Acceptance: Hogwarts Legacy Continued

Chapter 36: MC- not a break

Diana wandered around the castle, she didn't really have much a purpose at the moment other than to take a break. She had been studying and doing homework all afternoon with Ominis and Sebastian in the undercroft- but it wasn't the material she needed an escape from. Sebastian was impossible to be around. She hadn't gotten over what happened, as much as she wished she could- and Sebastian's ever present company made it hard to think about anything else.
Even just space within the room would have been fine, but it seemed like every time she tried to discreetly move away from him, he would notice, grab his things, and plop down next to her. Was he trying to make her more uncomfortable?? She told them she had to use the bathroom, and basically ran from the room.

She had thought to just leave to hide away in the room of requirement, but they specifically were working together to battle a particularly grueling potions assignment. Ominis in particular had asked for her help, and she didn't want to leave him. So she had stayed, getting absolutely nothing done, and continuously reliving the moment of pure embarrassment over and over again. And now she was thinking about it again!

She shook the thoughts from her head, now searching deliberately around for some sort of distraction. She needed an actual break if she was going to continue to endure the teenage torture. Thankfully a distraction did come into view; in the form of Lucan Brattleby. They made eye contact and she smiled as he raced over to her.

"I've been searching for you for ages! Where have you been?"

"Hey Lucan, um I was just studying, but decided to take a break."

"Where? I checked the Library and had Poppy look through your common room for you but you weren't there."

Diana laughed awkwardly then quickly said "why were you looking for me?"

"Oh yes-" taking the bait "I have something I need to talk to you about." At that he made a bit of a face and didn't meet her eyes. This concerned her.

"Did something happen between you and Poppy?"

The younger boy's face started to turn pink. "N-no, everything with Poppy is great, I mean she's great. I was actually planning to ask her to that dance on New Years eve-" his face turned from pink to red as he realized what he had said. "Uh, please don't tell her I said that."

She just laughed at his reaction, promising to let it be a surprise for her friend. He nodded and the color in his face started to mellow out.

"No, but actually what I wanted to talk to you about was the dueling tournament."

"Oh? Is cross wands still happening along with the school tournament?" Black had made the announcement at the beginning of the week, but she had yet to hear anything else about it.

"Well that's the thing, Professor Hecat, who is in charge of the tournament actually came up to me and asked if I wanted to help her with the preparations-"

"That's great!" she replied, feeling very happy for her friend.

"I know! She said she was looking for a student representative for the tournament and came to ask me. Apparently she had heard something about cross wands and thought I would be up for the assignment."

Diana laughed inwardly, knowing that Hecat definitely knew more than she was letting on about the goings on with cross wands. She agreed with the professor though, Lucan would be a great asset for making the dueling tournament a success this year.

"She's given me lots of things to work on to help get everything ready-" he continued "I've had to prepare sign up sheets and my input on the rules and regulations that would be followed. I also got to help prepare the grand prize, but that's a secret so don't ask about it."

She laughed, out loud this time "sure thing. Well I am happy for you Lucan, I am sure it will be a great success! I can't wait to compete!"

His face dropped at her words, and she looked at him concerned.

"Well um that's kind of the reason that I needed to find you..."

"Oh? What's wrong?"

"Professor Hecat said she was going to talk to you about this herself, but I asked if I could because I said we were friends and I- I felt it would be better to hear it from me..."

Diana waited, feeling her body start to tense up at the discomfort between them.

"Apparently there have been quite a few students who- who have come to Hecat to say they didn't think... they didn't think you should be allowed to compete..."

She was shocked into silence now, mouth hanging a little open in surprise. People were saying that they didn't want her to compete? Had she done something wrong?

"D-don't get the wrong idea though, it's not about you really, I mean... they just think that you are on a whole other level then everyone else. They think it wouldn't be fair to have to compete against someone as powerful as you. I mean we all know that you took down an entire goblin force last year, and probably lots of other stuff that no one knows about-"

"But that wasn't just me! I had help from the teachers and-"

"Diana, wait, hear me out." She stopped, allowing him to continue "I don't think it's really fair to you, but you have to admit that it makes sense. I mean you obliterated everyone last year in cross wands- and it was your first year at Hogwarts. There's no doubt you're an even more competent spell caster now. Your capabilities are up there with the professors, and even aurors- not kids."

He walked over to her and put his arm around her. He had grown since last year, but she was still taller than him, making the attempted comfort an even more uncomfortable situation for her. She stiffened her body, and her emotions. This day had already been way too much to handle.

Lucan finally let go of her and smiled uneasily at her "Poppy said that you didn't really like hugs but I couldn't think of anything else to do."

She gave him a half smile, trying to keep her feelings in check.

"I'm really sorry Diana, I know how much you enjoyed the dueling club last year. I am also really sorry for myself that I don't get to watch you destroy everyone again."

Her smile at that was much more genuine. She made sure that he knew there were no hard feelings before they left each other. She turned around and started to head back to the undercroft, her thoughts feeling even more clouded than before. Today had shown her that socially she still didn't know how to fit in, and that the one thing that she felt created her sense of community; magic, was now something that outcasted her as well.