Stick Around (Harry Potter AU)
Request: Would you be able to do a Zelo X Hufflepuff? I’m not even sure if you’re like really into Harry Potter and I’m not quite sure what house he’d be either (possibly Slytherin but also maybe a Hufflepuff???? I don’t even know). Thank you so much tho!!
Pairing: BAP Zelo x Reader
You plopped into the grass near the whomping willow and heaved a large sigh. Perhaps if you moved just a hair closer, it would crush you to death.
Death had to be better than this feeling in your stomach.
Picking idly at a few strands of grass, you looked up wearily to the groups of students waddling off into the distance.
You turned your gaze to the lake, thinking maybe if you threw yourself into its depths, you’d be rid of the anxiousness clutching your chest.
You were muggle born, which was a difficult enough situation to handle at a wizarding school, but you were also a muggle born who could never convince your parents to sign any permission slip you brought home from “that school.”
They didn’t understand why you wanted to blend in with “those people” so badly, just like you didn’t understand why they had such an issue with your participation. Either way, it was a losing situation (mostly for you) so here you sat.
Chewing on your lip, you looked up again to various couples wandering off into the distance.
Squinting your eyes to better focus, you recognized the face of the older boy, but only vaguely. He was much taller than you, sporting bright, honey-colored hair, and a forest green jumper. The small stud in his nose reflected the sunlight, making his already handsome face dazzle just a little bit more. What was his name again?
He remained unmoving as he narrowed his eyes at you, the one buoy in the ocean of students around him. Why wasn’t he heading in the direction of Hogsmeade, and more importantly, why was he looking at you?
After a stalemate between the two of you simply sizing each other up from afar, he made forward motion in your direction, causing your heart to stall. Your eyes darted back and forth to further confirm that you were the only person positioned this far toward the Forbidden Forest. Surely, he thought you to be someone else. Your mind worked tirelessly to find any interaction you may have had with him but kept coming up blank.
Just as you thought you were going to have to deal with some sort of confrontation (judging by the look of sheer determination on his features) he stopped again. Spinning on his heel, he was greeted by several of his friends patting him on the back and pointing him back toward the direction in which everyone was travelling. Glancing over his shoulder at you once last time, he nodded to them before matching them in step.
You shook your head, trying to rid your thoughts of the odd interaction. Yes, he thought you were someone else, and by closer inspection realized that.
But then why didn’t he stop until his friends called him?
You picked at your breakfast sleepily and stifled a yawn. Only barely able to follow along with the conversation your friends were having, you glanced lazily to the ceiling as the owl post began to arrive. You tried to keep your eyes from rolling as you focused more closely on your food.
The other perk of being a muggle in the wizarding world with unsupportive parents was very little mail. You had come to terms with that situation years ago. It bothered you much more as a first year, but now it was a morning routine you chose to ignore. On occasion, your wizarding friends would send you things through the in-school mail system, or their parents would send you fresh baked treats from home. If only your parents understood how kind the families of your friends had been, maybe they’d understand a fraction of the warmth you experienced daily. Maybe they’d even send you some comforts from home as well.
If you kept your hopes low, you were always pleasantly surprised when something did drop short of your dining plate.
A package thudded softly before you, causing you to breath in sharply. Narrowing your eyes, you quickly noticed there was no return address. You gave a sidelong glance to your friends who were still caught in their own conversation, no parcels landing near them.
Picking up the light box, carefully wrapped in brown paper, you surveyed it for any signs of where it may have come from. Judging by the stamps and scrawl across the front, it looked to be sent in-house.
It wasn’t your birthday and the holidays were still months away. Why would any of your friends be sending you things through the owl post that they couldn’t just give you?
With trembling fingers, you began to pluck at the paper and reveal the box beneath. By this point, your friends had stopped talking and decided to focus on you instead.
“Who’s that from?” your closest friend asked, lifting her brows. You gave a small shrug as you lifted the lid of the parcel, revealing the contents.
“What is this?” you grumbled, sifting through packing paper. You pulled out one item after another. Small gifts quickly peppered the table. You recognized some items to be wizarding sweets, but you were at a complete loss for half of the others.
“A pygmy puff!” your friend squeaked, poking happily at a small cage you had pulled out. Tilting it to the side, you noticed the large, purple poof of hair rolling around the cage and squeaking frantically.
“A pygmy what?” you croaked.
“It’s a miniature puffskein!” your friend grinned. “They sell them at the joke shop!”
Your friend lifted a few more items closer to her face. “Matter of fact, it looks like a lot of these items are from the joke shop. And Honeydukes!”
“Can we backtrack?” you sighed. “So, you’re telling me I was just delivered a living creature I am now caring for?”
You wiggled your finger into the cage with the pygmy who gave a delighted squeak. You couldn’t help but smile as you patted it lightly on what you thought to be its head.
“They’re really adorable pets,” your friend nodded. “I have one in the common room. His name is Tobias.”
