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If one thing was for sure, that would be Marinette Dupain-Cheng's need to be helped.
Defence Against the Dark Arts. She could pass any subject sure — have transfiguration at the back of her head, do potions in a manner that's possibly neater than everyone else's, be the charmer of Charms, but for some reason there's just something specific about the things she'll have to learn about this year in that subject.
Oftentimes, she'd be absent for things that require her to actually do the spells and activities, constantly using the excuses of oversleeping, being late and whatnot, but makes it a point to always arrive during discussions or learning periods.
And during some classes, her feet would start tapping on the ground anxiously, her nails on her teeth, hands gripping onto the edge of the table... well, it wasn't going all too well for her. Something about this pattern of behavior during the subject specifically has made Alya realize what's been going on, and with multiple failed attempts from asking what's going on (with Marinette, who had managed to find an excuse or a topic to change the subject), she decides to give up and to let it off for now, trying to speculate what exactly has been going on with her friend.
"Something up?" Nino, 5th year Gryffindor, catches up with her in the halls outside, hands in his pocket, matching the way she walks within a second. "No, just... concerned, I guess." Alya mumbles as a response, yanking the red and yellow knitted fabric over her shoulder. "The twins' first year? Listen, Anansi thought that about you too, but-"
"No, about Marinette." She cuts through his sentence, stopping in the part of the halls where it isn't as crowded, turning her heel by the open space to sigh. "It's just that... she's been acting sort of weird, I guess." Her back then leans onto the pillar beside the low cobblestone walls, arms crossed, letting a sigh travel through her lips.
Nino stood there for a moment, only then realizing that her friend wasn't there with her. "Oh, right." The words just came out of his mouth, sheepishly, taking a breath and removing his hands from the robe. "Does it have anything to do with her family? Miss them or anything? I mean.. I miss my parents." He adds to it, feeling cold all of a sudden. "No, not really anything about that. I've tried to reach out to her multiple times, and for some reason it just doesn't always work out, you get what I mean?"
He fell silent, trying to come up with things to say that can also help in cheering her up, but he has nothing. "I mean, it has nothing to do with dark kind of things, right? Not any second you-know-who chosen-one shenanigans?" The boy slowly says, rethinking his sentence with every word that slips out of his mouth, but all this did was to bring laughter to her lips, and that's about most of what he needed to see right now. "You know there wouldn't be any sort of thing like that. The school's far too protected for something like that to happen." Her hands cup his cheeks, and she pecks his lips softly, locking her arm with his.
"Let's cheer up for a bit and then figure out how to help your girl, got it?" Their voices begin growing distant by the time they start walking, her snuggled up in his hold, making an excuse for the warmth in the moment. "Hogsmeade sounds good, we can get her something on the way too!"
The couple were unbeknownst of a certain someone who had eaves-dropped right behind the pillar they were just on, arms crossed and eyes closed. One eye opens, assuming that the two have left, he goes the other way.
. . . . .
All that could be heard from the dorm was someone's snoring. By the sound of it, she seemed to be sleeping well.
The afternoon rays of the sun bothers her - the heat being as if someone had tried to wake her up. She refuses to do so, switching her position onto the other side, arm sprawled over her pillow, body absolutely buried in royal blue sheets. She was comfortable - that was one thing. But the consciousness kicks into her once her eyes land on the book by her nightstand, reading glasses stacked on top of it. The raven-haired girl refuses, turning the other way again, the sun rays being the one to smack her in the face.
The girl grumbles. Her bluebell eyes slowly open, shoulder over her mouth, laying flat on her stomach in her bed.
Oh.
She was in the dorm. She realizes now, that she's looked around at the familiar markings around the room. A grumble escapes her mouth, deciding to flip around once more, only now to get up, stretching her arms up.
It was a Saturday. Her bets would be that people are down at Hogsmeade, and that the teachers are back in their offices - or wherever they are. 13:00, she thinks, looking at the sun. Or 1PM, since she can't bother to calculate using the 24-hour timeline.
