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Demi was up three hours before her first class was scheduled to start: at 5 AM, with the sun just beginning to come out; which was very out of character for her. In truth, she'd been up for most part of the night, unable to sleep for a period longer than an hour before waking up and facing reality. Back home, she thought getting used to waking up early again would be a challenge, but apparently it would be easier than she imagined. Memories of her time with Kalder plagued her as she tried to fall asleep without much success: the exchanged looks, their first time talking, the flirting that went on, their first kiss, the first time he’d touched her bare skin, the first time they'd fooled around… And the day he’d thrown it all away.

Demi knew she needed to get away before her memories consumed her, so she decided to go do what she loved the most: fly.

Without a second to lose, she jumped out of bed and got dressed in comfy muggle clothes: dark blue skinny jeans, a black band T-shirt and her Converse sneakers. She tied her hair back in a French braid, taking the time to do the handiwork herself instead of using a beauty spell, as playing around with her hair was sort of therapeutic for her. Once done, she put on her four pairs of small studs on each ear, grabbed her Firebolt 3XO and sprinted off to the Quidditch pitch. 

Once there, Demi took a second to take in the smell of dew and freshly mowed grass before mounting her broom and taking off. She closed her eyes and smiled at the feeling of the cool, foresty wind around her, and how she’d left all her negative emotions back on the ground. From above, she observed the few activity on the grounds at the moment: a few thestrals taking flight from deep inside the Black Forest, a hint of a mermaid's tail on the surface of the Black Lake that quickly disappeared with a splash, and the glorious scene of the sun rising over the horizon. With the sun now up, Demi did some quick laps and twirls, singing loudly to the lyrics of her favorite American rock bands all the while. Next thing she knew it was 7:30 AM: two hours left to shower and have breakfast if she wanted to arrive to class on time.

By the time Demi returned to the classroom, most students were still asleep. This gave her plenty of time to take a long, relaxing shower in the Prefects bathroom (to which she had access to for being a Team Captain, a new privilege that had begun this school year) before getting ready for the school day and making her way back down to the Great Hall for breakfast. 

Once there, she filled her plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and toast, along with a cinnamon roll and a tall glass of milk (the effects of fasting on dinner last night had gotten to her). Her eyes wandered around the hall, and she was pleased to see that Kal wasn't around. Good. That meant she could enjoy her breakfast in peace, not tortured by the bitter memories.

When the timetables arrived, she quickly scanned through the schedule, and her heart sank.The classes weren’t the issue. Potions, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Lunch, Herbology, Charms, and History of Magic as her chosen elective, since her other available period was for Quidditch. It was the members of said classes that sent the positivity that had begun to cheer her up this morning straight to hell: three out of seven periods shared with Slytherin. By this point, Demi was hoping that Kal hadn't gotten marks similar to hers or had chosen a similar career path. If he had, they would be seeing quite a lot of each other this year: which was precisely what she- and she was pretty certain him too- wanted to avoid. Every day would feel like putting salt over a fresh wound.

Demi finished her breakfast in silence, and made her way to the dungeons where Potions, her first class of the day was scheduled to begin at 9. She was inside the empty classroom fifteen minutes early, and while she waited for her classmates, she walked to the end of the room. A cauldron containing a pink potion was seducing her, emanating the most delicious scent she had ever smelled in her life. It was a combination of all the things she loved: her mother's perfume, the sea breeze, early morning dew, broomstick wood, chocolate, berries and... She struggled to identify the last one, but then it hit her: it was the woody and spicy scent of Kalder’s perfume.

Cursing herself, Demi quickly put up a brave face just as the clock chimed nine, signaling the start of her first lesson. She looked around to see her classmates filing in and waiting for instructions at the end of the room, and she hurried away to join them.

Their Potions master, Rodolphus Blackthorn, walked in no longer after she had taken her place. He greeted them enthusiastically and announced that he had developed a new teaching strategy for this year: students from opposing houses would be assigned to work together for the rest of the school year, in an attempt to bring the rivaling houses together. At this Demi began to feel anxious. The brunette thought she had seen Kal in this group, and she closed her eyes while doing a silent prayer that she would be paired with anybody else in the world but him.

"Miss Graves?" Professor Blackthorn called out, Demi's eyes quickly opening and immediately bringing her back to reality. She raised her black-manicured hand and he nodded at her. "You and Mr. Sigourney have been assigned to Table 7."

Of course that, out of fourteen other classmates she could have been paired with, it had to be with Kalder... Taking a deep breath, Demi trudged to her assigned table, set her things in her side of the table, and focused her attention to the front of the classroom. She would show no signs of weakness even if fate was really out for her blood this year.