—"COME ON HARRY. GIVE ME THE MAP FOR TODAY. FRED AND GEORGE SAID WE SHOULD SHARE."
"For important matters!" Harry exclaimed, trying to hold the map above Nicole. The girl was really small, so all her efforts of trying to grab it was futile.
"We sneaked into Hogsmeade at third year, Harry. That wasn't a matter of life and death." Nicole deadpanned, starting to get annoyed at how Harry wasn't giving her the map. Fred and George explicitly said that they were to share the map— and he was acting like a complete prick right now.
"That's— different." Harry countered back. "You're using it to sneak around with some boy at night."
That's what pissed Nicole off. Whenever he used the map for weird stuff, she never questioned him. Harry Potter had absolutely no right to dictate her on what she wanted to do with the map; especially because the rule was to share it.
"You know what..." Nicole trailed off, grabbing her hat that was one of the common room tables and aggressively pushing it down her head. "That map isn't mine anymore. You can have it all to yourself."
Harry's eyes widened. "That's not wha—"
"No, keep it." Nicole said in a sarcastic tone. "Whatever I do isn't important anyway. I'd rather be snogging Ellis right now than waste my time talking to you."
With that, Nicole stomped out of the common room and slammed the portrait hole with so much force that it would have probably woken up some Gryffindors.
Harry sighed and covered his face with a pillow.
—
"Thank Merlin you thought me that Disenchantment Spell." Nicole said gratefully, removing her coat as the two of them entered the Three Broomsticks. "Snape could have seen me. Sneaking at night would probably be 50 points."
Nicole had been right that there would be no students in there. Ellis was fascinated by the place, and when he spotted the piano at the back of the room, he had found a way to show off by playing it.
The two of them talked about everything they could manage, with Nicole narrowly avoiding what happened before the first task because it definable embarrassed her. Besides the fact that she would turn blood red whenever she remembered it, everything went quite well.
But now they were growing restless on the hard wooden stools and Nicole thought that if she had any more butterbeer she might explode. Nicole was about to suggest that they head back to the castle, but it seemed like Ellis had a better idea than that.
"Wanna walk out?"
Nicole didn't really know what it was with him. Every time he speaks to her, she gets an involuntary rush of happiness, like flying around the Quidditch field in her broom. And his laugh? Oh, Ellis' laugh. That boyish yet throaty chuckle sounds cheeky and warm all at once. It's infectious.
The two of them eventually started walking around the village. It was a weird sight— two students out at 2 in the morning. But people didn't really seem to pay attention.
"I had a great time tonight," Nicole smiled, her face heating at the sight of the blush that had risen on Ellis' cheeks. A shy boy was not what she'd expected after the way he'd so brazenly approached her since they've met; he'd been filled with so much confidence and charm that she was nothing short of smitten.
"Me too, I'm sorry I couldn't take you somewhere a little more romantic." Ellis said, placing his fingers in his coat. "Hogsmeade doesn't really have any choices."
"It was perfect, really." Nicole assured him. It was true. Everything was happening at the same time and this gave her a break.
"Perfect enough that you'd be interested in doing it again?"
"It's a definite possibility." Nicole teased, walking closer to him. The two of them walked around in a comfortable silence, until Ellis spoke up once more.
"I like walking around France at night. It's really beautiful. I should bring you along some time."
"I like walking with you." Nicole says, smiling at the French boy.
He felt his heart warm up at that comment, loving how shy Nicole was. The girl was usually confident and seeing her like this was adorable.
A loud noise screeched from the other side. Nicole snapped her head towards Madam Rosmareta, who was picking up a couple of goblets, while Ellis was staring at her.
And something just clicks inside of him. So with the loud cursing of the woman and the villagers in a rush trying to help her out, he pulls Nicole in for a kiss. And it's just magically the embodiment of him.
—
After a few weeks, Nicole and Harry were flat out ignoring each other. Much like the situation he was in with Ron just a little bit before. Nicole had claimed Hermoine and Harry had claimed Ron.
Ellis and Nicole kept on meeting every night after the first one. Each time, Nicole felt herself getting weaker on her knees. Ellis would always acknowledge her and the little things she did— which she absolutely loved. All her life most people preferred Aurora over her (romantically, because apparently Aurora was more elegant than her) and Ellis was the first one who made her feel special.
Then he asker her out to the Yule Ball, which she gladly agreed to. To make things even better, Hermoine had told her that Viktor Krum had asked her out earlier in the day and the two of them spent the last night talking each other's ears off.
