"Miss Mckinnon, I beg you to stop fooling around with the Flobberworm!" Professor Kettleburn exclaimed across his classroom at the blonde who kept tossing the poor animal like a ball. Nuna winced at the behavior and took the worm carefully into her hands and care.
"It's not a quidditch ball, you animal," she grumbled with a worried laugh.
"What's it gonna do? Bite me?" Marlene chuckled. "They have no teeth." The Flobberworm screeched. Marlene hissed back.
"You hear that? They can hear you, Mar. You're hurting its feelings," Nuna argued back.
"Oh, bugger off." She walked around the classroom to look at the other small animals people were in charge of. "Why'd I get such a boring animal? Mary and Dorcas have a Bowtruckle for crying out loud. That's so much more interesting."
Indeed, Mary Macdonald's bowtruckle sat on top of her hand before camouflaging with her dark skin. Marlene sighed as she admired Dorcas who smiled at the creature before it vanished, only leaving an outline of itself shown.
"You're not even taking care of your animal. I am," Nuna sighed as she watched Marlene's flobberworm drag itself across the table while Nuna's Golden Snidget flew around her in a gleeful tizzy.
"And you can keep taking care of it," she complained, "since animals love your arse so much."
It was true. Animals had a weird fascination for Nuna and the feeling was mutual.
When Nuna first came to Hogwarts, she decided she would spend most of her days in the library as it reminded her somewhat of home, if you disclude the lack of torture.
She found Newt Scamander's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" novel first. She'd examined and obsessed over the book all within her second day of being a fake student.
It wasn't a surprise that Care of Magical Creatures became her favorite class.
"Bernard!" Quinn Pucey yelled from across the room. She turned to him. "Get your bird in control."
Nuna looked slightly up to see the yellow bird frantically flying and screeching around the girl's head, its wings rotating around and around at a rapid pace.
"Hey, calm down little buddy," she cooed to the bird. On command, it slowly stopped panicking and flew down into Nuna's open hand, peacefully snuggling into the crevices. It closed itself into a ball-like position before rolling around in Nuna's warm palms.
"Excellent work of parenting your animal, Miss Bernard!" Kettleburn smiled at the girl with glee. Nuna proudly smiled back.
"I was the one who told her the bird was going mental," Quinn grumbled before receiving a shove in the side from Cordelia Zabini, a Slytherin friend of Nuna's.
"Shut up, Pucey." Quinn stared at the girl annoyingly before cursing under his breath and walking away to take care of his Moke. The silvery-green lizard hissed once it saw the Slytherin boy coming back after neglecting it for so long.
Nuna looked over her shoulder to see Peter struggling at trying to get his Puffskein, a custard-colored creature covered in fluff, to eat the baby carrot in the blond boy's hand.
"Just eat it, you little git!" Peter complained at the pet who would roll away from the boy every time he would offer the carrot to it. "Take the carrot before I shove it in your ar—"
"Woah!" Nuna said quickly coming to the boy's aid, "back away, you weirdo." Peter grumbled before reluctantly handing the carrot to the girl. She slowly placed the ball-shaped Golden Snidget onto her desk and took the carrot. The bird began to fly around in a haze, annoyed it was taken from its caretaker's hold.
"Treat it like a pet rather than an assignment," the girl explained as she twirled the carrot in her hand. She crouched slightly down to meet the Puffskein's eye level. It rolled onto its back before peaking its head to Nuna. Nuna smiled at the creature making its breathing slow down. She ran her finger against the creature's stomach, making it roll closer to her. She repeated this behavior until the Puffskein was near the edge of the table. There, she replaced her index finger with the baby carrot, showing it was safe. The Puffskein tensed up before relaxing. It slowly took the baby carrot into's its tiny paws and began chewing on it with a satisfied smile on its face. Nuna stood straight up and turned to Peter who held a dumbfounded expression.
"Just like a hamster," she explained with a smile. Peter slowly nodded and watched as Nuna moved over to repeat the same behavior with Marlene's unattended Flobberworm.
Peter watched the girl's innocent behavior and regretted what he was about to mention.
"Nuna..." he began, "I don't know if Sirius told you but—"
"I know you guys know," she hushed while refusing to meet his eye. She played with her Golden Snidget while trying to hold a smile on her face. Peter could see it was faltering.
"Did he tell you anything else?" he tensed up.
"From the way he acted a few days ago when he told me he told you guys, I'm guessing you didn't take it well." She looked up and Peter's red cheeks confirmed her theory. She sighed. "I don't want you guys to hate me for it."
"I-I don't," he lied. He could tell Nuna didn't believe him.
"People constantly told me that it was insane you guys liked me," she sighed. "They told me you guys hated and ignored everyone that wasn't a Gryffindor and I thought that would work in my favor but... I don't know. I've grown to like you guys but I could give less of two shits if you guys don't trust me anymore. Just... don't lie about it?" She stared at the boy with a serious expression that frightened him. "Please just tell me how you truly feel and I'll leave you guys alone." She didn't think it was appropriate to mention that she wouldn't be leaving Sirius alone any time soon.
Peter sighed as his Puffskein crawled up the hand of his that leaned on the side of his desk. He took a deep breath and clenched his jaw. "I don't... hate you."
Nuna was surprised to hear the slight genuine in his voice. "Really?"
