Magic (5sos/l.h. Hogwarts AU)

Chapter 9

~A/N~ I'm so happy with the play I wrote for Drama. I've always wanted to be a writer that writes plays and screenplays, so I'm really happy that everyone in my class is saying it could be made into a real play and stuff.
Edit: I won an award for it yay
Enjoy the chapter!
Leila xx

It was mid-December, and things had definitely cheered up a lot. I now got to spend more time with the boys without worrying about Hermione, as she spent a lot of time with Harry and Ron. This didn't mean I couldn't see her often, though. We were even closer than usual, as she had changed her attitude meaning the boys didn't hate her as much and allowed her to be around us when she wasn't with Harry or Ron.

Contrary to this, the boys liked to complain that I spent so much time in the library and one could often hear Michael moaning loudly to Luke about this, or Ashton making snarky comments whenever I came back from yet another endeavour to discover information. Calum seemed to understand, though I often wondered what he said about me behind my back. I had a reason for always being at the library, however, and this was Nicholas Flamel.

Allow me to elaborate.

Hermione had done some exciting things whilst being friends with Harry and Ron. As well as fighting a troll, she had seen a three headed dog in the castle, and had recently discovered that it had something to do with someone called Nicholas Flamel. Now I was incredibly curious as to what was going on - why on earth would there be a vicious three headed dog in a supposedly safe school? - and was determined to discover who this Nicholas Flamel was. So far, frustratingly, I had found nothing.

Sighing, I slammed shut yet another book about famous witches and wizards and flopped my head on the desk.

"Still no luck?" asked Hermione sympathetically. She was sitting next to me, doing her homework. She often came to the library with me, but wasn't as determined to find out about Flamel as me, so usually read something else or did her homework. "Take a break, Leila. Merlin knows you've earned it."

"I'm going to go back to the common room," I decided. "You coming?"

Hermione shook her head. "I've got to finish this essay."

Shrugging, I left the peace of the library and tried to ignore Madame Pince's suspicious glare as I ambled out of the doorway. There was nothing for her to be suspicious of, she was just a miserable lady with nothing better to do that stare down students.

The common room was quite far away from the library, it being thought that most Gryffindors wouldn't want to read and it would be more efficient to have the library next to Ravenclaw tower. I guess they were right, but it was still annoying.

Not far from the common room, a sudden force slammed into my side and I was shoved into a wall, all the wind knocked out of my lungs. Taking big gulps of air, I pulled out my wand and turned to look at my attacker, but to my horror my wand was yanked out of my hand and held in those of Draco Malfoy.

Malfoy hadn't given me much grief since Michael had a go at him during a potions lesson, but the steely look of hatred in his stormy grey eyes showed that nothing had changed. He still hated me with every fibre of his soul.

"Look, it's little Leila Ahmed. Not very self-assured without your friends here, are you? Let's see, that cowardly nerd Irwin, mudblood Hood, Clifford who can't even tie his shoelaces and Hemmings, who doesn't even have enough money to buy food, let alone a decent house. Pathetic lot, aren't you?"

That was the last straw. Malfoy could insult me all he wanted, but when it came to my friends I wasn't having it. My vision went red and I reached up to slap him as hard as I could.

The blond boy howled in pain and pulled out his wand, shouting "Locomotor Mortis!"

My legs sprang together and I couldn't move them apart, no matter how hard I tried. The Leg Locking Curse, of course. Hopping towards my wand, I swore violently at Malfoy, but didn't get a reply. Instead, I turned to see Michael, with fire in his eyes, swinging his fist into Malfoy's pale cheek. The Slytherin screamed in pain and sprinted off down the corridor, obviously unwilling to fight two angry Gryffindors, and Michael undid the curse and ran over to help me up. I hadn't even realised I'd fallen.

We hurried back to the common room in silence, and took our seats by the fireplace in the corner. It was then I realised I was crying, and Michael pulled me into a hug without saying a word. They weren't tears of sadness, though. I was furious.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Michael, and I shook my head. "Let's talk about something else. Tell me about your family."

I brightened up considerably at that. Although I had wanted to avoid talking about Naadiya as I missed her, I knew she would want my friends to know about her. I did too, she was my best friend after all.

"Well, I have a twin sister called Naadiya, and she's my best friend, even though we're quite different. It's not one of those cliche 'opposites' situations though, we're just different in some ways and similar in others. She loves to wear flowery dresses while I prefer jeans, and she hates rock music, but we're both troublemakers. Then there's my little sister Sofiyah, who's six. She's really annoying, but she can be quite funny and she has a huge imagination. And," I sighed, "there's Zara. She hates me, she thinks she's the boss and refuses to believe in magic. She never accepts me. The rest of my family doesn't accept me either, I'm not clever enough, or kind enough, or responsible enough."

"What do you mean?" gasped Michael. "You're the cleverest in the year, alongside Hermione and Ashton. How could that not be clever enough?"

"No matter how hard you try in my family, it's never enough," I sighed. "That's how it works in most Pakistani families."

"Same with me," Michael murmured. "My family are Slytherins to the core. They hate muggles and muggleborns, and Gryffindors especially. When they found out I was in Gryffindor, they told me I wasn't part of the family any more. I'm not going back for Christmas."

"I'll stay with you," I decided. "You can't be here on your own, and anyway, I think Zara will be pleased to be without me."

"You don't have to do that for me, Leila," said Michael.

"I'm going to anyway," I said firmly. "We can have Christmas together. I've not celebrated it properly before."

That perked Michael right up.

"It's so cool! There's presents and decorations and stuff, it's so much fun! It will be so much fun!"