the only one who makes me

Cassiopeia separated from her brother to head to her first class of the day, her fingers twirling her hair as she walked. She held pride in her heart, determined to live up to the Malfoy name. This pride in her family caused a scowl to form on her lips when she spotted two Weasleys up ahead, and she rolled her eyes. “Gross, I can smell your second-hand robes from here,” she announced, pushing her way past the boys as she proceeded to her Potions class. “Out of the way, Weasleys.” As she walked, she didn’t even look back - her father hated the Weasleys, so it was her duty to hate them as well.

George grinned as he was joking with Fred as they walked, planning out a prank they could play later on that day. “It will be perfect, Fred,” he decided easily, though he blinked when he felt somebody walk past them, and he rolled his eyes slightly when he spotted the Malfoy girl. Ignoring her, he settled his attention ahead, but spotted Lavender up ahead, and he grinned with the sight of her. She seemed so serious and sometimes shy, and he could admit he was curious about her. She was beautiful, though, and he wanted to get to know her, but he didn’t want to push her. A part of him hoped that she would witness the prank he and Fred planned to play in class later, wanting to see her smile, hopeful.

Fiore stood from her seat at the Slytherin table, rolling her eyes as she listened to some of the Slytherins go on and on about how their summer had gone. “Oh, shut it, nobody cares,” she scoffed before proceeding to leave the Great Hall. It was the same thing every year - everybody around her talked about how great their summers were, how much fun they’d had with their family, so on and so forth. Fiore, in the meantime, usually only faced silence at home. Even coming to Hogwarts was never a solace, because her parents never even came to see her off; it was like she didn’t even exist to them. Frowning with the thought, she made her way to class.

Michael sat on the Hogwarts Express, his head ducked during the trip. He was coming to school later in the year than he preferred - sure, he’d only missed a few days, but still - but it couldn’t be helped. His mother had fallen ill, and he had to stay behind to help her, to take care of her. Dumbledore had understood, thankfully, and it seemed he wasn’t the only person who had to return to school later than expected. Another person had joined him - Rosie Clearwater. He didn’t know her circumstances and he didn’t want to seem nosy, so he didn’t ask. When he heard the food trolley, though, he blinked, looking up before he looked to Rosie. “Do you want anything?” he asked, wanting to fill the silence, “I can get it for us.”

Noella took a breath as she made her way down the corridor to head to her class; she hadn’t joined up with her brothers, not wanting to be a part of their prank planning. Besides, it was easier to avoid attention if she didn’t walk with them - they tended to be loud, which made most people turn their attention to the pair. Ducking her head with the thought, she did her best to stay mostly unnoticeable, her hands holding her textbooks tightly to her chest as she walked.

Calum was skipping his first class of the day, wanting to visit Hagrid. He’d heard Hagrid needed help with a creature he was using for today’s lesson, so he wanted to do what he could to help - besides, it was a good enough excuse that Flitwick wouldn’t cause any trouble over Calum missing his class. As he got inside, though, he blinked when he saw Ruby there, her hand being bandaged up by Hagrid. “What’s going on here?” he asked, his brows furrowed as he took in the sight, though he did his best not to pay too much attention to Ruby - he was attracted to her, he could admit, she was gorgeous after all, but they’d never spoken and he didn’t want to put her off. “Are you okay?”

Lavonne shoved her way past several students, her pace quick because she just wanted to put as much distance between herself and the others as possible. “Move it, Styles,” she hissed out when she spotted a certain Harry Styles in her way, grabbing his arm and shoving him aside as she continued to walk, her head held high. When a different student bumped into her, though, she turned, pushing the student into the wall of the corridor, her fingers twitching to her wand. “How dare you?” she growled at the cowering student, holding the boy in place, her eyes narrowed, “Do you want me to hex you? Because I bloody will. Watch where you’re going.”

