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Serena sat down in the great hall and carried on reading her Herbology book. She still hadn't finished her damned essay. It was okay though; if she finishes reading the last chapter by the end of breakfast then she would have first break and lunch to write next 5 inches and hand it in for the last double lesson of the day.
Thank Merlin for afternoon lessons.
As the Great Hall filled up Serena tried to ignore the laughing from her housemates. She knew she couldn't get dragged into any conversations with them. It's how she was running out of time to finish it.
"Hey Serena," Tommy, a boy in her year, said with jam around his face "You done the Herbology essay?"
"Doing it now." Serena answered eyes glued to the book in front of her.
"You know Longbottom will take points if you haven’t done it."
"I'm aware of that, thank you Tommy."
"All I'm saying is that you can't afford to loose us any more points."
Serena picked up her book, her bag and some toast, and with a pointed look to Tommy, stalked out of the Great Hall.
Serena was so distracted as she went through the doors that she didn't notice another girl entering the hall.
She walked into her and both girls toppled over. Serena was apologising and scrabbling around for her things before she looked up and saw the girl she had run into was Zayna Hastings.
A Ravenclaw seventh year, heir to the Hastings estate and fortune, and who, if rumours were to be believed was betrothed to a Saudi Prince.
She also hated Serena.
Ever since Serena was a first year and Zayna Hastings was in second. Serena had run into her while trying to get to Transfiguration in the second week of term. Hastings had been on her own and had pointed Serena the right way. Serena didn't think anything of it. That was until a week later when Hastings and two of her friends, who at the time Serena didn't know. In the preceding years Serena would get to know them all very well, came up to her table.
They didn't say anything but Latymer picked up the jug of pumpkin juice and poured it over her head. Cromwell laughed and Hastings just smirked.
Serena didn't know what to do and just ran from the Great Hall. She had never been so embarrassed and it was only the third week of term.
The only saving grace was that Hastings wasn't in her year or house so outside the corridors and the great hall they never really saw each other. Serena had got better over the years at avoiding (hiding) from her and her friends.
Serena looked down and tried to avoid Hastings eyes. She really needed to do the essay.
Hastings hadn't said anything and Serena looked up to see the other girl still on the floor. Hastings had tears in her eyes and was looking at the floor. Serena didn't know what to do. She has a clear break, get to the library before Divination, and hopeful about punishment or points taken from the head girl on the floor, or help.
Serena held out her hand for Hastings to take. Hastings looked up and took the offered hand, pushing herself up with the other.
"Thanks." The head girl mumbled.
"Sorry for knocking you. Library."
"Late with another essay?" Hastings snarled. Or she would have had it not come out so watery.
"Yeah, hoping not to have another detention."
"Well, I'm supervising them tonight for Professor Bins, so you better not."
With that Hastings stalked into the Great Hall. Serena looked back after her in disbelief at what had happened. Shaking herself, Serena dashed to the library.
Serena didn't get detention for her Herbology essay; which she thought was pretty good considering she finishes it on the back of the greenhouse. She did, however, get detention for being late for Divination; Professor Firenze let her know that detention would be with the Head Girl.
Serena sulked towards the detention classroom after lying on her bed and staring at the black canopy until she had to move, or be very late. There were already a few students there when Serena entered.
A few she recognised. She waved over to a couple of Slytherins that she played gobstones with and sat next to them. Nott, a pretty girl who liked to invent spells to change the colour of her hair, it was green today, passed over a scrap of parchment that had an animated game of Snake Pit. Before Serena could look at the new strategy Nott wanted to show her the parchment was pulled out of her hand. Serena looked up to see a sneering Hastings screwing the parchment up in her hand.
“It’s detention, not the Great Hall. Adams, sit at the front.”
Serena got up, annoyed and went to the front of the classroom. Serena hated Hastings for doing this all the time. Every time she took over detention she made Serena look like an idiot.
“Do homework.” Hastings barked out and Serena pulled out her book on Alchemy when Hastings stood in front of her. “Professor Firenze wants you to map the constellations that you were supposed to do in his lesson.”
