Okay, okay, say it all you like: I know I'm in the middle of two long stories that I really ought to work on. I don't care. I've found a new fandom. Hope you enjoy! C:
Loyalties
First Year
So, here's how it went: Gryffindors were headstrong and reckless, Ravenclaws were know-it-alls, Hufflepuffs were dumb and boring. And Slytherin was the best house. Only the purest of blood and most ambitious made it into that house.
"So make sure you're in Slytherin," Hortense Smith said to her eleven-year-old son Zacharias as they walked along Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters. "I won't settle for anything else."
Zacharias nodded seriously. "Yes, mother."
"Now, where is Erika..." she thought aloud. Soon after, she was waved down by a woman of around her own age who looked like a painting, she was presented so flawlessly.
"Hortense!" the woman said, coming over on her towering heels and embracing Zacharias's mother. "It's been too long."
"Hasn't it just, Erika," Hortense said. "This is my Zacharias," she added, gesturing to her son.
"Lovely to meet you, Zacharias," Erika said, bending down to shake his hand. Zacharias shook it solemnly.
"This is my darling Blaise," Erika said. Blaise was tall and regal, and nodded politely.
"I'll be seeing you in Slytherin, I presume?" Blaise asked Zacharias challengingly.
"Of course," Zacharias said, straightening himself up slightly.
Blaise was the strong and silent type, and after their mothers had kissed them and told them to write frequently the boys sat unspeaking across from each other in a compartment on the Hogwarts express. Occasionally Zacharias would comment on the scenery, and Blaise would say something polite but not enough to continue a conversation. After a few hours, Zacharias decided that he didn't like Blaise at all. Blaise was boring. Hopefully there'd be some more interesting people in Slytherin.
When the First Years were sent out to the lake, Zacharias and Blaise got in a boat with a small blonde girl and a bouncy, curly-haired boy, who it seemed was suffering from some form of verbal diarrhoea.
"So of course when we first got the letter, mummy thought it was just some boys from the village playing a prank on us. But then they kept coming, and so eventually they had to take my name off the list for Eton. They couldn't well ignore it after we got a visit from Professor McGonagall herself..."
"Wow," the girl said, "what's an Eton?"
The boy looked affronted. "It's only the very best school for young men in the whole United Kingdom!"
"You mean young Muggles," the girl said, giggling. "You're a Wizard now, remember?"
"Right," the boy said, blushing.
"Ugh," Blaise said to Zacharias, but loudly enough for the other two inhabitants of their boat to hear. "A mudblood."
"Don't say that!" the girl said, looking suddenly on the verge of tears.
"I bet you're one too," Blaise said tauntingly.
"I—I'm not!" she said. "But it's not nice to call people... that! I know that much!"
"Boo hoo," Blaise said, "go have a cry."
"What does that even mean?" the boy asked. "I mean, I can tell that it's not nice. That's obvious. But it can't be that bad, can it, Lavender? It's not like it's the F-word or anything."
"Stupid mudbloods," Blaise said, looking away in disgust.
"It's really bad, Justin," the girl called Lavender said. "It's worse than the F-word."
"So it's like the bad C-word?" Justin asked in awe.
"Worse," Lavender whispered.
Zacharias had kept quiet the whole time. His mother never spoke about "mudbloods" – probably because his father had been one. But if he'd come to the defence of Lavender and Justin, Blaise would surely tell all his fellow Slytherins... and then Zacharias wouldn't make any friends.
Soon they were at the other side of the lake, and Zacharias managed to slip away from Blaise, who had dashed past Justin and Lavender, avoiding them like the plague.
Compared to the cool night, the castle interior was as warm and as comforting as Zacharias's mother had described it to be, and after a brief talk from Professor McGonagall, who Justin was still boasting about having met, they were ushered into the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony.
The girl, Lavender, was one of the first to be sorted, and she was put into Gryffindor. Justin became a Hufflepuff.
By the time it got to "P" there were gasps all over the Hall as Harry Potter was called up. Of course Zacharias had heard of him – he heard his mother complaining about him and his notoriety quite frequently. It was nonsense, she said, that an infant could survive the killing curse. And by the time he was sorted into Gryffindor, there were already four boys in Slytherin.
And then it was Zacharias's turn.
He walked up to the front of the Hall and sat down. The Sorting Hat was placed on his head. He closed his eyes, crossed his fingers and wished for Slytherin.
