one sickle ~ f.w.

chapter 10

-- y/n's pov --

it's getting worse. i can't stop thinking about him, dreaming of him in all these different ways. i know it's so so bad, and he probably doesn't feel the same way, but he's just always on my mind, all the time. how did i never feel like this before? why has it just happened now? i mean, i've known him for almost 3 years now, and he's always been just a friend. i guess i wasn't really thinking about relationships back then. how do i even talk to him about this? maybe i shouldn't. i really have no idea what to do about this. maybe i should just see how things go for now, i don't think i wanna act on it yet. right now i have to focus on school, third year is important and i don't wanna spend it worrying about boys.

***

"y/n?" 

i turn around and it's professor sprout. 

"i just wanted to talk to you about your test results from last week."

oh no. this can't be good.

"you did worse than usual, actually. what happened to you? in second year, you were one of my best students. i can give you some extra work to do if you want, so maybe that'll help-" she says.

"oh, no, really professor, it's fine. i'll just do some more studying during free periods i guess. i promise i'll try to get better." 

"thank you, y/n. now get to lessons!"

"thank you professor!"

well uh.. that went well. i can't believe i almost failed my herbology test. she was right though, i was a really good student in second year - passing all my tests, answering all the questions in class, and even doing some extra work on the side sometimes. i have to try to get better.

"hey y/n" i hear a voice from behind me, and when i turn around it's fred, with a nervous smile on his face.

"oh hey freddie!" i reply.

"how are you?" 

"i'm good, how are you?" 

"spectacular."

there's this sort of awkward tension between us, and i don't know why, so i try to break it by telling him about something i heard about his brother ron.

"you know, i heard ron and harry fought a mountain troll on halloween."

"really?" he seems shocked.

"yeah! apparently they were going to hermione in the girls bathroom, when the troll came, and they ended up knocking it out." i say, matter-of-factly. 

"wow! that's impressive." 

"yeah it really is," i'm not really surprised that he reacted this way, but if he chooses to not be involved in his brother's school life, then that's fine with me. "where's george by the way?" i ask. 

"oh i think he had to study."

"really? then why aren't you with him?" 

"i.. uh.. didn't feel like it."

he had to be lying. why else would he be so stuttery and awkward? 

i try to brush it off, and continue the conversation.

"so uh.. what do you  think of mountain trolls?" i say, clumsily. jesus christ.

"um.. i think they're ugly and... uh.. stupid." he replies.

"right. me too."

"well uh.. i have to go to class now." 

"don't you have a free period?" 

"um..." he ran off, probably back to the common room.

"fred! where are you going?! wait!" i shouted.

i had to give up eventually, there was no point in losing my voice over him. 

why was he so weird today? why was i so weird? i think he's hiding something.

***

"right, class, today you will be learning about acromantulas." kettlebum says, as we all walk over. care of magical creatures is usually fun for me, but my fear of spiders made this one an exception - i wasn't looking forward to this. fred and george aren't there either, neither of them are taking care of magical creatures this year.

"come on, don't be shy, come on over." there were big cages with the creatures inside them, frightening some, but causing no shock to others. adrian and miles just laugh at them, while alicia and angelina look scared, hiding behind everyone else.   

"okay. is everyone here? great. first you'll be learning about how to feed them."

"but...that means we might have to... touch them." alicia says.

"that's right, miss spinnet. but they won't harm you, so don't be scared!" professor kettlebum replies. with an excited grin on his face , he explains what to do, and puts us in pairs.

"right, let's see..."

"kenneth and alicia."

"miles and graham."

"cassius and roger."

"adrian and y/n."

i sigh heavily. out of all people, he had to put me with adrian. i kept telling the twins to take care of magical creatures over the summer, but they wouldn't listen. cedric's not in this class either, so i don't even have one friend here (except angelina, but i'm not that close with her).

adrian and i walk over to the acromantula cage that we were assigned to, holding the food in our hand. 

"so what do we do?" he grunts.

"seriously, adrian, do you listen at all?" 

"uh.. no."

"okay then." i can already tell this is gonna be a long lesson. "what do you  think we have to do?"

confidently, he looks at me and says "watch and learn."

"adrian what are you-"

"oi you! over here!" he shouts at the spider, getting its attention. "take this!" he threw the meat, and surprisingly the spider catches it. "see. i can do it." he grins cockily, before the acromantula clicks its pincers angrily and howls at him, releasing poison and all sorts of juices into the air. of course, the whole class see this, including the teacher, and run away to where they're sure the poison can't reach them. some are hiding behind trees, some behind big rocks, and the ones that were laughing at the beginning aren't anymore.

"it's alright, class, it's just gotten a little agitated, no need to panic." the professor reassures us. pulling his wand out, he makes all the venom from the floor disappear so we can get back to what we were doing, without accidentally poisoning ourselves. 

he assigns me and adrian a different spider, and we get on with the rest of the lesson.

soon enough, it comes to the end and i can tell that all of us are happy that it's over.

"next lesson, we probably won't be doing acromantulas, so uh... have a good week. class dismissed."

that went well.

***

hey again, this was chapter 10 :) hope you enjoyed <3

also biden won!! honestly i'm so relieved that he did lmao

have a great day!

-dasha