

She crossed her arms. “No.”

He leaned in a little too close for her liking, “Liar.” The fine hairs on her neck stood up. Before she could think of a retort the door behind her opened, almost knocking into her. It was then she realized why she had been spared a collision right when she noticed the arm tucked around her waist.

Pansy gave her a smile. “Hey you two.”

Mattheo said something but she couldn’t quite focus on him. Not now. There was something different about Pansy. She no longer had something hidden on her, whatever it was that she had been so desperate to conceal from prying eyes had vanished.

Pansy cleared her throat pointedly, startling her. “The two of you seem awfully close.”

Like they had been burnt they both jumped away from each other. Y/N refused to meet his eyes, focusing her gaze on Pansy. “I need to go, my friends will be wondering where I went off to.”

“Right.” Her friend’s smile dropped, almost like she had just bitten into something sour. She hated that she was the reason for that but she knew her friends would never understand her hanging out with the supposed enemy.

“I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah, sure. See ya.” Pansy waved before heading outside where she and Mattheo both rejoined some other Slytherins.

Not feeling too happy anymore Y/N walked back over to their table where Hermione was talking about some book that she had read. By the looks of it she had been talking for a while because Ron immediately perked up seeing her approach and Harry also seemed a bit bored, although more invested than Ron. They would never have survived if Hermione had been a guy, she had a habit for rambling about her newest discovery. It was always super interesting but she could go on for hours.

“Oh, hey.” Harry said, just noticing her.

“Hey, you all ready to head back?”

They all nodded and grabbed their coats. It had started snowing harder in the past few minutes, making it feel even chillier. Not too far ahead were a pair of Gryffindors, seventh-years. One of them was Katie but she didn’t know the other. Ever the nosey one, she couldn’t help but strain her ears to hear their rather loud argument.

“I know what I’m doing.”

The response was muffled by Ron and Harry talking. The pair of them caught up with her and Hermione, the latter flinging her arms around their shoulders, a smile on her face. Harry pulled Y/N into his side so the four of them were all walking together linked to each other's sides. She squeezed tightly, not wanting to let go from her friends. They meant the world to her. Their meaningless excited chatter was abruptly interrupted by Katie’s friend screaming.

“I warned her. I warned her not to touch it!” She pointed at Katie’s body where it lay on the snow, moving back and forth. Katie looked possessed. Suddenly an invisible force lifted her into the sky, her mouth open in a silent scream.

All five of them watched her in horror.

Her dark hair floated about her face, her eyes gazing up at the sky unseeing. Her arms reached out to the sides. Then, like a doll being dropped by a child who has lost interest, she fell to the ground. Concerned, they all hesitantly began to approach her body.

“No, stay right there!” Hagrid’s voice boomed from behind, “Don’t get any closer.” He lifted Katie’s limp body up into his arm while all of them stood still, the wind whipping at their coats and scarves.

Harry glanced at the object on the ground. In the heat of the moment they had all been too focused on Katie being thrown around like a ragdoll to worry about what she had dropped. He bent down to pick it up when Hagrid warned, “Don’t you touch that. Except for the wrappings. Do you understand?”

Harry crouched beside it, the wrappings fluttering in the wind. Grabbing a hold of it, he pulled it to the side to see what it was. The necklace had tumbled onto the snow. It was an odd sort of necklace, certainly an old family heirloom. No one their age would be caught dead wearing it. The chain was made of triangular bits that she was sure she had seen before. Using its container he lifted it up, examining it.

They all exchanged a puzzled look. Unsure what to make of it, all of them followed behind Hagrid, the snow slowing them down. After what felt like hours they reached the main entrance. Hagrid took Katie to the Infirmary where she was laid down on one of the beds. Then the rest of them were whisked away to a classroom by Professor McGonagall. The necklace was confiscated from Harry and placed on display.

“You’re sure Katie didn’t have this necklace in her possession when she entered the Three Broomsticks?” Professor McGonagall asked.

Katie’s friend shook her head, “It’s like I said. She left to go to the bathroom, and when she came back she had it in her hand. She said that it was important that she deliver it.”

“Did she say to whom?”

“Professor Dumbledore.”

“Very well, thank you Leanne. You may go.” She nodded her head before passing by them. Y/N was fairly certain that Leanne was headed to the Infirmary Wing.

McGonagall turned towards them, her expression filled with exhaustion and disapproval, “Why is it when something happens it is always you four?”

They all looked a bit sheepish. “Believe me professor, I’ve been asking myself the same question for six years.” Ron said.

She looked up at the back of the class, “Oh, Severus.”

All four of them whirled around to see their least favorite teacher. The feeling was mutual. He shot them a disgruntled look before greeting McGonagall, “You asked to see me?”

She then proceeded to tell him the shorter version of what happened. Circling the stand, he lifted the necklace, examining it.

“What do you think?”

Snape responded, “I think Ms. Bell is lucky to be alive.”

“She was cursed, wasn’t she?” Harry asked. “I know Katie, off the quidditch pitch she wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Yeah.” Y/N chimed in. She didn’t know her well but she was always super nice at practice.

Harry continued, “If she was taking that to Professor Dumbledore, she wasn’t doing it knowingly.”

“Yes, she was cursed.” McGonagall said, not turning around.

“It was Malfoy.”

Suddenly Harry had five pairs of eyes on him, none of them were all that surprised to hear him accuse Malfoy, their rivalry was well-known but it was a very serious accusation, like McGonagall went on to say.

“Indeed. Your evidence?” Snape said.

Harry shrugged, “I just know.”

Snape inhaled sharply, “You just,” He paused, “Know. Your gifts astonish me Potter. Gifts mere mortals wouldn’t dream of possessing. How grand it must be to be the Chosen One.” His derisive tone gave Harry pause, they all knew that he didn’t have any proof. Even if he was sometimes right, it wasn’t easy for anyone to believe him without proof, especially if they were a teacher known for hating him.

McGonagall stepped in before anything more was said. “I suggest you go back to your dormitories. All of you.” The last part was pointed at Harry. He had a habit of wandering around the castle at night unaccompanied. They all turned to leave. Y/N gave her friend a glance. She knew how sure he was that it was Malfoy, Ron had told her about all the times he had woken up to see Harry’s nose buried in the Marauder’s Map. He slept with that thing by his side just as much as he did with his Potions book.

-------------------------------------

“I know it was Malfoy. It just has to be!” Harry exclaimed, collapsing on one of the couches. Thankfully the common room was mostly empty.

“It wasn’t.” Y/N murmured.

“What?”

“I said it wasn’t Malfoy, at least I’m pretty sure of it.”

All three of her best friends turned to look at her with identical expressions of shock at hearing those words come out of her mouth.

Explaining further, she clarified, “When I went to go to the bathroom he was busy talking to his friends, there’s no way he got it in there.”

Harry’s brows furrowed, who else could it possibly be? Y/N had a suspicion but she didn’t know for sure and she wasn’t about to sell out Pansy for a hunch. It would jeopardize everything.

Hermione turned to look at her, “Was there anyone else in there?”

Knowing that there wasn’t any going back, she shook her head. They all plopped down on the same couch, sitting there in silence.

“So, is now a good time to tell you guys I’m not going with you over break?”

Chapter Text

It had only been a few minutes since Harry and Hermione had left for Slughorn’s dinner party and Y/N was already bored. Ron was off getting some extra practicing in with some other Quidditch players outside so she had been left alone. Figuring she would find Pansy somewhere, causing mischief, she grabbed her coat and wand before heading out.

The hallways were abuzz with students discussing their Christmas plans. She sighed thinking about how that used to be her. Planning a ski trip in the Alps or a beach vacation in the Bahamas. Her parents always made good use of her breaks. Now they were somewhere in the Middle East, hiding from Death Eaters. She shuddered to think what might happen to them. For all she knew, they could already be dead. It had already been two weeks since she last heard from them.

Her worries were distracted by a little golden fairy-like apparition beckoning her to enter the room ahead. Her hand gently pressed against the door, pushing it open to reveal a room the size of the Great Hall. The floor was covered in pedestals with encased trophies. Pictures of those people decorating the walls.

About twenty feet in front of her stood Pansy wearing her uniform minus the robe. Her hair pulled back and wand in hand. She turned and waved, “Hey! You came.”

“That was you? The little golden fairy thing?” She motioned her hand as if to demonstrate.

“It’s a new trick I learned.”

Y/N slowly nodded her head, walking over to where she stood. “So…what are you doing here?”

“Same thing as you. I was bored.” Pansy shook her head causing her earrings to jingle a bit. “I’m trying to find someone but I don’t think they're here.”

Y/N’s brow furrowed, “Who?”

The Slytherin opened her mouth but then her gaze shifted, her eyes having glimpsed a bit of movement. Bringing a finger to her mouth, she gave Y/N a stern look before peeking behind one of the trophy cases.

“Aha! Busted!” She chuckled, casting some spell that shot blue sparks that splattered on the person’s coat.

“Hey!” Riddle stood up from his hiding place, dusting off his pants. He walked over to the two of them, tossing his spell-splattered coat at Pansy.

“Ew!” She held it up by the collar. Wrinkling her nose, she taunted, “Sore loser!”

“Reckless words from someone with a clean uniform.” He took out his wand.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

He smirked, “Try me.” Before she could say anything blue was splattered all over the front of her white shirt.

“Mattheo!”

“Pansy!” He mocked. His face suddenly turned to shock, his entire left cheek covered in blue. He turned to face Y/N, a dangerous, almost hungry look in his eyes. “Oh, it’s on.”

