PRETTY MUCH

(THE FULL MOON, PT. I)

♡

before Halloween, where all through the school, students were discussing the Tournament, thinking it was cool — "What's gonna be fucking cool is my farewell extravaganza for this place," says Briar, looking proud of herself as she sits on top of Fleur's trunk, so that she can close it shut without everything spilling out. She wobbles on top of the trunk as Fleur attempts to close it by the clasps, quickly giving up and grabbing her wand, muttering a spell to make the trunk close shut. The little padlock Fleur uses — a silver lock in the shape of a heart — rolls around to Fleur's numbers (her grandmother's cat's birthday — don't ask) before closing the trunk, once and for all. Well. Not "once and for all," but until they get to Hogwarts at least.

"What did you do?" says Fleur, eyeing Briar suspiciously.

"The candelabras in the dining hall are going to spit teeny-tiny little fireworks into the air, and then the statues are going to come to life for the whole year," says Briar, as she jumps off of Fleur's trunk, walking over to her side of their dorm room. Normally students don't share a room two years in a row — but with the two girls leaving for Hogwarts soon, there wasn't any point in them having new roommates, only for them to leave them a couple months into the school year. Briar isn't complaining — Maxime's already told them that they'll be sharing a room in the carriage, too, which is another plus. Honestly. Hogwarts with Fleur is the best thing in Briar's mind.

Fleur rolls her eyes, but begins to laugh. "You're ridiculous."

Briar shrugs her shoulders, grinning. "But you love me, so I don't care."

"Speaking of love," says Fleur, a mischievous little grin appearing across her face. "Have you told your friends about this year?"

Briar shakes her head. "I was going to... but imagine how surprised they're going to be when they see me," she says. She can already picture it: being swept off her feet, being hugged tightly, being told how excited they are... "Merlin, Fleur, you're going to love them. They're so nice... And I can show you around Hogsmeade, they've got this amazing sweet shop called Honeydukes and there's a couple dress shops and I bet we could find some pretty jewellery to go with these dresses..."

She gestures to her dress robes, referencing Fleur's as well. Both of them, when they were told they were going to Hogwarts, were also told that they needed a dress. Briar went with Remus a couple weekends ago, spending the afternoon looking at all of the different dresses. It took Briar a good couple of hours to find the right one, finally trying it on and exclaiming, "I look like a princess!"

Briar hopes that the reason for these dresses will be a good few weeks into their time at Hogwarts, because she needs some time to hunt down a necklace, at least, to go with her dress. Her dad said that she can have a look at his mother's jewellery — "You're welcome to all of it, Livvy's already taken your grandfather's watches" — so Briar's hoping that there's something there.

That night, Briar doesn't sleep much. It's half because she's itching with excitement, but also because of what falls tomorrow night — Halloween is the full moon, which means for Briar, she needs to get herself away from people before the sun sets. Her dad's already told her how to get into the Shrieking Shack, and Sirius has said he'll visit quickly, to help her get in through the shortcut, so Briar knows that things will be sorted, but still. She's scared. What's going to happen, when it starts to get dark, and Briar starts to feel ill, like she always does? What's going to happen, when she gets so disorientated that she's convinced she's five years into the future, or three into the past?

The issue with Briar's full moons is this — they aren't just turn into a werewolf, suffer, then turn back feeling unwell. Briar spends the whole night having visions. And she never remembers them, but she always wakes up feeling terrible. And, around the full moon, she starts to get the worst visions, the ones that confuse her to the point that she forgets she's having a vision, she fully believes she's in the future. A lot of the time she forgets them, too — apparently once she envisioned her own wedding, and the only reason she knew was because she told Fleur, "Is Dad ready to walk me down the aisle?" Maybe she was telling the Fleur in her vision, maybe she knew Fleur was trying to speak to her. Briar doesn't know. All she knows is that she forgot the vision about her own fucking wedding! How ridiculous is that? Briar can't wait to get married, and then she goes and forgets what it's going to be like? Fucking tragic.

It worries her, though, because she knows that the twins are going to do what they always do whenever she has a vision, and that's make sure that she's OK. Which has always been gentlemanly and nice of them... Up until now, where that exact thing makes things so much more difficult for her. She hopes she can get away with telling them that her visions have gotten worse — Fleur's grandmother, the Veela, was also a Healer that specialised in treating those with visions and other abilities, like reading minds and whatever, so fingers crossed, they can use that and say, "Well obviously that means that Fleur gets this, it's just easier if it's just us..."

She knows the twins are going to take offence. Fred looked weird when Briar called Beauxbatons her school, like she had moved on from Hogwarts, so she doesn't know how he's going to react when she tells him that she doesn't want him around when "she's having a vision..." And she supposes actual visions, too, or else they'll start to get suspicious about why certain visions, they can't see.

But still. Fred was always the one that would make sure Briar was OK. He'd take her out of the lessons, he'd sit with her until she was fine... Even when the Chamber of Secrets open, and Briar was having visions left, right, and centre, he'd always be there next to her, making sure she was fine. She never knew why, she doesn't even know if he knows why, but that was always the case. Briar was having a vision? Well, that must mean that Fred's going to be absent from the lessons until she's back, too.