Marinette finds herself looking back at the book laying beside her, eyes narrowing. She'd woken up late. The rest of her peers were probably out already, which was good for her - in a different way, so that she can leave to practice a certain subject. The thought bothers her, but it's best she gets ready for it both mentally and physically if she doesn't want to keep losing a point for her house. She flips over her blanket, folding it carelessly to place at the foot of her bed, heading towards the bathroom.
And she was out. She was standing in the deserted hall that was used often whenever the class needs to do anything... practical, wearing her robes, her scarf, hair tied back neatly into two pigtails and her wand beside her. She seethes at the sight, being reminded of things she probably prefers not to think about.
At the end of the room was a well-constructed, tightly-shut cabinet. She bit her lips, crouching down to read the spell off of the textbook, eyes travelling from the page and onto the object.
"Riddi..kulus." She reads off of the page, eyes narrowing over the word. "Riddikulous?" The Ravenclaw student tilted her head, beginning to form trust issues with the spelling. "Riddikulus." She repeats." Riddikulus." And repeats...
"Anything that's ridiculed you to keep repeating the word?" Marinette squeaks, stumbling back but catches herself, eyes scanning the room only to meet a blonde-haired boy from Hufflepuff. She sighs in relief, her hands on her hips. "What brings you here, Adrien?" She started, and he lets a smile peek through, walking towards her. "Oh, you know. Birds chirp here and there, then I ended up here. I'm starting to think we're fated."
The girl rolls her eyes playfully, reaching to pick the book up from the ground. "Ones loud enough to lead you here?"
He takes the book first anyway, handing it to her once they both are standing. "Likewise. What brings you here to study Defence all of a sudden? You're not very present in practical classes." Adrien asks, and she assumes he's read the cover or managed to skim through the page. Marinette stiffens up at the question, pressing the book over her lips. "Well- uh, a little practice wouldn't hurt.." She mumbled, slightly muffled from under the book. He narrows his eyes suspiciously, and she buries her face deeper under the book. "'Practice'..? Are you sure that's the right term?"
"You know, Just a bit of a warm-up with the spells, is all. I just.. need to get the hang of them! And, all that." And... she was lying at this rate. Making up various excuses to hopefully drive him away, but he stands there, arms crossed, not buying a thing she's saying. She laughs nervously to add to that.
"Wingardium Leviosa." The boy mumbled effortlessly, managing to snatch the book from her, lifting it up in mid-air and into his grasp within a second. This takes her a moment to process, eyebrows furrowing all of a sudden. "H-hey!" She reaches for it, but he lifts it up higher to read.
"I'm-" She jumps to reach the book, but he backs away, suddenly realizing how close she's gotten. "-beginning to doubt you're a Hufflepuff-!" Her toes tiptoe high enough to focus on the book, but he smirks.
The moment she turns to look at him, her eyes meet his - face extremely close to hers. Hand on his shoulder, chest close to his, eyes on hers...
She takes the opportunity to slide the book from his grasp, stomping at least five steps away from him, holding back the cluster of thoughts rummaging around her head and the color from ever blending into her cheeks. Adrien was stunned for a moment - but plays a smug grin on his face, hands behind him. "What's got you into studying boggarts? You weren't there when we did it the second time."
Maybe his curiosity got the best of him, or... maybe the way Marinette fiddled with her wand is stopping her from ever saying anything. "I... sort of needed a refresher, I guess. It's not everyday you're given the opportunity to deal with some nightmare-fueling creature."
"Right, and by stealing this from Damocles' office?"
"A-all for practical use!" She retorts, her eyebrows going down an immediate furrow. He chuckles at that, adjusting the scarf on his neck. He hums, giving it a moment or two to think of what to say, leaning back. "Do you need help with doing so?"
Marinette blinks. Her eyes stare back at her wand and glanced back at the cabinet laying flat on the ground, and back to him.
And then she lets a smile wander over her lips sheepishly, streaks of pink appearing at the corners of her cheeks. "I.. wouldn't mind."
She clears her throat, both looking away from each other, only breaking the ice when Marinette clears her throat, watching the box start kicking again.
