Loyalties | Barty Crouch Jr

An Important Announcement

November 24, 1978 - Friday

The main thing on Leonora's mind for the past week was this supposed dance that Illyria had heard about. She found her mind constantly wander as she sat in class, the image of herself spinning around the Great Hall in a beautiful, sparkly dress replaying over and over in her head.

Sometimes, Barty would appear in those daydreams, twirling her around as faux snowflakes fell from the ceiling, resting on the top of their heads. They'd always become too dizzy and stop abruptly, bumping into each other while laughing hysterically. They'd meet eyes as everything froze around them and the room became silent. They'd both lean forwards and while slowly closing their eyes... and then Leonora's daydreams would get interrupted. Every. Single. Time.

She had desperately been hoping for any sort of announcement for this rumored dance, so that her daydreams of twirling around with Barty could hopefully become reality, one that actually had an uninterrupted ending.

.........................................................

Leonora's time in the library alongside Barty had been different.

Over the past week, in addition to the daydreaming, she had developed a new habit, one where her eyes would trail up to the boy, watching him as he lightly bit his lip and furrowed his eyebrows as he worked.

He could always sense her staring, though every time he glanced up, her eyes were back down on her own parchment, her own eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Sometimes he'd feel as if he was just going crazy and imagining the eyes on him, but then he'd always notice the light blush that painted her cheeks, confirming that she indeed had been admiring him.

Leonora thought she was slick, unaware of the pink cheeks that always gave her away.

She wasn't used to fancying boys, as she spent a majority of her time focusing on schoolwork, so the Amortentia confirming that her feelings for the boy were indeed serious, felt a little overwhelming. She couldn't help but stare at his features whenever he wasn't looking.

"You're staring again," Barty stated, placing his quill down carefully onto the wooden table. He wore a smirk on his face as he watched her quill abruptly stop moving.

Her new habit of staring throughout the past week had left him curious. Could it be a sign that she fancied him as well? What other reason could there possibly be?

"Staring? Again?" She questioned, eyes glued to her parchment. "What are you talking about?"

"You've been staring at me on and off for the past week."

Her heart raced as she quickly racked her brain for a lie. "I haven't been staring at you, Barty," she tried convincing the boy as her eyes shot up to meet his, "I've just simply been staring off thinking, and somehow happened to look back down whenever you glanced at me. A coincidence."

"Ah," he said, leaning back in his chair while raising his eyebrows. "This coincidence has been happening a lot lately."

"Yes, well, people tend to think when they do their schoolwork, and I tend to do mine all of the time." She offered him a small shrug.

"I know," he agreed, "but you've never had this problem before. Plus, I've never seen anyone start blushing from thinking about their schoolwork."

"I have not been blushing!" She exclaimed, earning a shush from the librarian. Her face instantly grew redder, from both embarrassment and the fact that Barty was catching onto her.