"Okay so here is the plan, these notes will be sent to both of them. They will go to the location aka the Clock Tower Courtyard where Cross Wands happen, and we use the spell to make them fall asleep, and Deek will take them back. We will get their hair for the final part of the potion and go on our way?" I say to Poppy holding the notes in my hand. She grabs the notes to see what they say.
Dear Alexander,
I need to let you know how I thought you were handsome. I was always scared to tell you but now I am ready to tell you. Meet me at the Clock Tower Courtyard at 7 pm.
Yours,
Secret Admirer
Poppy rolls her eyes and chuckles reading both notes which say the same thing for George.
"Who would fall for this?" She chuckles holding the two notes in front of me.
"Dumb boys would?" I say grabbing the notes and using a charm to send them out.
"It is not safe to use my owl just in case Sebastian is with them or something. He knows my owl," I say, letting go of the notes that are now paper birds.
"Smart thinking," Poppy raises her eyebrow impressed with me. I gave her a dirty look because this was easy compared to the stuff I did when I was fifteen.
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When it hit 7 pm we both hid in the corner of the Clock Tower Courtyard. We hid in the area where there were extra items. It is hidden in the back where there is a black gate like door. We poke our heads out to see if at least one showed up.
"What if they don't show up?" Poppy says in a worried tone.
"They will, don't worry," I look at her and pat her back.
It was 7 and they were not here yet. I am starting to panic now. This was a stupid plan. What girl would do this to her boyfriend? Well their boyfriend isn't Sebastian Sallow and he has secrets especially secrets with Emma. I truly don't know why Poppy would want to spy on Garreth because he is so innocent. Part of me thinks is to see what he thinks of her and what he says to his friends. We both want the same thing to feel secure in our relationships even though we both have good relationships. I think I have a good relationship. I hear footsteps coming from the side door where everyone comes in. I start to feel the panic fill my body realizing that it actually worked. Andrew walked in the note in his hand looking confused. Andrew was a good looking boy with dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He was taller and muscular. I don't know how the Slytherin House got so lucky with all the good looking boys. I grab Poppy's arm because she is now shaking.
"Put your hood on and go out there so he doesn't know who it is and I will hit him," I take my hand out of my sleeve. She nods quickly and puts her hood on and approaches him. Alexander faces her and starts to laugh.
"A hiding game? I know what house you're in since it's on your robe," He continues laughing.
He thinks it is funny and sees this whole thing as a joke. If this was real I bet it would be heartbreaking knowing the guy you thought was handsome saw it as a joke. I put the disillusionment charm on and walked behind Poppy. He still doesn't notice me. I let my wand out and shouted the Bewitched Charm. Alexander falls over immediately as the charm ends. He was snoring on the floor. Poppy took her hood off in shock and was jumping.
"Oh my gosh! Violet you did it!" She giggles and hugs me.
"It is not over yet. You need to do George," I say to her.
"Why can't you do it? I don't know if I can. I am nervous plus you are good at it," Poppy points to the sleeping Alexander.
"You have to! It is good practice if we need to fight poachers again," I smirk at her and she sighs heavily. Deek appears in front of us and smiles at Alexander.
"Plan work?" Deek says.
"Not just yet, we need one more," I tell Deek and he nods.
"I will take this one back to the room," He grabs his hand and snaps his finger. He disappears before our eyes with Alexander.
"What if George doesn't show? It's been twenty minutes?" Poppy asks me.
"Well we will wait a little longer," I walk back into the hiding spot and she follows suit. Ten minutes pass by and George walks in. He was shorter with jet black hair and hazel eyes. He has the crumbled note with him and looks around. I put my hood on and tell Poppy she's got this. I walk out of the dark corner of the hiding place and he looks at me.
"Why are you wearing a hood?" He questions me.
"I am not ready to show you who I am," I whisper so he can't tell my voice.
"You don't need to whisper. You are a Hufflepuff because of your robe so that kind of narrows it down," He laughs and smiles. I can tell George is kind by how he is looking at me even though he truly can't see me.
"I appreciate the note, but um, it would be cool to see who you are," He starts approaching me and I am starting to panic. Where is Poppy? Why hasn't she used the charm yet? He grabs my hands and rubs them. Fuck.