“Right,” you chuckled. “So, you were saying? Joke shop? Honey smokes?”
“Honeydukes,” she corrected. “They’re shops in Hogsmeade.”
“Hogsmeade?” you asked, lifting your brows. “I’ve never been. Why would someone send me things from Hogsmeade?”
Your friend gave you a sly smile. “Maybe because you’ve never been.”
You leaned back onto the grass and sighed, letting your pygmy puff roll around in the grass. He was a happy, little companion, and you couldn’t thank your secret gift giver enough.
Whoever it was must have known how lonely things could get when you were left alone.
And you were absolutely no closer to figuring out who that gift giver was. After ruthlessly harassing your friends, all of them insisted that they had no hand in the package that had been sent to you that day. And even under the suspicious circumstances, the parcels continued to come.
Against your better judgement, you continued to accept them.
You chuckled to yourself as you heard your pygmy enter a squeaking frenzy as he scurried up your arm and buried himself into your neck. Only until the sun shining down on you had been blocked, did you bother to open your eyes.
“Mind if I sit?” an unfamiliar voice questioned.
You opened one eye, squinting through the sun to only be able to make out a dark figure looming above you.
“You don’t have to ask my permission,” you sighed as you hoisted yourself up to lean on your elbows. Blinking a few times, your eyes finally settled on the face of the blonde boy you had all but forgotten from weeks before.
“I thought it may be polite since I’m sitting so closely,” he grinned, plopping beside you.
“It’s you,” you croaked, knowing you must have sounded ridiculous.
“And who am I exactly?” he asked, lifting his brows. You immediately felt hot with embarrassment.
“No idea,” you managed, inspecting every inch of his face. It was a Hogsmeade weekend, so you had assumed that’s where he should be instead of lounging beside you.
“Zelo,” he said shortly. “My name is Zelo. I’m a seventh year, Hufflepuff.”
So that’s why he smelled like baked goods.
You nodded in response, unsure of how you should continue. Introduce yourself? Your house?
“And you’re Y/N,” he said softly. He looked down to his hands, nervously fidgeting with his fingers as the words escaped his mouth.
“I am,” you hummed, furrowing your brows. “And how do you know that?”
“I’ve seen you around,” he continued quietly. “I guess you noticed me coming over to talk to you the other day?”
“I did,” you nodded. “You looked…concerned?”
“I was wondering why you were out on the lawn,” he admitted. “And not heading to Hogsmeade with everyone else. See, when I said I’ve seen you around…maybe I’ve…paid more attention to you when you are around?”
“And that means…?” you trailed.
“I don’t know really,” he chuckled, rubbing a hand across his neck. He was nervous, you could tell by his movements.
“If I had to guess,” he continued. “I may have…accidentally taking an interest in you.”
“Accidentally?” you coughed. “That makes it sound like a bad thing.”
“Oh no!” he gasped. “No, no, I mean, I didn’t intend to really take an interest in anyone at school. It just seems easier that way, but when I saw you…well, I couldn’t help myself.”
“Is that so?” you chuckled, amused by his small confession.
“And then when I saw you not heading to Hogsmeade, I realized you must not have had your permission slip signed,” he sighed. “And I had heard from some friends that your parents were…nonwizarding folk…so I then also realized that you had never experienced some of the wonderful things that you could have been experiencing.”
“The packages,” you said slowly, your eyes growing wide with realization. You subconsciously reached up to pat your pygmy puff. “It was you.”
Zelo looked down with an embarrassed smile. “Guilty.”
“You didn’t have to send me gifts,” you whispered. You suddenly felt like a charity case. “If you were feeling sorry for me…”
“I’ve never felt sorry for you,” he said quickly, his head snapping up to look at you. “You send the person you like small gifts when you’re trying to date them, don’t you? So, I thought I’d wow you with things you’ve never seen before.”
“You’re…you’re trying to date me?” you croaked. Your face was growing hot again.
“I…well, uh,” he stammered, his cheeks red with blush. “I guess, yeah. That’s kind of what I’ve been building up to this whole time.”
After a moment of silence that seemed to go on for an eternity, you finally offered up a reprieve.
“Thank you for Aberforth,” you said quietly. “He’s good company.”
“Aberforth,” Zelo chuckled quietly. “Are you…are you may be looking for other types of company as well?”
“Meaning, non-purple-haired, human company?” you smiled softly as you glanced his way. He was smiling as well.
“Perhaps,” you nodded. “But I would love to get to know that company a little better first.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Zelo grinned. “You think Aberforth would allow us a stroll around the lake?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be leaving for Hogsmeade soon?” you questioned.
“Worried you won’t get another package?” Zelo laughed.
“No!” you gasped, pushing him lightly on the arm. “I don’t want to hold you up.”
“You never have,” he nodded. “I don’t know if you’ve heard about us Hufflepuffs, but we’re incredibly good finders…and once we’ve found what we want, we tend to stick around awhile.”
