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you count to three,
while they're all dying,
you're hard to reach,
you're cold to touch
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Chloe stepped into the Hospital Wing later that day. The chilled air from the room brushing against her bare fingers, and the glints of warm light travelling through the pane of the window, creating strokes of light that caressed her cheeks.
It hadn't taken a complex conversation with Madam Pomfrey to let her see Draco and his broken arm. She had simply shown up, expecting to be shooed away, but instead was let right in. She had managed to find a time to come in the small gap Pansy had left, not having enough energy left in herself to deal with her.
She quickly examined the room, seeing Draco lay on one of the beds towards the back with a straight face, only for it to turn to one of pain whenever Pomfrey turned around.
Chloe rolled her eyes at him as she moved her feet to walk towards him.
"You know when I said I wanted the Hippogriff to eat you, I was joking, right?" she queried, her eyes narrowing at his hand tightly clutching his injured arm, that was now wrapped in a cast and Chloe had no idea why, Pomfrey could fix it in a second.
Never mind, she did know why. Attention.
Draco's eyes snapped towards her as she said the words, his hand loosening its grip on his arm. She could tell he was slightly surprised she had come to see him, the flash of panic behind his eyes when she spoke up and the immediate whip of his head told her that.
He exhaled loudly, shaking his head in disapproval as he gestured to his wound, "I told you that oaf shouldn't be working here."
She then exhaled loudly too, mostly to mock him, as she flicked his leg with her fingers so he would jump back in pain, creating a space on the end of his bed for her to sit.
"I think it's you," she nodded with a slight grin, referring to the problem being him rather than Hagrid, "I bet there are loads of people here who would like to attack you. I, for example, resist the urge every day."
He swiftly moved his leg to kick her side, "Piss off."
She suddenly became overwhelmed with the feeling of someone watching her again. It was hard for her to process; usually, when you felt like someone was staring at you, you could feel holes burning into the places their eyes were set on. She felt different.
An uncomfortable aura surrounded her, dragging upon the smoothness of her skin that was now filled with goosebumps and the light-hearted expression painted on her face that was now replaced with discomfort. It felt as though people were watching her from every angle, as if she were surrounded by invisible souls who were staring into her own.
She slowly twisted her body to get a view of the entire hospital wing, her eyes roaming over every other person and object in the space, expecting them to meet a pair of drilling irises aimed right at her. However, all she saw was a normal room with people going about their own business, everyone's eyes to themselves.
"What the hell are you doing?"
His sudden voice brought her back, furrowing her eyebrows at the plain air in front of her one last time, reminding her of when she was outside the Divination classroom and felt the same way.
She twisted her body back to face him, her eyes travelling down to the cast on his arm, "How long are you going to be in here?"
Draco shrugged, moving to lean his back against the bed, "I'm trying to drag it out as long as possible, but I'll probably be kicked out of here by tomorrow."
"Damn."
"The first thing I'll do when I get out is write a long note to father about this," his eyebrows lowered and his mouth turned downwards in frustration.
"With what? Your teeth?" she joked, looking at his dominant hand being held hostage in his cast.
Draco's eyes dropped to his hand before looking back up at Chloe with a mischievous glint in his icy eyes that matched hers, "You can write it for me."
Chloe snorted, "Good luck with that."
She saw the swirling look of anger behind his eyes switch to a vexatious complexion, and the way the edges of his lips slightly turned upwards along with the look of thought that rarely covered his face gave her the feeling it wasn't going to be good.
She started to open her mouth to ask, him giving her a patient expression as if he were waiting for her to ask, before deciding against it.
"I'm not even going to ask," she shook her head.
"I'm going to make people my servants," he stated proudly. She blinked.
"More than usual?" she grinned, noticing Pansy walking into the doorway out of the corner of her eye, taking that as her sign to quickly get out, "and that's my cue to leave."
She abruptly stood up, wanting to get out of the room without having to face the wrath of Pansy. She eyed Pansy's figure as she came rushing into the hospital wing, her feet bringing her to stand right next to Draco's bed as Chloe saw the slight annoyance in his eyes.
Pansy immediately started simpering, checking if Draco was ok and sitting down on his bed next to him. She brought her eyes up to Chloe's, who was watching her as she chewed the inside of her cheeks to stop herself from laughing.
