Helena could not muster a single word.
Her heart was pounding so fast, she thought it would jump out of her chest. She was a ball of wonderful emotions waiting to burst, all she could do was nod while tucking her dark hair behind her ear, her cheeks burning.
Cedric took a step forward, standing so close to her that Nina could feel his breathing hitting her skin. Slowly, the tall boy leaned in, pressing his soft lips on her warm ones as they both closed their eyes, getting lost in the moment and ignoring a couple of students who were walking by. She felt her whole body heat up when the Hufflepuff pulled her even closer to him, one of his hands cupping her face. It's as though she was floating, hovering above the ground in a delightful bliss.
The kiss was perfect to Helena. Not too long, not too short. Just right.
And felt even better than she though her first kiss would feel.
It was hard to tell who was blushing the most when they broke apart, both staring at the ground and giving shy glances at each other.
"Shall we go b--"
Suddenly, a mud-covered and furious Draco Malfoy ran past them, along with Crabbe and Goyle who were also splattered with mud. Malfoy spitting how "Potter will pay for this!"
"That was weird," said Cedric when the Slytherins were out of earshot.
He then saw how Nina started shivering from a cool breeze that hit them, the cardigan she was wearing feeling as though she had only covered herself in a napkin, so he pulled her into a tight hug, rubbing his hands on her back to warm her up.
"C'mon, let's get you inside," he said softly over her head.
Helena could not stop smiling on the carriage ride back to the castle. Everything appeared to be at ease, with the sound of birds chirping on the trees, students laughing on near by carriages and the smell of spring right around the corner left her in a daze.
Leaving Cedric behind to change into warmer clothes, Nina headed upstairs to Gryffindor Tower once they arrived at Hogwarts, using another route when she came across a large group of first years that were blocking a stairway.
It was when she strolled by the statue of the one-eyed witch when someone jumped out of it, causing her to shriek.
"HARRY! You almost gave me a heart attack!" she panted, trying to regain a steady heart beat. Then she looked down to see his hands. "Is that mud?"
"Sorry 'bout that," the boy apologised, holding his Invisibility Cloak behind him and dropping it. "I'm not supposed to be here and I gotta run before--"
"So." a cold voice interrupted.
The two Gryffindors turned around to see a triumphant Professor Snape approaching them, his black robes swishing and then stopped in front of them.
"Come with me, Potter," said Snape. "You too, Rosemund."
"But I didn't--"
"Now."
Helena and Harry followed him downstairs, the boy obviously trying to wipe his hands clean on the inside of his robed without Snape noticing. They walked down the stairs to the dungeons and then into Snape's office.
Nin had never been here before and her first impression of the room was not good. The Potions teacher apparently had a fascination over slimy horrible things that were displayed in jars along, sitting on shelves behind his desk. The firelight making them glint which only enhanced the menacing atmosphere in the room.
"Sit," ordered Snape.
They did as they were told, but Snape remained standing.
"Mr. Malfoy has just been to see me with a strane story, Potter," said Snape.
Harry didn't say anything. Helena remained calm, careful not to show any sign that would rat on him.
"He tells me that he was up by the Shrieking Shack when he ran into Weasley, apparently alone."
Both teens stayed silent.
"Mr. Malfoy states that he was standing talking to Weasley, when a large amount of mud hit him in the back of the head. How do you think that could have happened?"
Nina wanted to laugh so badly.
"I don't know, Professor," said Harry, looking mildly surprised.
Snape stared into Harry's eyes, trying to make him crack under his intense glare. Nina was amazed how the boy did not even blink.
"Mr. Malfoy then saw an extraordinary apparition. Can you imagine what it might have been, Potter?"
"His decency?" Nina accidentally said out loud.
"Quiet, Rosemund!" barked Snape and then turned back to the boy next to her. "It was your head, Potter. Floating in midair."
There was a long silence, one that Helena found hard to bear with Snape fumming with anger infront of them.
