Donnovan knows full well that he is adopted. Although he is grateful for everything the Blishen family has given him, he doesn’t feel like he belongs there or in the Hogwarts/Wizarding community at all. He has heard rumors about his birth parents and how they weren’t the greatest of muggles so he can’t hep but feel like he belongs like them, a low life criminal.
Flounder: Something that surprised you and frightened you.
When Don was a younger boy, someone had tried breaking into the Blishen home for their money and expensive things. Although they had high security means in their house and the crook ended up getting caught before he could steal anything, it frightened him at the time because he was too young to do anything. However, Don doesn’t think about that much now because he too, sometimes, steals things.
Sometimes, Dahlia finds it hard to catch her breath. Friends like Scorpius will blame it on the smoking habit that she has maintained since the summer before her fifth year, yet she disagrees, brushing the problem off as nothing, or at least nothing important.
Max doesn’t like gold. Claiming that it clashes with almost everything, and that silver simply has a cleaner look. However, Max does have a gold locket that almost never leaves her neck, passed down from her great-grandmother.
The sorting hat might have rightly placed Lily in Slytherin, but growing up in a house full of Gryffindors means that for Lily, there’s no doing thing by half measures. She might pause to consider her options, but once she’s chosen to support or participate in something, there is no holding her back. In her mind, there’s no point in doing something if you’re not going to do it well, and that means throwing your whole heart into it. It means that occasionally she can be a bit overzealous about telling people about things she cares about. It’s really for the best that she’s never used the internet.
girl, put your records on / tell me your favorite song /you go ahead, let your hair down
It was in the midsummer of 2017 that Molly was first introduced to her mother’s old turntable; she had been fetching a box from the attic when the strange contraption caught her eye. She reported the sighting back to her mum immediately, expressing curiosity and interest. Within half an hour the two were lounging on the front porch, sipping sweet tea and spinning a classic Weird Sisters vinyl. The afternoon marked the genesis of Molly’s relationship with music, and a small part of her always recalls that slow golden July day when she first places the needle on a record--the rapture of new sounds in the shade while her mother perched opposite her in a porch chair, tapping her fingers lightly to the beat, curled up like a sun-warmed cat.
Detention. Scorpius bloody Malfoy had given him a detention. Sure, he had indulged his more mischievous side and charmed a snow-fall in the halls. Sure, he conjured up a few snow men and charmed them to chase students down the halls, exploding once they caught someone. It was all in good fun, and he didn’t injure anyone. Unfortunately, a night of cleaning the Owlery sans magic awaited him now that all the excitement had died down. Asher stood at the base of the West tower, waiting for Scorpius.
Five times Della almost held Scorpius’ hand, and the one time that she did.
i.
“Excuse me!” Della called out to the only person in her vicinity. Hogwarts, she had decided in the few hours she had been there, was far too large with far too many people. “Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help me.” Della watched as the boy turned around to face her with a raised eyebrow.
“What do you need help with?” was the short answer that made Della’s whole body relax.
“I can’t find my common room.” Noting the look of confusion on his face, she hurriedly continued. “I just transferred here, and someone showed me earlier, but I can’t remember. I’m Della, but the way.” She watched as the boy in front of her nodded.
“I’m Scorpius. I can show you the way there, but the password is up to your own house’s prefect to teach you.” She beamed at his agreement and followed behind eagerly. She would have to get used to the idea of prefects and houses, but she hoped she would figure it out rather soon.
As they approached the painting that would lead her into her own common room, her smile grew larger. “Thank you so much,” she said, turning to him.
Della almost reached out to give his hand a squeeze as she might have done at Merge, but stopped herself. People here were different, not the same as people from Merge and she didn’t want to do anything that seemed strange, so she used the small jerk from her hand to wave a simple goodbye to him before turning back to the painting, trying desperately to remember the password.
ii.
"What are you doing out of bed?” Della turned around upon hearing that vaguely familiar voice in her ear, smiling at the blonde.
“I was on a walk. The castle is so pretty at night,” she commented, turning back to the window and looking out it, not noticing the strange look on his face.
“You should get back to your common room, you’re not supposed to be out at night.”
She almost asked why he was up if they were not supposed to be out at night, but then she saw his prefect badge and remembered that he was allowed to do those sort of things. She had heard someone talking about it the other night. Shrugging, she relented.
“Walk with me,” she offered with a warm smile, surprised when he actually started walking along side her on the way back to the Hufflepuff common room. They were quiet and it was nice, calm. Della might have held his hand if he were her friend, but she didn’t. Later she wondered if she should have, but didn’t dwell on it for very long.
iii.
Della liked having other people around when she studied. Maybe that was why she asked a passing Scorpius Malfoy if he would like to join her at her table while she poured over text books and notes on potions.
Soon though, she found herself studying him. He was an interesting boy, quiet, but he seemed friendly enough. While it might not have been so normal for people to stare at Hogwarts as they did at Merge where everyone knew everyone down to their toes, she thought maybe he didn’t notice.
“Don’t suppose you know anything about kneazles?” came the voice that pulled her from her reverie. Della shook her head, red hair bouncing on her shoulders.
“Nothing at all, but I know where you could find a book to tell you!” she told him, pushing back from the table. She almost took his hand just to bring him in the direction she desired, but she didn’t.
She never did.
iv.
Della never liked being upset in front of other people. That was why she had chosen the most secluded spot on the grounds to star out at the water and just think. She hadn’t expected to be joined by the same quiet blonde hair boy that she continued to meet with one way or another.
When he sat beside her, she didn’t say anything and neither did he. It was nice and quiet, the only sound between them being the waves that came up to the shore, a soft hush paired with the wind that rustles the tree.
More than anything she wanted some sort of human contact, a hug, something that she might have gotten back home, but that didn’t seem to be the way things were at Hogwarts. Things were just different.
And that’s exactly what kept her from reaching out for the hand of Scorpius Malfoy as they sat on a nearly rotten log between two trees until she left silently to walk around the grounds.
v.
"Come on! It’ll be so much fun!” Della pleaded with him as she half walked, half ran through the corridors.
“Why do you want me to climb a tree?”
“Because it’ll be fun, now come on!” Della called back to him. He did not seem nearly as excited about this as she did, but whenever she found something so exciting as a climbing tree, she needed to show other people. It simply wasn’t a pleasure she could keep for herself.
Huffing in mock annoyance, she turned to him with her hands on her hips and a raised eyebrow, noting how much slower he was going. Her fingers were itching to reach for his and pull him along quickly before it got too cold and her fingers would numb on the branches, but she didn’t. This was something he needed to get excited for.
“Never thought I’d be the slowest one going to a climbing tree, come on!” she repeated before turning and nearly skipping the rest of the way there with the blonde in toe.
☪
Rarely did Della ever get so excited about her grade, but she was so pleased with herself. “I did it, an E on transfiguration, I could cry!” Della ran forward, nearly plowing into the blonde who had helped her to study the week before.
“That’s wonderful,” he said, but Della was hardly listening. She reached forward and took his hand in hers with warm eyes and an even warmer smile.
“Thank you so much for helping me the other week Scorpius, really!” Della simply could not keep the smile off of her face and even as she realized that she was holding his hand and dropped it with slightly pink cheeks, she wouldn’t stop. She was over the moon.
And maybe she thought she saw a smile on his face as well, but she couldn’t think about it too much lest she scream from excitement about her grade and everything else.