"May I?" He looks at my hood that is hiding my identity and is asking for approval to take it off. I don't say anything because I am frozen in place. He touches the top of my hood and before it comes off I hear a loud banging noise. George falls to the ground next to me. I see Poppy holding a book in her hand and her facial expression looks extremely panicked.
"What was that!" I shouted at her. She looks at me with the book still in her hand.
'I panicked!" She anxiously says.
"Panicked! You literally knocked him out!" I point to the unconscious George on the floor. She hit him so hard.
"You hit him so hard! Poachers have nothing on you," I joke with Poppy. She started to laugh with me and we couldn't stop for a few moments. Deek pops up and sees George.
"Grab Deek's hand, so we can head back to the room," He says, reaching his hand out. I grab his hand and Poppy grabs mine. In an instant we were back in the room.
'Where are the boys?" I ask Deek because when we got here George was nowhere to be seen.
"He is in the bedroom with Alexander," Deek points
A door that had a shiny doorknob is standing before us. It is the corner where the potion was brewing and it was next to it. I open the door and see a beautiful bedroom. This bedroom looked like a Queen should live here. It has beautiful paintings on the wall and earthy decor as well. It was like the most perfect bedroom.
"It appeared yesterday," Deek says to us. I smile and look at the giant bed. It had the most beautiful blanket on it. It was colorful with flowers all over it. The two boys were placed on the bed asleep. I approached both of them and took a small piece of their hair. I ran to the potion and poured it into two different cups. I put Alexander's hair into the left cup and George's on the right. Poppy looked like she was about to throw up because of the awful smell. I hand her the cup with George's hair in it.
"Trust me, it tastes awful and feels awful! Only for a little bit," I give her a grin and take down the cup with Alexander's hair. I put the cup down fast and slam my hands on the table. I start to twitch and see my hands bubbling up. It is working. Poppy has the cup in her hand still freaking out as she sees me change into a different person.
"Drink it!" I say in a gasp because of all the pain. Poppy closes her eyes and chugs it down. She drops her cup and it breaks. She falls over from the pain. The room begins to become foggy like it did last time when I turned into Professor Black. The pain randomly stops and I walk into a mirror. I see Alexander in the reflection with his Slytherin uniform on. I turn around to see Poppy aka George laying on the ground moaning. I run over to her and she has her arms wrapped around her stomach.
"Poppy? Are you okay?" I ask her and I hear my deep voice come out. I was taken back by it and so was Poppy. Her eyes were closed and she opened them finally seeing me as Alexander.
"Merlin's beard you are a guy!" She says in shock, "That means..." She trails off and gets up. She dashes over to the mirror to see George in the mirror. She grabs her face and plays with her hair. She was in awe that she was a guy.
"I am a man," She shrieks, "Why is it so weird?"
I laugh at poor Poppy freaking out over being George. I grab her by the shoulders and shake her.
"We need to go! We have a party to attend, right George?" I wink at Poppy. Poppy was blushing.
"Didn't realize Alexander was that cute," She chirps and I shake her again.
"Don't act like Poppy! Act like George," I say sternly. She nods and starts to loosen up. We start walking to the exit of the Room of Requirement and see Deek. Deek was reading a book and smiled.
"Wow! Deek is happy the potion worked successfully," Deek beams. We smile and start to run off. The potion does not last forever, only for a couple hours. We start walking to where the Gryffindor hallway is.
"I wonder where they are hanging out? Wouldn't it be hard to go to the common room because the girls would be there," Poppy asks me.
I shrug and someone calls Alexander's name. I turn around and see Sebastian. Poppy gasps and starts to stiff up.
"What are you two doing here? We were all supposed to meet by the Great Hall?" Sebastian eyeballs both of us suspiciously. I was choked up. Usually when I see Sebastian he has a kinder tone to his voice. I was about to get sassy then I remembered I wasn't myself. I was Alexander.
"Taking a stroll before we had to go? Why are you here? Visiting Emma?" I give him the same attitude. Poppy gasps and I elbow her hard because she is going to blow our cover.
"Um, no actually I am not. I was actually looking for my girlfriend, Violet" Sebastian says in a concerned tone.
"Well, I haven't seen her. Let's go then," I grab Sebastian by the arm and Poppy follows me.
