Bread (Harry Potter au)

Chapter 13

Brianna's POV

On our way to Hagrid's, Avery and I chatted. She was talking about some extinct magical bird she had read about but I wasn't really paying attention.
"It was heavily populated in Ireland and Scotland in the 16th centur-"
"Hey do you know Castiel Novak very well?"
She almost tripped on her own feet because me interrupting her threw her off of her conversation.
"Oh- um no not really, he's just a seventh year boy. Big glasses dark hair, kinda short. Quite cute, actually. Really smart, kinda dorky, really quiet and shy. I think I heard somewhere that he's gay. Why?"
I remembered I couldn't tell anyone about Dean yet.
"Um nothing just his name came up and I wasn't sure who he was other than he's a Ravenclaw." I lied. Avery nodded,"oh."

Care of Magical Creatures was a really easy class. There were hardly ever any tests. Most of it was participation. Avery and I both had Outstanding in that class. I can't imagine how anyone could fail that class, yet some lazy kids still manage to finish the year with a Troll grade.
Funny that Avery had just previously mentioned birds, because that day we learned about the Bogmadge, a species of bird that actually lives in the forbidden forest. They are known for playing tricks on their prey. The bugs they eat feast on berries, so the Bogmadge poisons the berries through its talons and watches the bug eat and die then fall to the ground in great numbers, making a large meal for the bird.

"Now I've got some berries fer ya here. And now that I've taught ya how to spot the differences between the poisoned and fresh, I'd like ya to separate 'em! Well, go on then separate!" Hagrid ordered. There were several tables set up outside, each with its own basket of berries on it. We were meant to partner up so, naturally, Avery and I were together. It wasn't hard. All you had to do was make sure the indent at the top wasn't brown and that the berry didn't twitch at all. The poisoned ones were meant to twitch to catch the attention of bugs, causing me great annoyance when bugs actually showed up and flew around our work station.
Avery and I finished first, to Hagrid's delight. We also didn't make any mistakes. We separated them perfectly. Hagrid took the good pile of berries in his own basket.
"One second," he announced to the class. He disappeared into his house and came back out only moments later. I assume he was cleaning the berries with water. He set his basket down and said, "Eat up and enjoy." The class happily accepted and thanked us for not poisoning them.

After dinner that night, Fred and I sat in the Room of Requirement, which was hands down the coolest feature of the castle. We had it turn into a room of total comfort, and it gave us hammocks, a couple of couches, even a bed and a fireplace. There were bookshelves lining the walls. I grabbed one, fictional which is the only kind I prefer, and lied down on the bed. Fred crept up next to me and I leaned on him as I opened up the book. I started to read to myself in my head but I was interrupted by Fred's quiet and soothing voice asking,"Can you read it out loud? Please?" I rolled my eyes and said,"Fine." That made him smile. We cuddled in closer and I began to read aloud. He played with my hair and admired me as I kept reading and acting like I didn't notice. I read the first two chapters. I wasn't sure if I'd want to finish it or not. Not sure if it was interesting enough. Nevertheless, I put a bookmark in it and placed it back on the bookshelf where I found it.
"Can we continue it tomorrow?" Fred asked hopefully. I answered with a warm smile.
"Yeah, we can." We held hands as we exited the Room of Requirement.
"I don't really want to go to my common room yet," I admitted.
"What do you want to do, then?" Fred questioned." I shrugged.
"Big castle to explore," I answered with a smirk.
"Alright then, c'mon." Fred took my hand and we ran from that hall to another and looked for a place to hang out. We eventually came across an old unused for years classroom.
"Dark in here," I said.
"Lumos" Fred walked around with his wand pointed in front of him. I walked around, too, doing the same thing. I heard a loud noise and an ow. Fred had walked into a table.
"You good?"
"Yeah," he answered in a pained voice. I noticed candles, a lot of them. I pointed my wand up and a huge candle holder hung from the ceiling. I lit all of the candles in the room including the ones hanging from the ceiling. It was now very bright in that room, revealing a few dusty scratched up desks, bottles of potions, books, and a large teachers desk at the front. After lighting the candles I looked at Fred who was rubbing his thigh where he had hurt himself.
He said,"I like fire" mocking me from before.
"Yeah well thanks to my fire you won't run into any more tables." I told him.

We sat on the old Professor's desk. Fred was sitting criss cross applesauce and I sat behind him on my knees, braiding his ginger hair while he read through the old written-in names in a dusty textbook he found.
"No way!" He exclaimed.
"What?"
"Isn't this your mom's name? Jamitha Wallace?"
I let go of Fred hair and looked over his shoulder to see my mom's handwriting scribbled on the inside of the book cover.
"Huh, yeah it is." I answered.
"Didn't your parents both go here?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"Did they date back then?"
"Yeah but not until seventh year." I explained.
"Tell me about them."
"Not much to tell. Ben and Jamitha. They were both Hufflepuffs, they weren't even really friends until seventh year when they started to hang out, then eventually date. My mom works at a shop called Beverly's Bewitched Brooms. She sells Quidditch equipment and sportswear. My dad works at a potion making company. They mostly make potions for illnesses or injury. They make a lot of their money selling products to hospitals." Fred listened to everything I said.
"Both Hufflepuffs huh?"
"Yeah, why?" I asked, expecting a wise ass comment about houses.
"No I was just thinking most kids end up in a house one of their parents was in. Or one similar. Why do you think your case is different?"
I thought about this for a minute. I'd never really thought about it before.
"I don't know I guess the houses aren't that different. Hufflepuffs and Slytherins are both fiercely loyal to their friends. However the houses are different in some ways like me and my parents. Hufflepuffs are dreamers and often get caught up in unrealistic or hopeful thinking, leaving them disappointed in a lot of situational outcomes. However, Slytherins see things for how they are, allowing us to see how difficult something may be and how we can ready ourselves to take on those challenges. We're determined people that try difficult things and often succeed." I explained.
"How do those things relate to you and your parents?"
"They didn't want to be those things. My mom wanted to be an author and my dad wanted to be a Potions master and teach in a wizarding school some day. But they kept hoping for it to happen instead of making it happen. See what I mean?"
Fred looked kind of saddened by my mention of my parents' dreams not coming true.
"What do you want to be?" He grabbed my hands when he asked this.
"A lawyer. I want to work in the ministry."
"Then you know what to do. Plan it all out, look at the challenges ahead, and face them wisely. The Slytherin way."
"The Slytherin way," I repeated.
"Wait what's the Gryffindor way if I might ask?"
Fred had an answer right away.
"We usually kind of wing it. We are very brave so we take a lot of risks that often work out in our favor, and if it doesn't, then we do our research and try again."
I would've asked him what he wanted to be, but I already knew his plan. He and George were going to open up their own shop and sell pranks, toys, candy, potions, and all sorts of wonderful Weasley-made things. One last thing I thought about was Avery and how she would explain the "Ravenclaw way."