Hogwarts Mystery [HP APPLY FIC]

year two, chapter eleven

Nadine reviewed the choice of headlines as they were laid out on the table in front of her, frowning.

"Any standouts?" Anya called from the desk she was sat on across the room, rifling through the letters she'd received of tips from other students. "Most of these are rubbish or old news."

"Nothing spectacular here either." She sighed.

They'd had to tone it down a little since the disaster a few months ago when they'd published a headline that was taken... the wrong way, and Zoë Spalding had stormed their workspace demanding an apology for "not taking the death of a thirteen-year-old seriously".

The article hadn't even been that bad, but Zoë's reaction was enough to fill Nadine with crippling guilt and make Anya talk some sense into their writers.

Since then, they'd been playing it safe, but maybe it was time to ramp things up again.

The rumours surrounding the death of Ian Wilczek had been wild, and some of them were still circulating. They'd reported on most of them, including a far-fetched one that the students involved in the incident had reopened a series of Cursed Vaults.

They'd gone to the library to look for sources on the Vaults, but the librarian had grimly told them that the clippings from the archives had been taken out and never returned.

"Alright," Anya threw down the stack of letters. "I think it's time to tell Delilah and Achilles to write us something exciting once more."

"Would you like me to go and tell them?" Nadine asked, already moving to the door.

Anya nodded gratefully. "Good luck."

Nadine figured she'd try the Slytherin common room first. It was a rainy day and therefore unlikely that either of them would be outside, not that she knew their social schedules very well, but even the dungeons had to be drier than the muddy grass by the lake.

It only occurred to her once she'd already arrived at the entrance to the common room that she didn't know what the password was anymore.

(Anya really would have been better off doing this herself.)

Nadine had just begun to plead with the painting when Barnaby walked up to her and declared the password loudly.

The door swung inward, and he beamed proudly.

"Barnaby, you lifesaver!" She gave him a quick hug before darting into the common room.

Barnaby, who was not entirely sure what had just happened, shrugged and just decided to take the compliment.

It didn't take long for Nadine to find Delilah. She was sat by the fireplace, flicking through a thick book with an uninterested expression painted on her face.

"Um, Delilah?" Nadine chuckled nervously. "I, um, I have a message from Anya."

Delilah barely looked up from her book. "If she didn't like the headlines I submitted, please be sure to inform her that they are a result of her own orders. If I remember correctly, she told me my writing needed to be 'bland', and I'm confident I've delivered on that front."

"Um, well, she told me to tell you that she's revoking those, ah, orders, and you can write whatever you want now."

That got a response from Delilah. Her eyes lit up and she snapped her book shut, smirking. "Oh, so now she wants the juicy stuff, does she?"

"Basically, yes." Nadine hesitated. "Do you know where I could find Achilles? She said to tell him too."

"Don't worry about that. I'll tell Spalding."

"Okay, great!" She exhaled, not wanting a repeat of this interaction Achilles, who was significantly scarier. "See you soon?"

Delilah waved her out, her thoughts already focusing on the excitement of talking to Achilles.

Given the weather, he had to be in the boy's dormitory, so she ascended the steps as casually as she could.

The sound of agitated voices coming from inside made Delilah pause at the door, stopping to try and make out the words.

"...then we'd be doing them a favour, wouldn't we?" She heard Merula's voice distinctly.

(What was Merula doing in there?)

"This isn't a good idea!" Achilles (she determined) replied. "Look, I shouldn't have overheard that, let alone told you."

Merula again. "Then why did you?"

Achilles was quiet.

Delilah recognised the sound of Merula's laughter. "We both know you'll help me no matter what because you're in l—"

Delilah pushed the door open, not wanting to listen anymore.

"Oh." Achilles took a few moments to put his guard back up, and he smiled at her slightly stiffly.

(It hurt that he was willing to let his guard down around Merula of all people, but not Delilah.)

Merula was startled too, but she reset herself to her usual sneering indifference so quickly Delilah almost forgot she'd seen her display any other emotion.

"I just— um— the magazine," she explained. "I've got a message from Anya to pass on."

"Great," Achilles agreed on impulse.

Merula pushed past him to leave, and surprisingly, he let her. "We're not done talking about this."

"I know."

Once Merula had exited, Delilah found herself asking a question that was almost forbidden for Slytherins. "Are you okay?"

"Yep. Um, what did you want to say about the magazine?" He deflected, and she let it slide.

It's a shame she couldn't put this in the newspaper, because 'Snyde threatens Spalding after spending undisclosed time in his bedroom together' had the makings of a front-page article.  

A/N

basically just me setting up some stuff for the next year and indulging myself by allowing myself to write some slytherin drama! I hope you understood what they were discussing, at least to a certain extent haha

also this is your reminder that merula is a firmly in the closet lesbian 

the next chapter will be from camille's pov, I know we haven't seen her in a while and I'm so sorry!

this one is a bit shorter too, I took a few days off here because real life is BUSY and I forgot how draining school is lmao it's def hit my writing a little 

how are your school/work lives going? 

love, Im <3