this chapter got me smiling, giggling and kicking my feet like an idiot
❝𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪'𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱
𝘪'𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦
𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, "𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵? 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵? 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦, 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵?" 𝘰𝘩
𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨
𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯
𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳
𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦, 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨
"𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢, 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪 𝘢𝘮 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘺"
𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨, "𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢, 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪 𝘢𝘮 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘬"❞
- 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘨𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘺
EVERYONE HAD NOW FASHIONED DESIGNED BADGES.
it started on yellow with the words 'cedric diggory & [name] kanroji' and cedrics and your face on it, but after a second it twisted and changed to a green with harry's face and the words 'potter stinks'
everyone had made fun of flashing them at harry when he would walk passed.
it really upset you seeing them, you seriously questioned why they were so mad at harry and not at you whatsoever. you were both underage. you guess it's just cause he's the 'boy who lived', but that gave them no right to be so mean.
you and hermione seemed to be some of the only ones in the school who weren't wearing them.
seeing harry walking down the hall you grab your books, shoving them in your bag and rushing over to him.
hermione had occupied herself in the library so you were just sitting, having been talking with a group of hufflepuff's you had convinced to not wear the badges.
"cedric rules" some kid says as he zooms past, you frown and glare slightly at him.
"thanks" harry says.
you both make it to a corridor where a few older year hufflepuff's were standing, "like the badge?" the guy shows harry the badge.
"leave him alone" you glare up at him, crossing your arms. he snickers, his other friends looking uncomfortable.
"oh, and what are you going to do about it"
you pause.
um.. what were you going to do about it?
you panic slightly. you couldn't just back down, you needed to show harry you were trying to defend him!
but..
sigh.
he nudges your shoulder, "hey, little fourth year? what ya going to do? defending little old potter. stupid attention seeker"
everyone now gathered around, sensing a brewing argument or fight. but once they saw you in the middle they grew worried, what was that hufflepuff going to do?
their eyes saw harry and they frowned, your sweet, caring soul was defending the boy.
the hufflepuff laughed, shoving you a bit harder, "little girl doesn't have it in her-"
he stumbled to the ground as your fist collided with his cheek, gaping and holding the quickly forming bruise.
there was a chorus of gasps as everyone gaped.
you winced at your slightly aching knuckles and then gaped slightly at yourself.
oh goodness.
what had you done?!
you had just hit someone!
harry quickly looped his arm with yours and dragged you away, you stumbling after him as everyone watches in utter shock.
the sweet, caring, lovable hufflepuff fourth year had just punched an older year!
and all to defend harry.
they all looked down at their badges, feeling mildly frightened that they would receive the same fate as the man on the ground, his cheekbone swelling.
everyone quickly scampered away.
"oh gosh, harry. i just hit someone!" you cried, gaping as he embraced you quickly.
"thank you, [name]" harry muttered, cheeks burning pink at how quick you had defended him despite your kind nature.
you smile slightly, hugging him tighter before you both pull away, heading over to where cedric and his group looked slightly confused at what had just gone on, their view having been blocked by the group of people.
the whole group had badges on except cedric.
they all laugh as harry walks over, cedric sits up from having his head in his friends lap, giving you a grin and you give him a small smile.
"hey! read the badge, potter. why don't you come sit with us, kanroji"
you frowned again, now not really regretting having punched the boy and honestly wanting to punch this lot as well.
you crossed your arms, missing the way cedric's eyes darted to your bruising knuckles, frowning.
"can we have a word?" harry says.
cedric nods, "all right" he says, shaking his head and smiling.
"you stink, potter"
"harry potter smells!"
you turn your head to glare at the group, who quickly shut up.
"dragons. that's the first task" harry says suddenly, you look up at cedric.
"they've got one for each of us" you add on, cedric looked mildly horrified.
"come on, ced!" one of cedric's friends calls and you turn your whole group to face away from them with a huff.
"are you serious?" cedric questions with a frown, glancing over to his group.
you both nod.
"and, um, fleur and krum, do they..?"
"yes" harry nods.
"come on, ced, leave him!"
"right" cedric frowns.
"he's not worth it"
"read the badges, potter!"
you and harry go to walk off but cedric grabs harry's arm slightly and your hand gently.
