let the game begin || teddy lupin

iii.

-

The courtyard was filled with many students, some of whom had hurried to claim spots for their friends to study at under the sun's warmth. Helen had been willing to leave breakfast a little early so she could grab a spot for us. She didn't usually eat breakfast so it wasn't a big deal, she kept insisting, but we all thanked her anyway.

Allie and Felicia pulled out their essays for transfiguration, since they had been procrastinating their work in exchange for more time to read the book they'd been reading together. Reagan, Amara, Helen, and I got to work on the herbology reading we'd been assigned to do.

Most of it didn't make much sense so I made myself a mental note then, for good measure, doodled a little picture of plants next to Kyrie's name and stuck it onto my cover. I was barely scraping by in the class and needed all the help that I could get from it.

Helen was bouncing between staring blankly at her book and ogling a pair of Gryffindors who were sitting a bit away from us. The girl was braiding the boy's hair. He was frowning but his eyes were amused while she tucked flowers amongst the strands, laughing as he pretended to flinch away.

Amara, who had been reading intently, looked over, "Helen?"

"Yeah?" she replied, not taking her eyes off of them.

"Do you need help with that?"

Helen finally looked away and glanced back down at her book then met Amara's eyes, nodding, "I guess so."

"Here, I have some notes you can read," Amara tugged a crumpled piece of parchment out of her bag and handed it over. From a quick glance, I gleaned that it was the notes Kyrie had given us, rewording everything as simply as he could for us to copy.

Allie tossed aside her parchment around half an hour later, stretching her legs as she stood up, "I need a break, I want to tear this apart right now."

"Same," Felicia used Allie for support and stood up, "Kitchens?"

"Yes please," Helen grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder, and got up as well. She glanced at Amara, Reagan, and I, "Do you two want to come?"

We exchanged looks then Amara shook her head, "No, I think we're going to finish."

"Suit yourself," Felicia waved and the three of them headed off, going back inside while chattering.

I could see Helen watching the Gryffindors until they were out of sight.

Reagan was quietly flipping through her herbology textbook, searching for the meaning of different words in a dictionary when she had to.

She didn't speak much to the rest of us, which was a little understandable. Allie, Helen, and Felicia had immediately clicked during the first day of classes while Amara and I continued to struggle our way towards friendship.

Our other three dormmates tried to include us as much as possible but there was a clear line between us and them, especially whenever it was just the three of them and one of us. It did, however, mess with what my parents had always told me.

Both of my parents had attended Hogwarts so, naturally, I'd grown up hearing plenty about their school days. They'd both stayed in touch with their dormmates for years, constantly sending letters and visiting each other whenever possible. They shared a friend group, who they'd met together in their shared astronomy class.

One of their friends had apparently locked them in the potions' classroom after their group had snuck in, hoping to get them together after a long time of avoiding each other.