A Raven and a Lion

Cozy Closet

In between Christmas and New Years, Lupine summoned y/n to his office. So she knocked on his door shortly after ten o clock.

"Y/n, please come in, sit down," her DADA teacher smiled at her. She nodded and took a seat in front of his desk, he sat down on the other side of the table. "Can I offer you something? Water, tea, cookies?"

"Thank you, tea please," y/n accepted his offer, whereupon Lupine waved his wand and a steaming cup of tea appeared in front of her. "Thank you."

"My pleasure", Lupine smiled. "You're probably wondering what I want to discuss with you. Well, the thing is, if you keep up your grades, you'll pass the O.W.L.s as top student of this year."

"Really?", y/n asked and couldn't hide her proud smile. Lupine nodded approvingly. "Yes, that's quite an achievement. Have you thought about what you want to do after school yet? Because I have spoken to Professor Flitwick and we think you have a good chance of applying to various programs."

"What kind of programs?", y/n asked curiously. "There are projects for very talented young witches and wizards to make it easier for them to get started in their dream profession."

Y/n smiled, but then her expression froze. "I don't even know what I want to be."

"What?", Lupine looked unpleasantly surprised. But then he pulled himself together again. "But there will definitely be a few things on the shortlist?"

Y/n chewed on her bottom lip to get some time. "Sure I have a few ideas, but nothing really blows my mind."

Lupine nodded. "Okay I see. That's totally fine. You are fifteen, still very, very young. You don't have to have the answer to everything yet. But maybe we'll do some brainstorming."

"With pleasure," y/n nodded and sipped her tea. So Lupine pulled out parchment and quill.

A good two hours later, y/n had several pages of paper with endless interests, hobbies, strengths and weaknesses. Her head was drowning in confusion. She felt more lost than she ever had in class. In fact, she had never felt like this after any class. But that hadn't been a lesson. That had been a preparation for her future. But it seemed like she was about to fail brutally after graduation. Because she had no idea how she wanted to actually spend her life.

"Oh, by the way," y/n then remembered as she said goodbye to her teacher. "Brigitte greeted you back."

Lupine smiled. "Thank you very much, that's very kind."

"Sure, you're welcome," y/n grinned. Then she walked away loaded like a little pack mule. As she walked, she tried to somehow fold up all the notes she had gotten from Lupin and stow them in the jute bag she had brought with her. Straight when she had succeeded, she heard angry shouts and quick, resounding footsteps from far away.

Confused, y/n looked down the corridor. At first she saw nothing. Then two orange-red haired boys jumped into her way. A few meters behind them a screaming Mr. Filch appeared. Y/n didn't even know what happened to her.

"Run!", George called out to her and laughed. Why was he laughing? The two of them were about to be sent to detention. And y/n wanted to have nothing to do with it. She had just found out that she was probably valedictorian. She really had no interested...

But the twins had other plans. Y/n had no chance to escape as Fred grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him.

"Fred! Let go of me!", she tried to get him to stop, but he just kept sprinting while laughing. Behind her she could still hear the caretaker screaming.

"You go left," George suddenly shouted.

"You go right," answered Fred. Then they split up. Fred didn't let go of y/n. At some point >y/n no longer had any idea where they were< he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her through a narrow wooden door. So y/n found herself in a tight, dark closet full of junk.

"What the hell?", y/n tried to push past him, but no chance. There was no space here. They could only stand behind each other in here, not next to each other.

"Do you want to go back out to Filch?", Fred asked back, a bit of junk standing between his legs. Y/n snorted at him. "I have nothing to do with this! What have you done now?"

"Actually, nothing at all," he smiled innocently. She gave him a punch on the shoulder. "Oh, stop lying. I don't want anything to do with your nonsense. It's ruining everything for me."

"Oh yes? What's everything?", he wanted to know, but y/n shook her head. "That's none of your business. Just like your pranks are none of my business."

"Well, unlucky for you, I guess," Fred shrugged. "You'll have to endure it in here for a bit."

"Tss," y/n uttered and tapped her foot in annoyance. But after a while her anger disappeared. Suddenly she realized how close they had been standing together the whole time. Now she felt how she was getting nervous. She tried to move her hands out of the way, so there was no way she could accidentally touch him inappropriately.

"What are you doing?", Fred started laughing. Y/n looked at him, overwhelmed. "I don't know. It's so tight in here. I don't want to touch you in any strange way."

"Hey! Stop it," Fred continued to laugh, while she was still moving her hands. When she didn't listen to him, he grabbed them. Immediately y/n was petrified. She looked at him with wide eyes. She wanted to say something, but she didn't know what and she didn't know why she couldn't think of any words anymore. And even if there were words she could think of right now. She wouldn't be able to say them. Her mouth was completely dry.

"Are you okay?" He looked at her worriedly, but she still couldn't move. The only thing she felt were his hands, which still held hers at chest level. Y/n felt like her blood was heating up from the touch and burning throughout her whole body. It was almost unbearable.

Still, she didn't want him to let go again. Because at some point the heat disappeared and what was left was a pleasant calm feeling. Y/n firmly believed that she had never felt as relaxed in her life as she did now. How did he do that? He didn't do anything. He just held her...

"Do you know what just occurred to me?", he then asked, in a tone as if everything here was completely normal. Y/n had to come back to her senses a bit, then she shook her head. She still wasn't able speak.

"I wanted to say thank you for the Christmas present. Remember?," he explained. Now y/n was getting hot again. What did he mean by that? Her thoughts were almost racing.

But when he slowly leaned down to her and gripped her hands tighter and tighter, she panicked.

"Stop!" she squealed because she couldn't think of anything else. Fred stopped his movement, startled. He was only several centimeters away from her face. Y/n could see each of his freckles individually. And those eyes, warm light brown... That was too much! She pushed him against the wall, away from her. This gave her enough space to squeeze past him and outwards she went. On her way, she heard some junk break under her feet. But she couldn't take that into account. She had to get out of here, away from him!