Suddenly blue was shot right at her, catching her square in the chin. She fired back at him, right when Pansy did, causing him to retaliate with even more until all of their clothes were covered in blue as well as the area around them. A portrait of an older witch not too far away was now half covered so it was impossible to tell what she looked like.

Just when Pansy was about to call truce Riddle hit with one more magic blue paintball. Raising her wand above her head she said, “Any last words?”

He laid a hand to his chest, tossing his head back, “Tell Blaise I fought till the bitter end and died a hero.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Blue splattered all over his chest and neck.

“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it’s done.” She took a bow.

He sat up, squinting at her. “Very funny. You still have two more people to find so hop to it.”

She rolled her eyes, turning to Y/N “You wanna help me?”

“Sure, why not? I’ve got nothing better to do.”

“There’s the enthusiasm!” She grabbed her by the wrist and pushed past Riddle who was shaking his head.

“Cheater!”

“Loser!” She shouted back. The two girls were almost to the door when they heard Filch’s voice.

“Shit, fuck, ugh!” She muttered before turning on her heel. Y/N followed quickly behind her as she grabbed Riddle’s arm, “Come on! Let’s go!”

The three of them turned to see Filch open the door and see all of the blue splats all over the room.

He ran, shouting at them to stop. “I’ll have your heads!”

They laughed, running away, their shoes hitting the floor at light speed with Filch hot on their tails.

Motioning them past a statue, Pansy led the way into a secret tunnel.

“Lumos!” Her wand erupted with bright light, illuminating their path. Y/N kept on accidentally running into Pansy, Riddle right behind her. They didn’t stop until they reached the other side. The tunnel had led them to what Y/N could only assume was the Slytherin common room. She had never been inside except for that one party which was too packed to see anything but she recalled what Harry and Ron had said back in second year. It was just as dark as they had said, with very expensive furnishments. No doubt paid for by parents. The fireplace which was full of ash but not a single spark had a shiny exterior with two snakes running down its sides. The carvings were extremely detailed, every scale shining and polished. Green gems glinted from the eyes.

In the center of the room was a huge black couch and a handful of armchairs. Each looked brand new.

“Took you long enough.” Draco called from where he sat on the couch. A handful of other Slytherins, most of whom she didn’t know that well, sat near him. One or two gave her a polite nod but that was all.

Riddle hopped over the armrest and made a spot for himself on the other end of the couch. “You all are no fun. The game wasn’t over yet and you all just gave up?”

“In case you have forgotten, some of us have assignments to complete. Not that you would know since you don’t come to class.” Daphne said.

Pansy snorted. “I’m surprised you’re even passing.”

Y/N nodded, taking a seat on one of the unoccupied chairs away from everyone else. Recently she had seen him a total of three times in class over the past month. Whenever he showed up she was shocked to realize that he was in that class.

Before Riddle could reply Millicaent chimed in, “It’s cause they’re all scared of him.”

“No, they just don’t want him in class.” Daphne responded. “They barely have enough time as it is for all of his detentions.”

“Oh, yeah. How many more weeks do you have left with Trelawney before you’re done?”

Y/N glanced over at him, remembering when Hermione mentioned that. But that was a while ago.

“Four.” He laughed.

“How many have you already done?” Y/N wondered.

He smiled.

“Go on. Tell her.” Pansy taunted.

“Eight.”

“Eight?” Her voice turned a bit squeaky. “What the hell did you do?”

Draco who had been silent for the whole conversation, off in his head, suddenly jumped in. “He released a bunch of stink bombs in her room and blamed it on Peeves. It was in the middle of a test.”

“In my defense, Peeves was about to do it anyway. She totally bought it too.”

Puzzled, she asked, “Then how’d she find out it was you?”

“Your friend, Granger, outed him.” Daphne said.

Malfoy wrinkled his nose in disgust while a few of the others grimaced. There was a reason why she never mentioned her friends when hanging out with them. They were personas non grata within the Slytherin house.

“Right. Sorry I asked.”

“It’s fine. It gives me something to do every Tuesday night.”
Riddle said but he didn’t look fine. He had shadows under his eyes and miscellaneous cuts and bruises on his face and arms. His shirt was dyed blue from earlier, no white visible anymore. In fact, one of his wounds had a bit of blood trickling from it, turning the magical paint purple. Some traitorous part of her wanted to wipe it away, to comfort him. The other part of her wanted to know what he was thinking. If he knew anything. As far as she had seen all he did was cut class and hang out with friends while smoking and occasionally drinking. She hadn’t seen him with that girl from the party since she bumped into them. For some reason that made her smile a bit.

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the return of Blaise and Theodore. Glancing over her shoulder she was surprised to see them dressed so formal. Both of them sat down on the couch in between Draco and Riddle.

She sat still, unsure what she should do. If they were getting back now, then Harry and Hermione were probably headed back to the common room. Ron was probably done practicing. The Slytherins had no windows in their common room but she suspected the sky was already dark.

Nudging Pansy in the arm, she whispered, “I should probably go.”

She turned to look at her, “Okay, see ya.”

“Bye!” She waved at Pansy before walking up the stairs.

“Hey, tell Potter and Weasley to watch out tomorrow!” Someone yelled after her.

She whirled around, a teasing smile on her face. She yelled, “No need! We’re going to kick your asses!”, before ducking out of the common room. A pair of brown eyes trailing behind her before Pansy caught his eye, giving him a knowing look.

-------------------

Ron was the first thing she saw upon entering the common room, or rather the group surrounding him and a few other quidditch players.

A few gave way when she approached them, allowing her access to the couch where her friends were sitting. They were all wishing them luck. Eventually Ginny told them to give Ron some space.

“Come on, nothing to see here.”

Ron sat there, head in his hands while Harry sat beside him, reassuring him. They had their first match in the morning and all week in practice he had been off his game. Even worse, it was against Slytherin so tension was high. The animosity between the two houses had reached an all time high.

Katie Bell was still out a month later. Her replacement, Dean Thomas, had proven himself to be a strong player, giving them hope despite everything. Although it had raised some tension between him and his girlfriend. They had yet another fight right before Slughorn’s party right in the middle of the common room not long after Harry and Hermione left. Something about how closely she and Harry were working on strengthening their team’s strategy.

“Hey Ginny,” Harry said. “What were you going to tell me earlier after practice?”

The redhead’s face lit up despite how tear-stained it had looked, earlier “Oh, yeah. During class today I overheard some Slytherins talking. Two of their players are out of commission for tomorrow’s match, including Malfoy.”

Harry sighed, relieved, “Well that’s good news.”

“Nice!” Y/N said, high fiving Ron who was similarly glad. She hadn’t noticed it earlier but Draco must have gotten injured or something. Maybe that’s why he had seemed so gloomy.

“I must admit, I was looking forward to the look on Malfoy’s face when we won. I can hear him now,” He put on a high pitched voice in a dramatic imitation of the blond Slytheirn, “‘My father will hear about this!’”

All four of them collapsed in a fit of laughter.

Struggling to reign in his laughing in order to speak he went into an imitation again, “‘I’m Draco Malfoy and I’m a blond ferret who needs his rich daddy to hear me complain about everything!’”

She felt sick with laughter, clutching her stomach. It did feel odd though, now that she hung out with him more often. Not that they talked much.

When she finally looked up, meeting her friends’ eyes none of them could keep from laughing, breaking almost immediately. It was true what they say, laughter is infectious. The mirth in each others’ eyes twinkled, a welcome sight after so much gloom surrounding the impending exams before Christmas break. Outside of quidditch practice there had been few opportunities to be outside, enjoying the winter weather. Studying had kept them all tied to their books inside. In just a few short weeks school would be out and they all couldn’t wait to escape from the oppressive weight of classwork.

The next morning at breakfast all of their joy had been sucked out, leaving them all jittery with nerves. Ron most of all. The three of them watched as he walked in, stiff as a board. A handful of Slytherin’s taunts echoed but he kept on heading their way. He sat down opposite Harry and a plate appeared with the most unappetizing breakfast imaginable. Ron grimaced, looking up at Harry and Hermione.

“So, how was it?” He asked.

Hermione looked up from her book, “How was what?”

“Your dinner party?”

“Pretty boring actually. Though I think Harry enjoyed dessert.” She said with a small grin on her face.

Harry busied himself with his plate, not meeting their eyes. She exchanged a confused look with Ron. What on Earth did Hermione not tell her last night?

“Slughorn’s having a Christmas party next week and we’re meant to bring someone.”

“I expect you’ll be bringing McLaggen then. He’s in the Slug Club isn’t he?”

Y/N internally slapped her hand to her forehead. Teenage boys could be so dense.

Hermione shook her head, “Actually, I was going to ask you.”

Y/N smiled, elbowing Harry in the ribs. He turned to look at her, his green eyes already rolling in exasperation. She gleefully took his five Galleons and pocketed them before either of their friends spotted it.

Ron scoffed, “Really?”

In the corner of her eye she spotted a flash of blonde hair.

Lavender came up behind Ron. “Good luck today Ron.” She touched his shoulder, “I know you’ll be brilliant.” She flashed him a smile which left him looking a little dazed before walking back to her friends.

Y/N glanced over at Hermione to see her dismayed expression. Reaching behind Harry’s back she touched her shoulder to reassure her. She gave her a small, sad smile before turning back to her forgotten book beside her plate.

Ron gulped, “I’m resigning. After today’s match, McLaggen can have my spot.”

Harry calmly said, “Have it your way. Juice?” He slid a cup across the table.