It took a few minutes for the Hat to decide. And when it did, it felt like Zacharias's life was over, there and then.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
The Hat was removed from his head, and he stood up slowly, as though concussed. There were cheers from the Hufflepuff table, and someone gave him a prod in that general direction. Dazed, he took a seat right at the end of the table and stared blankly ahead of him.
Hufflepuff.
Bloody Hufflepuff.
His mother would kill him.
That night he chose the bed furthest away from his dormmates.
"Zacharias," Justin said, "that is your name, isn't it? You were on my boat, I think. You were the one who didn't say anything. Well, glad to see I know one person in my house!"
"You should know me," another boy said. "Ernie McMillan, ninth-generation Hufflepuff."
"Wow," Justin said, eyes wide in awe, "you're a proper wizard!"
"Being a pureblood doesn't make you a proper wizard," the other boy, Wayne Hopkins, said. "There's no difference."
"Sure," Ernie said, although he didn't look like he believed it. "Well, I think that as a ninth-generation Hufflepuff I should welcome you to my fair house."
"I HATE Hufflepuff!" Zacharias shouted loudly, climbing onto his bed and drawing the curtains shut.
There was an awkward silence, but after a while the other boys began talking in hushed tones.
Later that night, when everything had gone quiet, Zacharias buried his face in his pillow and cried.
Second Year
Zacharias had decided that he didn't need friends. No-one in Hufflepuff was very interesting - Justin never stopped talking, Wayne was a pain and Ernie was just plain boring. The girls weren't much better. Hannah, Susan and Megan didn't really want anything to do with him. And that was fine with him.
Sometimes he thought that there were three boys and three girls from Hufflepuff in their grade - and he wasn't one of them.
"Zacharias?"
As he looked up from his potions essay, it took a while to register that he was being spoken to. People weren't supposed to talk in the library.
"Oh. What do you want?"
Justin's face didn't even fall. Did he ever stop smiling? "I was just wondering if you're coming to the Duelling Club. Ernie's going to duel with Wayne, Hannah's going to duel with Susie, and Meg's sick so it's looking like she won't be coming. And, well, the thing is, you need two people to duel... so I was wondering if you'll come and duel with me... ?"
Zacharias raised his eyebrows. "Of course not."
"Oh, so duelling's not your thing? Fair enough. I can understand that. I'm really only going because Ernie and Wayne are making me. I mean, it's not really my cup of tea either - I always wanted to be a journalist as a kid. Well, obviously my parents didn't really like that. Everyone wants to say their son's a lawyer, or a doctor. But now that I'm a Wizard, well, I figure that I can do whatever I like!"
Vaguely wondering what any of that had to do with duelling, Zacharias just nodded.
"Anyway," Justin continued, "I guess I'll be heading back to the common room. Ernie's promised he'll teach me Exploding Snap. I've actually been bugging him for ages to show me how. And he's finally going to-"
At that point, Madam Pince came up and cast a very angry look in Justin's direction. He seemed to get the message, and with a smile he dashed off back to the common room.
And then a few days later, Justin wasn't talking anymore.
He wasn't doing anything.
You didn't have to have gone to the Duelling Club to know about Potter talking to the snake. Zacharias wasn't too surprised - his mother would no doubt be saying "I told you so", if Zacharias had written to her and told her.
But then for Justin to be attacked... well, that was just... it just made Zacharias feel a little odd. It wasn't that he was close to Justin - far from it - but everything felt somehow lacking without that persistent voice that just wouldn't let down.
And so one day he went to visit Justin in the hospital wing. He hadn't planned to, but he'd just been walking past, and, well, it seemed like the right thing to do.
"What are you here for?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"I want to see Justin. I'm a friend of his."
"Oh, are you?" she said. "Well, you missed out on the big party. His other friends were up here last night with their chocolates and cards." She chuckled a bit. "Anyway, come on in. But not for long, mind," she added sternly.
"Thank you," Zacharias said, consciously trying to say on the nurse's good side.
Justin was on a bed in the far corner of the hospital wing, and he was just lying there. Not even moving. Zacharais was a little taken aback by just how much the sight had winded him.
"Hello," he began, sitting down beside the bed. Madam Pomfrey had retired into her office, leaving Zacharias alone to talk to Justin, even if he couldn't listen.
"I, uh... it's really quiet in our dorm now. Ernie doesn't talk to me, you know. He'll only ever say anything to me when you're around. I think he's still mad at me for saying that I hated Hufflepuff. And Wayne's just... I'm glad he doesn't talk to me. He's such a bother. So are you, actually. You're sort of a lot more pleasent when you can't talk back. I suppose 'cause I never say anything to you, you just keep going."
