TRANSLATED!! || A Heart in Hiding - (Adrian Pucey ff.)

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❝ Sometimes a person's gaze is like an unwritten letter, trying to hide what they're really saying in the silence between the words.❞
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Nora, panting, climbed down the ladder from Professor Trelawney's perfumed tower room, heading for the library to meet Luna as quickly as possible.

She simply had to tell her what had happened in Defense—and more importantly, what Adrian had told her.

Her mind wandering, she drifted dazedly through the corridors, pushing past large crowds of students. But when she slammed into someone's back with a hard shove, she was jolted back to reality.

It felt as if cold water had been splashed in her face, and when she looked up, she found Adrian Pucey's cold, chestnut-brown eyes glaring straight at her. He was the reason she'd been forced to leave her daydreams behind for the second time today.

"Unintentional, but predictable. Almost like your detention, Duvall," he muttered cynically.

"Funny, Pucey. Go on teasing first-years—they're at least on your level, if not higher," Nora replied condescendingly.

Adrian snorted contemptuously, but his expression remained blank and cold, making it impossible to tell whether he wanted to rip your head off or run away.

He turned away from her, but not before giving her one last, cold look.

The corridors emptied; only the faint scent of tea from Trelawney's tower room lingered. She was about to confront Adrian again, to ask how he'd found out about her detention, but a memory suddenly seared itself into her mind—Luna was waiting.

She hurried through the winding corridors. The torches on the walls cast a magical, warm glow into the hallways, giving them a welcoming atmosphere.

As she pushed open the heavy library doors, she was greeted by the familiar rustling of parchment, the gentle scratching of quills, the quiet whispers of individual students—and the familiar, friendly face of Luna.

She sat with her legs bent on the windowsill between two bookshelves, an open book about Thestrals in her lap. Her bun was looser now, but the dreamy smile from this morning was still on her lips.

"You look like you've been fighting a dragon. Are you all right?" Luna asked with a mischievous grin, closing her book.

"Something like that... Ran into Pucey," Nora replied irritably.

She sat down next to Luna and began to talk—what had happened in defense, Adrian's words, and how she constantly felt butterflies in her stomach whenever she came into contact with him.

Luna listened in silence, but her expression grew more interested with each word.

"Maybe..." she began slowly, "you do like him. You just don't want to admit it."

"What? No. No! Absolutely not," Nora suspected, a little too loudly.

"Quiet!" Madam Pince, the librarian, commanded.

Luna grinned.

"Well, from what you've told me, I'm sure you like him. This tingling, this unease—those are all signs," Luna murmured, understanding.

Nora was starting to feel nervous. Her hands played with the hem of her cloak. She looked away from Luna and moistened her lips.

But there it was again – that fluttering in my stomach.

"But that just can't be. I mean... I don't want to like him."

Luna watched her closely, nervously fiddling with her cloak. "You've thought about this enough, haven't you? What if he really likes you?"