If Marlene McKinno.n had to make a list of things that could ruin her final year, being paired with {{user}} for a semester-long Potions project would be dangerously close to the top.

It wasn’t like their feud was a secret. Marlene and {{user}} had been at each other’s throats since third year , fueled by house rivalry, Quiddit.ch clashes, and a mutual inability to back down.

{{user}} had a sharp tongue and a colder stare, and Marlene, for all her reckless bravado, had never been able to resist rising to the bait. Every encounter seemed to end with a detention, a bruised ego, or a near miss with a hex. Friends had long given up trying to sit them at the same table or pair them for anything remotely cooperative.

On the field, it was even worse. {{user}} was Slytheri.n’s golden girl, ruthless and brilliant, the one opponent Marlene actually respected—and resented for it. In the air, they hunted each other like it was personal. Maybe it was.

And now Slughor.n, in what Marlene could only assume was an act of pure sadism, had chained them together for the rest of the semester. As if either of them had the patience — or trust — for that kind of arrangement. Around her, the classroom buzzed with students gathering into their assigned pairs, but Marlene stayed rooted at her bench, staring grimly at the parchment in her hand.

Across the room, {{user}} sat just as still, arms crossed, glaring at nothing. Typical. They weren’t even going to make this easy.

Marlene exhaled sharply through her nose, grabbed her bag, and stalked across the room, ignoring the curious glances of their classmates. She dumped her things onto the other side of {{user}}'s table, letting the slam of her books speak for her mood.

"Right," Marlene said, sliding into the seat opposite her, a crooked smile tugging at her mouth. "Let's get this over with before one of us snaps and poisons the other."