“Hello Everyone.” Luna’s light and airy voice drew their attention. There she sat, next to Ron, with a lion hat, the mouth was the opening for her head. She gave Ron a look, “You look dreadful, Ron.” Turning to face Harry, she asked, “Is that why you put something in his cup? Is it a tonic?”

All three of them turned to look at him. Ron, who had been about to take a sip, paused and examined the seemingly harmless contents.

Harry’s elbow bumped into Y/N’s as he put something away. She glanced down to see the familiar glint of Felix Felicis. Harry had a habit of toying with it when he was bored.

“Liquid Luck.” she said.

Hermione let out a gasp, “Don’t drink it Ron!”

The redhead shrugged before taking a slow sip. Setting it down he met them with a far more confident look, a noticeably different expression than the one he had earlier when he threatened to resign.

“You could be expelled for that!” Hermione hissed.

Harry just shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ron began to stand up, a smile on his face. “Come on Harry. We’ve got a game to win.”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit!” Y/N exclaimed. She and Harry both stood up. They were going to absolutely crush the Slytherins. Hermione gave them, both a disgruntled look but said nothing.

Once they got on the pitch Harry gave them all a pep talk. “We are going to go out there and we are going to win!”

“Yeah!” They all cheered, raising their brooms in the air.

Ron, instilled with a newfound confidence, marched out to the curtain where they all mounted their brooms.

“Three, two, one,” Harry paused, “Go!” In unison, all seven of them pushed off the ground and soared through the air, circling the pitch. The Gryffindor student section went wild, along with plenty of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. The sound drowning out the Slytherins booing.

A few seconds later the Slytherin team emerged, cheered on by their house. Draco, along with a few others, were noticeably missing. Replaced with other students. They just needed to hope that they would be off their game because of it. Once they got information she looked across at the player in front of her which just so happened to be a certain curly haired Slytherin.

“You’re going down” She mouthed.

He smirked. “You wish.”

Madam Hooch walked out under the field beneath them, blowing the whistle and releasing all of the balls. Harry’s eyes, as per usual, were immediately latched onto the Snitch. The rest of them were immediately spreading out, trying to get a clear path for Ginny to throw the Quaffle. Y/N drew closer so she could pass it before diving lower to escape the Slytherins. Just as she was about to score, the Keeper hit it away, tossing it to someone else.

“Better luck next time!” Riddle taunted from where he sat, perched on his broom a few feet away.

Gritting her teeth, she flew away just in time to see Ron manage to stop the ball from going through one of the hoops.

“Whoohoo!” She cheered before joining her teammates in their formation. Ginny broke away, narrowly escaping one of their Beaters. Her feet only a couple inches away from the icy ground below. Y/N followed suit, distracting the player long enough for Ginny to slam the ball right into the goal, causing two of the Slytherins to collide into it and fall.

After Ron began to block even more points the crowd began to chant, “Weasley! Weasley! Weasley!” The sound of it a soundtrack behind the rest of the game as Ron kept on blocking shot after shot and the rest of them kept on scoring. Not long after, the game was over and they were headed back to the team room. As the winning team they made a few celebratory circles around the Quidditch pitch, the crowd going wild. Most of the Slytherins were walking off, disappointed.

Harry gave them a very brief congratulatory talk before letting them all get changed so they could get back to the common room for the party. The entire room erupted in cheers when the seven of them entered, a banner that had Gryffindor painted on it was lifted high in the air and Ron was lifted onto people’s shoulders. He had the biggest smile on his face, a sort of dazed look in his eyes. Everyone was cheering for him. Even McLaggen halfheartedly joined in despite being a bit dejected over not getting on the team again.

Y/N watched on from where she stood next to Hermione.

“You really shouldn’t have done it.” She said to Harry.

Y/N looked over at him. He smiled impishly from the other side of Hermione. “I know. I suppose I could’ve just used the Confundus charm.”

“That was different. That was tryouts, this was an actual game.” She said, disappointed.

Harry took something out of his pocket to show her. There it was, right between his fingers. The Felix Felicis vial. And it was full.

“You didn’t put it in. Ron only thought you did.”

He nodded, pocketing it once more.

Y/N shook her head in amazement. Of course he did.

All three of them turned back in time to watch as Lavender grabbed Ron by the shoulders and kissed him, Ron’s arms wrapping around her waist. Harry began to clap along with the others but Y/N felt Hermione back away. She watched as Harry finally noticed that she was gone and how his smile faded. Y/N was about to follow her when he put a hand on her arm and shook his head.

“I’ll go.”

She nodded.

--------------------

“I can’t believe you’re going to Slughorn’s party with McClaggen!” Y/N said, hitting her with her pillow.

“I know! I thought it would annoy Ron the most.” Hermione admitted. She flopped down on her back right beside where Y/N sat.

“Have you seen him with Lavender? I doubt he can even notice from where she’s snogging him every five seconds.” Y/N grimaced. They had become insufferable.

Her best friend’s face became dejected. She hated how weak she felt, hurting over a boy.

“Look, I’m sure he’ll be annoyed. He hates Cormac. If he doesn’t notice then I’m sure Harry will mention it to him if you ask.”

Hermione smirked but shook her head. “No. I just want him to notice me, like actually notice me as more than just his friend. It’s not the same if someone is pointing his face in my direction.”

Y/N gave her a hug, mentally thrashing Ron in her head. He would be lucky to have her if he could just see what a wonderful girl was right in front of him. Not that Lavender was a bad person but she smothered him. He didn’t admit it but it was in his eyes whenever she called him her ‘Won-won’. They had only been together for a little over a week but she could tell he was getting tired.

“He will. And if he doesn’t then someone else will. You’re intelligent, funny, and absolutely beautiful. Anyone would be lucky to have you.”

“Thanks.” Y/N could tell she didn’t fully believe it but there was nothing more she could do about that other than remind her.

Hoping to distract her she decided to tell her about what she had overheard in the library earlier. “Okay, so you know Romilda Vane? The girl with the long, dark, and curly hair that we saw Hannah Abbott talking to the other day? Apparently she’s trying to sneak Harry a love potion! I heard her talking about it with some of her friends.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Boy am I glad that I’m not the Chosen One.”

She snorted, “Speaking of, Harry still needs a date to Slughorn’s party.”

“I’m not going if that’s what you’re going to ask.”

“Ugh, why not?”

“Because.”

“No. Give me a real answer. Come on, it’ll be fun! You can distract me from my horrible choices.”

“You can manage. Besides, I have a paper to write.”

“Fair enough. We don’t want you to fail.”

Y/N smiled at her. “I thought you’d think so.”

“You know me so well.”

“I sure do.”

--------------------

A few days passed before the party. Y/N walked into her room to find it in total shambles. Hermione sat in the middle of it. She was still in a shirt and a pair of pants, the only thing done was her makeup. Although subtle, it was there.

“Wow.”

She looked up at her, “I know. I can’t decide.”

“Well you don’t have many dresses so how hard of a decision can it be?”

Hermione sighed. “I didn’t think this through. What am I doing?”

Kneeling beside her amidst the piles of clothes, she gave her a tight squeeze. “It’s going to be alright. Now! What are the options?”

Hermione nodded, glad to have a distraction from the horrifying thought of having to dance with Cormac of all people.

“Okay, how about this one?” Y/N raised the dress that she wore for the Yule Ball. It was still in really good condition.

Hermione shook her head. “I want to wear something else. Something a bit more, I don’t know. Mature? I guess?”

“Oo! How about this one?” It was a pretty pink dress that she had gotten on vacation with her parents over the summer holidays. She still hadn’t worn it.

Hermione took it from her and quickly changed into it. After she zipped it up she turned so Y/N could see it.

“That’s the one!” It was absolutely gorgeous. The pink shade suited her so well and the v-neck and knee length cut made her look amazing. It was so different from what she normally wore. They found a necklace and a pair of earrings that matched her new dress.

“Oh, look at the time! I need to go!” Hermione exclaimed.

“Not so fast! Just give me a minute.” Y/N immediately set to doing her hair, brushing it out a bit before using her wand to curl the ends. As a last touch she grabbed a small clip to tuck a strand of hair back with.

“Okay, you look gorgeous! Let’s go!”

Hermione slipped on a pair of heels and hurried down the stairs.

Y/N watched as she left, excited to hear all about it when she returned. Hopefully Cormac would be able to keep his hands to himself.

Ducking back into the room she realized just how empty it was. The mess of clothes was still all over the place. Sighing, she got to work, cleaning it up, putting all of Hermione’s clothes away. She then went over to her own bed and opened up her bottom drawer. In it was a notebook that she had been using to meticulously note everything she observed about a certain Dark Lord’s son. All she had was the various places she had seen him smoke and that he liked listening to the Smiths. She had been listening to them for research and research only. Although she did occasionally wonder what his favorite song was.

Chapter Text

There she stood at the station, waving goodbye. Ever since she broke the news they had been asking her how she planned on meeting her parents without leaving on the train. Somehow she managed to convince them that Dumbledore was going to disapparate her off school grounds to a portkey. They had been so supportive of her decision not to come, once they realized why.

-------------------------------------

“Wait, what?” Ron said.

“Y/N, come on! We’re all going to Grimmauld Place! Everyone’s going to be there.”

“I know, I know. My parents want me to come meet them wherever they are currently hiding out. They are only getting more and more anxious about my safety.”

“But Hogwarts is safe? We have Dumbledore, what more could they want?” Harry said.

Before she could respond, Hermione chimed in, “A lot of parents are concerned. War is on the horizon, everyone is on edge.
Especially people who will be expected to join him.”

“Right.”