"Did I go barmy when I found out? Yeah," he rubbed the back of his neck as the Puffskein laid on his shoulder. "Was I slightly terrified? Yeah. But that doesn't change the fact that before I found out, you were one of my— our closest friends. You still are. So, no matter who you really are, as long as who you really are is still the nice Nuna we became friends with, she's still alright in our book. In my book."
Nuna felt something press against the back of her eyes. "If I could hug you without making it looked suspicious, I would."
Peter winced. "Oh, don't cry. Please. I never know what to do when girls cry."
Nuna stifled a laugh as she wiped her eyes before any tears could fall. "I won't, don't worry." They both knew that was pure bollocks but they didn't say another word. She began walking back to her desk when Peter called out once more.
"Oh, and Nuna?" Peter hesitated. Nuna turned. "I think you and Sirius are great for each other."
Nuna softly giggled trying to hide the pang of guilt in her heart. As Peter turned away she continued to take care of her yellow bird.
She wasn't supposed to be like this. Soft.
She wasn't supposed to be friends with Gryffindors, wasn't supposed to reveal her identity, and definitely was not supposed to get in a relationship with the outcast of the pureblood world.
She heavily sighed and brushed her guilt away. The year was ending next week and it'll all be over. No matter how sad that made her feel, she knew it would always come to this. She had to embrace it and move on with her life away from the Wizarding World and away from this school.
The school day ended and Kettleburn held her back while everyone scurried out to relax for the rest of the day. Kettleburn extracted the Golden Snidget from her hair as it wouldn't let go.
"These animals sure love you, Miss Bernard," Kettleburn chuckled. The professor was a scrawny, tall man who looked to be about ten years younger than her father. His brunette hair was shaped to cover the grey hairs growing at the back and sides of his head. His handlebar mustache looked to be a color combination of the two.
"Yeah, I don't really know why," she confessed. "I've never had any experience with animals until now."
Kettledrum stroked his mustache while leaning against the front of his desk. Nuna sat on top of a student desk directly in front of him, holding her books tightly against her chest.
"I understand you are a new student this year," he asked. She nodded. "Have you ever considered becoming a Magizoologist?"
Nuna's tight position relaxed. She chuckled. "No, I haven't." I shouldn't.
"I think it'd be a great position for you. Students usually discuss career paths with professors in their fifth year but since you recently joined the school, I've decided to address you first in the chance that you excel in all of your classes and other teachers might offer their career paths to you as well." He quietly laughed at his own joke while Nuna sat there awkwardly smiling.
"I haven't really thought about a career path. In all honestly, I think my family might move back to Beauxbatons this summer, so I might explore careers there." She internally prayed that the excuse made sense. Her parents never gave her anything to say when people would eventually ask why she would suddenly disappear so she hoped this one would suffice.
Kettleburn frowned. "Really?"
Nuna frowned as well. "Really."
"That's strange and unfortunate," he sighed as he got up to move behind his desk. "Well, I would like to assume they still have Magizoologist in France so you can still think about becoming one?" Nuna could tell the professor was still trying. Maybe not a lot of people became a Magizoologist after graduating. Or maybe he was trying to find the next Newt Scamander.
Nuna after a slightly long silence only nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll think about it." That answer was enough to put a smile on Kettleburn's face.
"That was all I needed, Miss Hollis," the professor subconsciously said. Nuna's heart dropped and she felt her skin go cold. She took a deep breath in.
"I-I'm Nuna Bernard, sir. Bernard." Her hand began to shake behind her back while she tried to comfort herself. Kettleburn couldn't see it but Nuna's heart was racing at an exceedingly worrisome rate. The professor only chuckled.
"Ah, yes! A silly mistake. You remind me of an old classmate I had long ago. My apologies, Miss Bernard."
Nuna released a breath she forgot she was holding. "No worries, sir." No worries, my arse. I almost had a heart attack.
She quickly left and noticed her favorite blond boy leaning against the wall adjacent to the classroom. He looked up to see the person he was waiting for finally came out.
"What took you so long?" Peter asked as he slung his shoulder bag over himself.
Nuna said nothing as she scurried over to him and engulfed him in the biggest hug he's ever received.
Startled, the boy slightly fell back but still managed to hug her back.
"What was that for?" he said as she released him. Nuna only smiled.
"I promised you a hug, Pettigrew," she replied.
"Get away from my girl, Wormtail!" a familiar voice called at the end of the hallway. They both turned to see three boys taking up most of the hallway space with Nuna's favorite boy strutting in the middle of them. He held the biggest smile on his face while Nuna and Peter simultaneously flipped him off.
Sirius laughed before speed walking up to Nuna and intertwining his hand in hers.
James gagged. "Ugh, get a room."
"What even are you guys anyway?" Remus genuinely asked. "Any labels?"
Sirius and Nuna turned to each other. Nuna shrugged.
"You tell me," she said as they all walked together. Sirius made them walk behind the other three before pulling her closer to him.
"I'm yours if you let me be." He leaned his head on Nuna's, afraid to hear her answer.
"You'll be mine?"
"Always."
"Mon amant?"
Sirius's face grew slightly pink. "If you let me be."
Nuna smiled as Sirius lifted his head off of hers to meet her gaze. "I guess that settles it."
———————
one year down, another to go. and boy, that ones gonna be intense