dremiosa | dnf hogwarts au

chapter four

"clay? wake up."

madame aphmau shook clay's shoulders. clay was sleeping, his head in george's lap and george's hands intertwined in clay's messy blonde hair. "yeah?" clay murmured, burying his head in george's chest. "it's breakfast time right now. you and george need to go to your classes. i believe he is well enough, but i have made a special note that he is tagging on to your classes as a slytherin student. he is now part of your house and it's your job to protect him because of what happened. he'll be staying in your room, replacing dave who will be staying with his father for the rest of the year." clay was overrun with joy. george was now part of his house and would be staying with him in his room. "really? that's great!" clay grinned. "he'll probably be transferred back to ravenclaw if the issue is resolved however." clay frowned once more. but he tried to live in the moment instead of thinking about what was to come.

"georgie? wake up." clay whispered in george's ear. george's eyes flew open at clay's words, cheeks already flushed. clay figured he would make the flush worse by messing with him some more. "come on love, let's go get breakfast." he watched as his cheeks deepened in color as clay got up from his chair and straightened his robes. george got up behind him, straightening his tie as they walked out of the infirmary. "hey clay!" nick came running over when they got to the great hall. "ew, why are you with him." nick scoffed. "don't say that." clay snapped, getting in nick's face defensively. "okay chill dude, my bad." nick frowned. "come on george." clay took george's hand and led him over to the tables. he saw niki sitting with a couple other hufflepuffs and led him over there. "hi niki!" clay grinned at her, sitting next to her. george peered over clay's shoulder, slightly jealous of the interaction between clay and niki.

"hello! is this your boyfriend?" niki asked clay, genuinely questioning if george was dating clay. clay choked on his pumpkin juice. "we're not dating." clay said. george frowned but turned back to his food, moving it around with his fork. "georgie..eat. it's almost time for class." clay whispered to george after he had finished his food. "not hungry." george murmured. "please? just a little bit?" clay asked, taking george's hand in his and rubbing his thumbs along his knuckles. "fine." george frowned, taking a couple little bites of his food. "you're doing so well, georgie." clay smiled at him. it was like they had known eachother for so long, even though they only had their first conversation the previous night. niki smiled at the little interaction between the two, continuing to talk to her friend floris. "they're really cute." niki whispered to him, finishing her pumpkin juice. "it's time for class, georgie." clay said, taking george's hand and helping him up from the table.

clay intertwined his hand in george's as they walked. "is this okay?" clay asked him. george nodded and they continued walking, their first class was potions with professor dan. george stopped before entering the classroom. "georgie, are you alright?" clay asked. rubbing his thumb in a circular motion on his knuckles. "yeah, let's just go in." george ripped his hand out of clay's, leaving clay feeling a bit hurt but he followed george into the classroom. it was a gryffindor and slytherin class, so clay would be with nick. a group of gryffindors huddled together. "nick?" clay asked, sitting next to them with george by his side. "'sup dream." nick said, seemingly forgetting about their little interaction at breakfast. "let me introduce you to everyone." nick said. "karl," he pointed to a brown-haired boy with fluffy hair that was right next to him. "grayson, or purpled." he pointed to a blonde boy next to karl. "quackity," he pointed to a boy with a beanie covering his hair. "skeppy," he pointed to a boy with messy black hair. "tommy," he pointed to a boy with messy blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes. "andrew, and jack." he pointed to two boys, one with short brown hair and one with a hat covering his hair. "lastly, ranboo." he pointed to a boy with split-dyed hair, black and white.

"hey." clay said. he felt george's breathing accelerating being in a classroom with all of the people. clay put his hand on his knee to try and calm him down, maybe the touch would be comforting. george seemed to calm down a little bit, and professor dan walked into the room. clay removed his hand to get out a piece of parchment and dip his pen in some ink. "welcome to potions." professor dan smiled. alyssa bursted through the door late. "i am so sorry." alyssa said. she walked over and sat right between clay and george. clay parted his lips to say something to alyssa, but professor dan started talking again. "today we are going to learn about the love potion." alyssa's head perked up at the mention of love potion. george slumped his head in his hands, and all clay wanted to do was comfort him.

