CARELESS WHISPER , h. granger

vi. late-mothers and train rides

THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS WERE NEARING TO A CLOSE, and paris lovelace was cozied up in the living room, watching the quidditch championship on television with her uncle. the man raised his glass of firewhisky, cheering in triumph. "go on krum!" mercutio leaned closer to the tv. although, since they lived in a rainy terrain, it wasn't much of a summer break.

"sorry we couldn't watch the match live this year, uncle." paris said. "i know how much you enjoy it."

mercutio turned to his niece, smiling warmly. "it's alright, dear. we've got more important things to be spending our galleons on. plus, it's just as good as watching it on the telly." he hummed, before turning back to the screen. "oh, i forgot to tell you that dumbledore contacted me while you were still at school. he wants me to come and teach herbology at hogwarts."

"you forgot to mention...? that's a big deal, uncle." paris scoffed with a laugh. "well, that's great! assuming you accepted?"

"well, no... not particularly."

"uncle!"

"i told him i'd think about it." mercutio explained. "i have too much bad memories with that school, and i'm not sure i want to come back anytime soon."

the girl hummed in understanding. "alright."

"he also told me that you're having problems in potions class." he frowned.

"it's snape! he's gotta some sort of grudge against me, i swear! he even covered my defence against the dark arts lesson and practically told me i'm terrible at it." she protested.

mercutio rolled his eyes. "severus has always been foul. i wouldn't worry too much about it. when we were at school he was always by himself— quite a loner, really. obsessed with lily evans— or as you know her as, lily potter. james didn't like him a single bit. always picking on him with sirius."

"well, i have someone tutoring me— helping me get my grades up."

"good, good." the bearded man nodded, taking another sip of his fire whiskey. "your mother wanted to be an auror aswell, you know. always had her head in a book— practicing spells like there was no tomorrow." he smiled weakly, looking up at the picture of his late-sister on the mantlepiece. "you remind me of her so much. not in that sense of course, but you're both determined. and you care. even if you hide it sometimes."

paris looked down at her hands, fiddling with the silver ring that sat on her index finger. it was one of the few possessions of her mother's that they could salvage from the fire.

"always knew the right thing to say to put someone in their place, aswell." mercutio chuckled. "another similarity."

the brunette girl wiped away a tear that was sliding down her cheek, sniffing lightly.

her uncle noticed this, and took her shoulder to comfort her, clicking off the television with his other hand. "she loved you very much, you know. you were one of the last things keeping her together." he blew out the candles on the coffee table. "off you go, up to bed. we've got to get up at six o'clock if we want to get to london on time tomorrow morning."

PARIS SAT IN THE TRAIN COMPARTMENT with her friends eudora and draco, as the students were all on their journey to their fourth year at hogwarts.

"that's horrible! how can the ministry not know who conjured it? wasn't there any
security? or—" paris asked, after the malfoy siblings had explained what happened at the quidditch world cup that they had attended. deatheaters had crashed the camp after the match, and set the whole place alight.

"loads." eudora shrugged. "that's what worried them so much. happened right under their noses."

draco scoffed. "father says the ministry is a joke, and they can't control anything."

"anything from the trolley dears?" the trolley witch approached the compartment that they were sat in.

"a liquorice wand please." eudora passed over some galleons, but draco and paris remained satisfied without any snacks.

"no thank you." paris hummed.

"harry was at the quidditch cup. with hermione and ron and the rest of the weasley clan." eudora said, clenching her teeth tightly over the liquorice so she could take a bite. "draco got a bit tongue-tied."

paris chuckled in amusement, turning to draco. "awh, does little malfoy have a crush on harold potter?"

"shut up." draco snapped, turning his head to face the window and watching the train speed along the tracks. "i do not."

"whatever you say." paris hummed, unconvinced.