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Louis was trying to study for her Transfiguration O.W.L. in the library when Harry Styles walked in, which was frankly just rude of her. Louis was having enough difficulty focusing on the theory of turning animals into inanimate objects while Al Potter was putting on some great Quidditch show outside the window. The sun was out for the first time in what felt like months, and he kept adding more and more snitches that he would attempt to catch before they all got away.
The shouts and laughter of the students carried all the way up through the window which she had cracked at the risk of feeling Madame Pince’s wrath. She had been reading the same paragraph in her textbook for the past ten minutes. The transformation of something that is alive into something inanimate requires much more force than the transformation of one inanimate object to another inanimate object. This force must be demonstrated in both the determination of the caster and of the final flourish of the wand.
Louis wanted to bang her head on the book repeatedly until she absorbed the knowledge, but she didn’t think Madame Pince would approve of that method of studying, and she already had a bad reputation in the library because of the book she had dropped into her potion. It was only one time, but apparently one ruined book meant a ruined reputation.
She heaved a deep sigh when she saw Harry Styles sit down at the table next to her. Of course the hottest girl in all of Hogwarts would come sit by her while she was trying to study for her worst subject. They had been in the same classes for five years, and Harry had never bothered to even say hello to her. Maybe this was part of a plan to sabotage Louis’s grade. Actually, that’s probably why she was there. Harry was a Slytherin after all, and Louis knew she was always scheming. Maybe. Louis settled her best glare on her face and waited for Harry to notice.
Harry looked up less than a minute later and startled, dropping her quill. She looked behind her to see if Louis was glaring at someone else, which made Louis glare harder. Harry needed to stop being so rudely adorable.
“Did I do something?” Harry asked timidly, her green eyes wide. Her stupid gorgeous green eyes, the color of the emeralds in the Slytherin house hourglass.
Louis squinted her eyes further into her glare, not breaking eye contact with Harry.
Harry’s eyes opened wider, looking even more terrified, and somehow even cuter. “Um…” She mumbled, fidgeting with her quill that she had picked up off the table. “Are you studying for your O.W.L.s?” She asked unsurely.
Louis sighed and slumped her shoulders, relaxing her glare. What a stupid question. She’s a fifth year, it’s May, and she’s in the godforsaken library on a Saturday.
“What do you think?” She asked sarcastically, crossing her arms. She wanted to glare again, but Harry’s helplessness was too endearing, so she settled for a soft smile.
Harry’s mouth twitched into a smile, and she seemed to relax a bit. “Well maybe you’re in here planning a prank on Madame Pince again?”
Louis had forgotten about her prank on Madame Pince that she had done in her second year. She had created a spell that rigged one of the textbooks to explode into a glitter bomb, and left it on a table for Madame Pince to clean up. Louis had been inspired by the muggle prank, and thought it could be enhanced by magic, but she hadn’t counted on the glitter replicating itself quite as much as it had, eventually covering the entire library.
Madame Pince had been on the warpath for weeks, swearing to expel whoever did it. Fortunately for Louis, she had thought the magic was too advanced for anyone below fifth year, and so Louis wasn’t even questioned. Madame Pince had eventually forgotten about the prank once all of the glitter was removed with some special magic by the headmistress, but Louis had always been nervous around the librarian since then.
“Do I look like I have a death wish?” Louis asked, trying to sound outraged. Harry giggled, and her eyes crinkled up in a smile. Louis’s heart clenched. This girl was too cute. Are there any spells that can stop Louis from seeing how cute she is? She can’t deal with heartbreak, she is just a weak Gryffindor.
“Well you are a Gryffindor, aren’t you supposed to be brave?” Harry asked her, still grinning.
Louis glared again, trying to quench the urge to do something reckless to impress Harry. It didn’t work. She really is just a weak Gryffindor. She pulled out her wand (eleven inches, with Ash wood and dragon heartstring) and pointed it at Harry’s face. The look of terror reappeared on Harry’s face, and Louis laughed brightly before lowering her wand.
“Why are you so scared of me? You’re the Slytherin here.”
Harry met her gaze and smirked a little bit. “I’m only scared of really talented witches.”
Louis flushed, suddenly feeling too warm despite the nice breeze coming through the window. Harry couldn’t be flirting with her, they’ve been in the same classes since first year, and they’ve never so much as said hello to each other.
She turned to face the window to distract herself, and was struck by a sudden wave of inspiration. She waved her wand silently to cast a nonverbal jinx that her had mother taught her onto Al Potter, who was in the middle of one of this stunts. He was suddenly hoisted off of his broomstick, and hung by his ankle in the air.
Louis heard Harry’s stunned laughter to her left mixed in with the students who had been watching Al’s show. She stuck her head out of the window and shouted down to him.
“Quit showing off, Potter! We already won the house cup, your ego doesn’t need to get any bigger!”
“Let me down, Tomlinson! I’ll get you back later, there will be frogs in your sheets tonight, you just wait and see!”
Louis laughed. “You can’t even get into the girls’ dormitories you dumb flobberworm.”
“I’m sure at least one girl would be willing to help me out, if you know what I mean.” He said, trying to sound smug while struggling to prevent his robes from falling down. Louis rolled her eyes.
“Gross.” She yelled down at him, and cast the counterjinx so he fell down on the ground hard.
She suddenly became aware of Harry laughing next to her again. She pulled her head out of the window to grin over at the other girl.
“Did you like the show?” She asked, raising her eyebrows.
“Yes, it was excellent, although I might have finished with a Bat-Bogey hex myself.” Harry smiled again, making Louis’s heart melt.
“Oh I would love to hex Al, I just don’t actually fancy having frogs in my bed tonight.” She said, smiling back. She hoped she looked braver than she felt.
“Yeah, I would even rather have those creepy stick things from Care of Magical Creatures in our third year.”
“Bowtruckles, you mean?” Louis asked, surprised. She had thought they seemed pretty harmless, and interesting.
“Yeah, I hate those! Mine attacked me for no reason!” Harry said earnestly, her eyes wide again.
Louis chuckled. Harry was just too cute. “Well, I’ll make sure to protect you from rogue Bowtruckles if I ever seen one near you. We couldn’t have them ruining your cute face.”
Harry’s cheeks flushed pink, and she looked down at her hands for the first time in the conversation. Louis panicked. Had she gone too far and made the other girl uncomfortable?
“Well I don’t want the frogs to ruin your cute face either.” Harry admitted quietly, cheeks still red, without looking up.
Louis’s heart inflated. She giggled. “I don’t think frogs can really ruin my face. My life, maybe, but not my face. I appreciate the sentiment, though.” She said, still smiling. Suddenly, studying for her Transfiguration O.W.L felt like the easiest thing in the world.
“Do you want to go for a walk around the lake later?” She asked, feeling her Gryffindor courage pumping through her veins like she had just taken a potion.
Harry whipped her head up to look at her, surprised. She searched Louis’s face for something, and when she found it, she let a grin spread onto her face.
“Yeah, that would be nice.”
“I’ll meet you by the school doors at six, then.” Louis said, unable to stop smiling, and feeling like she was on top of the world. She closed her Transfiguration textbook, and slid it into her bag.
Feeling inspired, she transfigured her quill into a daisy, and handed the flower to Harry. Harry’s eyes sparkled, and the smile on her face was possibly the most beautiful thing Louis had ever seen. She smiled quickly back at Harry, and turned to walk out of the library, feeling like she could conquer anything.