CARELESS WHISPER , h. granger

iv. study sessions

"IM OFF TO THE LIBRARY." paris announced, as she sat in the slytherin common room next to her best friend, the blazing fire in front of them keeping them warm.

"off to read another ghastly book, no doubt." eudora looked up from her magazine.

"yeah." the lovelace girl lied, leaping up from the sofa and tucking her defence against the dark arts textbook under her arm. "see you at dinner."

she hurried down the corridor towards the library— pulling up the grand oak doors. she stepped onto the red, velvety carpet, wandering through the different shelves of books that were illuminated by yellowing oil lamps.

when she got further back in the library, she caught sight of hermione who was sat at a table; books stacked up against it as she leant on the palm of her hand, flicking through a sheet of parchment— as if she was checking it.

"hi." paris greeted, pulling out the chair opposite the young witch and seating herself.

"hi." hermione nodded, looking up from the parchment. "do you want to start with the recognition of werewolves? i mean, if we're going to write this essay for snape on time, we'd better get a move on—" she babbled, seemingly ready to just get to work.

paris shrugged, taken aback by the girl's abruptness and opening her book.

"werewolves can be particularly distinguished by their—" hermione began, speaking quite quickly.

the brunette listened, trying to her hardest to understand the superfluous information hermione was putting across. she took notes with her quill, nodding quietly as she did so.

"keep your voices down." madam pince hushed, peering over her glasses at the students.

"no offence," hermione began in a whisper, around half an hour later, as both girls had resorted to perusing. "but, i know you love to read..." this made paris look up, surprised the gryffindor genius paid any attention to her. "so, i'm surprised you don't know a lot about spells. i mean, i saw you in care of magical creatures— you have a tremendous knowledge of animals. and you are a pureblood, i just would've th—"

"—i'm not." paris interrupted her.

"you're not what?"

"i'm not a pureblood." she admitted.

"you what? i mean, you associate with the malfoys, you're a slytherin, you—"

the brunette shook her head. "i'm halfblood. my father— he's a muggle. i never met him, but i know he was. i never met my mother, either— well, i met her, but i don't remember her well. i was only a week old when she—" the girl inhaled sharply, withdrawing from revealing any more information that the girl didn't need to know about her. "the point is, eudora and draco don't know. no one knows. and i'd like to keep it that way. and seriously, i swear to salazar, granger, if you tell anyone, i—"

"i won't." hermione assured, tucking a strand of curly hair behind her ear. "i— i won't tell anyone. i promise." she smiled weakly.

"and for the record, i'm great at spells, thank you. just not much good at potions. that's why that prat snape doesn't like me."

the dirty blonde nodded, still stunned the slytherin had opened up to her so quickly.

paris nodded aswell, managing a smile back.
the pair looked at eachother in silence for while, still exchanging small grins as they held eye contact.

"we— we should get to the great hall." hermione spoke up, soon feeling awkward that she had ruined the moment. "i expect dinner will be starting soon."

"oh, um, yeah." paris nodded awkwardly, quickly closing he book.

as both girls leaned down to pick up their bags, their knees brushed, summoning a crimson red blush to both of their cheeks.

IT WAS THE NEXT DAY WHEN PARIS was sat in the library again, inspecting the shelves for a new book she could use to escape from reality with.

although, it was proving very difficult to ignore the rumbling thunder overhead, the pounding of the wind against the castle walls, the distant creaking of the trees in the forbidden forest, and the excitable cheers of the crowd in the quidditch pitch's stands.

most of the school had turned out to watch the first match of the year— gryffindors versus hufflepuffs. paris had never been a fan, so she never attended the school games, and only attended the annual quidditch world cup because of her uncle mercutio, as he adored the sport— and she thought she ought to accompany him.

honestly, she'd much rather had been in hogsmeade, browsing honeydukes, but since all her friends were watching the match, it would count for a very dull visit. although, she supposed her craving for fizzing whizzibees could wait a little longer— till the last weekend of term— when the next trip to hogsmeade had been scheduled.