"Maybe he's better go to Madam Pomfrey," said Harry. "If he's seeing things like --"
"What would your head have been doing in Hogsmeade, Potter?" said Snape softly, making it much more scarier. "Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body had permission to be in Hogsmeade."
"I know that," said Harry with a straight face. "It sounds like Malfoy's having hallucin--"
Harry... woah!
"Malfoy is not having hallucinations," snarled Snape, bending down to Harry's eye level to make himself look more terrifying. "If your head was in Hogsmeads, so was the rest of you."
"I've been up in Gryffindor Tower," said Harry. "Like you told--"
"Can anyone confirm that?"
Harry didn't say anything. And Snape's mouth curled into an awful smile.
"If he says he was in Gryffindor Tower, he was there!" said Helena before she could even stop herself.
Snape straightened up again, crossing his arms and looked down at her.
"Don't try to save Potter from the consequences, Rosemund," he said. "Everyone from the Ministry of Magic had been trying to keep famous Harry Potter safe from Sirius Black. But famous Harry Potter is a law unto himself. How extraordinarily like your father you are, Potter."
Snape's eyes glinted with hate.
"He too was exceedingly arrogant. A small amount of talent on the Quidditch field made him think he was a cut above the rest of us too. Strutting around the place with his friends and admirers... The resemblance between you is uncanny."
"My dad didn't strut, and neither do I," said Harry.
"Please, Sir!" pleaded Helena, knowing how upset Harry gets when Snape trash talks about his father. "Harry wasn't in Hogsmeade! And Malfoy got what he deserved for being rude to people!"
"Enough, Miss Rosemund! Another word and I will take away points. Now, Potter, turn out your pockets," the teacher spat.
Harry obliged, taking out some candy from Honeydukes, saying that Ron had given it to him from the last Hogsmeade trip, and then took out the Marauders map.
Nina went wide-eyed when she saw the blank parchment in Snape's hands.
"Is this another treasured gift from Mr. Weasley? Or is it... something else? A letter, perhaps, written with invisible ink? Or... instructions to get into Hogsmeade without passing the dementors?"
How the hell could he have guessed that?!
Snape used his wand to tap the map, muttering several orders in the hopes of revealing what was hidden on the map. And when words started to appear on the smooth surface of the parchment, Snape brought it close to him to read out loud.
"Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business."
The Potions master froze. Both Helena and Harry were dumbstruck at the message. She could not believe the map had just insulted a teacher. And it did not stop there.
"Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony and would like to add that Professors Snape is an ugly git."
"Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a professor."
"Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball."
Helena found it clever how the map was able to insult someone. Really clever magic, and would have to ask Sirius how he ,and the rest of the Marauders, did it.
But it only resulted in Snape looking bitter, calling Professor Lupin to check it out.
"Well, it's not full of Dark Magic like you said, Severus," answered Lupin. "It looks to me as though it is merely a piece of parchment that insults anybody who reads it. Childish, but surely not dangerous? I imagine Harry got it from a joke shop--"
"You don't think it more likely that he got it directly from the manufacturers?" Snape had gone rigid with anger.
Wait a minute...
"Harry, do you know any of these men?" asked Lupin.
"No," said Harry quickly.
"He got that for Christmas," Nina lied.
And right on cue, Ron came bursting into the office, completely out of breath and stopped infront of Snape's desk.
"I gave... Harry... that... stuff. Bought it in... Zonko's... ages... ago!" he panted.
Harry and Helena were dismissed, Lupin holding back the boy to talk to him in private. So Helena quickly went to change her clothes like she intended to do before Snape dragged them into his office, and skidded downstairs to meet with the twins for dinner.
"What took you so long?" asked Fred when the girl grabbed the seat next to him. "You had us worried for a bit."
"Okay, calm down, dad!" said Nina rolling her eyes. "Snape caught me and Harry near the one-eyed witch. Long story short... Lupin confiscated the map."