"What are you looking at?" Pansy looked her up and down with furrowed eyebrows.
Chloe didn't say anything. She inhaled loudly, just smiling and slightly scrunching her nose in response as she spun on her heel and made her way out of the hospital wing and into the great hall for dinner.
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The Gryffindors and Slytherins were currently in the middle of their double potions class with Professor Snape in the dungeons. Chloe was standing at her table with Daphne, Blaise and Theo, occasionally peering over the side of her cauldron to make sure her potion was the right colour.
The four had previously been talking about the Sirius Black sighting that had occurred not far from where they were, all vowing to hide Chloe under their beds if he ever decided to knock on their doors and kidnap her.
There was a large burst through the door as everyone turned to see Draco swaggering himself in with his arm wrapped up in bandages and a sling, expressed himself as though he had survived a very traumatic war.
Pansy grabbed Draco's good arm, asking him something with a sympathetic face as Draco nodded exaggeratedly as if he were hurt before winking at Crabbe and Goyle when Pansy looked away.
Chloe started to wonder why Draco sat his cauldron right next to Harry and Ron's, but as soon as he started talking she understood. Soon after, Ron was cutting up his daisy roots and Harry was skinning his shrivelfigs for him.
She had just added her daisy roots to her potion, which she had been cutting very cautiously while listening to Daphne and Theo bicker back and forth about him shaking the table with his careless cutting.
"Can you two shut up? I'm trying to listen," Blaise interrupted, motioning towards Draco and Harry's conversation about Hagrid and Lucius Malfoy.
Chloe shook her head at him, wordlessly agreeing as she tried to eavesdrop too.
"I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," he in a tone of mock sorrow. "Father's not very happy about my injury —"
"Keep talking, Malfoy, and I'll give you a real injury," Ron snarled.
"How poetic," Chloe joked, nudging Blaise's side to stop him from staring and making it obvious as she checked her acid green coloured potion between cuts.
"I'd pay to see that," Blaise replied, slicing his caterpillars.
"-who knows if my arm'll ever be the same again?" Draco continues, giving a dramatic sigh and slumping his shoulders in defeat.
Blaise and Chloe snorted at the same time, shaking their heads as they added their caterpillars to each of their potions.
Professor Snape was roaming around the room, his clothing dragging against the dungeon floors as he made his way to Chloe's table. He observed the potions from over their shoulders, silently judging them with his eyes before moving on.
Chloe and Blaise held in their laughs, hiding their faces beneath him until he walked away. She checked her potion again as she added her next ingredient, following the instructions written on the board carefully.
"What's next," Theo asked, looking around at the three for the next instruction.
"You really need glasses," Daphne replied, placing his next ingredient on the board in front of him anyways.
"Not my fault his writing's ridiculously hard to read," Theo mumbled.
They were distracted by Snape's drawling voice, "Orange, Longbottom."
He scooped his ladle into Neville's potion before bringing it slightly above the cauldron and poured the liquid back into the rest to show everyone.
Chloe felt bad for Neville, Snape never gave him a break and was always constantly on him, which she could tell that it made him even more nervous.
Of course, she would never say that out loud, knowing she would receive many questioning looks from her friends.
She craned her neck to look at him. He was looking down at his potion, his hands resting on the counter in front of him, trembling uncontrollably as he dropped his head to avoid eye contact.
"Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one cat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"
Chloe watched as Neville turned pink, seeming as though he were about to cry. Hermione started to intervene and offering to help Neville.
"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger," said Snape coldly, and Hermione went as pink as Neville. "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly."
Chloe slowed down her cutting, almost stopping completely as now most of her attention was focused on Nevile and his horrified expression. She had almost forgotten about her own potion as she noticed a twinkle of pale blue out of the corner of her eye, near where her potion and hands were.
She whipped her head back to see her potion, furrowing her eyebrows as she realised it was the same colour as when she looked away. Acid green.
She observed her cutting board and the table around her, including Daphne, Blaise and Theo's, her eyes roaming over every object in the direction of the twinkle.
However, nothing around her held a colour that was even close to resembling pale blue. There were also no windows in the dungeon so it can't have been a reflection.
Blaise noticed her confused expression, "What?"
She looked around one last time, "Nothing."
It probably was nothing, she thought, right?