"hey, listen. about the badges.. i've asked them not to wear them, but.."
harry shakes his head, "don't worry about it"
cedric's hold stays on your hand, you meet his eyes before glancing at harry.
"you go, i'll be there in a minute, 'kay?" you smile at him, he sends cedric a cautious look before leaving.
you glance back at cedric who gas grazing your injured knuckles with his thumbs with a concerned look on his face, you wince slightly as his thumb gazes a tender spot.
he pauses, gazing into your eyes.
"you're hurt. what happened?"
you bite your lip, looking down at your feet again slightly guilty.
he pulled you slightly closer to him, your cheeks burning as you felt his body heat against yours.
"what happened, [name]?"
you frown, glancing up through your eyelashes.
"i, uh.. i punched someone" you muttered quickly.
he blinks, "huh?"
you take a breath, "i.. punched.. someone"
he gaped.
"an older year. he was bullying harry and then he was just acting super cocky and-"
you gape as you're embraced in a hug, though quickly hugging cedric back.
"you're too kind for your own good, you know that?" he murmurs into your hair, inhaling deeply and taking in your strawberry scented shampoo.
you purse your lips, his honeydew and burnt wood scent invading your senses.
he pulled away after a moment, kissing your forehead as you blushed.
"you should get that checked out" he gestured to your knuckles before making his leave.
you glance down at your knuckles and at his retreating form before spinning on your heel and trotting over to where a large group had formed, laughing at something.
you squeeze through the crowd, standing beside harry and gaping as professor moody swung around a little white ferret, into goyle's pants and around the ground.
"i'll teach you to curse someone when their back is turned!" moody fumes, limping over, "you stinking, cowardly, scummy!" with each word moody raises the little ferret up with his wand.
"oh my goodness! what is he doing to that poor thing?!" you cried, squeezing harry.
moody goes to catapult the poor, small creature but you rush forward, snatching the ferret in your hands and retreating quickly, the spell breaking.
moody gave you a scathing look as you held the ferret close to your body, the trembling thing curling closer to you in fear.
"professor moody!" mcgonagall's voice intercepts, "what-what are you doing?" she questions.
you stroke the ferret's head gently.
if you were to just glance up into the window of the owlery you would see all of your cats and duck huddled together with mitsuri, glaring at the little ferret in your arms.
"teaching."
"is that a..? is that a student?" she asks in disbelief.
you blink,
what?!
you glance down at the animal, blinking. it blinks back up at you.
"technically, it's a ferret"
mcgonagall steps forward, waving her wand cautiously at the ferret as to not cast anything onto you.
you gape, eyes wide and jaw dropped as suddenly draco was in your arms.
he looks up at you too, cheeks burning cherry red as he stared.
and then, you both leaned in and ki-
JUST KIDDING.. NONE OF THAT.. YET? JK.. JUST NONE OF THAT RN
you and draco continued to stare at eachother for a minute before you screamed and dropped him.
he oomphed as he hit the ground, scampering back to the large tree.
he looked pretty traumatized, both for the fact he had been flung around like that and that he was caught nuzzling into you like that. animal instincts, he may say.
not true.
harry and some surrounding students glared at draco for the way he had just been cuddling into you, disguised as an animal.
"my father will hear about this!" draco shouts.
moody chases after him, "is that a threat?"
"professor moody!"
moody chases draco around the tree, "is that a threat?!"
despite your embarrassment, shame and confusion, you still felt bad for the boy. what kind of teacher would chase around a student like that and do that to him?
honestly you'd think it valid for draco to tell his father and for moody to be terminated.
"professor!"
draco narrowly escapes, running away quickly.
"i could tell you stories about your father that would curl even your greasy hair, boy!"
"alastor!"
"it doesn't end here!"
"alastor. we never use transfiguration as a punishment" mcgonagall scolds. "surely dumbledore told you that"
"he might've mentioned it"
you frown.
"well, you will do well to remember it"
mcgonagall walks off, shooing the students away.
moody pulls a face, you frown.
"you two, follow me"
you perk up slightly, sharing a confused glance with harrry as you both follow after moody, your frown lasting.
date posted ; 23/01/24