𝐀𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐲𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 (𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘳.𝘫. 𝘭𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘯)

ch8; the astronomy tower

It was 12 o'clock, the full moon shining brightly in the sky. Marina sat before the rails, sighing as she took in the elysian view before her. She loved watching the stars, getting lost in thought while staring at the constellations.

She felt a presence sit beside her, so she turned to her side. Francisco gave her a tired smile as he scooted a bit closer, putting his arm around her.

Sighing, she leaned her head on his shoulder as she broke the silence,

"Have you ever fallen in love?"

"Once" He sucked in a deep breath. He looked down at Marina's head, but she continued to stare at the sky. "It hurt like hell"

Letting out a soft giggle, Marina answered, "I know, loving sucks. I wouldn't even wish this kind of pain on my biggest enemy."

They both became silent again. It was a comfortable silence, both finding the comfort they had needed in the other.

"So, what happened in the Great Hall?", he asked after a few minutes.

"Well, I got reminded that my heartache will be forever."

He chuckled slightly, "Any way to put that less vague?"

"Fine, but you have to promise you won't tell anyone." She said without breaking her gaze away from the sky.

"I kind of fell in love with our new teacher.."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"The new DADA teacher, I kind of got together a few times with him over summer. I had no idea he would be our new teacher, it was just supposed to be a little fun together."

"But you fell for him.."

"Badly"

Francisco sighed, deep in thought. It was obviously a difficult situation. He looked down at her and started stroking her hair with his free hand, which caused her to look back at him.

"How about you talk to him about it, see his reaction. Maybe he'll feel the same, of course, you'll have to keep it a secret for the next year, but that shouldn't be a problem. And if he doesn't feel the same way, you'll move on. I know it seems difficult now, especially when he is going to be teaching us almost everyday, but I know you can do it. You are the strongest person I have ever met and I look up to you with so much admiration. Just know that I'll always be there for you."

Marina looked him in the eye, how did he do that? Make her feel so loved? He didn't even judge her when he heard that is was about their professor. She was scared of what was to come, but she knew it wouldn't be that bad since she had Francisco on her side. He made her feel safe, in the same way her brother always did. Nuzzling her head in his chest, she said "I love you"

Kissing her forehead, he responded with a smile "I love you too"

✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼

It was the next morning and Marina reluctantly sat up straight in her bed. If it were up to her, she would still be sleeping, missing all of their stupid classes, but sadly she had an annoyingly chipper best friend.

The radio was loudly playing a song by the Weird Sisters, Aurora put it extra loud to wake up her friend.

"Ugh, is this cat screeching really necessary at 7.30 in the morning?"

She grabbed her pillow, throwing it at Aurora, but her friend dodged it by running into the bathroom.

At safe distance, she answered "Yes, it it the first day of our last days, we need to make it special!"

"But does it have to be in the bloody morning??"

"Yes, now get ready. Oli is waiting for us to go to breakfast"

The girls were ready after 15 minutes and left their dorm, walking towards the common room. When they arrived, they found Oliver waiting for them by the portrait hole, but when they were about to leave, Marina noticed Harry sitting alone in front of the fireplace.

"Uhh, you guys go ahead, I'll be right there"

And with that she walked towards Harry and sat down next to him on the floor.

"Hey"

"Hey.."

"Are you alright, Harry? Had a bad night?"

"No, just thinking"

"About what?"

"I don't know, I just weird to be back I guess"

Marina chuckled, "I can only imagine, you went from a muggle home to a wizard hostel to a giant castle. That's quite the change in scenery"

Harry cracked a smile, which made Marina feel proud of herself for making him feel a little bit better.

She softly nudged him with her shoulder as she said, "Want to go get breakfast together?"

"C-can I get a hug first?"

A mischievous smile crossed her face,

"You don't have to ask twice" And with that she jumped on him, hugging and tickling him like no tomorrow, both their laughters filling the entire room.

When the two arrived, the first thing they noticed was the argument between Hermione and Ron. Apparently, Ron was unhappy with Hermione's new cat, afraid it might hurt his rat or something. Not that Marina cared or anything.

She and Harry sat down next to each other, in front of the arguing couple and Aurora and next to Oliver. When Hermione and Ron noticed their best friend, they put their discussion on hold to converse with their friend.

Seeing that Harry was deep in conversation with his friends, Marina had turned to her own friends, talking about weird dream she had last night. After a few minutes, she looked to her right, only to see Harry with an empty plate, deep in conversation. Rolling her eyes, she quickly grabbed some food and dumped it on his plate.

"Here, eat"

He gave her a sweet smile and started nibbling on his his food.

Marina turned back to her friends, when they were interrupted by McGonagall handing them their schedules. She smiled, her first class today was Arithmancy, her favorite. Neither of her friends took the class, but she didn't mind. She was always too focused on the lecture to talk to anyone anyway.

Oliver groaned beside her, "Ugh, I have not one free period today."

"You're such a big baby sometimes." Aurora giggled as she threw a piece of bread at him, "Oh, look guys, we have Defense today. I'm excited to see if professor Lupin actually knows what he is doing, unlike that git Lockhart."

Upon hearing Remus' name, Marina shot up. She quickly looked at her own schedule and saw that Aurora was right; 13:30, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Crap, she wasn't ready for that. To have to see him in class and pretend like she didn't know him, when in fact, she knew all of him very well.

With a lump in her throat, she drank her last bit of coffee and got up. On her way to get ready for her first class, while mentally preparing for Remus' lesson.