SABAISM | H. POTTER

FIVE. | MAD-EYE-MOODY HATE CLUB

"I can't believe you were going to leave me, my precious Gem," Harry Potter muttered forlornly, his voice barely more than a whisper as he gazed down at the girl whose head rested trustingly in his lap. With gentle, almost reverent fingers, he delicately braided her silky, honey-gold curls, the sunlight catching in the strands and making them shimmer like spun gold.

"Harry," the girl replied impishly, a mischievous glint in her eye as she cracked open one of her silver irises to peer up at him, "Quidditch is life. You knew what you were getting into when you befriended me."

Mere feet away, Draco Lupin-Black groaned in exaggerated disgust, snapping his book shut with a dramatic flourish. He let his head fall back against the sturdy oak tree they'd all gathered beneath, the leaves above dappling his pale face with shifting patterns of light and shadow. "How long," he demanded, his voice dripping with exasperation, "are we supposed to pretend they aren't falling hopelessly in love with each other?"

Hermione Granger, seated cross-legged beside Ron and meticulously annotating his battered Herbology homework, barely looked up as she responded. "Reverse Psychology, Draco," she murmured, her tone patient but tinged with amusement.

Draco's head snapped upright, his silver eyes wide with incredulity. "What?" he quipped, sounding almost scandalized by the suggestion.

Hermione finally glanced up, her chestnut eyes warm and wise as she regarded the begrudging Lupin-Black boy. "Reverse Psychology," she repeated, enunciating each syllable as if she were addressing a particularly dense first-year. "It's a Muggle psychiatry practice—sort of like what Mind Healers do. We pretend not to notice how obviously in love they are, because they can't even recognize it themselves yet. If we pointed it out, they'd just deny it, and then they'd overanalyze every interaction, making things awkward and tense. By acting oblivious, we're giving them the space to grow comfortable, to believe their feelings are just natural friendship—until, one day, they finally wake up and realize what's been right in front of them all along."

Ron Weasley, who had been half-listening while doodling absentmindedly in the margins of his notes, looked up at Hermione with thinly veiled admiration. "You're brilliant, sometimes, you know that?" he asked, voice filled with genuine awe as he watched the brightest witch of their age.

Draco rolled his eyes, a dramatic grimace twisting his lips as he surveyed the blossoming romance and camaraderie surrounding him. "Sounds like this reverse psycho is everywhere I look," he muttered, feigning annoyance even as a reluctant smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Psychology," Hermione corrected primly, though a faint blush crept up her cheeks, betraying her gratification at Ron's compliment.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm putting it aside for now. I want to spend time with my sister," Draco declared, rising gracefully from his spot on the grass. He brushed the lingering flecks of dirt from his impeccably tailored trousers, a determined set to his jaw and a characteristic stubbornness flickering in his usually collected amber eyes.

Ron shot Draco a wary look, shifting uncomfortably as he glanced between Draco and Harry. "Mate," he cautioned, his voice low and laced with concern, "you know what Harry's like when it comes to her. It's only getting worse the older we get. Plus, he's still genuinely upset—keeps going on about how Gemini was on her death bed. I had to spend half the morning convincing him not to hex Dumbledore or storm the Ministry for 'stealing away her happiness.' He's relentless."

Draco rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of amusement beneath his usual arrogance. "Well, I don't care," he insisted, folding his arms across his chest with a haughty air. "I've given the poor sod two whole days to trail after her like a lovesick puppy. But now, I'd like to have some proper sibling bonding time. She's my sister, after all, and I won't let Potter monopolize her every waking moment."