"Are you excited for tonight?" I ask Sebastian, walking now side by side with him. He looked worried and his eyes kept darting around. He wasn't paying attention to me.
We were almost by the Great Hall before he stopped.
"Maybe, I shouldn't go. I have not seen Violet all day and she hasn't been seen. I should be looking for her," Sebastian says in an anxious tone. I feel bad seeing him like this. It is nice knowing he was worried about me because it shows that he does truly love me.
"Guys!" Leander screams across the hall and motions us to come. Sebastian takes a step back and almost goes the other direction. Poppy must've been thinking because he yanks Sebastian hood from his robe and stumbles over.
"Come on!" Poppy yells at Sebastian, "Stop acting like a little girl and let's go," Poppy runs over to Leander. I have never seen that side of Poppy before. It was actually one of the best things she has ever done. Sebastian is still on the floor looking sad. I bend down to reach his level.
"You good?" I ask him.
"No, I am not! Not knowing where Violet is really freaking me out," Sebastian shakily says. I can see his hands shake. I grab his shoulders because that is the only thing I can come up with that a guy would do.
"She knows you are going to this! So I wouldn't worry. I bet she just forgot to tell you. Girls can do that," I chuckle at my own joke. Sebastian half smiles at it and sighs. I give him my hand and I help him up. We walk where Leander and Poppy are standing. Poppy looked confident when she ran over there but now she looks mortified. Leander and a Ravenclaw boy were shoving each other around while Poppy watched. She was standing like she usually does and I gave her a look. She realizes and sits down. She puts her hands on her knees and leans forward. I sat next to her.
"Who are we waiting for?" Sebastian asks Leander.
"Well, I invited a few more, only the best," Leander smirks. I see Garreth approaching and talking with Ominis. Ominis has his wand in front with the light beaming. I can see his ice blue eyes behind the red light. It gave me butterflies seeing him in casual clothes. Last time I saw him dressed like that was when we had sex. He was wearing a black trench coat with a button up shirt. The other guys were all wearing casual clothes and not their uniform. Sebastian was only wearing his robe and he took it off. He was wearing a nice sweater with a collared shirt underneath.
"Hey Alexander," Garreth beams and grabs my hand to greet me. I awkwardly follow him and Poppy is staring at him. Garreth locks eyes with Poppy and studies her face aka George's face.
"You okay, George?" He asks Poppy. Poppy coughs and tells him she is under the weather. He nods and walks away. Sebastian approaches Ominis and asks if had seen Violet.
"You know, she doesn't have to tell you where she is all the time," Ominis rolls his eyes. I am just happy that he is giving me some attitude and at least having a conversation with him. Ominis looked somewhat worried too which made me smile. It showed he cared about me as well. There were a few Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs. Mostly it was Slytherin and Gryffindor boys. Footsteps approach us and I see the boy I knocked over the Hufflepuff Maxwell. He was wearing a light blue trench coat with a scarf. He dressed sophisticated like Ominis. He had the beaten up journal that I got a peek of which were drawings. He must be an artist. He was so mysterious. He put his hand through his shaggy brown hair and greeted everyone. Everyone seemed so interested in what he had to say. I was watching him hug Garreth with one of the nicest smiles I have ever seen. Poppy leans into me to whisper something.
"Isn't he something," Poppy whispers softly. Poppy seemed intrigued with him too. Garreth stands on the bench next to us as all the boys greet and chat with one another. Poppy and I were the only ones sitting.
"Alright! Follow me to the Forbidden Forest," Garreth claps his hands together and smirks.
"What about the rules!" Amit squeals. Amit was a rule follower. I did not even realize he was there until he said something.
"Oh please! We are fine!," Leander says and we all follow suit. I felt bad asking this but I felt Alexander would say something like this.
"Who in Merlin's Beard invited him?" I point to Amit with a chuckle.
"Probably Maxwell," Sebastian scuffs. We both laugh. I do not know why we are laughing but it was most likely because of Amit or something.
We finally got into the forest. It was dark but in front were lights. When we got closer I saw a small fire with chairs around it. A Gryffindor boy was already there handing out drinks of Butterbeer and something Garreth made. Poppy and I both take drinks and sit by Sebastian. Ominis was sitting by the tree with Leander and Garreth. I look to my left and see Maxwell sitting there looking at the fire. I had this urge to talk to him.