That moment made the two of them really happy. Since their first year, countless of things have been happening to them and the two weren't able to talk properly like teenagers. Seeing Hermoine swoon over Viktor made Nicole cheeky.
During their study hall, Nicole was forced to sit with Ron and Harry. Hermoine was still trying to convince her to stop being childish over the map situation— but Nicole was still being petty. The girl sat beside Hermoine as she silently copied off her work.
"This is mad. At this rate, we'll be the only ones in our year without dates." Ron whispered to Harry, while pretending to write down diligently.
Proffessor Snape walked by them and roughly pushed Ron's head. The redhead let out a grunt, but didn't complain as the potions Proffessor went away.
"Well, us and Neville." he whispered.
"Yeah, but, then again, he can take himself." Harry shot him a smile, his eyes instinctively looking towards Nicole, who he'd hope would laugh at his joke. The smile faltered when he saw that his friend was focusing on copying off Hermoine.
"It might interest you to know that Neville's already got someone." Hermoine but into the conversation.
"Now I'm really depressed." Ron deadpanned.
Nicole looked over at her friend, before going back to her writing. Not even a second later, a paper rolled up in Ron's hand, which sparked her curiosity.
"Get a move on or all the good ones will have gone." Ron read. He looked over to Fred with a challenging smile on his face. "Who you going with, then?"
Fred smiled cheekily and tossed another piece of parchment to Angelina. "Oi, Angelina!"
She turned around, looking rather annoyed. "What?"
"Do you," Fred pointed at her. "wanna go to the ball with me?" he did a little dance before pointing at himself.
"To the ball?" the annoyed look on her face began to fade away and dispersed into a genuine smile. "Yeah, all right."
Ron sighed, defeated. He then looked at the nearest girl to him, which happened to be Hermoine, and an idea popped up in his head.
"Oi, Hermione. You're a girl."
"Very well spotted."
"Come with one of us?" Ron asked, while Harry desperately tried to warn him that Snape was coming by tugging on his uniform. He was distracted, and before Hermoine could answer Snape hit his head with a book, and hit Harry's too.
"Come on." Ron said after a moment. "It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone. For a girl, it's just sad."
Nicole laughed, knowing fully well that Hermoine was going with Viktor.
"I won't be going alone, because, believe it or not, someone's asked me!" Hermoine snapped, closing her notebook and brining it over to the Professor. She came back to grab her book from the table. "And I said yes!"
Once Hermoine was gone, Nicole made a mental note to tell her off for leaving her alone. Before she could even walk out of the table, Ron looked at her.
"What about you?"
Nicole didn't look up from her notebook and ignored him, trying to finish her notes quickly.
"Come on, Nic."
Once she finished, she look up to the expectant eyes of Ron and Harry. The girl then dug into her bag and took the artice that Rita Skeeter had made about her and Ellis, shoved it to Ron, and went to go give Snape her notebook.
Harry, who avoided reading the Daily Phropet because of his article looked at the headline in surprise.
Daughter of famous Quidditch Players, Nicole Hwang, seen Snogging a French Fabricate.
—
Nicole and Aurora stood in the owlery, trying to find the packages that their parents sent them, apparently containing their dresses.
"Who are you going out with?" Aurora asked, even though she already knew the answer.
"Ellis. Obviously." Nicole told her sister, her fingers starting to freeze from all the rummaging. "You?"
"You know who."
"Voldemort?"
Aurora shot her an annoyed look.
The two of them searched for their packages, until Aurora finally got ahold of it. The girl handed Nicole hers and held her own in her hands. Each package had a letter attached to it.
Nicole read hers in silence.
Nicole,
This is your mother. Your dad tried to pick out a hideous dress for you and the package was originally supposed to be addressed from him, but I took this last minute and changed the package.
Congrats on the dragon. You did well.
From, Mom.
The girl nervously looked up to her sister. "How come mom and dad haven't seen the articles written about me?"
"Mom canceled their subscription after Rita wrote bullocks about them." Aurora explained, scanning her. The two of them haven't noticed Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw in their year, enter the owlery.
"Right." Nicole nodded in confirmation, giving Cho a wave. The Ravenclaw student shyly waved back, and looked for her letter in the owlery.
"Hi, Cho." Nicole smiled at the girl. She found Cho really interesting.
"Hello, Nicole." Cho greeted back, shooting her a smile.
The twins then walked down the stairs, passing Harry along the way. Aurora couldn't help but notice the way Nicole shoved into him purposely so he would fall.
Normally, she would laugh. But when they were kids, Nicole had done the exact same thing to her and it didn't end up well.