𝐶𝑂𝑆𝑀𝑂𝑆 | 𝐂𝐄𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐂 𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐘 [DISCONTINUED]

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄

𝐀 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐑
"𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑦𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔: 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑘."
—𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝐷𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑠
𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟔𝟏𝟑𝟎

⋆⋆⋆✧⋆⋆⋆

𝐃𝐀𝐙𝐙𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐌𝐄𝐓 Liliana's eyes as she opened them, and she let out a soft groan as she lifted her hands to rub the drowsiness out of her eyes and block the light from hurting them any further.

Slowly, she sat up, stretching her arms over her head and yawning before pushing her blanket off of her and getting to her feet. She gently combed her fingers through her dark hair, detangling it and wincing with every difficult knot her fingers ran into.

Liliana glanced over at her clock, barely registering the time as she walked over to her closet. Suddenly, the time processed in her brain, and she halted, slowly turning her head to look at the clock once more. Her heart dropped as she realized the time, and her eyes widened.

Ten o'clock.

"Shit, shit, shit," Liliana muttered to herself, throwing her closet doors open and grabbing the nearest clothes she could find—a light grey sweater and a pair of jeans—before quickly slipping them on and tucking her wand into her pocket.

She glanced over to the clock every other second, praying that time would move slower. Today was the day of the secret DADA meeting that Hermione had planned, and Liliana was sure that the trio would be reaching the Hog's Head sometime soon.

She grabbed a hair tie off of her desk, quickly putting her hair into a low ponytail as she ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Her eyes quickly searched the counter before taking a slice of bread out of the bag, swiftly tearing it into a few pieces and shoving it into her mouth.

Figuring that both of her parents were already at work judging by the empty house and missing shoes and cloaks, Liliana grabbed her own cloak, slipping it on before apparating outside of the Hog's Head.

She shuddered as she looked at the inn, both from the cold and disgust. She had never visited this place before, as she did have some self-respect, but had always wondered what the appeal was.

The bricks that made up the small structure were so dusty and worn that Liliana was afraid it would collapse in on itself, and the door bore a cracked, wooden sign that had the image of a wild boar's severed head leaking blood onto the white fabric surrounding it.

Reluctantly, Liliana pushed the door open and immediately wrinkled her nose as the smell of goats hit her nose.

The small room was quite dim, only lit by a select few candles that sat on the shabby, wooden tables where a few strangely-dressed people sat.

And they weren't the only ones dressed so . . . unusually. A couple of hooded figures sat at a table near a grimy window, a woman whose face was concealed by a thick veil sat by the flickering fireplace, and a man who was standing at the bar had his entire head wrapped in bandages and he sipped his drink through the slit where his mouth would be.

Liliana breathed a small sigh of relief as she saw the trio sitting at a table at the back, dingy bottles of butterbeer clutched in their hands as they murmured to each other.

She quickly crossed the bar, avoiding eye contact with every person she passed, and sat down between Hermione and Ron with a grin on her face.

"Hey!"