ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅʀᴀᴛᴛᴇᴅ ʟɪʟᴀ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇꜱ || ᴅʀᴀᴄᴏ ᴍᴀʟꜰᴏʏ x ᴏᴄ || ʏᴇᴀʀꜱ 1-3

love is the bravest thing

As the days went by, I found it harder and harder to sleep. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs would not dare to speak to me. Not even Beatrice who I'd started to get on good terms with. Herbology and Astronomy were uncomfortably silent. The Slytherins were all bitter — supposedly I'd stolen their thunder — but the other Gryffindors were having a riot.

Fred and George tried to cheer me up by parading me around calling, "seriously evil witch coming through!" Mocking the beliefs of the other students who feared me. It helped a little, but when I was alone and lying awake at night I was still struggling to come to terms with the truth.

As much as I tried, I hadn't had any more dreams with Anne. I wished to tell her all I had learned, but our connection wasn't aligning for some reason. Sometimes I would play the violin in the common room, other times I would do my homework or read to take things off my mind. I would create more mind maps when distracting myself didn't work, eventually falling asleep at the end of it.

But one night in November I had a new and improved mind map before me and still no success. I was alone, and so I started to play with a spell I'd seen Flitwick cast to prepare for the holidays.

"Aureae Scintillae."

It was dim in the common room, though the fire still crackled softly, the only source of light other than the tiny lights expelled from my wand. I was in my thoughts again as I watched the golden sparks drift in the direction of my wand. They were like the iron shavings in those toys with the magnet under them, but much more beautiful. I would move my wand to the right, they would follow; like my own little army of stars.

"Couldn't sleep?"

I jumped. The sparks scattered above me. I looked over to see Dean standing in front of the stairs to the boy's dorms. His arms were crossed and he looked rather amused. Since the incident, I'd always wondered what he thought of me. He treated me the same, but I still never asked. I was scared of what he'd say.

"No," I answered, returning to gathering the sparks back up. "You?"

"Me neither," he shook his head. "May I join you?"

I nodded and patted the spot next to me. He sat beside me and I put my head on his shoulder. If he thought the gesture romantic, he didn't say so, and only let it happen. I was grateful.

"We haven't talked in a while," he noted. "I haven't gotten to hear what's going on in your head."

I laughed drily. "A lot more than I'd like there to be."

He shook his head. "I don't believe any of it. Even if you're related to Slytherin or whatever I know you wouldn't do anything like this. I trust you, Lila."

I felt my heart grow warm. "Thank you."

I began to play around with the spell again, the two of us falling into comfortable silence. I was relieved.

"It's like you're conducting the stars," he remarked, watching them gather together in one group once again. "A symphony of light."

I chuckled. "That's awfully poetic of you to say," I looked at him to see him still staring up at the sparks, the golden light reflected in his eyes.

"Maybe you're just boring," he joked. I hit him with a nearby cushion. He laughed, his eyes moving from the sparks back to me. The smile still remained on his lips, and I found myself mirroring it. "I'm joking, Lila. We both know you're brilliant."

"You're pretty brilliant yourself," I remarked.

"You really think so?" He asked. I nodded.

"Yes, of course I do."