prospicere futurum | fred weasley | cedric diggory

33

Corinne rubbed the remaining fuzziness of sleep from her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. Despite her spending nearly the entirety of Sunday in bed, chugging down water as if she'd spent the past few weeks in the desert, no amount of caffeine over breakfast had managed to help her feel awake. Not nearly awake enough for double potions.

Still, she had allowed herself to even feel a small amount of pride for even showing up today, crawling her way out of bed, down to breakfast and following Taylor and Ella into the dungeons, where two weeks ago she would have been zoned out in the common room upstairs, probably losing points with every missed lesson.

She nodded half a goodbye to her friends, heading towards her usual desk at the far end of the classroom, dropping into place quietly beside Lucas.

"Hi." She mumbled, blinking in confusion at the dark look he shot her after a moment's pause. "You alright?"

"Fine." He answered, shortly. "Thought you'd be sitting with Weasley."

Corinne blinked again, processing his words and glancing to Fred who was rummaging carelessly through his bag which was nearly overflowing with random papers and obvious Weasley prototypes.

"Why?" She asked, looking back to the unusual scowl painted across her friend's face.

"Heard you two were awful cozy Saturday night."

Corinne felt her mouth fall open slightly, her stomach going cold, as if someone had dropped a chunk of ice through the pool of warm coffee she'd downed at breakfast.

"Cozy?" She was already shaking her head as Snape spoke from the front, gathering everyone's attention. Everyone but hers.

"For today's lesson, we will brew the antidote to Veritaserum. As you should know, Veritaserum is the most powerful truth potion-"

"Lucas-" Corinne breathed, careful not to let Snape hear her.

"Its antidote isn't nearly as complex, so there will be no excuse for anything short of perfection." Snape continued, calling out the page number for their books and releasing them to gather their ingredients.

Lucas stood without another word, crossing to the shelves to gather their ingredients, not bothering to glance back as Corinne followed, close on his heels.

"Why are saying that?" She hissed, all thought of anyone around them listening in gone from her mind.

"That's what everyone's saying."

"Who's everyone?"

Lucas turned back now, dropping a bundle of roots and a small bag of powder into her hands as they started back to their seats.

"Do you not know the meaning of the word?" He grumbled.

He had started working already, pulling the first root from the tie and dragging it over to their cutting board, though Corinne had hardly moved.

"We were just talking." She explained, though most of the party was still slightly a blur. "I... had a lot to drink, and I fell asleep on the couch."

"Yeah." Lucas nodded, "With Weasley."

"Not with him!" She bit back.

"Are you going to help?" Lucas nodded towards their cauldron and Corinne glanced down at the textbook, trying to catch up to his step.

"I just... You can't think that I would... I mean, it wasn't anything. I just didn't want to think... anymore, so I had too much to drink I guess and-"

"You don't need to explain anything to me, Corinne." Lucas shrugged, working more quickly than he had all of term. "I'm not your boyfriend."