by my side¹ - d. malfoy

Twenty-Four

WHEN LAURA finished eating, she excused herself from the Slytherin table, meandering her way over to the Gryffindor table.

"Hi, Katie."

"Oh, hi, Laura," Katie smiled, turning to Laura. "Did you need anything?"

"No, I just wanted to talk to you," Laura shrugged, sitting next to Katie, which caused some Gryffindors to send her a look. "Blondie is getting a bit boring."

"I doubt that's true," Katie said with a laugh. "There's been word that you and Viktor ran into Crouch. I bet he wasn't too happy about that."

"No, you're right," Laura laughed. "Though, he got to find out before the rest of the school found out. I'm really just over here because he keeps finally realizing things, and I just missed you."

"I missed our dumb conversations as well," Katie grinned, "so, did you really run into the minister last night? Was he as cool as President Collins?"

"They wish they could have a president as cool as Lisa," Laura said, thinking back to the MACUSA President, Lisa Collins. The two had a rocky history, but Laura felt they were in a good place by that point. "He was definitely not himself. He kept talking to a tree, seized me, and begged me to get Dumbledore while I couldn't escape his grasp."

"Oh?" Katie said, her eyes a bit wide at that. "Yeah, Laurs, that's not normal at all... Well! I'm glad you're here right now."

"I am as well, but besides that..." Laura trailed off, a knowing look in her eyes. "I've been meaning to ask you about you and Nick."

Katie's face went pink, causing Laura to smirk.

"That look is why they put you into Slytherin," Katie quipped, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, I know," Laura said, "and my inner Horned Serpent is telling me that you and Nick have something going on... If you don't want to tell me, I'm sure Nick would love to send me a letter about it-"

"You saw us at the second task, I know," Katie groaned. They both knew if Laura asked Nick, he would over-exaggerate everything. "It's a relatively new thing between us that didn't start until I came here.

"We didn't confess to each other until we were just super bored at the second task,

"Your parents, Parkinson, Young, and Zambini, were off who knows where during the task," Katie's face was pink as she explained. Laura knew she was a little embarrassed to be explaining it. But she also knew Katie wouldn't tell her if she didn't want to, "the task was so long and mundane from the stands that people left and came back until the end."

"It definitely didn't feel very long while I was under the lake," Laura mumbled under her breath, causing Katie to laugh.

"Well, you were in active danger the entire time," Katie remarked, returning to her story. "So, while they all happened to be gone, Nick confessed to me, and I reciprocated the feelings. I'm guessing he said something about it during one of his letters to you, but it wasn't that much."

"Cute," Laura said with a smile. "I always had a gut feeling that you two would get together at one point or another. After our first year, Nick was pretty infatuated with you."

"I guess I just never noticed," Katie sighed. "But this new development will definitely mark my Hogwarts run to just this year. I like it here, but I miss Ilvermorny."

"I miss it too," Laura said with a sad smile. "I love it at Hogwarts, but I think about Ilvermorny and my other family back home. I'll miss everyone here, but I think Ilvermorny always has and always will be my second home."