Frog Stickers on Their Ukulele

Chapter 5- Out

Pax loved how easily they were fitting in with the Gryffindors. They had already started scheming with Fred and George, was planning on trying out Quidditch, and, by the time dessert came along, they had practically the whole Gryffindor table wanting to talk to them. They got asked all sorts of questions. Where were they from? Did they go to Ilvermorny? Why did they move? They tried answering as many questions as possible without getting too overwhelmed.

The group got up to leave after dinner. Pax could immediately feel all eyes on them, instantly throwing their shoulders back and smirking. They always loved attention, bad or good. They linked arms with Harry and Hermione. "Where are we going now?" they asked, radiating confidence.

"To the common room, then bed," Hermione responded, steering the group of six towards the shifting stairs.

"Oh come on," Pax groaned, looking at her. "You can't honestly expect me to sleep when there's a huge ass castle to explore."

Hermione shook her head, smiling a little as the first years startled at the moving stairs. "Yes, I can, because we can do that when we don't have curfew, and you have a guide so you don't get lost."

Pax rolled their eyes. "Fine, but can we at least stay up a little?" They did their little pouty face that always worked on Gabe.

"Fine," Hermione rolled her eyes in return.

Pax skipped up the steps, Harry and Hermione still latched on. "Perfect! I have the best game, you guys will love it."

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"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK HERMIONE!" Pax screamed as Hermione placed down a draw four.

"Uno, blue," she said, smirking at her last card. The fire seemed to glow a little brighter as Pax picked up four cards, none of which were blue. They looked around as Ron, Harry, and Ginny were trying to figure out how to change the color before it got back to Hermione. She just leaned back and showed Dean and Seamus her last card. Seamus looked confused, but Dean just doubled over laughing. Pax didn't know why a blue card could be so-

Fuck. No fucking way. Pax looked at Hermione, eyes blown wide in shock. Hermione looked back, an evil grin growing on her face.

"No. Fucking. Way." they deadpanned, staring her down. Hermione nodded. "YOU GOTTA BE SHITTING ME!" Pax roared, startling the entire common room. They jumped up off the floor where they were playing, throwing their cards on the ground. Hermione cackled as she placed her last card: another draw fucking four. Pax stomped over to the couch where Neville was reading and plopped down next to him.

He glanced up from his book. "I assume you lost?" he flipped the page.

"I'll get her back," Pax said with a huff. "Anyways, what 'cha reading?"

"A book about Western American plants," Neville flipped another page. "They're really quite interesting because..." he continued on and on about certain cacti and the different magical properties some west coastal algae had. It was really fascinating, Pax wanted to know more about their home environment.

They ended up talking for at least an hour. Hermione joined them at some point, and Pax made sure to give them the cold shoulder at first, but eventually they forgave her. Neville had gone up to bed, while Pax lay on the couch with their head in Hermione's lap. Ron and Harry were sitting on the floor, talking about Quidditch or something, Pax had never played. They chuckled a little, remembering how Hermione had said they should go to bed early, then stayed up until- what time was it? Pax sat up and pulled out their phone. 12:38 am.

They sighed, a small grin still playing at their lips. It was so quiet and chill, the perfect ending to an eventful day. From their pocket, they pulled out their shrinked ukulele. They remembered how happy they had been when they got it, and how Eddie had hand-painted flowers on it, then Jack put on frog stickers. Pax unshrunk the uke, but made it a bit bigger than usual so they could play "Luv Note" by chloe moriondo. It was one of their favorites. They closed their eyes and began,