Albus was sitting on his bed back at home with Mia on his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck.
"Come on, Sev..."
"But my – my parents are home..."
"I'm sure they don't mind," she smiled sweetly, then started kissing his neck.
"M-Mia..."
"Hm?" She hummed, running a hand through his black hair. "Is there something wrong?"
"No, I – I really like you," he said quietly.
Mia let out a laugh. "I sure hope you do, I'm your girlfriend."
His eyes widened. "Since when?"
Instead of answering, she pressed her lips on his, taking him completely off-guard. He kissed her back slowly, pulling her closer by the waist.
"Can I join?" His older brother appeared, staring at them with a grin.
"Get out of my room, James!" Albus pulled away from Mia, glaring at the Gryffindor.
"No, let him watch," Mia purred into his ear. "I want him to see as you make me yours, Sev..."
"As if!" James scoffed.
"She will never be yours," Alexander, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain appeared as well. "Did you not see the way she looked at me?"
"Don't mind them, Sev."
"A Malfoy?" His dad appeared at the foot of his bed with a disapproving expression on his face. "That will never work, Albus."
"But – but..."
Before he knew it, a loud noise woke him up. Furrowing his eyebrows, he sat up and looked around the dorm. The guy sitting on the bed near his was slamming a book against his head repeatedly.
Albus groaned. "Again, Jack?"
"I don't know anything!" The boy exclaimed as he kept hitting his head with the book.
"And does waking others up make your situation better?" He raised an eyebrow at him.
"Shut up, Potter. You were talking in your sleep again."
"Uh... was I?"
"M-Mia," Jack mocked, rolling his eyes. "Do something about her, will you? It's getting really old."
"If you say a word to –"
"You'll kill me, yes, I know," he nodded, clearly unbothered. "Now, watch this!"
Albus' eyebrows shot up as he watched his housemate point his wand at him.
"Colovaria!" Jack waved his wand, targeting his hair.
"What the..." Albus mumbled, touching his head to check if he still had hair or not.
"Well... I wanted blonde, but it's close enough, I guess..."
Frowning, Albus got up to check how he looked. "It's yellow!" He shouted, turning back to the boy.
"Yes," Jack scratched the back of his neck. "I think you should stick with black, to be honest."
"You think?" Albus asked angrily. "Change it back!" He demanded.
"If you want me to make it even worse, sure."
"Why the hell are you even practising spells on me in the first place?!"
"I need to practise on something," he shrugged. "You just happened to be here."
"I just woke up!"
"Well..."
"Why don't you go back to hitting yourself on the head? Actually, I'll do it for you," he glared at him, then reached his hand out for the book, but Jack snatched it away from him.
"Relax, mate. You have a bigger problem right now," he said, gesturing towards his yellow hair.
"I'll kill you, Moore," Albus threatened, then started dressing himself up.
"You could change it back for yourself, you know, but considering the fact that your skills are also rubbish, maybe you should ask someone else."
"I can't even have a good sleep around here anymore," he mumbled. "It's Saturday!"
"It's also ten o'clock already, so..."
"Shut up."
He put his shoes on, then grabbed his bag and stood up to leave the dorm. Jack didn't say anything else to him, but he didn't mind.
When he stepped inside the Slytherin Common Room, he heard someone whistling.
"Nice colour, Potter! Compliments your skin very well!"
"Thanks," he replied in a bored tone, then left.
He thought about going to the Hospital Wing but neglected the idea immediately. There wasn't anything wrong with him except for the odd coloured hair, so he decided to go and check if Mia was in the library. Surely she could help him out.
On his way, however, he met someone who he did not want to see at all.
"Changing up your look, little bro?" James walked up to him with a grin, accompanied by one of his friends.
"Get out of the way, James," Albus said in an irritated tone.
"Woke up on the left side of the bed, did you? I could help you, you know," he offered, taking his wand out.
"Please don't," Albus took a step back, but it was too late.
James' grin widened and his friend snickered.
"Nice one, James," the blonde guy next to him called Isaac gave him a thumbs up.
"Slytherin pride, eh?" He laughed.
Albus turned towards a window on the corridor with a frown. His hair went from being yellow to green.
"Very funny," he rolled his eyes. "Quite a productive way to spend your time. Shouldn't you be studying for your N.E.W.T.s?"
"Shouldn't you be studying for your O.W.L.s?" James asked back.
"I'm actually on my way to the library, thank you very much."
He went to pass them, but his brother pulled him back by the shoulders.
"Come on, now, don't be upset. We're just having a bit of fun, Al."
"Yeah, I'm enjoying myself a lot," he said sarcastically.
"What a killjoy," James rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'm sorry, here," he cast the spell again, turning his hair back to its original colour.
"Thanks," Albus grunted.
"No worries," James ruffled his hair. "Now be a good boy and go study."
"I hate you," he huffed, then walked away from the two Gryffindors.
He continued his journey towards the library. When he arrived, he started looking for a deserted area where he could study in peace. While searching, he spotted Kaden sitting in an aisle by himself. He had a book open in front of him, but his attention was focused on a quill that he kept turning in his hand. Albus walked over to him and sat down on the chair next to his.
"Hey," Kaden greeted him, turning his eyes away from the quill. "I was hoping you would come here. Man, I don't know how others do it, I just can't concentrate on any of this!" He groaned, gesturing towards his Transfiguration book.
"Well, you better. Lack of ability to concentrate doesn't excuse you from writing O.W.L.s, unfortunately," Albus muttered, placing his things on the table.
"Guess what!" Kaden whisper-shouted. "Mia is actually in here too! I asked her if she could help me, but all she did was throw a crumpled piece of parchment at my head before returning to her book. Rude much?"
"She must be studying hard for her N.E.W.T.s, you can't blame her," the Slytherin shrugged. "Besides, she helps us a lot already, she needs time for herself too."
"But she knows everything! I'm sure she could write her exams right here, right now, and she would get straight O's."
"Hey, I just remembered..." Albus furrowed his eyebrows. "Do you know if there's anything between her and Alexander Stone?"
"Alex?" Kaden's eyes widened. "Our Quidditch team's captain?"
"Yeah."
"Mia knows him?" He raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
"Well, she went to talk to him in private after she helped me here in the library, so she must know him."
"Do you reckon there's something between them?"
"I dunno, maybe," Albus shrugged lazily.
"Isn't that convenient?" He leaned back in his seat angrily.
"Kaden –"
"I'm trying to help you out here!" He glared at Albus. "I swear, she doesn't show the slightest interest in anyone for seven years, then just when I'm about to try and change that she goes and does this?!"
"Kaden, calm down."
"Why Alex out of everyone? You can't possibly compete with him!" He said frustratedly.
"Wow, thanks," Albus scoffed.
"Sorry, but that's just a fact."
"Okay, get back to Transfiguration, then..."
"Fine," Kaden muttered. "I'm going to try and keep an eye on him, though."
"You do that," Albus started flipping through his Potions book irritably.
With a sigh, the Gryffindor turned back to his book, wishing that the words would engrave themselves into his brain on their own.