"How are you?" I asked Maxwell who was still looking at the fire. Maxwell turns his head and smiles sweetly.
"I am good! How's everything going with you?" Maxwell returns the question. He said it in such a positive tone. He was the polar opposite of the guys that were here. I have never seen a guy this nice.
"I am doing well," I mumble because what else is there to say because I know nothing about Alexander.
What feels like an eternity goes by because all the boys were talking about Quidditch and who they thought was going to win this year. They argued for each house and talked about the professional teams. Poppy looked half asleep listening to the conversation. I was slowly dozing too. I thought they would talk about something good like girls, or their girlfriends. I was wrong until I heard someone mentioning they had their first time. I woke up from my daze immediately and elbowed Poppy who jumped.
"Oh please! WIth who?" Leander says to the Ravenclaw boy.
"Allison," The boy mumbles. Leander laughs, "Allison! Please!"
"You have no room to talk, Leander. You are a virgin," Sebastian snickers. Leander looked offended and gave him a look. He narrowed his eyes. Leander looked at Ominis who was not even part of the conversation and said, "Well, Ominis is and Garreth for sure," Leander points at both looking confident knowing there are others. Garerth's face turns red.
"I am waiting for the right time, you can't rush that with a girl," Garreth mumbles. Poppy looked taken back by that.
"You have a girlfriend! Why haven't you yet? Oh yeah, you're with the girl who'd rather hang with Beasts!" A Slytherin boy laughs. Garreth looks offended and replies, "She actually means something to me! I don't want our first time to be like a random hookup. Also, she is probably the coolest girl I have ever met," Poppy had tears in her eyes listening to Garreth stick up for her and discussing how he wants his moment to be special with her. I let Poppy have her moment because no one is looking. She wipes the tears quickly because she realizes she is George and not sappy Poppy.
"Well you're still in the trio for being one," Leander playfully elbows Garreth who looks annoyed.
"I'm not", Ominis spits out. I look at him in shock. Where is he going with this? Leander asks him not what?
"I'm not a virgin, Leander," He says in a neutral tone, folding his arms across his chest and crossing his legs coolly. He flipped his golden hair out of his eyes and sat there smugly, completely unphased by the sudden onset of questions and accusations.
"That is a damn lie and we all know it!" Leander scoffed, elbowing one of the other boys.
"Huh, did she have to help unbutton your pants as well as do all the work?" One of the Slytherin boys chimed in.
"You know, just because Im blind doesn't make me stupid or inconvenienced." Ominis rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh of annoyance.
"Ominis, are you serious?" Sebastian eyed him curiously, a look of disbelief and concern painting his face. "No, no that can't be. You would've told me!" Sebastian exclaimed in a betrayed tone.
"Well, it's not like we were exactly talking then were we?" Ominis snapped back. The conversation about Ominis losing his virginity and who the lucky or according to some 'unlucky' girl was went on for sometime. Ominis maintained his discretion, never speaking about it in a disrespectful way. "And before a lot of you continue your gossip about me, I wholeheartedly agree with you, Garreth. I agree it should be with someone special.." He stopped himself from continuing, almost looking sad when he mentioned someone special.
"Unbelievable!" Sebastian sighed, resting his head in the palms of his hands. Was Sebastian jealous of Ominis? His body language completely changed at the notion of Ominis advancing in life without his knowledge.
"Oh please, why the gloom all of a sudden, Sallow?" Leander interjected..
"Honestly, we all know you were the first of all us who lost their virginity first. With uhm, Emma right?" One of the Slytherin boys commented. Poppy and I..or should I say George and I both exchanged a look before turning our undivided attention to the conversation.
"No-no-no-no, we didn't go that far!" Sebastian put a hand up, shaking his head.
"Everyone in the whole school knows he's been fooling around with the not so new fifth year, Violet!" One of the Ravenclaw's chimed in, smiling widely. "I fancy her,"he shrugged.
"You what?" I said, my eyes widening as I realized I now entered the conversation.
"Who doesn't? She's pretty, deadly in a duel and just..have you seen her?!" Another added in. My face was starting to blush, I looked down quickly to avoid any unnecessary attention to Alexander.
