opaque • fred weasley

one

one; SOME OLD RIVALRY

"End of Summer! End of Summer!" Phoenix chanted obnoxiously, jumping up and down on the sidewalk as he followed behind two girls who had long since started pretending that they weren't with him, "End of Summer!"

"I'm gonna smack him." Lyra huffed after they received a dirty look from two girls passing them, due to the hyperactive male behind him who had gained quite enough attention due to his shouting.

"End of Summer!"

"That's called assault, darling." Sutton pointed out with a laugh as she unlinked her arm from Lyra's so she could move closer to a shop window to see a cute dress that Lyra had pointed out the week before when they were in the city.

"Don't care," Lyra responded as she glared over her shoulder at their friend who was looking way too excited, "Seriously, why is he so excited about school? Does he not realise it's O.W.L year?"

"He does." Sutton responded, "But, I don't know, he's really excited for some reason."

"End of Sum–"

"Phoenix!" Sutton shouted, "Shut it!"

"Why don't you make m–" He was cut off by Lyra who had stopped dead in her tracks and launched herself at the boy who let out a squeal of surprise before they were rolling around the sidewalk, leaving shoppers to watch on in amusement or skirt around them in annoyance.

Sutton snorted, rolling her eyes at the two before she turned on her heel and continued walking, knowing that they'd catch up to her eventually after they'd finished hitting one another.

"Sutton, help!"

Sutton grinned to herself and continued to walk in the direction of The Leaky Cauldron when she heard Phoenix shout and scramble up off of the ground to sprint after the brunette who hadn't noticed the dark eyes which were staring a hole into her back.

She smiled at Tom who stood behind the bar, waving excitedly at the girl who had helped him out the Summer before when business was incredibly busy, she quickly slumped down in a chair and waited patiently for her friends, her eyes occasionally flickering to the raucous table filled with a family who each had a head of flaming red hair.

Weasley's.

She sighed to herself when she made eye contact with George Weasley who promptly glared at her as if they hadn't been on the verge of becoming friends when they had been sorted into rival houses, it wasn't her fault, she had wanted to be in Ravenclaw, like her Mum.

But Sutton loved Slytherin, despite the differences she had with some, they were a family and you protected family.

So, she grinned at him and waggled her fingers in his direction as the doors leading to both Diagon Alley and London were opened and in marched three Gryffindor's Sutton knew well, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley ignored the girl sitting alone, as expected but Hermione Granger waved at the older girl who had helped her with her homework the year before with a hesitant smile on her face which Sutton returned happily, and Lyra and Phoenix entered through the other, the two looking extremely roughed up, the latter sporting a bruised cheek and the former dabbing at her cut lip with a tissue.

"Sort it all out?" Sutton called to the pair, who glared at one another.

"How dare I be excited." Phoenix huffed as he glared at Lyra.

"He's a little twat," Lyra exclaimed at the same time before they trudged over to their table and sat down on either side of Sutton who giggled at them, her eyes flickering back to George who had rolled his eyes at her before turning back to whatever his mother had been scolding him for.

Sutton huffed to herself, picking at her nail beds in annoyance as she turned her attention back to Lyra and Phoenix who were still bickering, though this time, the topic was Quidditch teams, rather than classes.

✦❀✦

"Twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thir–"

"You said twenty." Sutton huffed as she pulled herself back up and glared at the man kneeling on her feet, "We're beyond twenty."

"So?" Liam Winslow asked with a raised eyebrow as he stared down at his niece who glared up at him as she pulled her feet out from beneath hum and slowly go to her feet, wiping her face with the towel that she was handed.

"So, I've got a Potions essay that I need to finish before tomorrow." She responded with a sigh as she made her way into the kitchen and grabbed the bottle of water she'd left on the countertop.

"Wait, you haven't finished your homework yet?" Liam asked with a frown as he watched Sutton unscrew the cap and take a hefty swig from the bottle, "And you're working out with me?"

She shook her head as she took another drink before he put the cap back on the bottle and frowned at the amusement growing on Liam's face, "What? It's an extra piece Snape wants me to do."

"Nothing." He smirked, "Just figured you'd finished it all, considering that's what you told your Mum and all."

"And you will tell her nothing else to contradict that because the last thing we need is for Mum to found out Snape's giving me a hard time again." Sutton warned him, "She'll also cut our practices short."

"She can't cut our training because you go back to school tomorrow." Liam responded as he began to scour through the pantry in search of something to make for dinner, due to Sutton's parents both working late that night, "Snape's still a prick then?"

She hummed in response as she pulled the cheese out of the fridge and tossed it onto the counter, alongside the pasta that her uncle had already placed there and she turned back to search for the pasta sauce her mother had moved into the fridge to defrost.

"Oh yeah." She responded, "How bad was he when you were at school?"

"He started when Lizzie and I were in our second year and he hated us immediately when he found out we were related to Talia." Liam told her with a smirk, "And Talia never told us what issue he had with her so I still have no idea why he took his anger for her out on us."

Sutton chuckled as she grabbed the pot out from underneath the sink and handed it to her uncle who ruffled her hair in thanks before he set it on the stove and turned the dials, a small flame igniting beneath it.

"Because he's a dick with some severe issues towards children?" Sutton questioned as she thought about her Potions professor who seemed to have it out for her one minute, but then treat her like any of his other Slytherin students the very next.

Liam considered her words for a single moment before he nodded, "Well, yes."

"So, have you written up a training plan for when I'm back at school?" Sutton asked as she watched him spell some water into the pot he'd already placed on the stove.

Liam grinned at her and began to speak excitedly, their conversation about Snape slowly becoming forgotten as they talked about Quidditch training and strategies.

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so, this is the all-new chapter one because i felt as though i originally dived right into sutton's plot without really introducing any of the characters and such so i'll be carving out two new chapters before posting anything that was originally up just to flesh out the story and i hope you guys like the new stuff.

sorry for any confusion!

thanks for reading

~r