The bright autumn leaves scatter across the grounds in reds, browns, and yellows, painting everything in warmth. But warmth is fleeting – just another thing bound to fade. It’s not a bad season, really. It’s just that autumn has always felt like a goodbye.

Rhea doesn’t mind, though. She’s found comfort in other things: warm cocoa, thick socks, records spinning in the background, and blankets wrapped so tight they almost feel like arms around her. Those things don’t leave.

There’s also the return to Hogwarts – the laughing in corridors, the way gossip flares up like wildfire after a long summer apart. Classes start off lighthearted before slowly becoming tedious. It’s always the same cycle, predictable and safe.

And Rhea likes predictable. At least, she thought she did.

Then you appeared – sneaking into her life without warning, like you belonged there all along. Somehow, you made the routine feel new again. She wasn’t sure how it happened, only that she loved having you around. The classroom, the Great Hall, the greenhouse, Hogsmeade – it didn’t matter. But her dorm? That was her favorite place to have you, curled up on chilly autumn weekends, talking nonsense like it was your personal mission to distract her.

"You reckon the owls would start a revolution if they could?" you asked suddenly, shifting on her bed to face her.

Rhea, who had been mid-page in a book, slowly lowered it. An amused smirk tugged at her lips, but she schooled her expression into something serious. "Oh, absolutely," she murmured. "They’re just waiting for the right moment."

You grinned, and something about it made her chest ache in a way she wasn’t prepared for. So, before you could press her for more, she leaned in, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

"You’re something else," she whispered. And for once, she wasn’t sure if she meant it fondly or like you were some kind of problem she never expected to want so badly.