𝐇𝐄𝐘, 𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐄 ʲᵃᵐᵉˢ ᵖᵒᵗᵗᵉʳ

two.

HEY, JUDE ;
chapter two.
——————
" i'm    going   to
kill you, potter. "

                JUDE HARDING started every morning more exhausted than the last. She would have expected to ignore her stress about the school year and pretend it didn't exist like she had done her entire life but it had only been two months into her fifth year and all she could hear anyone talk about was the O.W.L.S that would take place at the very end of their school year.

Jude wasn't exactly the smartest. She wasn't stupid and she had her strengths, but she'd always struggle with gaining her teachers approval, especially when they questioned her limited abilities. Normally, she'd call it quits after one failed assignment, which she had already passed by a lot, but with the constant reminder that one of the biggest exams of her life was right around the corner made her sick to her stomach for days on end and yet she didn't care enough to actually put in the effort.

Jude missed the Gryffindor parties that left her ill for days, and sneaking out of the castle simply to go sit under a tree with her friends and stare at the sky, hoping that Mcgonagall would be wandering the halls so they'd have a challenge on their way back. All the things she knew her mother would end her for doing. A part of her missed the disappointment in her mother's letters when she'd get caught for enjoying her time at Hogwarts whilst breaking every rule she possibly could. Jude missed making sure Meuriel Harding knew that she'd always be the exact opposite of what the old woman would have wanted.

Ever since Jude was a little girl, Meuriel had an image of her daughter that she tried her hardest to make a reality. She was strict and forward about how things in their house were done and how she wanted her only child to behave. Luckily, the family of wealthy Slytherin's had a large enough house that if Jude tried hard enough, she could get lost in it for days and finally catch a break from the monster she referred to as her mother. She could say she was fortunate enough to have a busy father so she would only have to deal with one demon at a time, but the lack of company also meant Jude was the only one around for Meuriel to complain to, which resulted in Judes rebellion against the woman that she'd spent so much time with but could never learn to love, though she could only assume the feeling was mutual.

"Your hair looks horrendous this morning, my dear friend."  The silence in the room was broken by Sirius, who stood at the end of the couch Jude had slept on every night since school had started, and every year before that.

"We have the same hair, moron." Jude groaned, sitting herself up on her elbows, her hair messily flying everywhere.

"Enough with the hostility," Sirius grinned, putting his arms up in defence, the sleeves of his black and red robes rolling up, "You should be thanking me for waking you. You're late."

Jude jumped up frantically, her legs getting tangled in the blanket she'd found in the trunk in her dorm room months before. "How late?"

Throwing the blanket off of her, she scrambled towards the stairs, throwing her belongings from the night before out of her path.  "Sirius answer me!"

"Well considering its 8:50 and classes start at 9:00... I'd say pretty late!" The boys tone was laced with amusement and if Jude wasn't already preoccupied with not getting detention with Mcgonagall her hands would be wrapped around Sirius' neck in that very moment.

"I hope you drop dead!" She screeched, disappearing up the stairs and around the corner to her dorm where she threw open the door to find that everyone had already left. Of course those assholes didn't even bother to wake me up.

Jude knew she couldn't be genuinely mad at Sirius considering every other person she knew walked right by her that morning with no intentions of warning her that she was going to be late, again.

"I expected this from James, but seriously, Remus?" She mumbled to herself as she threw on her robes and shoes, flying down the stairs into the common room once more to see that Sirius had disappeared, most likely to his first class— maybe even his dorm room to skip, but Jude didn't care enough to waste time and find out.

JUDE RAN through the halls, passing by people who had free time wishing she were one of them. She knew Mcgonagall was going to kill her considering that this was her 4th late of the semester so far and it was only October 18th. Transfiguration wasn't in any way her favourite class, but she couldn't risk another failing grade to add to the stress of her O.W.L.S.

Turning the corner into the hall, she violently opened the door to her first class, causing a disruption that led to a collective turn of heads. Jude furrowed her brows, staring at her classmates for their looks of annoyance as if they'd never been late to a lesson before. For a classroom shared with Hufflepuffs, their expressions were much too judgemental for her liking.

"Are you going to keep staring? Or are you going to take your seat, Ms. Harding?" Mcgonagall asked the girl, her expression resembling the one of amusement from Sirius minutes before.

Judes hair was knotted and her tie had been loosely placed around her neck, and her shoes hadn't been properly placed on her feet.

"Oh, right." Jude tried to hide her embarrassment as she took her spot next to James, behind Juliet and Rebekah who dropped their heads to keep themselves from laughing. Not just at Judes entrance, but appearance as well.

"I'm going to kill you, Potter." Jude whispered, leaning slightly to the side while keeping her eyes fixed on the front of the class to ensure Mcgonagall wouldn't look in her general direction.

"You looked peaceful." He grinned, "Though, I was tempted to put your hand in a glass of water."

"Now I'm tempted to turn you into a toad." Jude spat, biting the inside of her cheek in annoyance.

"You should," Juliet whispered, leaning back far enough that the pair could hear her, "He'd probably look better that way."

James leaned forwards, smacking Juliet on the side of the head with a goofy smile still on his face.

"I say this with love, Jude— actually I don't, but how are you supposed to turn James into a toad when you have an F in this class?" Rebekah asked, joining in on the conversation while trying to contain her grin, earning a snap from Juliet who directed her attention back towards the front of the class.

James cackled, covering his mouth with his hand as he looked down at his paper in an attempt to conceal his obvious amusement. Jude finally snapped her head to look at the boy who was enjoying himself too much for her to not react. She raised her foot, slamming it down forcefully on James' leg, watching him flinch and move to rub his wound.

"I'll have you know that I actually have a C—"

"Ms. Harding. Not only do you show up late but you disrupt my lesson as well?" Mcgonagall asked, feeling disrespected by Jude, as well as disappointed in her behaviour, which she'd noticed to be much more of a problem than usual.

"I'm sorry," Jude started, shaking her head while trying to come up with a reasonable excuse to get her out of the situation, "I've been—"

"I don't care." The older witch huffed, cutting Jude's explanation short, "My office after class, please."

The woman turned away from the group, who immediately began silently laughing, aside from Jude whos head made contact with her desk the moment Mcgonagall's head had turned.

She didn't mind detention considering that she got it at least once a month, but she knew that detention with Mcgonagall was more than just hard work, it was discipline as well as actual conversations and lectures which Jude frankly, wasn't in the mood for.

"Have fun, J." James whispered, leaning over to the girl and elbowing her side.

"Get fucked, J." She mocked, turning her nose up at the boy who seemed a little bit too amused by Judes misfortune.

One day, she was going to kill James Potter.