Here's a little something to take a break from the drama.
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"Ah, Miss Sweeting."
"Good morning", I chirped, greeting the portrait of Helga Hufflepuff, her plump face smiling down on me.
"How is my favourite Hufflepuff today?"
"Doing quite well actually."
She took in my appearance and let out a soft giggle, "you're dressed up for the weekend."
I could feel my cheeks begin to get warm.
"Yes, I may have gotten a tad earlier than one does on a Saturday, but for good reason."
"Oho, and what reason may that be."
My blush deepened at the thought of a Gryffindor redhead that is beloved by everyone he befriends.
Perhaps it was his high-spirited personality or his humour, or perhaps just everything about him.
Or perhaps it was the day I met him.
Ever since I began to understand what my parents did as poachers, I swore to myself that I will protect every magical creature I could. And after my first Care of Magical Creatures class, it only cemented that.
I decided to visit the pens after school and what I saw in front of me, horrified me. A group of Slytherin boys in my year antagonising a poor Kneazle I remember Howin mentioning was recently rescued.
"Hey!"
The laughing and vexation stopped as they all turned to face me, my stomach drop at the look on their faces.
What was I thinking, there's no way I can take four of them.
"Oh look what we have here. A lowly, undersized Hufflepuff."
I cowered back as a group of Slytherin fourth-year boys began to approach me, sinister smiles on their faces as the one who looked like the leader took out his wand.
I frantically looked around, planning my escape.
I took off in a dash, but the blasted hood on my robe got snatched up as a collided with the ground with a thud, I attempted to get up only to have a wand pointed at my face.
"Now you listen you hear", he spat.
He pushed the wand deeper into my forehead as I winced.
"Flipendo!"
The boy terrorising me then flew away with the knockback jinx that hit him and I swivelled my head to see a boy wearing a Gryffindor robe and who had the reddest hair of all red hair.
Next to him, I see Professor Howin approaching too.
"Fuck", I heard the boys mutter as they all began to scatter away.
The boy ran to my side as Professor Howin pursued the group of boys.
"Are you okay?"
Looking into his eyes, they were a pretty forest green, just like the Kneazle the boys were hurting.
He held his hand out which I happily took as he hauled me up and began to pat me down, smoothing my hair and dusting my robe off of dirt stains as a result of those boys.
I turned behind me.
"Don't worry about them, Professor Howin's got this."
"Ah, right."
"It's nice to meet you, Poppy."
I perked up, "you know my name?"
He laughed, "of course. You're in my Care of Magical Creatures class."
I furrowed my brows, trying to remember if I ever noticed his face, but nothing came from memory.
"You were probably too focused on the creatures to see me", he mentioned as he scratched the back of his head.
I blushed embarrassed. I suppose I do go into my own world when it comes to magical creatures.
He just laughed again as he pat my head.
"No need to worry. Perhaps now we can be friends."
"Oi Weasley!"
He spun around to see a group of Gryffindors waving in his direction. I poked my head over his shoulder and recognised one of them to be Natty Onai, the one waving at him. She's remarkable at charms.
"Coming!"
He turned to you, "right, I'll see some other time Poppy."
He began to run off but then I remembered.
"Wait! What's your name?"
He turned his head and called over his shoulder.
"Garreth! Garreth Weasley!"
He quickly stopped, "by the way. Persephone would be a great name for that Kneazle!"
I beamed, Garreth.
It was nice to reminisce on memories like that and since that day, when I met Garreth and named Persephone, Garreth has been one of my closest friends ever.
"So, so, tell Helga everything."
I giggled, tucking some hair behind my ear, "it's nothing really."
"Doesn't seem like nothing. Oh my, is it a boy?"
"What?!"
"So it is", she gave a half-smirk, half-loving grin.
"Maybe. Anyway, I'll be heading to Hogsmeade now!"
I ran out the door, eager to head to Hogsmeade as Garreth mentioned he would be roaming around there.
Not paying attention as I ran down the halls, I crashed right into someone, the both of us falling back.
"Poppy?"
I blinked to see my best friend on the floor, "Y/N!"
We both helped each other up as she took in my impatient appearance.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
"Hogsmeade!"