The knocking echoed back into her chest, heart pacing even faster than it normally would. She takes a step back - hand outstretched with the wand elegantly pointing towards the rummaging box, hand trembling. That was until an arm was over hers, fixing her posture to be more dynamic against the shapeshifter. "Stand confident, there's nothing to be afraid of."
"Agreste, a boggart is everything to be afraid of." The way she scoffed softly made him chortle. "Why be afraid when I'm here?"
Her cheeks flush, suddenly self-aware of the way his cheek is leaning on her head. "J-just so you know, that doesn't reassure me."
"Suit yourself. Ready?"
No. She wasn't. But she gulps and nods aggressively anyway, keeping her eyes fixated on the object that lay just a few feet away from her. "Alohomora." Adrien whispers, pointing his wand towards the object, taking a few steps back to let her do it on her own.
The spell reached the box, and the door flies open, blowing a huge gust of wind, leaving her to use both her arms to shield herself, keeping one eye open to see what was going on.
The wind was not so friendly, constantly pushing her back, shoes grinding on the rough ground.
The anxiety was squeezing her gut, but she stood firm, fixing her stance, watching as the smoke flies over the box, anticipating anything.
She took a stance - wand at a ready, her scarf unraveling with the force of the wind. "Riddiku-"
Her word was interrupted until the smoke had taken the form of her friends, that she knew she had fucked up.
Chloe Bourgeois' laughter echoed through the room as a scene played, where Alya turned her back against her in an expression that she couldn't read, hearing the illusion let out a laugh, her best friend grimacing when she sees her from the smoke. There was only so many things she could hear that the non-being had made.
"Oh, this nerd? She's probably afraid of her own shadow." One begins to say, their faces blurring out into voids of darkness. "A know-it-all that doesn't even know it all?" She hears from the other side, watching the figure bossily put her hands to her hips.
"She's not even cut out to be a witch."
Marinette tries not to let it get to her, making the grasp around her wand firmer. She channels the energy through her wand which was described to be made out of unicorn hair, moving her wrist fluidly as if it were water, yelling out the word "Riddikulus!"
And the spell zaps the cloud figure, watching it all morph back. "You're doing great!" She hears Adrien yell from behind, recovering from the unexpected blow earlier. However, the boggart takes the form of people she's familiar with, blabbering on about her responsibilities.
Multiple scenes began to unfold right before her eyes, in a way she couldn't express, draining the color out of her everytime
She tries again. "Riddikulus!", it takes the form of Alya.
"Riddiukulus!" Then Lila Rossi.
She couldn't think straight. She can't think of anything amusing to replace the boggart in time - only being able to morph it to turn into something far worse.
Her continuous cries for the spell was consistent and side-by-side with one another, beginning to be frantic, stepping back from the figure that keeps getting closer to her, starting to get worried. "R-riddiku-.."
Before she could even try to cast the spell again, the smoke dives down onto the ground, forming into figures she's all too familiar with.
It halts her, lowering her guard a little as she watched her parents stand in front of her.
Her eyebrows soften, and her eyes stay fixed on the two, now standing in front of her, mouth ajar, hesitant to have to do anything. Her mother's sad smile - her gentle touch, a tear streaming down her eyes, hand reaching towards the girl's cheek.
No... it was as warm as her touch.
Marinette's arm trembled, leaning forward to hold her mother's wrists.
She was disappointed. Her aging expression says it all. Her grey eyes looked deep into her bluebell ones, her arms passing through her grasp, the figure turning away. It fades back into smoke before her "mother" could give her one final glance, Marinette desperately taking a step to hold her hand once more, only to be a second too late.
"Tom... do you think she'd like it if we visited her at school?"
The voice began to echo, and it was getting to her head. She was aware of that voice, she knew that voice. "I don't think she'd like to show people the muggle part of her family. You go on, sweetie, I'll handle the bakery while you do."
Her heart shatters.
"Papa..." she called out to the void, a teardrop rolling down her face and she never noticed. She falls to her knees.
The girl wonders, if, after all this time of leaving..
would her father have been happier to have her by his side?