She was brought back to reality when she heard Seamus talking about Sirius Black. The whole class perked their heads up at the name, everyone now either looking at Harry or Chloe.
She made eye contact with a few people moving uncomfortably. The set up of the table they were working at allowed her to step back slightly to hide half her body from the view of the class.
She finished adding the last of her ingredients as she distracted herself, stirring her potion the correct number of times each way to ignore the current whispers about Black from people with staring issues.
"You should have finished adding your ingredients by now; this potion needs to stew before it can be drunk, so clear away while it simmers and then we'll test Longbottom's..." Snape announced, interrupting the current chatter.
"Here we go," Theo mumbled in excitement as everyone returned their unused ingredients to the shelves and wash their hands and ladles.
Neville stood before his potion, shaking in terror as Snape strode over to him.
"Watch what happens to Longbottom's toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned."
The Slytherins around Chloe looked very excited, watching Snape dip his spoon into Neville's potion before giving some to his toad with gleeful smiles.
"I wonder if we could poison him," Chloe whispered to Theo, who only blinked in return, "Maybe not then."
There was a moment of hushed silence, in which Trevor gulped; then there was a small pop, and Trevor the tadpole was wriggling in Snape's palm.
The Slytherins sighed in disappointment, scoffing and rolling their eyes as the Gryffindors cheered, bursting into applause.
"Five points from Gryffindor," Snape interrupted, wiping the smiles off the Gryffindors and creating ones on the Slytherins, "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed."
Everyone made their way out of the classroom and up the steps to the Entrance Hall for lunch.
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Professor Lupin wasn't at the class for the first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.
All students were sitting at their desks with their bags placed next to their feet, their parchment and quills out ready for the lesson. Chloe's eyes roamed the room, another class with the Gryffindors was bound to be entertaining.
First, there was Draco, who was sitting with his arm resting on the table in front of Pansy as she examined and caressed it in sympathy. Then Crabbe and Goyle, who were flicking quills at each other and complaining when it hit them in the eye.
Tracey Davis, who Chloe shared a dorm with, was seated with one of her friends from Gryffindor, Chloe didn't know who, as she talked with her and made large gestures with her hands.
Her eyes then moved to the Gryffindors too. Ron was currently prodding the desk in front of him with his quill as he mumbled something to Harry, who was tracing a shape on the back of his hand with his own quill, mumbling something back to Ron.
She also couldn't help but notice that their usual trio had shrunk to a duo. Hermione wasn't there.
"New crush?" Theo asked with his eyebrows raised teasingly as he noticed her observance.
Chloe furrowed her eyebrows at them once more before turning around to face him, narrowing her eyes at him slightly, "Hardly. I think you should sort out your own crush."
"How would you know if I had a crush?"
"I know all," she grinned, pausing dramatically before continuing, "That, and I'm very observant."
Everyone's attention turned towards the door as Professor Lupin walked in, smiling vaguely as he placed his tatty old briefcase on the teacher's desk.
He viewed the students in the classroom. Chloe noticed his eyes lingered on her for a few seconds longer than everyone else.
"Good afternoon," he finally said, "Would you please put all your books back in your bags? Today will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."
A few curious looks were exchanged as the class put away their books. They had never had a practical Defense Against the Dark Arts class before, unless you count the memorable class last year when their old teacher had brought a cageful of pixies to class and set them loose.
"I like him already," Daphne whispered, and Lupin must have heard her because he sent her a warm smile in return as her cheeks turned pink from embarrassment.
"Right then, if you'd follow me." Lupin gestured out the door once the class was ready as the class got to their feet after many confused looks to follow him.
He led them along the deserted corridor and around a corner, where the first thing they saw was Peeves floating upside down in midair, stuffing the nearest keyhole with chewing gum.
He didn't look up until Professor Lupin was two feet away; then he wiggled his curly-toed feet and broke into song and the class watched in anticipation.
"Loony, loopy Lupin," Peeves sang. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin —"
"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves," he said pleasantly, "Mr Filch won't be able to get into his brooms."
When Peeves ignored him, Lupin took out his wand as he looked over his shoulder at the class, "This could be a useful spell, watch closely."
He raised his wand to the correct height so that it was pointed directly at Peeves as he announced 'Waddiwasi'. With the force of a bullet, the wad of chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight down Peeves's left nostril; he whirled upright and zoomed away, cursing.