“I did them in his lesson.”
“That’s not what he told me. So better get started he wants it in by the end of detention.”
“I don’t even have my books.”
Hastings shrugged. “Not my problem.” She then sat down behind the teacher’s desk and pulled out a large Arithmancy book. Serena glared at her for a bit before pulling out her notes from the name and started to re-map the stars.
Serena was nearly finished when the silence of quills scratching against parchment stopped and everyone’s chairs started to scrap against the stone floor. Serena look at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room and saw that it already said eleven. As much as she hated detention, Serena couldn’t help but admit that she defiantly got more work done in there. Her mapping off the starts was much better then the one she had done in her lesson, when she had been thinking too much of her unfinished Herbology essay.
Serena had nearly finished packing her bag when Nott and Abbott called out a goodbye as they left the room holding hands; those two made Serena smile. Serena turned around to go and realised that she and Hastings were alone. Not wanting to stay in the room longer than she had to, Serena made a break for the door; she wondered whether the kitchens would still be open for food.
“Got a lot of work done?” Serena stood still and looked around at Hastings who seemed to be ignoring her and collecting her things from around the classroom. She would always have spare quills to lend out to people, not Serena, but other people. The one time Serena forgot her quill Hastings made her stand at the front of the classroom and to tell Hastings exactly how she planned to write her essay and to write it up that night; Serena hated to admit it, but she had found it helpful to verbalise her thoughts before writing them all down. It was less daunting then looking at a blank piece of parchment and it had become a habit for Serena to do the same thing in he privacy of her dorm room.
“Yeah.” Serena said shortly. She hated letting Hastings know how much the things she made her do helped. Serena hated being singled out by the older girl.
“You seemed to have gotten into it.” Hastings looked up at her, her pretty brown eyes sparkling in the torchlight. ‘Stupid pretty eyes.’ Serena thought.
“Yeah, can’t wait until my next detention.” Serena bit out, heading towards the door. Hastings came up beside her.
“Come on, I’ll walk you to the kitchens, wouldn’t be good for you to be caught out after hours,”
“I was in detention.” Serena shot out indignantly.
“Want to explain that to one of the ghosts or Pixel?” Hastings said smiling. Her white teeth shining through her perfectly lipsticked lips, Serena hated that she noticed.
“Fine.” Serena gave in.
They were only on the third floor, so at night, when all the good students were in bed, it didn’t take long for them to get down to kitchens and the painting of the pear. They had walked down in silence. It hadn’t been as awkward as Serena had thought it would have been. They walked side by side in a comfortable silence and she almost sad for it to end.
As soon as she thought that Serena realised that she needed to get her head checked. She couldn’t crush on the girl who embarrassed her at every opportunity, who took more points of her then any one else. Serena could not crush on the girl who helped her with her homework, who always made sure that her studies were going well and the one-year that Serena couldn’t go home for Christmas also didn’t go home and stayed and played gobstones with her.
Serena looked up at the older girl and she felt like the rug had been pulled from underneath her. She liked her, Hastings, Zayna, she liked her. And Hastings liked her. She thought, maybe. Serena didn’t know, but she knew there was a way to find out. Without a second thought Serena leaned up and kissed Hastings on her soft lips.
Serena pulled back once she realised what she was doing. She just stared in horror at Hastings face, a look of stunned surprise. Before Serena could get the words out to apologise Hastings had her lips upon hers. It took Serena a second a realise what was happening before she started to kiss back.
They were both panting slightly when they broke apart.
“Took you long enough.” Panted Hastings.
“You didn’t make it easy Hastings.”
“Call me Zayna.”
Serena panted out a smile; “Help me with my Arithmancy homework tomorrow.”
Zayna gave her put upon sigh. “Only because I know it won’t get done until the day before otherwise.”
“You bet.” Serena said before tickerling the pear and entering the Hufflepuff common room with the biggest smile on her face.
As she made her way to her bed Serena wiped her hand over her mouth and Zayna’s brown lipstick came off on her hand.
Homework didn’t seem so daunting anymore.