--------------------------------------

The thestrals had already left when she started heading back but she didn’t mind going for a walk in the snow. The path to the castle was a long one but hopefully the views would be worth it. Hogwarts was magical at Christmas time.

Up ahead the castle loomed, snow covering its towers. Even from here she could see the handful of students staying for holidays playing in the snow, casting spells that sent snowballs careening at their friends. The Great Lake had iced over, the shiny surface reflecting the rays of the sun beaming down through the clouds.

Snow clung to her boots and to her coat, a chill seeping through her thick layers. When she reached the entrance she shook off the snow before walking into the warmth. The halls felt haunted from the lack of students milling around. Laughter from outside was repelled by the stone. Even the ghosts had vanished. Each flicker of a light set her on edge and it was still early in the day. She was completely alone and yet there was a presence looming over her, whispering in her ear.

Determined to not let imagined voices scare her she kept a measured pace. She was a Gryffindor and Gryffindors do not yield. When she finally reached the entrance to the Common Room it disappeared. Almost as if it was never there and yet she couldn’t help but look over her shoulder at the predictably empty hallway. A candle flickered out a floor below, catching her attention. A stairway dislodged up above, startling her. It groaned as it shifted from one landing to another. Shaking her head she hurriedly entered the safety of the common room.

After a few hours of being curled up on her bed reading she finally heard a few people shuffling in from having dinner. Her stomach grumbled. It was not the first time that it had done so since she got back.

Sighing, Y/N tumbled off her bed and grabbed a coat to pull over her t-shirt and jeans. A few strands fell into her face, obstructing her view of where her boots were. She shoved them behind her ear. Pulling on her boots she walked out of the room and down the empty staircase. The sounds of voices carrying through the doors of other years.

The sound of her boot heels clicking against the floors echoed against the stone walls setting her on edge. It wasn’t long before Filch would be out on the hunt for stragglers out at night. Without the map she had no hope of avoiding him. Or any teachers for that matter.

The castle was chilly, a draft causing her to pull her jacket closed. She already dearly missed the warmth of her bed all nestled under her blankets. Y/N loved the winter, especially Christmas, but the cold was a different story. Casting lumos, she followed her wand’s light past the Great Hall to the kitchen. It had been ages since they had last visited.

“Meow.”

At the sound of a cat purring she whirled, heart in her throat. Mrs. Norris sat right at the corner, calmly staring dead into her soul, waiting for her master. That damn cat was always getting students in trouble. Not before long she heard Filch’s voice calling for his cat. She tickled the pear and stepped inside the kitchen. She pulled the painting closed shut as softly as possible.

Slowly turning around she found fifty pairs of eyes on her, blinking owlishly.

Awkwardly waving, “Hey. I don’t suppose any of you happen to have some leftovers from dinner?”

Most of them turned back to cleaning and cooking but a handful of them led her over to some plates filled to the top with food. There was a bit of everything, chicken, grapes, pudding, mashed potatoes, and more. Grabbing a plate she put some grapes, a bit of chicken, and a brownie.

“Thank you!”

Nodding gratefully she moved to leave the way she came, pressing her ear to the painting to make sure Filch wasn’t right outside. Y/N carefully pushed it open, stepping out of the kitchen and closing it behind her.

“Having a midnight snack are we?”

She jumped, her soul leaving her body for a split second. Turning to face him she glared at his amused face. He began to laugh.

Balancing the plate in one hand she slapped his arm with the other. “That was not funny!”

“Oh, it was hilarious princess.” He chuckled at her indignant expressions, nose all scrunched up.

Blood boiling she whisper yelled. “Don’t call me that!”

With a smug smile on his face he plucked a grape off her plate and tossed into his mouth, his eyes never leaving hers. A wolfish grin on his lips that she was definitely not looking at.

She yanked her plate away, shielding it with a hand. “Hey! Hands off! Get your own.”

“But yours taste better.”

“Fuck off.”

She stormed off, him calling after her, “See ya princess!”

Not turning around she flipped him off, coat swishing behind her.

--------------------------------------

Hedwig’s snowy white wings beat against the wind, her soft coat of feathers blending into the flurries. The only touch of color was the red ribbon tying a letter to her ankle. Hermione had sent a letter almost immediately after arriving at the Burrow, filling her in on Harry’s conversation with Remus about the Unbreakable Vow and Snape. Now she wasn’t quite sure what to believe. The Draco she knew wasn’t capable of that but the Draco she knew was long gone. And then there was Pansy. She had been hiding something that day. What, she did not know, but it seemed odd considering that Katie Bell found the cursed necklace only a few minutes later.

As much as she trusted Dumbledore, she also knew that Snape was never quite trustworthy. And yet every time they suspected him of something they were wrong. Dead wrong. But then, the same was true of Draco in second year.

Y/N wrote back immediately, voicing her concerns. If Harry was right, if Dumbledore’s judgement couldn’t be trusted, then they all were doomed.

As if on cue, the sky darkened. Clouds covering the dim light of the sun that had been fighting to be seen. She tightened her grip on her jacket, shielding herself from the gust of wind blowing in her face. Scanning the horizon before her, she closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. The scent of snow and pine needles overwhelmed her senses.

She turned away and headed down the stairs, the sound of her boots against the stone was the only sound. A dark figure on a far off tower moved, drawing her attention. Even from so far away, she knew who it was. With every footstep that brought her nearer to him, the more she could hear. The familiar melodies drew her attention. She had prepared for this.

“...And if a double decker bus crashes into us…”

“I love The Smiths.”

The music came to a halt. The only sound was the wind whistling through the distant trees.

“What?” He turned to face her with his brown eyes and a face that seemed wary. It was laughable really. She was skilled but he was the son of Voldemort. His very name inspired fear. And if that didn’t do the trick then the stark resemblance he bore to his mother was more than enough.

“I said ‘I love The Smiths’.” She walked over to where he sat. “‘To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die’. ‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out’? It’s my favorite.”

Y/N crouched to the ground, fully expecting him to get up and leave but instead he scooted over to give her room to sit. Without saying a word he unpaused his music player, Morrissey’s voice filling the space between them.

Leaning her elbows on her bent knees she glanced over at the boy next to her. Before he could catch her she faced forward, staring out into the distance. The tower overlooked the Black Lake, the iced over surface a shiny reflection of the trees surrounding it and the clouds above. Storm clouds were rolling in, bringing with them a promise of rain that would soon freeze into snow. The rumbling of thunder echoed through the castle. Sitting so near to him she could feel his arm brush hers ever so lightly through her coat. The warmth calling to her. But she couldn’t, she shouldn’t.

Exhaustion filled her weary bones, her eyes struggling to stay open. But here she was. Sitting next to the enemy while listening to music, completely at peace with each other’s presence. She didn’t want this to end. Not now when she was finally making progress. They weren’t about to braid each other’s hair and spill their deepest, darkest secrets but he was letting her sit here when usually he sat alone. She felt like jumping for joy.

He pulled out a cigarette and the lighter that she had completely forgotten about. It had been sitting in that bottom drawer, or so she thought, until she checked one day and it had vanished.

She chuckled, “I always wondered where that thing went.”

He lit the joint before pocketing the lighter, the tip of it sitting right by his mouth. She very quickly shifted her gaze up to his eyes that sparkled in amusement.

“I’m surprised you kept it.”

“Well what else was I supposed to do? I didn’t want anyone to stumble across it. It could be cursed!” She retorted.

“That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t turn it over to a teacher. You kept it.” He took a drag, the smoke drifting off in the breeze. He narrowed his eyes, “Admit it, you are just a little bit obsessed with me.”

“Me! Obsessed with you? Never.”

“Uhuh.”

“Nuhuh!” She shook her head.

“Oh, please. I see the way you look at me when you think I’m not looking.” He leaned in until his face was inches away from hers, every syllable punctuated. “Obsessed.”

She leapt to her feet, hands on her hips. “Oh yeah? Well how about the way you seem to show up wherever I go. Stalker much?”

He scoffed, standing up as well. “Rich words from someone who just so happened to come across me here. Don’t think I haven’t seen the way you follow me around from time to time. You’re spying on me!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

She rolled her eyes in an attempt to disguise how hard her heart was pounding or how she had just noticed how close they were standing. His face was mere inches from hers. Here she was, thinking she had been getting away with it. Her entire mission was compromised. There was no way she was going to keep this up if he had clocked her so quickly. But then again.

She cocked her head to the side, “If you’re so convinced that I’m following you, why haven’t you reported it, hm?”

He shrugged, “Maybe I like the attention.” And then the bastard winked at her, finally taking a step back.

Her nostrils flared slightly. He was the most aggravating boy she had ever had the misfortune of meeting. She hated the side of herself that he brought out, the side her friends saw so rarely. She was quiet, observant. She was the girl who blended into the background while her friends got the attention. She was not the girl arguing with a boy she hated on top of a tower. She was not the girl who lied to her closest friends.

The sooner she could be that girl again, the better.

--------------------------

The blaring of her alarm shocked her out of a deep slumber. Light cascaded through the window curtains indicating that it was time to get out of bed. It was all so strange with no grumbling from the others. The empty beds surrounding her own left her feeling like a piece of driftwood in the ocean, adrift with no sign of help. Her blankets failed to stave away the chill seeping into her bones. Her eyes fluttered shut, desperate for much-needed rest.

That wasn’t in the plans for her unfortunately. Y/N had promised to meet Pansy after breakfast to go shopping. Exams had loomed over her, tearing away her energy, leaving her unable to think about the rapidly approaching holidays. She hadn’t gotten her friends a single gift.