"We need that for Pansy," Chloe mumbled to Daphne so nobody else could hear.
"Cool sir!" Dean exclaimed in amazement.
"Thank you, Dean," Professor Lupin nodded politely, putting his wand away again, "Shall we proceed?"
He led the class down a second corridor before stopping outside the staffroom door. The panelled room was almost empty. Only Professor Snape was sitting in a low armchair, looking around at the class as they walked in.
As Professor Lupin started to close the door behind him, Snape stood from his chair, "Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."
He got to his feet and strode past the class, his black robes billowing behind him. At the doorway, he turned on his heel, "Possibly no one's warned you, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."
Nearly all of the students turned to look at Neville, who turned scarlet at the mention of himself. Snape's lip curled in anger when Lupin mentioned something about using Neville to assist him during their class as he shut the door behind him with a snap.
"Now, then," said Professor Lupin, beckoning the class toward the end of the room, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their spare robes. As Professor Lupin went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.
"Did he kidnap someone?" Daphne muttered to Chloe, who was stood next to her.
"Nothing to worry about," Lupin assured as a few people jumped in fright, "It's just a boggart."
Chloe eyed the rattling doorknob apprehensively as it shook rapidly. Other students watched Lupin in terror.
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," Lupin continued, "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks — I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice. So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?"
Hermione shot up her hand immediately, "It's a shape-shifter. It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."
"Couldn't have put it better myself," Professor Lupin addressed, and Hermione glowed.
"So, the Boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. Does anyone know why? Miss Black?"
Chloe widened her eyes at the mention of her name, her cheeks slightly burning when people turned to look at her. How she hated when teachers called on her when she wasn't even raising her hand.
"...Because they don't know what the fear is yet?" She asked hesitantly.
"Exactly," Lupin nodded, giving her a wide smile.
Blaise nudged her side as he snickered.
"Shut up," she whispered, nudging him back.
Lupin carried on, "He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears."
"This means," Lupin continued, choosing to ignore Neville's small sputter of terror, "that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"
"She needs to calm down," Chloe heard Blaise mutter under his breath. She could just see over a few heads, on the other side of the crowd, that Hermione was bobbing up and down with her hand raised high in the air, occasionally bumping into Ron or Harry.
Then, she noticed that Hermione was actually there.
"Er — because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?" Harry questioned hesitantly, very similar to the way Chloe answered Lupin's question.
"Precisely," said Professor Lupin, "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a Boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a Boggart make that very mistake..."
Lupin continued talking about the time a Boggart accidentally turned into two shapes out of confusion that weren't scary. She kept her eyes on the door, she didn't know what, but something about the door and the knob was very unsettling to her.
"...Force it to assume a shape that you find amusing. We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please... riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" the class repeated.
"This class is ridiculous," Draco mumbled to his friends from behind the group.
Your daddy issues are ridiculous.
"Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville."
The wardrobe shook again, though not as much as Neville, who walked forward as though he were heading for the gallows. Chloe heard the Slytherins around her snickering at his trembling figure as he stumbled to the front of the class.
"Right, Neville," said Professor Lupin, "First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"
Neville's lips moved, but no noise came out.
"I didn't catch that, Neville, sorry," Lupin said cheerfully. Neville looked around rather wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then stuttered, in barely more than a whisper, "Professor Snape."
Nearly everyone either laughed or snorted, even Neville grinned apologetically. Professor Lupin, however, looked thoughtful, "Professor Snape... hmmm... Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"
"Er — yes," Neville stammered nervously, "But — I don't want the Boggart to turn into her either."
"No, no, you misunderstand me," Lupin smiled smiling, "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"
Neville looked startled, but said, "Well... always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress... green, normally... and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."
"She's a lot fancier than my grandma," Daphne whispered.
"And a handbag?" prompted Professor Lupin.
"A big red one," Neville nodded.
Professor Lupin then asked Neville to picture the clothes carefully in his mind. When Neville made a gesture to show he was ready, Lupin explained that the boggart would most likely turn into Snape, (most people laughed again), and he would have to imagine Snape in his grandmother's clothes as he said the spell.
"If Neville is successful, the Boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," Lupin explained, "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical..."
Chloe shut her eyes slowly and tried to imagine what her worst fear would be. Her mind travelled to her friends first. Maybe if they got hurt? Because of her? Or if they randomly decided they didn't want to be friends with her anymore?