"Violet." Maxwell said, smiling warmly as he gazed at the stars through the trees. He never said anything more other than my name, drawing me in far too deep.
"That's enough!" Sebastian said sternly, rolling his eyes at the crew of boys. "She's mine, only mine. I won't listen to another thing about it unless one of you is feeling bold." He spat, exchanging eye contact with everyone involved in the conversation.
"Is she, Sebastian? Only yours I mean.." Ominis looked towards Sebastian's direction, a smirk pulling at his face. Sebastian squinted his eyes at him for a moment before dropping the conversation all together.
"I think she's just lovely!" Poppy said as George in a musical tone. I quickly darted my eyes over to her, shaking my head ever so slightly to get her attention. She continued on when Sebastian came over and grabbed her by the collar of George's shirt, inching close to her face.
"Say it again!" Sebastian seethed, his other hand traveling down to the hilt of his wand. Poppy's eyes had started to water, making Sebastian release her with a chuckle. "And that right here everyone is why George loses simple duels to first years. Useless tears. How ignorant!" Sebastian shook his head, sitting back down on the ground. Poppy's chest was heaving rapidly, I placed a hand on her back when I realized my actions were being judged. I quickly removed my hand and elbowed her slightly, nudging her to 'toughen up' or whatever it was that guys did.
"Sallow, can you please just tell us what you did with Emma already? Is it true what people are saying what happened over the summer at The Three Broomsticks?" Leander pleads, his face flushed from the effects of his spiked butterbeer.
"Are we seriously still on this subject, gentlemen?" Maxwell rolled his eyes. He sat leaned against a trunk of a tree, sketching in his journal.
"What? No, I don't know what you're referring to!" Sebastian objected. Some of the boys started to cheer him on, spilling details of different rumors they heard. "Fine, fine.!" Sebastian rubbed his hands together, licking his lips to prepare himself as he readied himself for a story.
"I swear to god-" I mumble to Poppy, clenching my hands into fists.
"She sent me an owl early in the summer, I was pretty depressed so I wrote to her back and forth. She asked to come visit me so of course I told her where I was staying in Hogsmeade. We sat in The Three Broomsticks together, talked and what not and you know..we went upstairs." Sebastian shrugged, taking a sip of his butterbeer. I was shaking, nervous to hear him go on with the story. Garreth had looked over at Poppy and I and looked concerned, almost as if he were not looking at George and Alexander but Poppy and Violet.
"Go on then!" Ominis said plainly, yawning into the back of his hand.
"I took her up to my room and we fooled around a bit. We made out for a while, she practically begged me to take her clothes off and I did, obviously. I touched her and she ended up..going down on me." Sebastian took a moment to collect himself, smiling proudly from the roar of the boys. "But listen, listen! It didn't go far past that, like I said. We were going to, but I just couldn't."
"You mean to tell me you had a naked girl in your room and couldn't have sex with her?" The one Ravenclaw boy said with a shocked expression. Almost in complete disbelief over what he was told.
"Yeah. Right before we started to do it Violet popped into my head and I just couldn't. I apologized to Emma, got dressed and left." Sebastian looked down at the ground, his confident demeanor changed quickly.
"Damn, when did this happen?" Leander asked innocently, almost looking at Sebastian with concern with his sudden change in behavior.
"Eh, two weeks before school? Something like that." Sebastian responded. Two weeks before school was when I received my one and only letter from Sebastian. I bit my lip and felt my eyes start to burn, the effects of the polyjuice potion would start to wear off soon and I could feel my eyes start to turn red. Did he send the letter after he almost had sex with Emma?
"I need to go, now!" I whisper to Poppy. She quickly nodded in agreement when two others had decided to leave shortly before us.
"I can't listen to you go on about this any longer" Ominis stormed off quickly, more than likely a result of Sebastian speaking about me. Maxwell got up and quickly followed after Ominis.
"I expect each and every one of you at Quidditch try-outs! That goes for you as well, Amit! Ravenclaw needs you!" Maxwell yelled out as he ran to catch up to Ominis. From the little bit I had gathered from the earlier conversation, Maxwell was the captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team.
"Alexander, George, where are you guys going?" Sebastian called. I quickly walked off from the group, Poppy by my side loyally. Garreth had been watching us leave the gathering, almost smiling. He was up to something.