“Hey!” Fish snickered as his snowball hit his target. Ben turned, but relaxed when he saw who it was. “Haven’t seen you in a while,” Ben said, brushing snow off his shoulder. Fish jogged up, shoes crunching through the cold. “I know, I’ve been so busy with studying. Rowan’s driving me crazy. They wake up at the crack of dawn to go over their notes and then they try to get me up too. Ugh.” Ben murmured his sympathies as they quietly walked through the cold together. “Are you going home for the holidays?” “Yeah, it’ll be good to see my mum again. She loves to decorate. During Christmas, the house always looks like a craft store exploded.” Fish nodded, though he had no idea as to what a craft store might be. “What about you?” Fish glanced over. “Me?” “Are you going home for the holidays?” “Nah. My parents are away on business and I don’t feel like wandering around an empty house for three weeks. Plus, the food’s way better here.” Fish shoved his hands into the pockets of his robes. “So, what’s muggle school like?”, he asked suddenly. Ben blinked, “Um, well, a lot more boring compared to all of this.” “Did you like it?” “Not really. I mean, it’s okay. You go to school at 8 and learn English and maths and then you come home and do it again the next day.” “I was just curious. I’ve never been to any school other than Hogwarts.” Ben raised an eyebrow, “Really? How did you learn to read and write and all that then?” “My mum taught me. I think it’s like that for most wix. Pureblood families will usually hire tutors, but we didn’t have the money for that and my mum’s probably smarter than them anyway.” They passed a loud group of girls giggling. “I-I d-didn’t realize you were a Pureblood.” “Oh,” said Fish, “I’m not really. My dad’s great-great-great grandfather or something was a Muggle, no matter how much he likes to pretend otherwise. My mum is though.” Fish paused and unclasped his cloak, handing it over to Ben. “W-What are you doing?” “You’re shivering. C’mon, just put it on and let’s get inside the Three Broomsticks before we freeze to death.” Ben wanted to protest, but Fish had already marched several paces ahead. He sighed and pulled on the heavy woolen cloak. “C’mon!” “I’m coming!”
Fish and Ben hurriedly stepped into the warm pub. The Three Broomsticks was thankfully quiet for once given that they had missed the lunch rush. Fish guided them towards a corner table. A few moments later, they were sipping Butterbeer and munching on sandwiches. Ben looked around the tavern. A few other students were here too, keeping to themselves and likely recovering from exams. “It’s funny to think that I almost was in Hufflepuff” Ben eyes widened, ”Really? Wait,” he sat back nonplussed, “That makes perfect sense actually. How did you get sorted into Slytherin then?” Fish shrugged, taking another bite of his sandwich. “I dunno. I wouldn’t mind having Sprout as my head of house, but I got stuck with Snape instead,” he said, scowling. Ben nodded in agreement. “The hat thought about putting me in Slytherin actually, but it changed its mind at the last minute.” Fish looked almost impressed before his face fell. “Well, maybe it’s better that way. A lot of them don’t treat Muggleborns the best. Ugh, speaking of terrible people,” Fish glanced towards the door. “Look who just walked in.” Ben twisted around to see Merula and Ismelda enter. The two seemed to be arguing, Ismelda’s scowl deepening every second. Merula hissed something at her before Ismelda gave her a hot glare and turned to leave, slamming the door shut. Ben winced at the noise. A few other students had noticed the commotion as well, pausing their conservations to look up. Merula gave them a particularly withering look before she passed Ben and Fish. “Oh, isn’t this adorable,” she said, “Looks like I’m interrupting your date. You’re even wearing his cloak, oh gross.” “Oh, piss off Merula,” retorted Fish half-heartedly. He had less and less energy to really get into fights with Merula with every year, though the lack of aggression seemed to spur her on more. “Ha, you’re not even denying it,” she snickered. Ben shrunk further into his seat, wishing he could disappear now that the attention had turned to their table and that he had remembered to take Fish’s cloak off. Fish, however, looked bored. “Merula, just go away and bother someone else for attention if you’re so desperate. I’m eating lunch with my friend and you’re annoying me. Why don’t you go hex some first years? They’d be about your level.” He then grabbed his wand and cast a quick silencing charm, blissfully muting the incoming retort. Fish looked all too pleased with himself, “I should done that ages ago.” Ben only felt horribly sick. Though Merula was silenced, he could practically feel her vitriol radiating off her, given her expression and sheer rage at being ignored. Not to mention that the other students were snickering. Were they laughing at him? Billingsley was pantomiming a crumpled expression before laughing wildly. He pushed away his plate. “I-I have to go,” he said. Fish looked up in alarm. “Ben, wait-“ He practically ran out of the The Three Broomsticks and when he hit the sharp winter air, he broke into a full fledged sprint. His lungs ached at the chill, but Ben ignored it, clumsily bumping into Charlie Weasley. “Hey!” He kept running until he nearly out of Hogsmeade, keeling over behind a building and wheezing. He patted his pockets and swore breathlessly. His inhaler wasn’t here. Of course, it wouldn’t be, he thought. He had forgot it, again, because he never remembered to bring it anywhere. “Ben!” He looked up, panicked. Fish and Charlie had caught up with him. “Why is he breathing like that?”, asked Charlie. Fish ignored him in favor of rifling through his robes and thrusting an inhaler at him. Ben took it gratefully, relief flooding through his lungs. “Are you okay?” Fish asked. Ben nodded, choosing to let his breath catch up before attempting to speak. Charlie hovered uncertainly. “Is this what that asthma thing is?” He nodded again. “That sounded horrible. Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?” “N-no, I’m fine,” he said shakily as he stood up. “But I think I’ve had enough of Hogsmeade for now.” “Yeah, I think I’m with you on that,” said Fish. “Are you coming too, Charlie?” He shook his head, “No, I actually need to pick up a package, but unless you guys need help?” Ben shook his head, feeling rather embarrassed at the mess he’d caused. “No, I’m fine, but thanks.” “Alright, then. I hope you feel better,” said Charlie, hesitantly walking off. They paused for a moment before heading on their way as well. Fish looked especially concerned. “I’m not going to die, Fish,” mumbled Ben. “Well, you sure looked like it. What happened back there?” Ben reddened, staring at the snowy ground. “I-I don’t know. It just felt like too much and like everyone was staring at me.” “Did I make you uncomfortable or something?” He glanced over to see Fish looking guiltily at his feet. “What? No, you didn’t do anything wrong. You were perfect. I mean-“ Ben shook his head. “How did you just happen to have an inhaler on you?” “Angelica actually gave me a duplicate because she said you always forgot yours. And that she, uh, ‘didn’t want to go down as the prefect who let some dumb 3rd year die’. Uh, those were her words, not mine, but she didn’t seem very sincere about it.” Fish stopped and turned. Ben had stopped walking a few paces back. “Ben?” He looked almost sad before he met Fish’s gaze. “I- Why are you even friends with me?” “What-” “There are so many cooler, more interesting people you could be hanging out with, like Tonks or Bill or really anyone else at this school. But I’m really glad that we are friends, I mean,” he finished, suddenly feeling all too exposed. A beat passed before Fish rushed forward and fiercely wrapped him in a hug before stepping back, leaving Ben warmer than he’d felt all day. He smiled softly, “I’m really glad we’re friends too. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re plenty interesting. I don’t know about cool though. I’ve witnessed you call Professor McGonagall mum once and you just really can’t recover from that.” Ben giggled and wiped his running nose on his sleeve. Fish tugged at his hand. “C’mon, let’s head back. I’ve been in the cold long enough.”