Y/N reluctantly flipped her blanket off of her body, shivers immediately wracked her body. In an attempt to stay warm she quickly pulled on some clothes and prepared for the day ahead of her. If she was lucky a heating charm would do the trick. Walking to the village was normally something she did with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It was a weekly ritual. But she couldn’t refuse when Pansy asked this of her, she needed their friendship. It was her only hope.

She grabbed her bag, stuffing money and her notebook in it. Without even a glance at the letter from Professor Dumbledore she laced up her boots, fastened her coat, and tucked her hair beneath a wool hat her mom had given her a couple years back. It brought her comfort whenever she thought about her parents on the run. They would probably be in South America right now. It had been five months since she arrived home to nothing but a note that floated to the ground at her feet. It had been the final nail in her coffin. She was well and truly alone.

When she turned around the corner and began to walk down the staircase she spotted Pansy by the bottom. She was an island in the middle of Y/N’s tumultuous sea.

“Pans!”

The girl turned around, her skirt twirling around her knees. “Y/N! Hey.”

She smiled, “Hey.”

Pansy had come prepared, albeit fashionably so, with her thick pairs of tights beneath her skirt as well as the multiple layers of shirts combined with a fur-lined jacket. She wore leather boots with high heels that easily added four inches to her height. Her short, black hair was tucked underneath her matching fur-lined hat, the ends sticking out from under it. Dark red lipstick coated her lips and her dark blue eyes were framed with smokey eyeshadow. Then there was Rose with an old pair of boots, two pairs of leggings layered on top of each other, a sweater, and a coat. She wasn’t wearing any makeup. Before she had felt perfectly presentable but now she had become all the more aware of her flaws.

“You look really pretty.” Y/N breathed.

The girl’s lips curled up in a smile but her eyes did not reflect it. Giving a quick perusal of Y/N’s outfit, she smiled “You look really good too.” Y/N barely resisted the temptation to scoff. “Are you ready?”

“Of course!”

Pansy linked her arm through Y/N’s, dragging her out of the castle walls and into the courtyard. A thick blanket of fluffy, white snow covered the stone with not a foot track in sight. Every step was arduous. The snow clinging to their boots with each step until they reached the covered bridge across the river.

“You know,” Pansy said, “I always underestimate how difficult it is to walk in the snow.”

Y/N laughed, “It might have something to do with you wearing heeled boots.”

“Beauty is pain, right?” Suddenly she went silent before Y/N heard an “Ow! Shit!” Whirling around she spotted her not far behind, laying face down in the frigid snow.

Shaking her head, she began to trudge over to her. “You okay?”
A pair of piercing blue eyes glared up at her in mock anger, “Do I look like I’m okay?”

Y/N reached out a hand and helped her up. Pansy stood upright, brushing the snow off of her tights and skirt, the dust falling back to the ground like it had never been displaced. She kept on walking, Y/N not far behind, until they reached the crossroads. A sign post stood upright, icicles hanging down from the wood. One arrow pointed in the direction they had just come from, the other directed them forwards, to Hogsmeade.

Glancing behind them, Y/N spotted the familiar towers, covered in snow, that had been her home for five and a half years. So many memories were contained within its walls. So much laughter and sneaking around. She would miss it when they graduated.

“Come on, hurry up!” Pansy shouted from further ahead. Y/N smiled before turning and running to catch up.

“I’m coming!”

The two of them hurried along the path, eager to reach the warmth of the shops. A chill had penetrated through their many layers. Y/N’s toes and fingers had gone numb, no thanks to her gloves and thick socks.

Pansy blew into her hands, rubbing them together. “I can’t believe we haven’t run into anyone else.

“Yeah.” Y/N responded, realizing how alone they were. Her bag thumped against her leg with each step, weighing her shoulder down. She swung it over onto her other shoulder before continuing, “Maybe some people went earlier?”

Pansy hummed, changing the subject, “So, what are you planning on getting?”

“Oh, just some presents. I have a few that are on hold that I need to pick up but otherwise I’ll be browsing the store in case something catches my eye.” Y/N explained. “I got Hermione a book on the history of arithmancy.”

“Aren’t you taking that class?”

Y/N nodded, “We’re both taking it actually. I also got Harry this new pair of shoes that are designed to enhance speed. He keeps on saying he wants to be faster on the ground as well as in the air. Ron I wasn’t so sure about. Maybe something chess related? I’ll definitely get him some candy.”

“Right.” Pansy said.

“So what are you getting for the boys?”

“I honestly have no idea.” She sighed. “Draco and Theo basically have everything they need? It’s always tough buying them gifts when they will just buy themselves everything.”

“What about Riddle? Or Daphne and Millicent?” Y/N asked.
Pansy kicked at the snow in front of her, “Millicent is easy enough. I always get her something for her cats. And Daphne said she wanted a journal and some little trinkets.”

“And Riddle?”

Pansy paused, shifting from one foot to the other. “I don’t know…”

“How about some CD’s?”

Her friend gave her a slightly confused look, “What do you mean?”

“He likes music doesn’t he? You could give him a CD of a favorite band or something?”

“Okay, this is going to sound bad but I actually had no idea that he liked music.”

Flabbergasted, Y/N exclaimed, “Are you serious? Everytime I run into him he’s listening to music. Last week when I accidentally interrupted him up on the North Tower he was listening to The Smiths. He also, if I remember correctly, was listening to The Cure?”

“Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him listen to music.” Pansy gave her a puzzled look, like she was trying to figure something out. Her eyes scanned her face before continuing, “Then again, he and Theo along with Draco will hang out a lot together smoking and just relaxing. I’m not a fan of the smell so I stay away. It’s the same with Daphne and Millicent. Even Blaise doesn’t go out with them. It’s their ritual in a sense.”

Y/N filed away that knowledge for later. It may become useful. She had always wondered about Draco and Pansy after they stopped hanging out. All of a sudden they had a new friend group and Y/N had hers. Outside of Harry and Draco’s weird rivalry their paths had never crossed, even in class they kept to themselves. Now that she and Pansy were friends she got to see more of what their group was like but she was still an outsider looking in. She was still the enemy to most of them.

Bumping her shoulder against Pansy’s, “Now you do have something to get him.”

Her friend smiled back, bumping her shoulder into Y/N’s. “Guess so.”

Just when Y/N was about to comment on how long they had been walking she spotted the village’s welcome sign not far ahead of them. And just beyond the sign stood the stone buildings, snow hanging down from the ledges. The roads were well worn, the snow melted where people had packed it down. A few shops down stood Honeydukes. On their way out she would stop in and grab Ron some of his favorites.

Pulling on her coat, Pansy pointed her attention towards the bookstore. The bell rang as they dusted the snow off of their clothes, shedding their outside layers in favor of the fire by the cafe. The chairs were old upholstered relics that had seen many years of students warming their feet while they sipped on their hot cocoa and read a book. Soft music played over the murmurs of shoppers browsing the collection of books.

The soft leather bound book covers are all neatly organized. Sitting on the shelves just waiting to catch the eye of a reader browsing for their next obsession. Y/N ached to scour the three floors of books. Somewhere among the other books was her next favorite book.

Sensing her friend’s restlessness, Pansy insisted, “Go. I’ll watch over our things.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! I have some hot cocoa and a nice warm fire. I’ll be fine.”

Grinning excitedly, like a kid waking up on Christmas morning, Y/N began to sift through the selections.

When she reached the stairs and still had had no luck, she gave a regretful glance in Pansy’s direction, before cautiously climbing up the rickety staircase. The wood creaked underneath her, protesting. She imagined that it was at least four hundred years old judging off of how long this store had been open. Their collection spanned centuries. Some of these books were from before Merlin’s time.

Light filtered through the musty windows, casting shadows that danced on the wooden boards underneath her boots. In the distance a bell rang. Curious, she glanced out the window which overlooked the main street. Children played in the snow, throwing snow carelessly. Laughter rang in the air. Her heart clenched as her mind was bombarded with memories of playing in the snow without a care. A blond haired boy teasing her and a little girl with raven black hair standing up to him. Flashes of color while they played with powers that they were still unable to control.

“Y/N, Draco, Pansy!”

She and her friends ran to her mom who stood in the doorway.

“The three of you will catch your death of cold!” Her mom scolded them, fussing over their clothes. That was a long time ago. Back when fear wasn’t a constant shadow looming over her and her childhood friends still hung out with her.

Y/N shook her head, dispelling the memory, focusing on her present instead. Looking away from the window she continued her search for a book. Her eyes scanned for a familiar author but came up empty. Until out of the corner of her eye something caught her attention. It was the long-awaited sequel to a book she had read two years ago.

Reaching up for it, her fingers brushed the bottom corner of the binding. If she could just get her nails in on either side of the book she might be able to pull it out. She tried in vain. The book wasn’t coming out from its spot on the shelf, not without assistance. Y/N was about to whip out her wand when a hand came out of nowhere and plucked it from off the shelf.

“Thank…” The words were ripped from her throat when she saw who had helped her just now. She gave him a tight smile. “Thanks.” Before grabbing the book from his hands. She should have known he wouldn’t be so kind. Instead of handing the book to her he moved backwards, lifting the book out of her reach. Artfully dodging her every attack.

“I really expected better from you. Are you sure you’re a Quidditch player?” He teased.

Growling, she feinted left before diving right, stumbling over her own feet when he changed hands. She watched as he flipped through the book, pausing in the middle and began to read it aloud.

“As he lifted my hips…” He gave her a mocking look. “What on earth have you been reading?”