Louis didn’t want to attend classes; honestly, he didn’t even want to be at Hogwarts at this point. He just wanted to be home, where he could be surrounded by memories of his mother. She’d passed a few months prior, and his heart still broke every day, because he’d never get to see her face again, he’d never get to take comfort in her hugs, listen to her sing lullabies to him when he was having trouble sleeping, or have her soup when he was ill - nothing. Because of this, he took refuge in the Divination Tower, where he knew nobody had morning classes, and all of his memories caught up to him, all of the loss and grief washing over him as he fell into sobs, but he didn’t fight it, knowing he rarely got moments like this where he could grieve in peace.

Fred grinned with pride at the prank he and George had settled for, and Potions might be the best time to carry it out, because the dungeons were certainly depressing - they just needed a subject to play the prank on. Hearing a voice though, Fred recognised the sweet voice of Cassiopeia Malfoy, a white haired beauty who had captured Fred's heart so long ago in a silly First Year crush; she'd just never given it back. "Oh, come on, they've only just come out of the wash, Cassie!" Fred called after her, amused as she pushed past them, unable to stop the smirk that took over his lips. It had been surprising when he'd met Cassiopeia for the first time, because on the outside, she seemed so sweet, but she was exactly like the family she was a part of, cruel and cocky. Although Molly Weasley had always taught her children that being kind was essential, Fred was certain that using Cassiopeia as the subject of their prank would only be seen as harmless fun instead of bullying. "Ah, some people are so cheerful, eh Georgie?"

Lavender folded her arms over her chest as she walked, keeping herself firmly to herself, although she almost paused in her tracks as she heard the voices of Fred and George Weasley from somewhere behind her, and she found herself feeling just a little bit jealous. Those two always seemed to have all the fun, playing the most wonderful pranks with the most wonderful spells. Lavender knew a lot of people didn't consider the twins to be academically smart, but goodness, they had to be incredibly smart to put together so many wonderful displays. Biting her lip with the thought, Lavender tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, wishing she could have fun like that. She'd never stepped a foot out of line, out of fear of stressing out her Father, who was constantly busy to the point where he drank Firewhiskey until steam came from his ears. Pushing the door of the Potions classroom open, Lavender found her seat quickly, hoping the Weasleys would be in this class.

Luke sat in Defence Against the Dark Arts already, twirling his wand between his fingers as he had realised that he was just a little bit early - but he didn't mind. The beginning of the new academic year had gone smoothly for Luke. Professors had finally stopped mixing him up for his older brothers, Ben and Jack, and he and his friends had stayed up late eating chocolate frogs until they felt sick, much to the dismay of Professor McGonagall, who had made the boys clean up the wrappers they'd left behind, but goodness, he was so happy to be back that he'd even missed the strict older woman. Smiling with the thought, Luke continued to twirl his wand around until it dropped to the stone floor with an embarrassingly loud noise. Smiling sheepishly, Luke leaned down to pick up the wand, pausing as he saw it had fallen at the feet of Fiore Quincy, a beauty that he'd heard people refer to as the Queen of Slytherin. They certainly weren't wrong. "Sorry, Fiore." Luke kept his gaze low as he picked up his wand and focused ahead again, embarrassed by his own behaviour in front of such a gorgeous girl who would never give him a second glance.

Rosie was uncertain if she'd be returning to Hogwarts for her Sixth year after the worst summer of her life. Rowan had died, had been killed by a Death Eater that questioned the Clearwater's loyalty, and he'd threatened that it would be Rosie next - the threat didn't worry Rosie at all, but the hole that was left by the absence of her brother had broken her heart, and she was unsure if she would make it through this year without leaving. But she decided that returning to school was safer, and that had lead her to her current situation, sitting on a seat opposite Michael Clifford, who was also returning late for a reason she didn't know. "I'm fine, thank you." Rosie promised, still gazing out of the window. She hadn't made much of an effort to talk to Michael, and she was certain the silence would be torturing the boy by now. Rosie had seen him with his friends, and he was always laughing and joking. Rosie almost felt guilty.