Was he disappointed to reconnect with her mother, to be a half-blooded witch? To be continuously absent in the household she was supposed to help take care of, to barely be seeing them for a whole ten months?
If she hadn't come to school, would it have been different?
Would it have brought back her father's cheeriness?
Was all of this a mistake?
"Marinette, it's an illusion! You need to fight it! Think of something amusing!" Adrien calls out from behind her, unable to control the wind barrier going for him.
Her eyes shoot open, only then being drained of color as soon as she finds a pair of worn-off shoes - ones she's all too familiar with.
"M'lady?"
The voice had a tone of astonishment. A mix of familiarity, the aura radiating around the newfound fear...
Her entire posture stiffens up at the realization, freezing up in her place completely.
No.
No, no, no...
She's giving everything she could not to look at it. Not to look at him.
It was something she's fixed back then, it practically couldn't have existed in this timeline now. Not now, or ever.
Her hands were up her hair, eyes wide. Her adrenaline was going at a rapid pace, but no matter what it takes, she can't look. It can't be real. It can't be happening, no, not again at least.
But a hand holds her chin softly, from the hook of the index finger and the thumb.
"Won't you look at me like you did?"
She wasn't thinking. She wasn't. The mysterious figure had raised her chin, allowing her to get a good look at who it is. And her hands lose all it's strength to grip onto her hair, letting a stray tear roll down.
Hair as white as the snow, lips as pale as her skin.
And those malevolent, piercingly horrifying eyes.
Marinette couldn't move. He just smiles, fondly at her, the soul in his eyes gone like the wind. An expression she once knew was scornful, violent... out of control. Inherited the power of an ancient wand, one who's fully lost control of himself.
Chat blanc was a future she stopped from happening, and no one knew about him since.
It struck her to her core - shunned her entirely, and she was paralyzed.
Petrified.
Bluebell eyes meeting dead, baby blue ones. Ones that have faded color. Ones that had once had life.
Her emotions were out of control to the point she's numb. She stiffens in place, feeling every single one of her nerves collapse out of her own control. Before she knew it, her hand was reaching up his face, slowly.
Hesitantly.
Until she's felt his cold touch again. The tear she used to wipe, all too dangerous at that time.
She could've saved him.
And the White Prince had loved her, ever so dearly.
But she was stuck. Her muscles wouldn't listen to her command no matter how much she wanted to stand, to get up and fight it...
Marinette was afraid.
"I loved you." The prince says breathily, his previous features being shown. Her eyes trembled, and she didn't know what to do about it. "Would you still have loved me after all of this?"
A dam breaks inside of her, as if someone was twisting her heartstrings.
Her tears hit the ground, and the wind settles, only now coming with a much cooler breeze. One she remembers from long ago, the fall of that year...
"Riddikulus!"
It wasn't until the figure had been knocked back within a split second, knocking her out of the sort of trance, watching as the body lay near the cabinet. A robe stood before her, a black and yellow scarf rolling down in her arms. "It's a pretty tough one, I'll take it from here."
Marinette looks up to the side, realizing Adrien glared at the boggart, expression unable to be read, eyes darting towards the fallen figure.
He casts the spell again, only this time, the energy came on with a force that's entered towards the boggart, the previous person turning into smoke, swirling to form a small tornado before it enters and knocks the box over, the door slamming.
The boy beside her went down a knee for his arm to go in front of her, defending her from the sort of figure.
Her eyes shut from the sound getting louder, hands pressing up to her ears, unable to defend herself with anything else, until he turns his back on the box and covers her, her eyes opening to meet his, both suddenly feeling a spark within each other's glance, how reassured she felt when he wasn't what he was in the vision.
He wipes her tear despite the wind, letting it flow into the current, giving her a soft smile.
The cabinet explodes with the same gust of wind from before and turns into confetti, the sight dazzling before her eyes. She couldn't say anything about it, still shaken up from her previous encounter, hesitantly looking at Adrien, who looks back at her, who finally let his knees give in, resting in the position. He closes his eyes and sigh in relief.