Justin didn't respond. Obviously. Zacharias suddenly felt incredibly silly.
"I don't even know what I'm doing here. I'm just going to go now."
He got up to leave, forcing himself not to look back over his shoulder.
He didn't see Justin again until he was out of the hospital wing.
On the night he and the others were unpetrified, there was a feast in the Great Hall, and a large crowd assembled around Justin at the Hufflepuff table, eager to hear his story. But after a while, they began to dwindle, and just the Second Years remained. Zacharias sat just off to the side.
"And we came to visit you all the time when you were petrified!" Hannah said. "We got you all those cards, and the chocolate... did you get them?"
"Of course I did!" Justin said. "Hey Zacharias, did you come to visit me?"
"Nonsense," Ernie said, "why would he?"
"I did, actually," Zacharias said softly, and everyone turned to look at him.
"Great," Justin said, "but you didn't bring me chocolate, did you? No, wait, don't answer that. I don't want to know. I looked at it all the first thing when I woke up. I mean, a big pile of chocolate like that. How could I not? Half of it's gone a little funny. But not to worry, I'll be eating it none the less. Hope it doesn't send me back to the hospital wing!"
As the others all laughed, Zacharias smiled to himself. He wouldn't admit it, but had almost missed being talked at.
Third Year
He'd tried out for the Quidditch team in his Second Year, but in his Third Year Zacharias made it on as a Chaser.
He'd decided that he did in fact want friends. It was odd, but he was just a bit jealous. Ernie still barely spoke to him, Wayne bothered him only on necessity, and Justin was still Justin. But they all spoke to each other, and they spoke to the girls, and they even spoke to people in other houses (except Slytherin, of course). But they barely spoke to Zacharias.
Well, Justin did. But he didn't count. He spoke to everyone.
So Zacharias thought that being on the Quidditch team would help him gain some popularity. All you had to do was look at Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff side's captain, and you had a perfect example of the popularity that came with being on the team. The majority of the girls – and even some of the boys – in Hufflepuff had entirely unreasonable crushes on Cedric, and would do anything to talk to him, just so they could say that they had.
Of course, Zacharias didn't want that kind of popularity, but some people to talk to would be nice. And he had the advantage of being the youngest player on the team. Surely that would count in his favour?
Hufflepuff won their first game of the season against Gryffindor, which had been shifted forward. Usually there would have been some form of party in the common room afterwards, but things were darkened a bit by the Dementor incident. There was instead a more sombre atmosphere. Even Justin wasn't talking much.
Or maybe he was.
"They're terrible, aren't they?" he was saying as they all prepared for bed that night. "I mean, that feeling you get when they're near you... it's ghastly. I hate it. I wish they'd just go away. I mean, they're prison guards! This is a school! It sends a bad message, apart from anything else. You'd think that there was something really serious happening here."
"Justin, would it kill you to be quiet for a while?" Zacharias snapped angrily.
There was an awkward silence.
"Sure thing, Zach," Justin said. "I understand that it feels like a bit of a tainted victory for you fellows. I'll keep quiet now."
Zacharias raised an eyebrow. Not only had Justin just called him Zach, which was a bit weird, he had missed his point entirely. Then again, if it got him to shut up, what did it matter why he was doing it?
As the weeks went on, Zacharias found that being in the Quidditch team in fact had no bearing whatsoever on his popularity. The difference between him and Cedric was that Cedric spoke to people. Kindly. And that really wasn't on.
But the funny thing was, he didn't have to be kind for Justin to talk to him. In fact, he could say pretty much anything to Justin, and he'd just smile and keep talking. It was so odd.
Zacharias started vaguely wonder why he didn't consider Justin as his friend. After all, he spoke more to Justin than to anyone else.
Even if Justin was doing most of the talking.
And the more he thought about it, the more obvious it became that Justin was, in fact, his friend.
Fourth Year
Ernie, in his infinite wisdom, said that people coped with death in different ways.
Zacharias had said that when death came to him, he'd cope the best that he could but he presumed being dead would rather negate any of his efforts.
Funnily enough, no-one laughed.
Okay, so maybe the day after Cedric's passing wasn't the best time to be making jokes about the finality of death.
In all honesty, Zacharias rather agreed with Ernie's sentiments. As the days passed, he noticed distinct trends in the way people were dealing with the tragedy.
