Run Away ✧ Hogwarts Legacy

𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓎 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝓎: chapter one

Automatic by half•alive

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Hogwarts hadn't held the familiar charm that it once captured for Antheia Wytners. It had been only nine short months since graduation and frankly, it felt too soon to be back on the campus and it certainly hadn't been her choice to return. The night that she graduated she hoped to never see the place again because she wasn't ready to face all of the failures that she left behind. Every inch of the castle haunted her like a ghost. After four sleepless nights of tossing and turning in the guest room in Hogsmeade, she desperately wanted to return home to sleep in her own bed for many reasons, especially concerning that she wasn't as fond of having to share a bed with her partner.

Unfortunately, there were only two rooms open when they checked in. Their boss would never share a room with anyone below him naturally, which was fine considering that the partners would rather be forced together than with Marvolo Gaunt. This resulted in Antheia being forced to share her bed with her partner.

They hadn't been together for a long time and had certainly been still working out the early stages of building a relationship with one another. Perhaps it was a little awkward the first night that they shared a bed, but they were slowly warming up to one another. 

It was a bit too intimate at times for Antheia Wytners. She wasn't one to overshare like her partner and such close quarters left little places to emotionally hide from their conversation. It was likely for the best, they were officially partners after all, which means that they should be comfortable with each other. Only she wished her partner was a bit more serious at times.

"You were hogging the bed sheets again last night," Antheia complained, "I was freezing."

Sylvie Winslow scrunched her nose in response, "If you are so cold at night then maybe tonight we should cuddle for the warmth?"

Antheia let out a small laugh under her breath before locking the door to their room behind her. She enjoyed Sylvie's company and since being assigned as her partner, she had felt rather glad to be paired with someone with such a positive attitude all of the time. After four bad nights of sleep, it impressed her that the young Auror could keep making jokes at the start of each morning.

Sylvie stood from her spot and brushed out the wrinkles in her skirt. "Come on, we're running late again."

The two had begun to form a habit over the past few days on their assignment. Each morning they would wake up and meet with Marvolo Gaunt to discuss the objections for the day before heading into the castle. It was originally suggested that the trip would be a quick mission and both girls had grown frustrated over the commitment of their stay. They suspected that the long discussions between Gaunt and Headmaster Black had less to do with their intended mission and had become more of a personal endeavor. They would speak to whichever of the staff were selected that day and Marvolo would often spend the day keeping company with Headmaster Black before asking for reports from one of them at the end of the day.

Mostly, Sylvie would speak to him. Out of all of the Aurors on their team, she had been the favorite by far because of her legilimency ability. A natural skill that was so impressive that most of the time Antheia couldn't even tell when she had been using it, but as her new partner, she was beginning to pick up on timing. Her friendly personality was so forthcoming when speaking to people that no one seemed to notice how sneaky she could be with it. 

The assignment was pitched as a way to introduce her around the castle to see if they may discover any new leads on the case that was slowly growing cold. Nine months without a major development required fresh sets of eyes.