"Are you o-"
"What's all this ruckus!?" They hear coming from a distance, whipping their heads towards the direction in sync, and both exchanging worried glances. The students hurriedly got back up on their feet, the girl looking frantically around the room. "Let's get away before our houses reach rock bottom." Adrien suggested to which she agreed with, holding her hand.
"F-Fumos!" Marinette hurriedly casts, smoke emitting from her wand, leaving a wall of smoke to fume. Adrien grabs her scarf from the ground, leaning back to let her run out first, then following to pick up her pace.
. . . . .
"Close call, huh?" The two were now by the staircases, making their way up.
"I guess so.." She mumbled, brushing off the bit of snow that fell on her shoulder from outside when they took a detour into the main hall, leaning back on the railings of the moving stairs. He stood holding them, watching as it changes it's direction.
Then they both fell silent on their way back to the dormitories.
The crowd shortens the more they make their way up, not daring to utter a word to each other.
They'd tend to take a quick glance at each other, both suddenly at a loss for words when they used to say thousands of them, now only being unsure what to say.
By the time they make it in the hall that separates the dorms, Marinette stops in her tracks abruptly, and he stops slowly, realizing that she did, and turns his head in confusion.
"Well.. aren't you gonna ask?"
Adrien hums in response, turning on his heel with his hands in his pocket, looking at her. "I know you saw it." She adds, resting her arm on the other in a way that's crossing them, eyes averting his gaze. "Were you expecting me to talk about it? It seemed like more of a private matter."
He was right at that — but if the fear closely resembled him...
"N-no, it's just that.. I thought you'd ask about the last one, since..." She was acting sheepish around him - but he didn't know what to make of it. He makes his way towards her, holding the excess hem of her silver-striped blue scarf.
"I don't... mind." He unties her scarf, laying them neatly over her robes. "I don't mind if you prefer not to tell me," He gently puts one side over her other shoulder. "or if it's something you want to tell me."
The scarf was now tied neatly around her, their eyes meeting for the momentum.
His eyes were green.
Her gaze softens, knowing she'd be safe where she is now.
"It's.. not really all that necessary. Just something I want to avoid, is all." She smiles warmly, half her face buried under the scarf, and he smiles - the edges of his eyes crinkling a little, making him appear much more radiant than he should. He gazed at her like she was all there is in the world and his lips-
No, no no. Not his lips. She looks for another thing to look at, but he realizes this, and let a smirk play on his lips.
Not long later, he cups her cheeks and leans in to softly plant one on her bangs, stroking a side of her cheek with his thumb, admiring some of the features he's never looked at so closely before. She flushes a color, suddenly rooted onto the place she stood, eyes dazzling brightly.
And then his smile turns into a smug one. "You're still looking at my lips."
Fuck.
Her hands went flying, and she stumbled back - but the only difference is that he caught her on time, hand in hand, arm around her waist delicately.
And they were close again. She flew back onto her feet, taking a good few steps back, standing stiffly in place.
"Uh..." Marinette cleared her throat sheepishly, hoping not to take too much time from him. Adrien started to loosen the collar inside her robe that peeked out, which stretched his tie out a little. And he pulls down his scarf and wrapped it around his arm.
"See you tomorrow?" She turns towards the staircase, unable to look at him in the eye. He laughs. "Of course we will."
And before she went, Marinette takes the last-minute decision to turn her heel, walk towards him, pull his tie down and pressed her lips against his, humming into the kiss a little while before she pulls away to take a breath.
It all happened too fast, and her eyes widened. Adrien just looks at her, frozen, unable to compose anything all of a sudden.
She reddens in place, stiffly taking a 180 degree turn. And then she squeaks. "I- um, yeah!" The Ravenclaw girl hiccupped, clasping her mouth over her lips, making a run for it back in the other way.
It takes Adrien a while to process what just happened, his index finger tracing the part she had just kissed, malfunctioning on the spot, not realizing that he was blushing furiously like the way she did.
"T-the staircase is this way."
It took a moment before Marinette could carefully walk back into the hall, rushing towards the other way. And the best he could do was to chuckle, unable to get over the way she kissed him.