“It's. A. Romance!” Every word punctuated by yet another grab for the book, her last one was successful. He had become too stunned to do anything.

Finally in possession of her book again, she whirled around and marched towards the stairs leaving him standing in the middle of the bookstore. His dark curls ruffled from playing keep the book away from Y/N and his brown eyes glazed over, unseeing. His cheeks were just the tiniest bit flushed, a hint of pink dusting them. The Slytherin stood there like a statue, the world continuing to move.

After a minute, he followed behind her just in time to see her and Pansy walk out of the store arm in arm. He wondered if she had bought the book. The winter winds bit at his face when he finally exited the bookstore, two blobs of color walking towards Honeydukes.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve been here in ages.” Pansy exclaimed upon entering the famous candy shop. “My mother is always telling me not to have any candy.”

Y/N gave her an understanding look. Mrs. Parkinson had been a looming figure in her nightmares as a child. Her insistence on Pansy being the perfect child had made their home feel as cold as the Arctic, shivering at every draft, every glare thrown across the dinner table. The Parkinsons dealt in quiet fury and silent judgement.

“Well, you can have plenty of candy today.”

The Slytherin girl grinned. “I have wondered what some of these taste like. Is it true that Bertie’s Botts have every flavor? Is there really one that tastes like earwax?”

Y/N nodded. “There’s even one that tastes like vomit. Ron once got a furball flavored one. He kept on saying that Crookshanks must have had something to do with it.” She giggled at the memory of him spitting out the candy, running to the bathroom. The taste stayed for weeks according to him.

“Crookshanks?”

“Hermione’s cat.”

“Ah.” Pansy gave the box of Bertie’s a considering look, her fingertips barely touching the packaging as if it might bite her, “I think I’ll stick with chocolate frogs.”

She laughed, “Safe choice. Just make sure they don’t hop away!” Before walking over to the counter for a bag. The books in her satchel bumped her leg with each step. She was beginning to regret not asking them to be delivered to the castle.

The bell rang, signaling yet another child hellbent on a sugar rush big enough to put themselves into a coma.

“Mattheo!” Pansy voice rang out. So, not a kid wanting their weight in candy.

She turned around to see Pansy handing him a bag for candy while he shook his head.

“Come on, try it.”

He sighed but took the bag. All three of them wandered around, Pansy taking a little bit of everything and Riddle inspecting it all but taking very little. The other kids who were all very excitedly yelling and having fun quieted when he got near, parting to give him room. Every last one of them.

Once they all had paid, they walked out of the store, the volume and energy returning as it became clear he was leaving. She wondered if it was the parents or if the kids all simply knew. Was it him they were scared of? Or his father’s image?

The walk back to the castle was much faster, the time accelerated by a discussion on how much they all disliked Professor Binns’ History of Magic class. The material itself was interesting but the class was boring.

“I can’t believe they’re making you take it all over again.” She shook her head. The only thing that got her through that class was Hermione.

“That’s what he gets for skipping and always getting detention.”
Riddle shrugged. “I’m no worse than Theo.”

Pansy laughed. “That’s not true and you know it. Unlike you, he actually passes his classes.”

“I pass my classes!”

“So you’re retaking History of Magic for shits and giggles?”

He elbowed her in the side. “Enough about school.”

“Fine, then let’s talk about how you are one detention away from being cut from the team.”

“Seriously?” Y/N asked. She knew he got detention a lot but was he actually at the limit for being cut Quidditch? Hermione had looked up the rule last year before Umbridge had taken matters into her own hands and it had been something like no more than ten detentions.

“Yeah.” His mouth curled into a scowl, his eyes darkening. “Snape gave me a warning yesterday. Apparently he will have no choice but to give my spot to some ‘promising’ third year if I keep this up.”

“Hmm, maybe you should actually start behaving then.”

“What, me? Behave?” He gasped, “Mischief is my middle name.”

Pansy snorted. “I thought it was Cyrus.”

He glared at her, “Shut. It.”

Y/N laughed, “Mattheo Cyrus Riddle?”

Riddle groaned, head tossed back in frustration. His forehead drawn tight, eyes shut. “My mother was obsessed with me having a middle name that followed the Black family tradition. Cyrus just happened to be her choice.”

“But Cyrus? Of all the star names she could have chosen she went with Cyrus?”

“And it has haunted me ever since.”

Pansy clapped her hands together, “Do the others know?”

“Draco and Theo do, but no one else.” He leveled her with a glare, his brown eyes turned to stone. Through gritted teeth he said, “And it will stay that way.”

She shifted backwards, breaking eye contact. Y/N kept walking, her bag pulling her left shoulder down. Sighing, she switched it over to the right shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief. While the two Slytherins kept walking beside her in silence, she rotated her left shoulder, the pain slowly vanishing.

A faint silver mist lifted from her lips with each breath. The cold air caused her lips to dry. Snow fell gently on her hair and lashes, blocking her sight. Lifting out a gloved hand, Y/N watched in fascination as little snowflakes softly landed on the wool fibers. The delicate designs, each different from the other, were stunning. She let out a soft puff of air in shock when her other hand was yanked, pulling her away from where she had been standing. Tearing her hand from his, she continued to walk alongside them, not meeting his gaze. Instead she pondered her plans for the next few days. Ice skating sounded fun but it would be dangerous to go alone. One crack in the ice and then she would be plunged into its icy depths.

“Hey Pans, would you want to go ice skating tomorrow?”

Her friend glanced over at her, smiling, “Sure! I haven’t gone in ages.”

“Really? We used to go all the time as kids?”

She shrugged, “We stopped.”

Y/N nodded to herself, images of them as kids skating over ice dancing in her memory.

“I’ve never been.” Riddle said.

Both girls gasped, exchanging looks before saying, “What?”

“How is that even possible?” Y/N asked.

“Draco’s parents were more focused on keeping me hidden. When I was eventually sent to live with Theo and his family, they lived in Italy so there wasn’t any place to go.” He lowered his voice, muttering more to himself, “Not that his father ever would have allowed it.”

“You should come with us.” Pansy said, “If that’s okay?”

“I’m sure Y/N would rather walk over burning coals, right princess?”

She gave him a disgruntled look before shrugging, “Sure, why not?”

A startled pair of brown eyes blinked at her in shock. She was just as taken aback by her own words.

The front door of the castle was now only a few steps away, the towers looming over them. Snow fell on them, the faint dusting sparkling in his hair.

“See you.” She pushed open the door, ignoring Peeves and his arsenal of water balloons, ready to douse the children already shivering from the cold. One of them went splat right behind her, just barely missing her.

Y/N was ready for a nice cold bath and some dinner.

Chapter Text

If the Black Lake was beautiful in the warmer seasons then it was downright breathtaking in the wintertime. It was that thought that swirled around in Y/N’s mind as she stared out over the icy surface, reflecting the shifting clouds and the looming mountains that dissuaded any hikers from straying too far from the trodden path. The sky was bone white with glimpses of blue from between the clouds. Sunlight was filtering through the cracks.

One lesser known fact about the Black Lake was that the boathouse contained an infinite supply of ice skates. Pansy had said that the two of them would meet her there before heading over to the lake.

How on Earth had she let herself be convinced into saying it was okay for him to tag along? No, she knew why. Despite not liking him, he was friends with Pansy and who was she to tell her that he couldn’t come? Besides, she couldn’t forget her objective. Regardless of her hatred for him, she was relying on his fascination with aggravating her constantly. It felt like wherever she looked, there he was whether it was in class, at meals, or worse, past curfew. In the past month she had seen him more than she had in her entire five years at Hogwarts. If she didn’t know better she would have thought he was following her. That was ridiculous.

A knock at the doorway rippled through the wooden structure. She turned to see a familiar smirk.

The first words out of both of their mouths was, “Where’s Pansy?”

“I thought she was walking over with you?” Y/N said.

He shook his head, “She told me she was heading over early with you!”

They both stood there, silent, glaring at each other but really mentally throttling Pansy Parkinson who, at this very moment, was probably nice and cozy back in the Slytherin common room.

She sighed, “Fine, well there’s no point in staying, we might as well head back to the castle then.”

He nodded, not meeting her gaze. “Unless, I mean we’re already here?”

“You still want to skate?” She asked, brows raised so high they nearly disappeared behind her hair.

“Why not? I mean, come on, we already walked over here. Might as well get something out of it.”

Y/N grew silent, staring at him to the point it felt uncomfortable. Sensing her hesitance, he quickly backtracked. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

She waved him off, “No, no, it’s fine.” Ignoring the way her voice cracked, she continued, “Let’s get you some skates and then head out.”

“Your enthusiasm is contagious.” He deadpanned.

“Just get some skates.”

“Yes, ma’am!” He saluted her with his gloved hand. Somehow he still managed to make it look attractive. Goddamn it all!

With skates acquired they trudged outside to the dock. Brushing off a bench, they both sat down, unlaced their shoes, and put on their skates. Carefully making her way to the edge of the dock, she gently placed one foot onto the ice, testing it before putting her full weight on it. The ice was fairly thick around the edges of the lake, going almost the entire way down. It wasn’t until you got closer to the middle that it got dangerously close to cracking under the pressure but they weren’t going out that far. Not his first time.

Standing fully on the ice, she turned around to help him. Watching as he shuffled through the snow, holding onto the bench’s ledge with one hand and waving off her outstretched hand in his other and stepped onto the icy surface.

“Stubborn ass. Come on. You got this.” She muttered, more meant as encouragement for herself than him. “There you go.”

