Barnaby Lee x Reader - Years 3&4

Hogsmeade

The day of the next Hogsmeade trip rolled around a lot faster than Lana expected. She was so excited to spend more time with the handsome Slytherin boy.

She made an effort to look nice despite being in her gold and red robes. She straightened her long brown locks and put on some light makeup. She sprayed some of her favourite perfume that she got for Christmas and applied a light layer of lipgloss. Satisfied with her work, she made her way down to Hogsmeade with the year group.

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Opening the door to The Three Broomsticks, Lana felt the warm atmosphere of the tavern hit her gently in the face, and the sweet smell of butterbeers made her smile. Turning her head, she saw Barnaby sitting by himself at a table, so she walked over to him.

"Hey, partner." she smiled.

Barnaby lifted his head only to be greeted with a very gorgeous looking Lana standing in front of him. It took him a minute for him to speak but he managed not to appear flustered.

"Hey, Curse-Breaker! Have a seat. After a good duel I always like a butterbeer. They say it heals bruises and broken bones." he told Lana as she sat down opposite him.

"Who says that?" she giggled.

"I can't remember, but I'm sure someone probably said it." Barnaby replied thoughtfully, causing Lana to giggle once again, which made him smile.

Lana decided to stop getting distracted by Barnaby's cuteness and focus on getting to know him better. "So how did you become friends with Merula?"

"We have a lot in common. Both of our parents were Death Eaters." he told her, which made her feel a bit uneasy.

"Really?" she asked, shocked.

"Why are you so surprised? Everyone knows Slytherins have the most interesting childhoods." Barnaby calmly stated.

"Maybe I should've been a Slytherin then." she chuckled lightly.

"Harry Potter will definitely be a Slytherin." Barnaby said quite proudly.

"Do you want to talk about your parents?" Lana calmly asked the boy, who looked down at the table.

"You'll probably think my whole family is mad." Barnaby said, his voice full of shame.

It made Lana's heart wrench to hear his voice so low. She was amazed that the toughest boy in her year could look so vulnerable.

"You can tell me, Barnaby. If anyone can relate to that, then it's me." she gently told him with a smile, making him give a small one back.

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After learning about Barnaby's past and family, Lana saw him in a completely different light. She always saw him as this big, strong, fearless giant who everyone felt intimidated by. Or the most handsome guy in their year who all the girls swooned over because of his good looks. But he was really just like her. A young wizard who's tired of being compared to their family all the time.

Barnaby deeply appreciated Lana's caring gestures and he also saw her differently after that.
He felt something inside him that he'd never felt before. He didn't know what it was or what it meant, but he did know that he could trust Lana with absolutely anything now.

"Thanks for listening, Lana. It's nice to know that there's someone out there like me." he smiled warmly.

"Aw it's fine, Barnaby. I'll always be here to listen to you if you need me." she smiled sweetly at him, "So you really met him?! You-Know-Who?" Lana asked him quietly.

"I saw him. My dad met with him at our house when I was just a little kid."

"At your house?! Were you scared?"

"At first, yeah. But my dad admired him. He told me that if I could become as powerful as You-Know-Who, I could do anything." he told the girl.

"I've spent my whole entire life trying to get as strong as possible. Even after my dad was gone..." He finished, furrowing his brow in sadness and looking down again.

Lana couldn't take it anymore. Her heart broke for the poor boy. She just wanted to take him in her arms and tell him that everything would be alright.

"Well I know that you're the strongest person I've met, and probably ever will meet. I think you're a really good person, Barnaby, and I'm also really glad that you're helping me instead of Merula now." she smiled warmly at him and took his hand that was resting outstretched on the table in her own. Barnaby smiled widely at her action and squeezed her hand.

"Thank you, Lana." he finally said.

"Is there anything I need to know? The earlier I know what I need to know, the better chance I have of knowing it." he asked, tilting his head in an adorable manner.

"I'll send you an owl when we're ready for you. I'm heading back now to meet Tulip so she can tell me her plans for breaking into the next vault." Lana told him, whilst standing up, releasing his hand to do so.

"I'll walk you back." he offered with a smile, which she instantly accepted.

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Once they were out of the tavern, Lana felt a warmth spread across her left hand, as a much larger one engulfed it. She looked up to see Barnaby smiling down at her. She returned the smile and squeezed his hand gently, as they continued to walk hand-in-hand back to the castle.

They received many looks on the way back, as it was almost unthinkable that a Gryffindor and a Slytherin would be that close to one another! Once they were back at Hogwarts, Barnaby let go of Lana's hand and thanked her again.

"I just wanna say thank you again for today, Lana. It really helped me, and I really appreciated it." he told her, facing his body towards her.

Lana was touched by his words, so she stood on her tiptoes and pulled him into a hug. Taken slightly aback, Barnaby wrapped one arm around her waist and the other around her back and dug his face into her shoulder, holding her close.

Her heart skipped a beat as she felt his hair tickle her neck, a blush crawling onto her cheeks. Barnaby had never really hugged anyone before, and the moment their arms were around each other, he didn't want to let her go. He felt whole inside, something that he'd never felt in his life.

"It's ok, Barnaby. I'm always here if you need me." she told him, feeling his arms tighten slightly around her and him nodding his head lightly. She smiled and squeezed him tightly before reluctantly pulling away from him.

They said their goodbyes and both left smiling after the best day they'd had in a while.

aww that was cute :)
that's definitely been my favourite thing to write so far
I wanna show Barnaby's lil baby side as much as possible in this book cause it's just too cute not to mention it <3
damn I just realised this is all going up in one day
I have nothing else to do and I'm just sitting in bed waiting to get tired
I'm not sleeping until I publish everything I've thought of so far :')
welp I hope you loved it as much as I did writing it and hopefully see you in the next one!