𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐆𝐨

𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈

"You look funny," Ophiuchus told me as I was leaving the common room one morning.

I quirked an eyebrow at her, frowning slightly.

"Funny how?" I asked.

"Funny, like... Well, your face is all pale, and your eyes are dropping," she pointed out. "Have you slept?"

"Not well," I said bluntly.

"How come?"

"Just thinking."

She hummed in her high voice. "About what, exactly?"

I had stayed up thinking about Draco and I's potion that we would have to make. I also thought about when I kissed Draco. I also just thought about Draco.

But I wasn't going to tell her that.

"Just school stuff," I lied.

Ophiuchus nodded her head in comprehension, sort of absentmindedly.

"Anything I can help with?" she offered.

"Know anything about potion making?"

She puffed out her cheeks and let out a breathy laugh. "Not the foggiest."

Playfully, I rolled my eyes and shifted my weight on my legs.

"How's Astronomy going for you?" she asked after a moment.

"Fine," I replied, "Pretty boring with all the snow clouds blocking the sky nowadays."

She nodded again.

"Go get yourself some breakfast, Glasses," she told me seriously, "You look like you might fall over."

***

I sat in between Neville and Ron in the Great Hall at breakfast. They were talking and laughing with Hermione about something Seamus had blown up the day before. I wanted to join them in their happiness, but at the same time, I felt perfectly content without.

"And then it just... BOOM! And we were all like... OH SHIT! And then Mcgonagall had to put out the fire afterwards and gave him three week's detention!" Ron rambled on excitedly about their recent accounts.

"That frog will never be the same again," Neville laughed along.

"Aw naw!" Ron continued, "His friend's guts were all over our faces!"

They were talking so loud that I thought that the entirety of the student body could hear them.

It was comforting, in a way, but I really just wished they would be quiet.

"Eight years of magical education and he still cannot control that wand of his," Hermione shook her head with playful disappointment.

"Harry!" Ron turned to me. "You were there! What did you think?"

"It was– er... loud... I guess," I said weakly.

"Hell yeah, it was!"

I stared down at my toast. Charred, heavily buttered, cut into four triangles. The stench of burnt butter made my gut churn with utter displeasure.

I ate it anyways.

The Slytherin table was fairly crowded today with most students coincidentally showing up at the same time.