𝙮𝙤𝙪 || 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞: 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬

The frigid air at the start of December didn't deter you from going to Hagrid's hut whenever you could.

He became a close friend of yours and when Harry, Hermione and Ron would want to visit him you'd tag along. Hagrid would always look oddly relieved every time he opened his front door and saw you with them.

Your fascination for magical creatures and his love for them went together perfectly, and you find yourself watching him tend to some critters he housed during mid-December. Hagrid allowed you to feed and pet the more docile ones, like the school owls, while he handled the rest. He even introduced you to a pair of species you absolutely adored.

"Bowtruckles," you said in awe, watching as the tiny creatures crawled on the palm of Hagrid's hand. "Where did you find them? They're hard to spot!"

Hagrid was smiling at your enthusiasm. "Found 'em deep in the Forbidden Forest. Their tree was uprooted an' I tried to place 'em on a different one. Got bitten an' scratched, but by the time I found 'em a proper home they wouldn't let go of me."

You look at the Bowtruckles with sparkling eyes. "Can I...?"

Hagrid thrusts his hand towards you. "'Course yeh can! Open yer hands an' let 'em go ter yeh on their own."

You quickly open your palms and hover it near Hagrid's, trying to keep your excitement to a minimum. You suck in a breath when one of them gingerly taps your hand, before slowly hoisting itself up your fingers. The other Bowtruckle sees this and follows suit. That one seems to trust you much more quickly than the former.

When both had settled down comfortably, you pull your hands closer towards yourself and marveled. As you looked at them in amazement, they stare back.

"Do they have names?" You ask Hagrid.

"Theodore an' Elizabeth," Hagrid tells you proudly. "But I jus' call 'em Theo an' Liza."

"Wicked."

When you aren't busy with Hagrid, you were always with Hermione, Harry and Ron. The four of you have gotten closer, although Hermione wasn't very pleased to find out that you were growing a little irresponsible with your homework because of Ron and Harry's procrastinating habits.

You also got around to finally handing back Oliver's scarf after completely forgetting about holding onto it for a month.

"I have spares," he said reassuringly when you caught him in the entrance hall before lunch. "You can even have that one. It suits you."

"Yeah, (Y/n)," Fred agreed, both him and his twin stopping beside Oliver as they gave you appraising looks. "Red looks better on you than black and yellow."

A few Hufflepuffs who were just passing by scowled at them. Fred merely sniggered at them while George grinned.

As hard as it was in the beginning, you started seeing the dissimilarities between the Weasley twins. You learned that their height was slightly different, George's voice was lower than Fred's and, bless Lee Jordan for pointing it out to you, George had a mole on the right side of his neck while Fred didn't.

It cleared up a lot of misunderstandings and attempts to confuse you whenever they got the chance. But you still make mistakes sometimes, and that's when Percy would step in to stop the two from freaking you out.

Seamus would invite you to hang out with him and Dean during weekends with Neville included occasionally. Dean would always say vague yet suggestive things that you didn't understand. You and Neville were utterly clueless while Seamus would cover his face and groan at Dean to stop.

Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins were being bullies as always. Even more so when Christmas was near, when no one could wait for the holidays to start. Malfoy had always been unpleasant, but you luckily never had a one-on-one encounter with him and his goons, Crabbe and Goyle.