All the girls seemed to be heartbroken, their eye-candy having died, and had no inhibitions in expressing their emotions. Ernie was the one who tried to be constantly reassuring, bolstering other people when they looked a little down. Wayne was pretty much pretending that nothing was wrong. But he was a lot more silent than usual, which was good, because Wayne was a pain. Justin was coping in the only way he really knew – by talking.
Zacharias had once been told that rich English Muggles treated emotions as a necessary evil, and that in times of crisis their stiff upper lips took precedence over their feelings. That didn't seem true of Justin, though, who Zacharias gathered was from an incredibly well-off family. Justin seemed to be quite free with his emotions, and had no issues with showing vulnerability.
That became all too clear one night after the last Astronomy lesson of term as they walked back to their dorms. Justin and Ernie were talking to Hannah and Susan about – what else – Cedric. Even in death, he was more popular than Zacharias, who was lagging a few paces behind.
"I still can't believe he's gone," Hannah said. "It's just so sudden."
"And one of our own," Susan added.
"It's a great loss to Hufflepuff," Ernie said solemnly.
"You know what I hate?" Justin said. "I hate how everyone is talking like they knew him."
There was an awkward pause. They had stopped walking, and much to his annoyance Zacharias caught up.
"I mean, none of us ever spoke to him, did we? Maybe Zach would have a couple of times, 'cause he's on the Quidditch team, but have any of you really said more than a passing congratulations to him? It's not like... it's not as though..."
Without warning Justin burst into tears. "I hate how badly everyone's taking it!"
The others looked at Justin like he'd just turned into a monster, but Zacharias knew that Justin wasn't being insensitive, he just wasn't expressing himself well.
"What he means," Zacharias began, "is that he feels bad on your behalves because you're all so sad about the death of someone you barely knew. Cedric may have been popular and well-known, and even something of a symbol, but..."
Zacharias was cut off mid-explanation by Justin flinging himself upon him and sobbing into his shoulder.
"Uh..."
"You understand," Justin said, clinging to Zacharias. "Tell them, Zach. Tell them I mean it in the best way..."
Zacharias tentatively put an arm out and patted Justin on the shoulder. "They know what you mean."
By then, the others had turned and started heading towards the dorms. Zacharias and Justin were still standing there in the corridor. Justin kept crying.
"You understand," he said again, "and that's what matters, right?"
"Not really," Zacharias said. "But you shouldn't let other people bother you."
"Just because you find it so easy," Justin said, laughing slightly.
"I find it easy because I'm not a particularly nice person," Zacharias said. And he wasn't even joking.
"Yes you are," Justin said, "you're nice. But only to me, I think."
"Especially not to you," Zacharias said.
"Oh, so you don't try?" Justin asked, pulling away slightly. "That makes it special."
"I'm not nice!" Zacharias protested, pushing Justin away from him and striding off in the direction of the dorms. Justin may have been shorter, but it didn't take him long to catch up.
"You actually are."
"I'm not," Zacharias said. "Definitely not."
By the time they made it back to the dorm, they were still arguing.
"You are, you are, you are!"
"What is he?" Wayne asked.
"Zacharias is nice," Justin proclaimed loudly, "but he doesn't think so."
"I'm gonna have to go with him on this one," Wayne said, a hint of bitterness in his voice.
"Me too," Ernie said, who still hadn't really gotten over the whole "I hate Hufflepuff" incident.
Justin pouted and flopped down on his bed. "You lot can disagree all you like, but I'm still right."
Fifth Year
"Is Justin going?"
An innocent enough question, by all accounts.
Zacharias had overheard Hermione Granger talking to Ernie and Hannah about the possibility of Potter teaching a group of them proper Defence Against the Dark Arts, and he'd instantly been excited by the idea. The idea of lessons, not of the "teacher". But if that could not be helped, then it couldn't be helped.
But more importantly, it mattered whether Justin was going or not. Zacharias probably wouldn't if he didn't. And if he wasn't, he could probably make him, but that was beside the point.
So, an innocent question. With not-so-innocent motives.
It had taken Zacharias a lot of thinking, a lot of turning things over in his mind, but he'd finally worked it out. He was inexplicably attracted to Justin, he knew that much. But until a few weeks ago he'd presumed it was simply a platonic attraction brought about by the fact that Justin was really the only person to whom he ever spoke.
And then things started changing, and Zacharias began to think that maybe his feelings were a little more than just friendly.
