𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧

chapter 5

after her classes, hermione invited talia to hang out with her, harry, ron and michael after school. talia didn't know hermione was trying to play match maker with talia and michael, and she didn't want her to know. but she saw the eye contact with talia and michael during the sorting ceremony, and she thought that if something were to ever happen between them, they would look good together.

"sorry! sorry i'm late!" talia yelled, running up to the trio of friends plus michael. they lightly laughed at her as they saw her running across the field. they decided to all meet by the lake. hermione said they were going to "study together".

"where were you?" harry asked the pretty girl.

"i lost track of time in the library." talia answered. she was lying, but she didn't want to tell the gryffindors and the hufflepuff that she actually got held up trying to talk pansy, a slytherin, out of pulling a prank on one of the hufflepuff first years. she didn't want to remind anyone that she was sorted into slytherin and risk them looking down on her.

"never mind that. tal, this is michael o'connor. michael, talia riddleson." hermione said. talia looked at michael, putting her hand up to block her eyes from the bright sun.

"uh, hi." michael said, putting out his hand for talia to shake. she smiled and took it politely.

"nice to meet you. i hope i didn't hold you guys up." talia said, looking at michael but then turning to look at the rest of the group. she felt michael's eyes linger on her like they did in the great hall the day she was sorted. she had to admit, he was quite handsome. michael, like the rest of the guys at hogwarts, thought she was beautiful.

"not at all. we were just getting started." michael said.

while the five friends studied, hermione couldn't help but notice a fine chemistry between michael and talia. they joked with each other and were very friendly. by the time they were done and were walking to dinner, hermione was proud of her work.

after dinner, talia was sitting at the small desk in her dorm room with pansy when she noticed a brown owl with bright orange eyes flying towards the window. she had recognized it as a eurasian eagle owl, as it was one of the owls she was considering to get for when she came to hogwarts.

it took her a second to undo the latch to the window. she was rushing so the owl wouldn't hit its head, plus the locks were different than how they were in america. she didn't recognize it. nevertheless, she opened up the window and let the owl sit on the ledge and drop the small piece of paper it carried in its beak.

meet me at the astronomy tower in 5
-d.m.

"thank you." talia said, looking back up at the owl and leaving the piece of paper on her desk. the owl cooed and flew away, but talia heard pansy shuffling behind her.

"why did draco's owl leave you a note?" she asked, walking over to her. before talia could even get a word out, pansy was already standing behind her chair and reading the note draco had sent.

"professor snape is making us meet three nights a week. draco's supposed to be tutoring me." talia said, getting up. she took the note from pansy's hands and shoved it deep inside her pocket, becoming a little bit embarrassed. she didn't didn't want pansy to think she was stupid for needing a tutor.

"i could've tutored you if you really needed the help." pansy offered. talia smiled a faint smile, not expecting such kindness from her roommate.

"thanks. i tried to talk my way out of it, but snape is..." talia thought, trying to find the right words. pansy chuckled.

"snape." she said. talia nodded.

"right." she agreed.

there was a short moment of silence, a little bit of awkwardness filling the room. not wanting to think she was dumb wasn't the only reason talia didn't want to tell pansy she was meeting with draco. she knew pansy liked draco, more than friends. no matter how much pansy tried to hide it, it just kind of came off that way.

"right. well, i don't want to hold you up." pansy said. talia smiled again, walking over to the dorm door that led to the common room so she could leave.

"you don't happen to know where i go to get to the astronomy tower, do you?" talia asked, putting on her jacket in case the castle was cold. pansy nodded.

"of course. you need to head to the training grounds and there should be a door. that door leads to the tower as long as you take the stairs up. make sure to go up, though. if you turn right, i think that will lead you to the library. i'm not really sure, i've never been there." pansy told her friend. talia wasn't super surprised pansy's never been to the library.

talia did as she was told, traveling the long halls of hogwarts and going up. every now and then a ghost would come up and scare her. she found it kind of eerie in the castle by herself with everyone in their common rooms or dormitories, but at the same time kind of calming. it was super quiet, so much so she could hear the echo of her heal when it hit the ground.

after a few tries, talia was finally able to reach the astronomy tower. she found it weird that she didn't see draco anywhere.

"draco?" she called out, looking around for him. after taking a few steps into the top of the tower, she felt two strong hands grab her shoulder.