Then her mind travellers to animals like worms and spiders, shivering at the mere thought of them. She opened her eyes again to get rid of the sight as a wave of fear washed over her. What if she wasn't ready?
"Everyone ready?" Professor Lupin asked as everyone nodded, rolling up their sleeves, "Neville, we're going to back away. Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward... Everyone back, now, so Neville can get a clear shot —"
Everyone took a few steps backward before their backs hit the wall behind them, leaving Neville alone by the wardrobe. Chloe reached into her pocket to hold her wand. She didn't bring it out of her robes, she just wrapped her fingers around the handle and rest her arm there.
Lupin pointed his wand at the door handle as he nodded at Neville encouragingly, "On the count of three."
He count to three as the wardrobe burst open as a jet of sparks shot from the end of the professor's wand. Professor Snape walked out, his eyes flashing at Neville unnervingly as Neville visibly gulped, holding his wand up. Snape walked towards him, towering over Neville.
"R — r — riddikulus! " Neville squeaked, causing a loud crack as Snape's robes turned into the exact clothes and accessories Neville was describing before.
There was a roar of a medley of laughter and celebration from the Gryffindors as the Boggart paused, confused, and Professor Lupin shouted. No crowd of Slytherins applauded.
Lupin called Parvati forward as Snape turned into a mummy. She shouted the incantation as the mummy transformed into a pile of bandages on the floor. Lupin continued to call up the next people in the line as Chloe felt her heart begin to hammer in her chest.
She kept her grip on her wand in the pocket as she occasionally took a step forward as the line moved. She wondered what would happen if she wasn't confident enough to get rid of the boggart. She didn't even know what the boggart would be, how was she supposed to know how to get rid of it?
She began to feel scared that she would be too terrified to even think about what to turn the boggart into, she hated being put on the spot. She watched as the boggart took a new form every time someone stood close to it.
A bloody eyeball, a banshee, a large snake that someone turned into a clown. Personally, she thought the clown was more terrifying than the snake.
"It's confused!" shouted Lupin, "We're getting there! Dean!"
Dean hurried forward and changed the boggart into a severed hand that was trapped in a mousetrap.
Ron went next, Chloe cringed at the sight of the huge spider the boggart had transformed into. The spider rolled over on its back as Lavender Brown squealed and it halted at Harry's feet.
He raised his wand, ready to say the spell before Lupin stepped in front of him, cutting him off. For a second, Chloe's attention was caught by what looked like a silvery ball lingering in the air above Lupin's head.
Everyone watched in confusion as he chanted 'riddikulus' almost lazily before calling Neville to do it again. This time Neville charged forward looking determined.
"Riddikulus!" he shouted, and they had a split second's view of Snape in his lacy dress before Neville let out a great "Ha!" of laughter, and the Boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tinywisps of smoke, and was gone.
"Excellent!" cried Professor Lupin as the class broke into applause, "Excellent, Neville. Welldone, everyone... Let me see... five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the Boggart— ten for Neville because he did it twice... and five each to Hermione and Harry. Five points for Chloe."
"Sir, she didn't even do anything!" One of the Gryffindors exclaimed almost in Chloe's face, whipping his arm out to point to her. She grinned sarcastically at him before blowing him a kiss that only made him madder.
"She answered my question correctly at the start of the class." Lupin replied lightly, poorly hiding the smirk that had formed on his face at Chloe's action, "Very well, everyone, an excellent lesson. Homework, kindly read the chapter on Boggarts and summarize it for me... to be handed in on Monday. That will be all."
The class sighed at the mention of having homework as they all stumbled through the door. Chloe waited for her three friends to finish getting their stuff to walk out together.
"Count on stupid Potter to ruin the fun once again."
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sorry this is kind of a really long, boring chapter. i was going to include chloe's boggart to make it less 'canon' but I'm not very creative so I didn't know what funny thing to turn it into lmao. i asked what you guys thought but i doubt a fat voldemort would have been funny for them
(i found it funny dw)
I've also been stalking peoples pinterests for the past like five hours so this took a while. this hasn't been edited either so pls point out mistakes :) I'm already halfway through the next chapter so hopefully it'll be out sooner :)
lastly, thank you all for reading, love you all so much <33