LIONHEART ❃ george weasley

009 | new plans

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ALBANY'S WEEK OF DETENTION HAD ENDED sooner than she found herself wanting it to, and somehow, each day was passing a little faster, too. She had been hoping for the year to make a turnaround following the triumph she'd been expecting of her prank, but such a drastic change in her spirits had been somewhat unprecedented; she had gone from detention, voices in her head and being the victim of a prank, to more detention, an extra set of parents and responsibilities, and becoming the prankster. The change didn't sound too amazing on paper, but the uplift in her mood felt nearly unfamiliar, something she hadn't experienced in far too long. It was welcomed. Her head reeled with the influx of happy hormones, leaving her a little dizzy at the end of each day, but she was far from complaint. Only two weeks into the school year and it had been a roller-coaster ride compared to previous years, throwing in another loop every time she thought she knew what was coming.

She didn't want to give too much credit to the Weasley twins, but she had to acknowledge that she had perhaps underestimated them. Not as pranksters, but as people - as friends. Being forced to spend at least an hour together every evening for a week meant that she was bound to either hate them or befriend them by the end, and though she would never tell them, she was glad it was the latter.

Merlin and Arthur had also eased up on her. She wasn't sure if it was because they felt bad, or were finally acknowledging that she was a seventeen-year-old who didn't really want anything to do with her destiny or soulmate, but either way, she enjoyed their company far more when they weren't pestering her about it all. She didn't need any ominous warnings about war or hidden power; she just wanted to graduate, become an Auror and get on with life. Though she had a feeling that that wasn't going to be an option anymore, she appreciated that they weren't constantly reminding her.

Albany's four new acquaintances meant that she rarely found herself alone anymore. While the ghosts could appear at her side at any moment, the twins seemed to be everywhere at once, and she was constantly bumping into them. It was refreshing to see people she could smile at in the corridors, as opposed to the usual instinctive glares she shot, and it was often enough that they'd stop to exchange a few words when they saw each other. Restoring a classroom together could do that to people, she supposed.

One day she found herself unaccompanied by any of her small circle of friends, sitting in a round window on one of the upper floors of the castle. It looked out on the lake, which was a dull grey under the thick cloud cover that morning. There weren't many students milling around outside as the weather got colder and more miserable; oh, the joys of living in Britain. Faith was already suffering a bad cold from the return to living in close proximity with hundreds of other students, and the depressing weather did nothing to help. The Slytherin dorms were freezing come winter, and were already getting colder by the day.

She had her knees pulled up, a short length of parchment resting on them, and was nibbling on the tip of her quill as she stared outside. She'd purchased so many sugar quills that she didn't bother saving them for purely class or homework; this was intended to be a letter back to her parents, who had owled her the morning of her prank. She'd nearly forgotten about the letter, only for Faith finding it under her bed as she frantically cleaned the dorm room that morning - she was supposed to be bedridden, as per Madam Pomfrey's orders, but the girl hated nothing more than being stuck in bed.