the badger and the lion.

To Dream In Fear

The following weeks at Hogwarts were beginning to fly by and blur into one another. Classes passed you by in the blink of an eye, and before you knew it, you were in your study periods with mountains of work to do with no end in sight.

You were somewhat relieved that Quidditch had been cancelled for this year, as it left a lot of free time for you to catch up with your never ending homework, but not everyone agreed. Angelina was incredibly restless, signing up for every extra-curricular she could on top of her almost full timetable - Charms club, Art club, even Gobstone club. Fred and George were also extremely jittery, like there was a build up of energy in every muscle in their bodies that they needed to get out. You, Katie and Alicia were all fine, but you could tell that they both missed playing. Admittedly, you did too, but valued the free time more than having it chewed up by grueling training sessions.

Professors were becoming increasingly stressed as the weeks progressed, trying to spiff up the castle and keep students in line before the guests arrived, which you assumed would be soon. Argus Filch, the resident caretaker, was never seen without a broom, chasing after students who trudged through the corridors with muddy shoes. Professors were always out and about during breaks, observing students as they passed through the halls, picking out undone top buttons and robes that had pulls forming on the seams, and giving out detentions for any kind of behaviour deemed out of line.

Each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon was met with a dreadful feeling as you entered the dungeons with Astrid for your Potions lesson. Professor Snape had been particularly vindictive this year, picking on students for the smallest mistakes they were making with their Draught of the Living Dead, or sending students to detention and revoking house points for seemingly inconsequential actions. Admittedly, it was annoying when students would disrupt the lesson, but things like taking notes when he was giving a lecture at the beginning of the lesson, or even asking a question with what Snape deemed an obvious answer would earn you a one way ticket into his bad books. There was a vile of Felix Felicius up for grabs for the best Draught, but every week the opportunity passed for the class, since no one's was good enough for the reward.

"Why's he in such a bad mood today?" you whispered to Astrid as you exited the classroom one Tuesday afternoon, commenting on how particularly ruthless Snape was being with some Ravenclaw students during the lesson.

"Don't know, really," Astrid said. "But I bet it has something to do with Professor Moody. Everyone knows he's been after Moody's job for years, so he's probably pissed off that he didn't get it again."

"That does make sense," you agreed. "Too bad he was so rubbish at Defense when he took over for Lupin last year."

"Yeah," Astrid giggled. "We're going over werewolves this week. Not like we didn't do that for a whole month last year."

The one thing that was worth looking forward to during these draining weeks was the letters that you got from your mum, and from Charlie.
Mum's letters were always the same - asking if you were okay, if you were managing school okay, and that everyone was asking after you in the shop. You felt like you could feel the sincerity of every word when you read them on the pages of lined paper, and loved every pressed flower that she managed to include in the envelope.
Charlie's first letter turned up as a surprise one Tuesday morning as you were eating breakfast with everyone. The horned owl that you sent him that night in the owlery hooted at you as it waited for you to open the letter. You gave it some of your pastry to thank it for its long journey, which it took in an instant before taking off in a flurry. You unfolded the piece of parchment, which unveiled three different pieces of paper which fluttered onto the table. You smiled as you read the unexpectedly fancy cursive on the folded parchment:

Dear Y/N,

Thank you for the letter, it's great to hear from you! I hope your sixth year is as eventful as it can be. Everything is great here. We have something big planned for next month which is taking up a lot of our time, and I also have some Norwegian Ridgeback eggs that are incubating at the moment which are on track to hatch in December. I wish you could see them for yourself, but I'll be sure to update you on their progress. In the meantime, please enjoy these photos of my new crowning achievements, aka my new injuries. A nasty new Hungarian Horntail has come into our possession, emphasis on the word nasty. I'll definitely be keeping in touch with you, and hope to hear all about your classes as soon as possible.