the class felt like so long because all he could feel was alyssa next to him, and not george's warmth. clay frowned but continued taking notes because he saw george not paying attention, he would study with george later because there would probably be a test on the subjects eventually. all he could think about until the class ended was george, and why alyssa sat next to him. their next class was charms, so they had to walk all the way up to the hallway near the ravenclaw tower. "come on georgie." clay whispered to him, picking up his stuff for him and walking upstairs with him. clay was of course curious on what had happened and why george was the way he was, but he was scared to ask as george was possibly unstable, mentally. "how has your day been so far georgie?" clay asked george. "fine, dream." george said bitterly, why was george upset with him? "did i do something?" clay asked him, frowning. "no. your girlfriend did." george muttered. "girlfriend?" clay asked, choking on his words a bit. "yeah, the girl that sat next to you, dream." he spat his name with a fire behind his tone. "george, she's not my girlfriend. we're only in first year." clay frowned. why was george upset about alyssa sitting in between them? they were only first years they shouldn't be focused on relationships. everything they were doing was purely friendship based. right?

"georgie. we're not dating. honestly, you're basically my only friend here aside from nick. i've only talked to alyssa a couple times. george. i promise you, she's not my girlfriend and i don't like her, okay georgie?" clay said, taking george's hand in his. purely a friendly gesture. "okay, clay. sorry." he said, his voice getting softer. "no. don't apologize." clay said, pulling george into a hug. the hug was really warm, and clay held the shorter boy closer to his chest, not wanting to let go. "georgie, we need to get to class. people are staring." clay said. "okay..." george frowned, disappointed but he continued to walk. they walked into the charms classroom where professor lizzie stood. "hello class! today we're learning about the levitation spell. wingardium leviosa." professor lizzie said. clay and george sat next to eachother, george glued to clay's side. clay didn't mind it though, they were just best friends.

"georgie, do you know how to do it?" clay whispered to george. george shook his head, he was getting frustrated. "calm down, and repeat after me." clay said. "wingardium leviosa." clay said. "wingardium..." george started, but got frustrated at his inability to pronounce the word and gave up. clay grabbed george's arm lightly and angled his wand at the right angle to be able to lift up the feather. "wingardium leviosa." clay said, and george repeated after him. the feather went up into the air, and flew back down on his desk once he had lost his concentration. "you did it georgie!" clay grinned. "i...did it." george said, grin plastered on his face. "class dismissed." professor lizzie said about ten minutes after george had been able to complete the spell. clay picked up both of their books and they headed to their last class of the day, herbology. "come on, we have to get to professor stampy's class."

little did clay know, something was brewing.

—

"keep quiet," a voice warned. "this is going to cost us if we get found out, so just be quiet." a male voice warned. "why are we even doing this?" another voice asked. "that boy that he's protecting, that boy is special we can all feel the powers he possesses, yeah?" another voice chimed in. "is that why he gets bullied, and like everyone avoids him?" a female voice asked, her voice calmer and more understanding than her male counterparts. "the only one is oblivious is the one that's infatuated with him. the thing is, his parents are quite strong wizards so he is obviously going to be like them. i saw him in charms class today." a higher-pitched male voice rang out. "we're giving each other code names, alright? we need to minimize the whispers and get close with him. at all costs." the deepest voice rang, getting an echo of nods from his crowd.

—

"clay, i don't wanna go to dinner." george whined. george was laying in clay's bed while clay did their homework for herbology class. "georgie, you need to eat. i promise they won't bully you anymore, you're safe with me." clay said, finishing up the last part of both of their papers. he spun around in his chair. "what if i go get the food and bring it here?" clay said, he figured they were allowed to do that since there was no rule against eating in the dorms. "okay." george said, rolling over onto his back and playing with his wand. "i'll be right back then." clay smiled at him, putting their homework papers away for the next time they had herbology class. clay walked in to the common room, saying hi to schlatt. he walked out of the common room to see wilbur, niki, dave, tommy, another boy and jack conversing in the hallway. "hey guys—" clay started, but the group dispersed before he could finish his sentence. "huh, weird."

—

"now that we're in the clear," the female looked around. "what should we call ourselves?"

"l'manberg."