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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗

𝐀 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐑𝐓
"𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑦 𝑘𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒."
—𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑦𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑟𝑜𝑒
𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟐𝟒𝟔𝟖

⋆⋆⋆✧⋆⋆⋆

𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 the corridors of Hogwarts, giving a smile to every familiar face, though her eyes mostly strayed over the portraits she passed. 

She had spent the last couple of hours reading in the library, indulging in the fact that all her homework had been finished the night before. A little peace and quiet were just what she needed, especially after the chaos that was breakfast (Devon and Riley had ended up starting a food fight just between the two, which Professor Sprout had to interfere in—and the two boys received detention as punishment). 

She wondered what Harry, Ron, and Hermione were up to, and decided that she would go see if they were in the common room.

Harry had spent the rest of the weekend in the Hospital Wing after his fall, though he, thankfully, quickly recovered. While he had a few visits from his Quidditch team, Ginny, and Hagrid—who all had brought him gifts and cards wishing for a speedy recovery—Ron, Hermione, and Liliana never left his side until they were shooed out just before curfew.

Harry was back on his feet by Monday, and the only thing that he seemed to be worried about was his Nimbus 2000. Unfortunately, the pile of sticks seemed to be beyond repair.

Liliana sighed as she continued walking. Poor Harry.

"Liana!" a voice she recognized quickly called from behind her, and a grin spread onto her face as she turned to see him.

"Hey, Ced!" she greeted enthusiastically as he caught up to her, and her heart couldn't help but skip a few beats when she caught sight of his grin. "What's up?"

"Well," he began as they shifted to the side of the corridor, "today is Saturday."

Liliana gave him a questioning look, though she still nodded. "Good observation." 

"And Devon and Wes are studying for Ancient Runes while Riley annoys them."

"Not surprised." 

"So" —he raised his eyebrows, a cheeky grin now on his face— "how about we go on that date?" 

Butterflies instantly emerged into her stomach, though she managed to keep a steady voice, "Where?"

He paused. He obviously had not planned so ahead. "Uh . . . somewhere?"

"Great, I love that place," she laughed, earning a sheepish grin in return. "We could . . . Uh . . . walk? I don't know, there aren't a lot of date-material things to do at Hogwarts."

"Walking sounds good to me." He smiled. "Anything with you is good."

Her cheeks were beginning to warm, and she hoped they weren't as red as she imagined they were. 

"Anyway, what'd you do today?" he asked, a frown shaping his lips as they set down the corridor. "I haven't seen you since breakfast." 

"Oh, well, I ate lunch with Harry, Ron, and Hermione today," Liliana explained briefly. "And I had been in the library since then."