In the morning, Briar tries to put her best face forward. She tries to tell herself, You've been taking the potion, you're going to be fine. It's not until she's halfway through applying mascara that she starts to believe it. She takes longer getting ready, though, as does Fleur; Briar, because she's rocking back up to her old school, and Fleur, because she's got to make an impression. Sure, she's a Veela, but that doesn't excuse untamed hair.

Briar pulls her hair up into a ponytail, after Fleur told her she'll do her hair properly once they're in the carriage. It's a couple of hours to get to Hogwarts, so they've got time. They're using the Beauxbatons carriage, one the size of a large house and drawn by winged horses, which by the sounds of things is a lot faster than taking the train all the way to Scotland. Not that Briar minds. She's scared of tonight, sure, but she can't wait to see the look on her friends' faces.

Fleur and Briar catch breakfast before they leave, slipping a number of croissants into their bag. "They'll last a week, tops," says Fleur, as the two of them sit down, by one of the tables next to the window. Briar glances out at the grounds. It's weird, thinking she won't see this place for another year. "After that, we'll have to eat whatever the British eat for breakfast..." Briar frowns, and Fleur shrugs. "You eat like me, Briar... I mean actual British food. What do you eat for breakfast?"

"Uh, normal stuff," says Briar, giving her an odd look. She knows that Fleur's concerned about the whole British food is 'heavier,' which Briar understands, but look. Most countries have scrambled eggs. "Speaking of — Hogwarts makes a killer porridge. And the jam? Amazing."

"I'm excited to see what your old school's like," says Fleur.

"It's nice," says Briar. She looks around for a minute. "I mean, this place is a lot prettier, and I guess the subjects here are a lot more varied... But Hogwarts has a really sweet charm?"

"When there isn't a dungeon killing muggleborns?" asks Fleur, raising an eyebrow at her. "Or Voldemort, on a teacher's scalp?"

Briar nods. "Pretty much."

♡

"THIS IS BORING," SAYS HOLLY, looking unimpressed. She glances across at Draco, who she's sitting across from in the common room. They've all been excused from their afternoon lessons, because the school's visitors are arriving soon. Which is nice, sure, but Holly would rather keep a distance from this whole tournament. She can feel her stomach fill with dread, at the thought of seeing her old headmaster again, but she tries to ignore that. Instead, she looks ahead with a frown, and hopes that her mother's word is enough to scare Karkaroff away — alongside her insistence that this tournament is totally boring and it isn't because she's scared to death of everything about her old school.

Draco rolls his eyes. "Yeah, all right."

Holly raises an eyebrow at him.

"Although it'd be a lot better if they didn't have an age restriction," says Draco.

"Why?" she says. "Would you enter?"

"I don't really care," says Draco. "But Livvy could've come back."

Well that's just fucking adorable, Holly thinks.

Piss off, he says back to her.

Holly grins at him.

"Maybe he is coming back, and he didn't tell us," she suggests, as she gets up, having planned to meet Pansy in the hall around one, so they could eat lunch together. "I don't know anything, but like — that would be pretty sick, wouldn't it? If he showed up." I bet you'd love it, wouldn't you?

Draco gives her a look. "Shut up."

Holly winks at him, smiling mischievously. She tries to think about this, rather than Durmstrang. She's known about the tournament for a while now, as long as Draco has, even — but the news arrived when she had already sorted out moving schools, and by that point, was it worth the hassle withdrawing from another school, and hoping that her mother could teach her for the next year? Like, Holly loves her mother to pieces, but she wasn't the best at school, that's what she's always said. But Holly needs to be good at school. One day she wants to be head of the Wizengamot, and that's not going to happen with fail grades.

Holly's cut off, walking straight into someone. She winces, and she's about to apologise, because she knows she wasn't looking where she was going, but then she realises that she walked straight into Harry Potter — and she thinks, shit.

"I'm really sorry," says Holly, without thinking twice. She knows her cousin and Potter don't get along, but he hasn't done anything to piss her off, so, she's going to be polite, especially since she walked into him. "I wasn't looking where I was going..."

"Oh, erm, it's fine," says Potter. Next to him, stand his two friends, a girl called Granger and a boy called Weasley — one of the boys called Weasley. Holly looks back, at Potter, who looks a little embarrassed. Which is weird, because again, she walked into him.

He starts to move away, but Holly thinks about all of the comments her cousin makes about him, and she goes, "Wait!" Potter turns back around, confused. Holly regrets this already. "I just thought I should say — my cousin can be a prat, I know you don't listen to him but you shouldn't, sometimes he just says stuff, I think it's wrong, too—"

"Dear God, Holly!" says Draco, from behind her. She winces, as he walks up to them. "You don't want to catch Potter's illness — what are you doing, anyway, talking to my cousin? She's a Malfoy, you know. She's better than you—"

"Piss off, Malfoy," says Potter.

Holly glances at her cousin, and rolls her eyes. "Let's go," she says, and she grabs her cousin's hand, pulling him into the hall. "I walked into him, just to be clear."