The twins groaned, slumping on their seats, displeased by the news.
"All those detentions that map saved us from," George said reminiscing, gazing upwards at nothing in particular.
"And to think how hard it was to get it," said Fred, sighing.
"You told me you just set a bunch of dungbombs in Filch's office and grabbed it when he was distracted," Helena pointed out.
"True, but hard figure it out!" they both said.
The Weasley twins quickly let go the matter of the Marauders map, and started bombarding Helena with questions about her date with Cedric all the way back to the common room, getting really obnoxious when they asked her if she had kissed the boy but she refused to tell them anything the more they insisted on knowing.
"It's obvious you did kiss, or else you wouldn't be avoiding the question," said Fred matter-of factly.
"Must've been awful if she doesn't want to talk about it," whispered George to his brother.
"If you must know, it was quite nice!" said Nina, not daring to look directly at them so that they wouldn't see her red face. "Now, please... let's change the subject."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Helena wasn't sure if it was something about being in fifth year preparing for the terrifying O.W.L.s or how she had a lot of things in mind, that made it harder to focus during classes.
Nina would check the notes she had made, having forgotten half of what had been covered in class by the end of the day.
She even made an order for a box of Memory Teas from Madam Puttifoot's to help her retain all the information.
To add to her list of things to keep her up at night, Hermione told her that Hagrid had come back from his trip to London after visiting the Ministry of Magic to settle the case about Buckbeak.
It was bad news.
The hipogriff would be executed in the near future, Malfoy's father, Lucius, having to do with the decision the Ministry had come up with.
And the perfume-filled Divination classroom seem to put every stressed and tired fifth year on edge, as they all tried to focus on their Dream Interpretation, searching in their books for the answers.
"Broaden your minds and get to the furthest point to discover what that dream means," said the misty voice of Professor Trelawney, walking amongst the tables.
"It means we are drowning in school work," muttered Helena.
Her dreams would always end with piles of books surrounding her, making it impossible for her to get out.
"I would much rather face another boggart than do this," complained Alicia, closing her book and giving up.
Professor Trelawney stood beside them, gazing at their work with her abnormally large glasses that made her eyes ten times bigger.
"It is unusual to dream about two ginger cats, my dear," she said dreamily. "I would be on the look out for any trouble if I were you," and she glided away.
"Two ginger cats?" chuckled Alicia.
"Yeah, two ginger cats that go by Fred and George," said Helena, looking behind her to see the twins sleeping in their seats.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Easter Holidays were spent with every Gryffindor, third year and up, to be either inside the common room or the library, having so much to do for the upcoming exams.
Even Hermione, who Helena found out had decided to drop Divination, looked like she was about to collapse at any given second, with dark shadows under her eyes like Lupin had.
And Nina was close to put a Silencing Charm on Oliver, who would not stop talking about the Gryffindor-Slytherin match that would take place on the first Saturday after the Easter Holidays. It was the game that would determine who would win the Quidditch Cup, and Wood made sure to constantly remind his team how many points they needed to take home the victory.
"Oliver," Nina said through gritted teeth, laying down the two books she had, "Harry knows you have to be more than fifty points ahead to catch the Snitch. He KNOWS! AND. WE. KNOW!"
Helena shut closed the books and went to lay down in the middle of the common room, closing her eyes to clear her head. It may have looked weird to see her do that but it's what she felt like doing.
"You did it, Oliver," began George, staring down at their friend. "You broke her."
Fred smiled to himself, walking to where Nina was and kneeled next to her, resting beside her and putting his hands under his head for comfort, taking off his shoes.
Helena opened an eye to peak at him, confused at why he was down here with her.
"Don't ever say I don't make a fool of myself for you," he smiled sheepishly.
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a/n OK I honestly loved writing that last part! So cute!!
So FIVE MORE (long) CHAPTERS to go for Prisoner of Azkaban to finish and then I'll get started on Goblet of Fire!!
Thanks for reading :)