𝖒𝖚𝖉𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 ~ 𝕋𝕠𝕞 ℝ𝕚𝕕𝕕𝕝𝕖

ONE || CHANGES

"Evelyn Granger!" I heard from behind me.

I jumped and whipped around, the person's attempt to scare me clearly working.

I relaxed when I realized who it was. "Oh my lord, I swear you'll be the death of me! Penny Abbott, you're such a bitch!"

"A bitch and proud!" The other Hufflepuff said smiling sarcastically.

I slapped my hand on my forehead and grabbed her robe by the elbow. "C'mon, we're going to be late for Potions."

We started walking to the dungeons.

"Yep. We're definitely going to be late for the first class of sixth year. How about this for an excuse: 'Professor Slughorn! We're so sorry we're late! You see, we were planning on getting to Potions really early today, but we were jumped by Grindelwald's forces and almost murdered!"

I snorted.

"Yeah, he'll definitely believe that. We might as well add that we were abducted by aliens and swallowed whole by a dragon," I exclaimed.

"Uhh... Then I have absolutely no idea. We're screwed."

"Penny. My dear wonderful perfect naïve Penny," I said quietly, then paused.

"I'm a bloody prefect this year dumbass!" I hollered directly in her ear.

"Ow! You're so mea- oh yeah, I'm so proud of you for that by the way! Just say a second-year Gryffindor jinxed my shoes together or something and you rescued me -"

"- You're my Hero!" She said exaggeratedly.

" You know I am." I agreed, smirking.

Almost at the potions classroom in the dungeons, we looked at each other. "Ready?" "Ready." We stepped in, and much to our surprise, there was a wave of Green and Yellow. Wait- green?

"Ah- Ms. Granger, Ms. Abbott- lovely of you to join us." Professor Slughorn said, looking annoyed.

I cleared my throat, ignoring the questions that were nagging at me in the back of my mind. "We're so sorry Professor, some second-year Gryffindors jinxed Penny in the hallway, and I had to help her. I took points off them, of course. I hope you understand!" I said with a genuine-looking smile.

Slughorn looked at me for a second, looking as if he was determining if I was lying "Oh, it's quite alright Ms. Granger. You and your friend may sit by the way, although you may have to move."

He saw the confused looks on our faces, and went to address the rest of the class.

"As you have all seen, sixth-year Hufflepuff's will not be working with the Ravenclaw's this year."

Ignoring all the groans, he continued. "Last year, there were many problems between the Gryffindor's and Slytherin's - yes the Slytherin's -" He said addressing the hushed "no's" and "of course not's!"

"The school board has decided that it would be better if the class pairings are switched around. To acquaint you all with each other, there will also be assigned seating."

Furious chatter suddenly erupted from the classroom.

I turned to Penny. "Why are they doing this to us!? Everyone knows that the Ravenclaw's and Slytherin's work best together, and don't even get me started on the assigned seating!" I stated, legitimately annoyed.

She blankly nodded at me, looking as she was still processing the information.

Suddenly, I heard a deafening bang. I, with almost everyone in the room, bent down and covered their ears. I slowly looked up, among many others, to see a fuming Professor Slughorn holding his wand.

"Really, I never expected such disrespect from sixth-years like you! You will sit where you are told, and you will not complain."

He paused for a moment in the dead silence, and pulled out a seating chart from his pocket. "Alright then; Malfoy with Abbott," Immediately, Penny and I looked at each other sadly, even though I could tell she was disgusted by her bully of a partner.

"Avery with Diggory, Black with Scamander, Lestrange with Wenlock, Nott with Diggory, Parkinson with Bones..."

He droned on. I, already being disappointed, just stared at Penny, mouthing things like "this is so unfair" and "he's a complete arse."

He was nearing the end of his list, and Slughorn still hadn't said my name.

"...Mulciber with Stump, Rosier with Tonks, and finally, Riddle with Granger."

Riddle. Tom Riddle.