Once he was fully on the ice he began to wobble, grabbing for her as he tumbled onto his back on the ice. The oxygen trapped in his lungs flew out in a puff of air.

She giggled as she helped him back to his feet.

“It’s not funny!” He said, brushing off the bits of snow that had fallen on him.

Y/N attempted to be serious but couldn’t help herself. “It was a little funny.”

He rolled his eyes. “Just show me how you do it.”

Letting go of his hands so he could take a seat on the dock, she pushed further away so she could demonstrate. It was always hardest to skate when you hadn’t done so in a while, her muscle memory reawakening with every glide of her feet. Memories flooded her head of skating on the lake behind her house as a child. Her parents holding her hands as she took her first tentative steps on the ice. After she got over her fear she became unstoppable. The ice and her were inseparable.

She turned around and skated back over to the dock where he sat in his all black outfit. The only color was a Slytherin scarf wrapped around his neck. Even his chocolate curls that she had a very unhealthy obsession with were stuffed under his coat’s hood.

“Your turn.” He looked up at her, wide-eyed. She just raised an eyebrow, wondering if he would accept her silent challenge.

Shoving off of the deck he started to take small steps. His every move was shaky but he kept going. When he nearly slipped again, he grabbed for the deck again, his arms going through the foot of snow before he reached the wood.

“Do you want some help?” She asked, unable to keep herself from grinning.

“No.” He replied through gritted teeth. “I don’t need your help.”

“Are you sure?”

He pushed away, turning around to look at her, insisting, “I’ve got this.” before skating away from her. His form was clumsy but he somehow managed to stay upright. She watched in amusement, skating behind him but giving him a wide berth in case he fell again. The Slytherin quickly gained speed, accelerating straight towards the middle of the lake.

“Wait! Riddle! Slow down!”

“I can’t!”

“Fuck!” She swore as she took off in pursuit. The surface of the ice got dangerously thin towards the middle. Any experienced skater knew to avoid it but he wasn’t a skater. The blades of her skates cut through the ice, shavings flying up behind her from how fast she was going. She was only ten feet away from him when the ice beneath him started to crack. Then, as if the world slowed down, she watched as the cracks below him got bigger and bigger, water bubbling up making the ice even more slippery. Y/N saw the exact moment he lost his balance and fell. But this time he didn’t have anything to grab hold of. His hands grasped at air as he fell and the ice opened up under him, plunging him into their icy depths.

“Riddle!” Her voice was drowned out by the water rushing into his ears as struggled to keep his head above the surface.

Dropping to her stomach, she slid across to him. Hand outstretched, she tried to grab his hand despite his thrashing against the water trying to pull him under. Her heart raced, the thumping echoed through her eardrums, drowning out the noise. Her hand grabbed onto one of his fingers just as he slipped even further into the lake, her fingers grabbing at air.

A strangled cry erupted from her throat, “Mattheo!”

In her desperation she pulled off her coat and was about to dive in after him when her fingers brushed against her wand. It had completely slipped her mind that she could just use magic.

“Idiot!” she berated herself before casting a spell to lift him from the water. His body shot out of the water and hovered a few feet above the ice. Gently, she slowly moved him away from the cracks to a place where he could lie down on the ice safely. He lay there, unmoving. His skin was pale to the point he nearly looked blue. His dark brown curls were matted against his forehead, his cheeks a bright pink from the cold. Recalling a lesson from her childhood she attempted chest compressions, unsure of what she was doing. Water flew out of his mouth causing him to erupt in a bout of coughing.

The Slytherin shifted to his side to rid himself of the water in his lungs.

One of her gloved hands rubbed his back. Once he rolled over onto his back again, sighing, she followed suit. The two of them laid on the ice without a sound. With every exhale she watched the air leave her lungs and float up into oblivion, blending in with the clouds. Laughter burbled up through her throat, unable to be stopped.

He huffed a laugh. “I nearly die and you’re laughing?” He asked incredulously.

“It’s the adrenaline. Apologies.” Her voice, high and squeaky from trying to staunch her laughter.

“Well it’s my fault for not knowing how to skate nor swim. What did I expect?” Riddle laughed.

“You’re joking right?”

He sighed, dragging a hand over his face. “I wish.”

His confession sobered her. This whole time she hadn’t given a thought to what his childhood must have been like as Voldemort’s son. His very existence was dangerous. A normal childhood must have been out of the cards for him growing up.

“Was it hard? Knowing who your parents were?”

“You could say. I thought my father was dead until last year. My…”, He gulped, “Mother was in Azkaban so I didn’t exactly grow up with the family most kids do. Any former Death Eaters weren’t allowed to voice their support for him so I was told the bad sides, how terrible he was. The people he killed. The lives he was responsible for ruining.” His voice cracked, causing him to suck in a breath to steady himself, “I wasn’t his heir in their eyes. I was a liability. By giving me a home, Draco’s family risked a lot.” His voice lowered to a whisper, like he couldn’t believe he was saying the words aloud, “I always felt guilty for wanting to meet them.”

She nodded. “They’re your parents. Of course you were curious about them.”

He coughed, looking behind them at the castle looming in the distance, “We should go back. I wouldn’t want to fall in again.”

“Shit. You must be freezing from the water!” Y/N exclaimed, sitting upright. She scrambled to her feet before helping him up. Keeping a hold on his arm, she guided them both safely back to the dock where they changed back into their boots. With a wave of her wand the skates disappeared.

When they got back to the castle they headed down to the Slytherin common room. The doors opened to reveal a perfectly healthy Pansy sitting on the couch next to Theodore.

“Well well well.” Mattheo drawled, walking down the stairs. “Look who we have here.”

Pansy at least had the good grace to look sorry. “I feel better now.” She lightly slapped Theodore’s arm, “All thanks to nurse Theo.”

Looking very much like he didn’t want to be here, he just shook his head. Mattheo took a seat on the couch, right next to his best friend. “Nurse Theo eh? You mind taking a look?”

“Oh bugger off.”

Y/N piped up from where she had taken a seat next to Pansy. “Actually you might want to take a look at his head. He hit it pretty hard on the ice.”

Mattheo lifted a hand to the back of his head, hissing when he touched the wound. Taking his shaking hand away, he brought it forward to look at it. The skin was now covered in the deep red of his blood.

“Merlin! What happened?” Pansy exclaimed.

Y/N averted her eyes from the boys. “He went out on ice that turned out to be too thin and fell through. I tried to rescue him but he hit his head pretty badly when the ice broke.”

“Yeah, she tried to kill me out there.” He joked.

“Hey! I could have left you there. No one would have found the body.” She shot back.

He gave her a lopsided smile. “True.”

Pansy looked back and forth between them, eyes narrowing on Mattheo who simply turned to Theo who waved his wand over the back of Mattheo’s head. “There. All better.”

“Thanks.” Mattheo stood up, walking out of the room.

Y/N’s gaze cut away from him. “I should probably take this stuff off.” She said, waving at her jacket. Lifting the heavy coat off, she then unwound her scarf and her knit hat. She would have taken off her boots as well but the Slytherin common room didn’t exactly come across as a place where you could walk around in socks.

“You can take your boots off too, if you want.” Pansy murmured. Taking her word for it, Y/N unlaced her boots, placed them off to the side, and shifted to look at Pansy and Theo. When neither spoke, she glanced at the room around her. She hadn’t been down here in a bit but it remained unchanged. The only difference was the lack of people. Most Slytherins didn’t hang out in their common room, favoring their rooms or other areas of the castle. With how cold and unfeeling the room she felt, she understood why. The one and only time that this room had been full of people had been that party.

The silence that hung heavy between the three of them was interrupted by his return. He sat down on the table in front of the couch, facing them. His clothes were completely changed, his winter outfit replaced by a pair of jeans and a shirt. She had never seen him wearing anything so casual for lack of a better word for it. But then, she normally hung out with him after class when he was still in uniform. His hair was a complete mess thanks to the hat but he somehow still made it look good.

He opened his mouth to say something, a mischievous glint in his dark eyes.

“Draco!” Pansy interrupted.

Sure enough, there he stood. If the book in his hand was any indication, he was most likely just in the library. He stood by the table, his eyes landing on her sock clad feet on the couch. His eyes narrowed to slits. If looks could kill, her feet would be burnt to a crisp. Uneasy under his gaze, she slid them off the couch.

“What is she doing here?” He asked, his questioning eyes shifting over towards the other three who simply shrugged. At their silence he sighed, the bags under his eyes made even more prominent by his pale face.

“I should go.”

Pansy’s hand shot out, grabbing her arm, “No, stay. Don’t let him get to you.” She said, glaring at the blond.

Y/N waved her off. “It’s fine, I need to grab some dry clothes anyway.”

Her friend nodded. “I’ll see you later?”

“Sure.” Y/N stood up, putting her boots back on and grabbing her coat.

On her way out of the common room she brushed past Draco, their eyes meeting for a split second before his lip curled into a sneer. No words were exchanged but it was clear. She was not welcome.

She passed through the door, out of their eyesight but apparently not out of earshot. “Keep her out of here, Pansy. It’s dangerous. She’s one of them.” Draco spat out, his voice carrying more than he probably wanted to.

Y/N pressed her back to the wall, her ear against the door.

“She’s my friend!” She smiled at Pansy’s words.

“So am I, or have you forgotten?” Came the response.

A much quieter response, so faint she could barely hear it, came. “No.”

“I don’t want to see her in here again. What you do in your free time is your business but it’s too risky. She’s friends with Potter and his lot, who knows what she is reporting back to them?”

“She wouldn’t do that!”

“You really are naive.” Draco said in a disgusted tone.

