Emerson Wilmore was an exemplary Ravenclaw student, known for her unwavering dedication to academics and an unyielding moral compass. However, things took a twisted and deviated turn in her life after her boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, was murdered by L...
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Easter arrived at Hogwarts in March, but for Emerson, it felt more like a cruel joke than a holiday. Not only was Umbridge taking full control of her reign over the castle with her new appointment as Headmistress, the stress of the upcoming O.W.L. exams was thick in the air. The weight of it was pressing down on every Fifth Year like a storm cloud, with students breaking down in class, rocking back and forth as they re-read their notes for the millionth time or drinking five coffees in a day to compensate for their overnight study sessions. The once lively hallways of Hogwarts now seemed quieter, with students retreating to the library or their Common Rooms, heads buried in books and notes.
Emerson and Olivia were somehow handling it well so far, although they too felt the stress of it all. Perhaps it was the Ravenclaw in them, but they felt organised with their meticulous study plans. They were anxious, but at least they weren't dying their hair bubblegum pink during a mental breakdown like their classmate, Sarah Pearce.
It took Padma and Harmony hours to convince her that pink wasn't a good look.
And somehow, Emerson and Olivia's study habits rubbed off on three fellow Slytherins as well. Emerson sat at a table in the library, surrounded by Olivia, Mattheo, Theo, and Enzo. Her Charms textbooks lay open in front of her, but the words were starting to blur together. She stared blankly at the page that she kept rereading everytime she realised that nothing was sinking in. She wasn't just distracted by the relentless pressure of exams. The fact of the matter was that her mind kept wandering to Mattheo. His presence across from her, so close yet so unreachable, made it nearly impossible to focus. Every now and then, she caught herself glancing at him, and it was like a spark ignited in her chest every time.
She kept thinking about their almost-kiss. The way he leaned in towards her with his face so close to hers was electric. The world seemed like it stopped in that moment. And then there was the way he hugged her so spontaneously when she fixed his essay, lifting her off the ground like she was weightless. Every time she thought about it, her heart fluttered uncontrollably. What made it worse was how little it seemed to faze him. He was calm and collected, while she was a bundle of nerves.
Her mind raced with details she couldn't stop noticing about him. His hair, dark, curly and messy, always tousled in that effortlessly rebellious way. The way his deep brown eyes would narrow slightly when he was thinking hard, like they held secrets no one else could ever know. When they looked up, his gaze seemed to bore right through her whenever they made eye contact. His muscular arms, the way they flexed and always tensed when he turned the pages of a book or leaned back in his chair. It was as if they were ready for anything. She couldn't help but recall how easily he lifted her off the ground when he hugged her. She could still feel the warmth of his embrace if she thought about it too much. It left her flustered and distracted, her heart racing at the worst possible times, especially when she was supposed to be studying.