Ashton skipped down the corridor, much to the amusement of the friends he'd just parted with, and as he turned the corner with a dramatic pirouette, he returned to a normal stride, straightening out his gray jumper and green and silver tie before he caught sight of a familiar red-head, smirking to himself as he recognised Noella Weasley with ease - why wouldn't he? She was someone that Ashton had admired for so long, but she never seemed to want to interact, but her shyness was so incredibly endearing - and God, Slytherins were meant to dislike the traitors that were the Weasley family, but Ashton could never hate Noella - in fact, it was quite the opposite. "Oi, Noella!" Ashton called, jogging lightly to catch up with her, taking one of her books with ease. "What's this, muggle studies?" Ashton arched an eyebrow, flicking through the pages as though he'd never seen a book before. "Fascinating, don't you think?" Ashton brought the book to his face with a grin. "But muggles don't fascinate me, let me see here..." With ease, he took her books, dropping each to the floor as he read their titles, finally seeing one on Quidditch. "A-ha! You truly are a Weasley." Ashton grinned at her. "Will I be seeing you on the pitch soon, Noella?"

Ruby flinched a little bit as Hagrid bandaged up her hand; although she could appreciate the half giant was being as careful and gentle as he could be. Offering Hagrid a smile as she peered up at him, Ruby paused as she heard the voice of Calum Hood, a handsome Gryffindor boy who Ruby was certain would never notice her - he never seemed to before. "Oh, I uh..." her cheeks tinted pink with embarrassment, and she laughed, looking to Hagrid, before looking back to Calum. "I was at Quidditch practice and the bludger caught me, good and fast. My wrist was fixed by Madam Hooch, and Hagrid's just bandaged me up for all the cuts, and such." Ruby shrugged gently then. "I'll be okay, thank you." Ruby promised, smiling as Hagrid announced in a booming voice that he was done and Ruby would be just fine. "Thank you so much, Hagrid, I'll probably see you later." Ruby used her wand to light up the fireplace for Hagrid, who had admitted to her that he was having trouble. Scratching Fang's cheek as Ruby stood up, Ruby smiled at Calum as she grabbed her cardigan. "See you around, Calum."

Harry walked a leisurely pace as he took in the wonderful sight of Hogwarts, grateful to be back at school. Harry loved being home in Holmes Chapel, but he loved learning, and he loved being among his friends. As a Slytherin, he was meant to have a stereotypical hatred for school and muggleborns and Professor Albus Dumbledore, but Harry tried his hardest to be a good person. Both of his parents had been Hufflepuffs, respectively, and Harry remembered crying to his mother when he was placed into the house of the serpent, only to have her reassure him that he got into Slytherin because of his wonderful ambition to do better - and Harry was determined to prove her right. Yelping in surprise as he felt someone grab at his arm, Harry's surprise dimmed down to expectancy as he heard the voice of Lavonne - a fellow Slytherin. "Oh, cheer up Lavonne!" Harry laughed, shaking his head in amusement as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind his ear - although his smile soon dimmed when he saw Lavonne threaten to hex a younger student - a Hufflepuff. Rushing over, Harry forced himself between the poor boy and Lavonne. "Lavonne, there's no need to be so cruel." Harry frowned at the girl as he helped the Hufflepuff walk on, ensuring he turned the corner before facing Lavonne again. The girl was beautiful, but she was so full of anger - Harry couldn't help but wonder why. "It was an accident, walk away."

Una tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she looked over her shoulder, trying to ensure that the Slytherins who had been teasing her wouldn't spot her slipping into the Divination Tower, a place she felt her safest because barely anyone knew that it was empty during the morning hours. Exhaling heavily in relief as she saw that the courtyard was empty, Una slipped through a small gap in the door, into the dim light of the tower. Closing her eyes to thank her lucky stars, Una's brows furrowed in confusion as she heard soft sobs from halfway up the stairs, a sound so upsetting she just couldn't ignore the person who felt as though their heart had broken. Slipping off her black cloak, Una made her way up the stairs, blinking in surprise as she saw Louis Tomlinson sat at the window ledge, his shoulders shaking as he sobbed. Feeling her heart jump within her chest, Una sat on the edge of the ledge, and without a word, she wrapped an arm around Louis' shoulders, studying him with concern.