A different voice spoke up, one with a faint Italian accent. “Don’t call her that.”

“I don’t need you standing up for me!” Came Pansy’s affronted response.

“If you would just tell us what you’ve been so preoccupied with…” Theodore said.

Draco cut him off. “I can’t.”

“Then how are we supposed to help you?”

Mattheo finally spoke up, his voice darker, more ominous than she had ever heard it, “Outside help is forbidden.”

A loud sigh echoed through the wall, “But surely there is something we can do?”

“You keep her out of here.” Draco spat.

Pansy piped up, “You’re impossible. You can’t just tell us what to do with zero explanation.”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

Footsteps echoed, getting quieter. Sensing that it was probably best, she walked back up to her room so she could actually change.

When she reached her room she found a letter perched on her pillow, no owl to be seen. The hair on her arm raised, the cold suddenly seeping into her despite her thick clothes. Shaking it off, she quickly rid herself of her warm layers in favor of her favorite sweater and a pair of jeans that had been buried beneath her school robes. She dragged her brush through her hair, quickly detangling the mess that had once been a neat braid tucked under her hat.

Her hand shook as she finally plucked the letter off of her pillow and opened it. There, in a familiar script, was a message from Professor Dumbledore requesting an update at the end of winter break. All of the past few weeks suddenly washed over her, drowning her in the lack of information that she had managed to glean. She sincerely doubted he would be interested in the Dark Lord’s son’s music preferences. But Draco. Draco had something to hide, something he was scared she might find out. She couldn’t disobey Dumbledore’s direct orders though. Not even she was that stupid. Y/N wondered if what Harry had said was true. Was Draco Malfoy truly a Death Eater? And if so, why wasn’t he telling his friends? The blond Slytherin was a mystery that she desperately wanted to unveil but she couldn’t let her curiosity distract her from the true prize. If Malfoy of all people had been tasked with something by Voldemort then surely his son must be in on it. He had to be.

Her future relied on it.

Chapter Text

The air was buzzing with anticipation as the handful of students who remained on the grounds counted down the days until their friends and classmates returned. The new year had passed the night before with little celebration. Snow continued to fall, coating the castle and the grounds in a thick white blanket. Anyone who dared to venture outside for some wintery fun was bundled in layers.

Shouts echoed through the air, some fourth year boys throwing snowballs around while chasing each other through the courtyard. From high above Y/N watched over them, a sinking feeling in her stomach. Her friends would be returning soon. This entire break had felt like an escape from everything, including her mission, but now it would be time for the lies to return. She wondered if perhaps it would be better to simply say she had become friends with Pansy again so it didn’t look suspicious whenever she snuck off. That train of thought was quickly cut off by the sound of Dumbledore in her head telling her that it was of the utmost importance that she never tell her friends.

She picked up her quill, dipping it in ink. One of the many assignments over break was due in two days. Most of the homework she had already finished out of pure boredom but she still had a short essay to write on a fantastical creature of her choice. After some deliberation she had chosen to write about an Occamy. They were a serpentine creature that was a cross between a bird and a serpent. Occamies were some of the most beautiful creatures, at least according to the description. They supposedly could grow to fifteen feet long and their eggs were made of pure silver. The lack of information gave some freedom for her essay, allowing her to speculate more than she could have with other creatures.

As the sun descended once more, shadows were cast across the parchment. With a quick lumos the room lit up. After a good fifteen minutes she sighed, setting down her quill. She had written four sentences. Normally she would have put it off until the day before but everyone was returning early in the day tomorrow. Knowing her friends there was a very high chance Ron hadn’t even started any assignments and Harry had barely started.

Despite it all, she pushed off of the table.

The Great Hall was sparsely filled, the Christmas decorations falling short of concealing just how empty it was. The tree itself towered over all who ate there, Professor Flitwick’s ornaments glinting in the firelight while magical snow fell from the ceiling.

Y/N sat at the Slytherin table with Pansy, Mattheo, Theodore, and a handful of seventh years she didn’t really know. Their conversation was lively despite the pauses to eat their dinner. The feasts over holidays were always delicious. The sun’s dying light refracted through the windows of the Great Hall, casting streams of colored light.

“You want to do something after dinner?” Pansy asked, aware that it was the last true day of break.

Y/N took a bite of food, pausing to think for a moment, before saying, “Actually I was thinking I might go up to the Astronomy tower to watch the sunset.”

“Oh, okay.” Her friend nodded, turning her attention to Theodore who sat there quietly, deep in thought, “Theo, are you busy tonight?”

“No?”

“Good, you’re helping me with something.”

The Italian sighed but didn’t protest. Y/N glanced between them before standing up, dinner finished. “See you all later!”

As she began to walk away she missed Pansy shoving Mattheo, pointedly looking at Y/N. He rolled his eyes, “You’re a meddler.”

“You love that about me.” She replied with an impish grin, “And I didn’t hear you complaining earlier.”

The Slytherin boy took her unsubtle hint and jogged to catch up with Y/N.

----------------------------------

Darkness fell over the castle, the last remnants of light slipped below the horizon, casting a shadow over the castle and all who lived there. In a tower, far away from the rest of the castle’s inhabitants, sat two figures whose outline was illuminated by the moon. What had started as an escape from dinner to watch the sunset had led to something else. Something quiet and unassuming yet tangible.

Y/N gazed out across the Great Lawn, seeing nothing but black. She had one knee pulled to her chest, the other dangling into the void. Her companion sat beside her, his feet also dangling over the edge of the stone. Mattheo leaned on the metal railing, his eyes unfocused, searching.

“Do you ever wonder what your life would look like if you weren’t here?”

He glanced over at her. “Hm?”

“Like if you weren’t a wizard and you had no idea any of this existed.”

Mattheo paused before he shook his head. “There’s no point.”

“I think I’d like not being a witch.”

He snorted. “And not be able to do magic? Or play quidditch?”

Y/N laughed, “I’m not saying I wouldn’t miss it. “ She bumped her shoulder against his, the contact leaving her arm tingling despite the cold and their many layers. “But not having to deal with all of this? You know, the war.”

“I’m sorry, there’s a war going on right now? Quick, get your wand out!”

She sighed, “You know what I mean. Everyone is terrified, families are going into hiding.” She gulped, “Sometimes I just want to imagine a world without this.”

Mattheo leaned back onto his elbows, her back turned to his face. “I know what you mean.”

“Yeah, I guess you do.”

They both fell silent. Y/N’s mind was still focused on her parents. She missed them, now more than ever. Every Christmas she would go home and celebrate. Of course she would usually stay with the Weasleys for part of the break but her favorite part of the holidays was making hot cocoa and watching old Christmas movies. She and her mom would bake cookies while dancing to Christmas tunes that her dad would always say were overplayed but still mouthed the words, a grin on his face. Just the three of them, a happy family.

Work at the Ministry always got busy around holidays but they always found time and now she didn’t know when or if she’d see them again. Tears began to gather in the corners of her eyes. Just as one was about to roll down her face she wiped it away, turning to look out at the sky, studiously avoiding Mattheo’s gaze. Her body shook with the force of containing her sobs, her eyes screwed shut as if that would stop the tears from falling. The last thing she needed was to be crying in front of him.

“Hey.” A hand brushed against her back, Mattheo sitting up. “Are you okay?”

Y/N turned further away from him but it was of no use. His hand soothingly rubbed circles on her back, the sensation calming her. She hesitantly turned back around, careful not to make eye contact.

His other hand gently reached up to her cheek, wiping her tears away. “Hey, come here.” He folded her into his side, his arms wrapping around her shoulders as she buried her face in his shoulder. She gasped for air as he softly rubbed up and down her spine. “It’s okay. You’re okay, I’ve got you.” As her breathing eased she slowly realized just how close they were. Her nose was buried into his jacket, the faint scent of leather and what she presumed was cologne were oddly comforting.

His chin rested on top of her head, both arms wrapped tightly around her shivering body. After a few minutes she pushed off of him, wiping at her eyes.

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be.”

Y/N finally looked up at him. “Thanks.” She murmured.

He shrugged before leaning back onto his elbow while she distracted herself by gazing up at the sky. With the sun gone the stars had become visible, shining brightly thanks to the lack of industrial activity polluting the sky. She searched among the constellations for the few she was familiar with. Once, when she and Draco were kids he told her all about the different stars and constellations his family was named after. He had been so excited to share what his mother had shown him. A small smile formed on her face at the memory before fading away again.

“It’s so beautiful.” She murmured, eyes tracking the movements of the stars against the backdrop of the night sky.

Mattheo’s voice echoed from behind her, a rough quality to it, “Yes, it is.”

Y/N glanced over her shoulder, his eyes already looking at hers. Her breath caught in her throat at the familiar twinkle in his eyes. The ever present infuriating smirk was replaced by a soft smile. He looked less like a fallen angel and more like a boy she liked. She wasn’t quite sure who moved first but she suddenly was so close to his face that she could see every crinkle by his eyes, the hint of warmth in his brown eyes. The faint scar on his nose bridge, bone white against his skin.

“The stars.”

He leaned in, “Those too.” His hand came to rest on her knee, his body leaning closer to hers. Their lips brushed against each other, light as a butterfly wing. She sucked in a sharp breath, snapping out of it.

“We can’t do this.”

His face turned to stone, every remnant of longing vanishing. “Right, of course.” He pulled away like she had struck him and stood up. Y/N gazed up at him, an apology on her tongue but he turned away, walking away from her. As she watched him leave her on the top of that tower only one thought echoed in her head.

What have I done?