"Well I didn't think you'd just strike up a conversation with him," says Draco, as they sit down at the Slytherin table. Holly nods, and she takes one of the ham sandwiches. She looks across, at the Gryffindor table, and she manages to catch Potter's eye. She smiles weakly at him, once her cousin's looking down at his plate; and, weirdly, Potter smiles back, ever so slightly.

♡

IT'S HALF PAST ONE AND THEY'RE about to arrive at Hogwarts. Fleur's sorted out Briar's hair, pulling it into a pretty French plait and placing the God-awful hat on top of it. Briar knows the hat doesn't look terrible on her, but she hates hats. Especially ones that look like a turnip with fucking blue balls, or something. But, anyway — Briar sits with Fleur, in the dorm room that they're sharing for the school year, and she shuffles her tarot cards, having spent the hour before predicting Fleur's future in countless ways. Palm reading, tarot, you name it. Briar's mind always feels foggy around the full moon, and predicting things clears it a little.

They're called into the carriage's main quarters, a room that's essentially a small common room, leaving Sergeant in the dorm room for now. Briar fixes the hat on her head, wishing she didn't have to wear it in the first place, as she sits next to Fleur on a sofa. Livvy's next to them, talking to the boy he's sharing a room with, and Briar catches one of the others give Fleur a strange look. Briar knows that people don't like Fleur, because of her being Veela, but it still pisses her off when she sees it.

As the carriage lands in front of the school, one of the boys — Victor, the head boy — stands up. Madame Maxime tells all of them, "Remember to be on your best behaviour — we are representing our school," and she makes sure to glance at Briar, so she knows she can't fuck up here. Briar doesn't know what Maxime's gonna do, if Briar does fuck up, but whatever. Briar doesn't want to risk being sent back to Beauxbatons this year. If Maxime wants good behaviour, that's what Briar will give.

Victor walks out of the carriage first, Maxime following behind him. Briar, worrying, turns to Fleur and asks if she looks all right, and one of the other girls tells her, "Just stand next to Fleur, no one will even notice you." Fleur gives the girl a look, and Briar doesn't pay attention.

"Do I look OK?" says Briar, again.

"You look beautiful," says Fleur, smiling at her.

Briar smiles back. "You too, by the way... I mean, you know that, anyway, but just to remind you."

Fleur laughs softly, as they get in line to walk out of the carriage. It's weird — Briar can feel her heart in her chest, pounding. She doesn't get why she's nervous, she went to this school for four years of her life, but it does. She's nervous. She's nervous about tonight, she's nervous about her friends' reactions, all of it is making her nervous. She glances over her shoulder, at Livvy, who looks more excited than anything. He smiles at her, and she forces one back, turning to face the front again. It's fine, Briar, she thinks to herself. When the going gets tough, you get tougher, come on. This is going to be fine. You're going to make it fine.

So she follows everyone else out of the carriage, standing next to their headmistress. She stands next to Fleur, and already she hears murmurs, people recognising herself and Livvy. Briar looks into the crowd, trying to find her friends. She looks past the Slytherins, past Draco and Holly who's eyes are wide at Livvy's return, she looks past the Hufflepuffs, the Ravenclaws — and then, she sees the Gryffindors, or more specifically, Fred, George, and Lee.

She can almost make out what George and Lee are saying — "Oh my God," and "No way!" — and she looks at Fred, who seems to be stunned, shocked silent. She smiles at the three of them.

"Welcome, Madame Maxime," says Dumbledore.

Things begin to dissolve afterwards, once Durmstrang arrives. Everyone's invited inside, causing a crowd of people making their way towards the archways. Briar tries to get her way past everyone, to greet her friends — she finds Fred first, as he seems to have pushed through the crowd to get to her. He looks at her in disbelief, smiling at her nonetheless. She can see his shoulders rising and falling, as if he's out of breath, that's how quickly he tried to get to her. She thinks that's adorable.

"Well, hey, stranger," says Briar, a small smile appearing across her face. She can't believe how much she's missed him, even if the month they haven't seen each other.

Fred opens his arms, smiling brightly at her. "Oh, come here," he says.

She's taken off her feet by him, as they hug each other tightly. She knows that Fleur's going to bring this up later, same with Livvy, same with George. But she doesn't care. She's held by Fred and she thinks of how much she's missed him, and she hugs him back, as she hears him say, "I thought I'd have to go a whole year without seeing you...!"

"Well, I'm here now," she tells him. "I'm back..."

Fred pulls away to look at her, smiling still. Part of Briar doesn't want to think about how he's looked different ever since the summer, because regardless — she's so happy, seeing him.

And then — oh, and then — he kisses her cheek. Briar freezes for a second, surprised. She knows she always kisses his cheek, but he's never done the same before. She always thought it was another case of Briar being overly affectionate, but look, he kissed her cheek. What the fuck. Part of her wants to get excited, to think, what does this mean? But then she remembers tonight, she remembers the full moon, her brain quickly going to, he wouldn't do that if he knew the truth. She smiles politely, and steps back.