CHAPTER-2
birdie's point of view
BIRDIE POTTER sat in the office, frown on her face, eyebrows furrowed, she looked tired as she stared at the woman in front of her, her lips sealed shut. Awkward silence wasn't all that was present in the room, there was also tension that you could cut with a plastic fork. Birdie turned away, Ryan sighed, the fidget toy in her hand made a noise, it sounded like a fart.
A few moments go by.
Birdie eventually starts laughing at the sound, and Ryan joins in, she may or may not have made that noise on purpose just to get Birdie to talk, it wasn't words that worked on her — it was a prank, in most cases, or something completely obscure and childish, that was how Ryan got Birdie Potter to talk.
"When was the last time you laughed like that?" Ryan asked the brunette, Birdie's laughter died down and a glare made its way on her face instead, Ryan raised her eyebrows, Birdie sighed in defeat.
"Yesterday, actually" Birdie told her as she rubbed her hands on her jeans, "My best friend and my boyfriend came to visit me at the bakery, it's fun, they're both funny, unfortunately though, they clash a lot, reminds me a bit of a siblings' relation—"
"Let me rephrase my question," Ryan said, she leaned forward as she stared into Birdie's eyes, Birdie didn't maintain eye contact, and who could blame her? Its probably awkward, "When was the last time you laughed alone like that, without anyone cracking a joke or your boyfriend and best friend?"
"I don't know" Birdie threw her hands back, "I don't laugh alone, doc, that's just weird — I'm not even funny."
"You laughed right now, and I didn't crack a joke" said Ryan, "And I don't think you consider me something even close to a friend"
"Yeah, 'cause your toy made a fart noise" Birdie said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Honestly, where are we getting with this? Are we sure this is the best use of our time? You know what we should be doing instead—"
"Okay" Ryan opened her notebook, her pen in hand and Birdie released an exasperated groan, "Relax, Robin, I'm not being passive aggressive, I just have a little homework for you."
"Homework?" Birdie groaned again, "Why? I thought when I left school I would be done with homework." she huffed as she crossed her arms and leaned back into the couch.
"Well, too bad." Ryan told her, she ripped the page out of the notebook and handed it to her.
Birdie looked down at the sheet of paper, it had nothing on it except her name, she looked up at Ryan with a confused look on her face, "What am I supposed to do with this?" she then looked down at the paper once again and was about to start making it into an airplane when Ryan interjected.
"No, no, no" she said reaching forward for the sheet of paper as she tried to flatten it with her hand, she then gave it back to Birdie, "This isn't for you to do origami, I'm handing you this blank sheet of paper because I want you to write down whenever you felt happy in the entire week."
"Really?" Birdie asked with her brows scrunched together, "That's all?"
"Yeah, that's all" Ryan told her with a shrug, "You can't miss a moment though, or else..."
"You can't threaten me..." Birdie said, there was a moment of silence, "Alright fine, I'll do the homework, now can I go home?"
"Yeah, ok" Ryan said, "I'll see you again on Saturday!" she told her with a small wave as she watched the brunette leave with a mock salute.
✨
BIRDIE POTTER walked into three broomsticks, she was immediately surrounded by the warmth as she took off her jacket and looked around the table for the familiar faces, she had to admit she missed coming here, she missed Hogwarts in general, and though the last year was trash for her, she'd gladly go back to any of the years before that — it seems crazy to think about how much Birdie used to hate school back then, if given the chance she'd sit down and complete the entire Arithmancy book if it meant getting to spend some time in the castle.
"Birdie! Over here!" She heard the voice call out to her, her head turned towards him. Harry waved at her and so did Hermione, and so did Ron.
A smile crept on her lips as she walked towards her brother, it felt like forever since she'd last seen him, she guesses she doesn't really have the normal brother-sister relationship with Harry that most siblings do, but then again, most kids don't have 'the chosen one' as their sibling.
As Birdie got closer she noticed someone else with them, a relatively old man who looked like he'd had a few drinks standing right beside Harry and laughing, she made their way over to them, curious about the new face.
"Oh, hey, Professor, this is my sister — Birdie" Harry introduced her to the man, "Birdie, this is Professor Slughorn."
"Oh, no way!" Birdie exclaimed, her smile widening before she realized she couldn't tell the Professor about how much her parents talked about him, she cleared her throat, "Harry has told me so much about you...in the letters...that we write...to each other?"
Harry passed her a confused look, Birdie passed him a look too — it meant go with it.
"Yeah, yeah" Harry nodded, playing along, "I've told her about how you're the best potions teacher we've had" Harry was laying it on thick, Birdie knew he wasn't one to be a suck up but he was a teenage boy, who knows what goes on in their heads.
Spoiler alert — it's Ginny Weasley.
Ginny Weasley's in his head.
"Oh, you two are too kind!" Slughorn said waving them off, "Alright then, Harry, see you at the party, my boy, you too miss Granger!" he walked off with the cup of butterbeer in hand.
Birdie pulled up a chair when he was gone, a tired expression on her face as she now started to understand what was going on, "What is it that Professor Dumbledore's told you to do now?"
nothing to say except YOULL SEE ME IN HINDSIGHT TANGLED UP WITH U ALL NIGHT BURNING IT DOWN SOME DAY WHEN U LEAVE ME I BET THESE MEMORIES FOLLOW U AROUND