It didn't take her long to put the pieces together as she let out a knowing ah before she greeted me bye and left, then off I went.
My running slowed down and turned into a jog which turned into a walk as I began to make my way through Hogsmeade, weaving myself through the townsfolk in search of the familiar head of red hair.
But to no avail.
Perhaps he's not here yet.
I came to that conclusion and decided that I should spend some time with myself. I visited many of the shops built within Hogsmeade, bumping into a few of my friends who also decided to go to Hogsmeade.
Lastly, I headed to Honeydukes to get Garreth some Sugar Quills since they were his favourite sweet and some chocolate frogs as well.
After a long day of talking and shopping, I had yet to see Garreth but deciding to treat myself, I went into the Three Broomsticks where it was full of patrons, chatting away, charisma filling the air.
"Ah, if it isn't Poppy Sweeting."
"Hi, Sirona!"
I smiled as I approached the bar where a cup of Butterbeer was waiting for me.
"Thanks, Sirona", she nodded and I took a sip of the drink, enjoying its sweet taste.
Then a burst of familiar laughter caught my ear as I turned in my chair to see the redheaded boy I'd been searching for the whole day.
Taking the final sips of my butterbeer, I thanked Sirona one last me before leaving the bar, raising my hand to wave, as I squeezed my way through the many groups of patrons.
"Gar-"
I stopped.
There she was. The Gryffindor remarkable at charms.
The two of them shared a laugh as he nudged his shoulder against hers, only one butterbeer present at the table. He then leaned into her and whispered something as she let out a laugh, gently hitting him on the shoulder.
"Oh", I choked softly to myself.
Tears threatened to spill.
I couldn't bear to look at the scene anymore and forgetting all about the sweets in my hand, I dropped them to the ground as I ran out of the Three Broomsticks and all the way to Hogwarts, not knowing where I was running.
It wasn't until I heard a purr that I realised where I had run to.
In front of me was Persephone staring up at me with a curious stare.
Most students wouldn't be allowed to be in the pens this late into the night, but Howin had put her full trust in me.
I opened the gate to the Kneazle pen and took a step in. Looking around, all of the Kneazles were asleep, except for Persephone who came to me and nuzzled her head against my leg.
I crouched down to pet her head.
"Hello, sweet girl."
That's when I broke and put my hands to my face as the night air filled itself with my sobs.
I never thought I'd be crying over a boy, let alone it be Garreth Weasley. But he just meant everything to me and seeing Persephone just made me remember all the great times we had. All the times that made me like him.
I continued to cry until I felt a hand on my head, softly patting it.
I immediately knew who it was.
Sniffling a bit, I wiped my tears away with the sleeve of my robe.
"I'm not going to ask. Just keep crying if you want."
I just shook my head gently, indicating that I was done crying. He crouched down next to me as Persephone turned her attention to the boy who named her as he pet her.
"I-I'm going to turn in. Good night. Garreth."
He just nodded. Not even saying good night back.
I stood up and started to walk away, hoping at least he would stop me. Ask why I was crying, but no. Nothing.
-
After Poppy had left, I felt a little guilty for not comforting her, but I had a sort of hunch as to why she was crying as I pulled out a sugar quill from the inside of my robe, the chocolate frog deep in my pocket.
Continuing to pet Persephone, I was hoping she could speak, "do you know what happened, sweet girl?"
She only purred and pushed her head against my hand as I let out a soft laugh, petting her more.
I let out a sigh and hit a fist against my forehead. Regardless if it involved me or not, I should've just comforted her. I scolded myself for not doing that.
You're one bloody idiot Garreth Weasley.
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Woo, two POVs, OMG!
So what do you guys think of Poppy and Garreth together?
I don't think I've seen anybody ship them, but as I was writing this book, I thought, heck, why not.
I think I'll try to throw chapters in like this every now and then as a way to give you lovelies a break from the main story.
But if you'd like a completely separate series of the other ships in this book, please comment and I'll see to making one in the future.
Also, we're almost up to 100k reads, I'm so thankful to everyone who has been reading my book and hope you guys really enjoy reading it as much as I write it.