HP: The Stellar Witch [OFC]

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The holiday passed swiftly. When reading lost its appeal, Lys would take the piglet to practice Transfiguration and Charms under the beech tree. When even that became tedious, she'd retreat to the kitchen, wielding a knife to prepare ingredients - leading some students to discover unusually cut vegetables in their holiday meals.

The house-elves were positively distraught that a witch was performing their duties - house-elves should serve wizards, not the other way around, and certainly not young witches! They were on the verge of self-punishment when the holiday mercifully ended.

Lys took the piglet to visit El, and upon hearing about the holiday drama, El launched into an enthusiastic gossip session.

"You see, there's a strict hierarchy among pureblood families. Currently, the Blacks and Malfoys are at the pinnacle, and the Lestranges you mentioned are similar, just with less historical prestige."

"That dull-witted Carrow comes from a minor family with dubious bloodline credentials. She has no standing to even speak those families' names, yet she dared such insolence. Probably driven mad with jealousy over Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy's engagement."

El continued between bites of the roast chicken leg Lys had prepared in the kitchen, praising its flavor while sharing more gossip.

"And here's the real scandal - Bellatrix Black is already engaged to the Lestrange heir. They'll likely marry within two years. Carrow essentially dug her own grave by slandering the Blacks in front of a Lestrange."

"Indeed! Jealousy must have addled her wits. After all, Senior Narcissa is absolutely radiant, and though I hate to admit it, El, that Sirius Black is rather handsome too. On Valentine's Day, when I saw him drowning in love letters and chocolates, his ego nearly touched the stars."

Lys listened intently while savoring the quill-shaped lollipop El had given her. These matters were fascinating - they'd be even more entertaining if they didn't involve her personally.

Finding gossip irresistible, Lys became another keen observer in the Slytherin common room.

After lingering too long with El, Lys noticed the wall carvings chatting with portraits and yawned, realizing bedtime approached - Potions class awaited tomorrow.

At the common room entrance, Lys uttered "Pure-blood," but the wall remained obstinate. After two attempts, realization dawned - they'd changed the password on term's first day.

She'd neglected to check the notice board earlier. As prefects had warned new students - if you don't know the password and no one passes by, prepare for a night in the dungeons.

Lys adjusted her cloak, surveyed the stone floor, then wrapped herself in her school robes and settled onto an armor's pedestal around the corner. She absently traced the calluses on her fingers, earned from weeks of handling the silver knife during potion ingredient service.

Now she could only hope for luck - perhaps some late-returning seniors or night-wandering students would appear.

While contemplating her final week of potion service, recalling all the ingredients she'd learned about and wondering if Professor Slughorn would continue sharing his pineapple preserves, she heard approaching footsteps. She attempted to stand to make her presence known and hopefully learn the password.

But her legs, numb from prolonged sitting, betrayed her, and she stumbled to her knees. By the time she'd freed herself from both the numbness and her tangled robes, she witnessed something utterly shocking!

Senior Narcissa and Senior Malfoy were locked in a kiss - his teeth gently catching her lower lip, which turned brilliantly red when released!

Lys hastily retreated under the armor. Had Senior Narcissa lost some sort of kissing game? But why did she seem so... Lys couldn't quite describe it, but she certainly appeared pleased.

Only after the seniors had disappeared into the common room, hand-in-hand, did Lys gather herself enough to mimic Senior Malfoy's pronunciation and finally slip into the common room herself.