There would be benefits to being in love with Justin – for one, Zacharias's mother would go mental if she got any hints that he was perhaps not interested in Witches and carrying on the family line with lots of little Smith children. And anyway, Justin being the amorous kind that he was, Zacharias presumed that being in a relationship with him would be just like being friends with him, only with less talking and more kissing. But still a lot of talking.
Which, surprisingly, didn't sound half bad.
Having nothing to compare it to, Zacharias couldn't be sure whether he was in love or not. But he'd be damned if he wasn't going to find out.
Which brings us back to the innocent question: "Is Justin going?"
"Well, I don't know, do I?" Ernie said, somewhat irritated. "I've only just found out about it!"
Hannah nodded firmly.
"Why don't you ask him along?" Hermione suggested. "I'm sure Justin would be interested."
"What would I be interested in?" Justin asked, sitting down across from them at the breakfast table. "Because I'm interested in a lot of things, but being spoken about behind my back isn't one of them."
Hermione proceeded to fill Justin in on the plans, in which he did indeed seem interested.
"Fantastic," he said, "I'm definitely in. I mean, the standards are clearly slipping if this school thinks they can get away with employing a teacher like Umbridge. I'd write and tell my parents, because she's a disgrace, but Eloise Midgen said that she checks everyone's mail. I mean, that's tantamount to a totalitarian regime! Nothing like that would happen at Eton."
"Right," Hermione said, looking a bit dazed. "Was that a yes, then?"
"Yes, yes, of course," Justin said. "And I'll bring Susan too. She'll love it. Thanks for this, Hermione. Although I'm sure the others would have told me even if you hadn't suggested it to them."
"Oh, sorry," she began, "I don't know his name, but the blond one down there who isn't really listening anymore wanted to know if you were going or not."
"Zacharias?" Justin said, grinning curiously. "Well, he would ask."
"What's that meant to mean?" Ernie demanded.
Justin just sighed. "If you can't work it out, Ernie, I'm not going to explain it to you."
Zacharias, who in fact hadn't stopped listening, would also have quite liked to know what Justin meant.
Sixth Year
It was all Wayne bloody Hopkins's fault.
He'd been in a huff all day after he'd overheard Michael Corner in Transfiguration, boasting about how drunk he'd been the night before. No-one else had been listening, so Wayne took it as his duty to fill them in. Michael had apparently said: "Man, I can't believe how hungover I am from last night. I challenge anyone to say that Ravenclaws don't have any fun. Heck, we're not as boring as Hufflepuffs."
Terry and Anthony had apparently laughed and agreed. And Wayne was furious.
"How dare he say that?" he ranted over lunch. "I mean, we're plenty fun!"
"Yes, Wayne," Ernie said calmly, having put up with this all day.
"You know what I'm going to do?" Wayne said. "I'm going to get so drunk tonight. Anyone who wants to join me in proving how much fun Hufflepuffs can be is welcome."
"That is so irresponsible," Ernie said. "As a Prefect, I feel obliged to inform you that there are many other ways of having fun whilst still staying sober."
"Don't you get it, Ernie?" Wayne snapped. "I want to get drunk."
"Great," Zacharias said sarcastically, "just stop talking about it and do it."
"Where are you going to get the alcohol from, anyway?" Megan asked.
"Is that a 'yes, I'm in'?" Wayne asked. "Because I just happen to have a supplier of firewhiskey in Gryffindor."
"I'm in," Megan said, grinning.
"Me too," Susan said. "I could do with a bit of fun."
"Anyone else?" Wayne said. Hannah and Ernie, the Prefects, remained conspicuously quiet.
"OKAY!" Justin said suddenly, so loudly that Zacharias, who was sitting next to him, nearly fell off his seat. "I mean, I've never been drunk before, but I've had the odd sip of alcohol. It tastes alright. And I think... well, we all need to loosen up a bit, don't we? There's nothing wrong with having a bit of fun once in a while. Oh, and Zach is coming too."
"What."
"Well, I'm not getting drunk without you," Justin said, as though it was obvious.
"Oh, fantastic," Zacharias said, "well, everyone, looks like I'll be getting wasted with you lot tonight."
"Wayne, your plan just got a lot less fun," Megan said snidely.
"Nah, I reckon Zacharias will be a fun drunk," Wayne said, smirking. "Who knows?"
Zacharias frowned. But he couldn't well back out of it – not if Justin had asked him. Damn my raging hormones, he thought to himself.
So that night, the five of them snuck out to the Room of Requirement (Susan's idea) and set up camp with several bottles of firewhiskey that Wayne had procured from his "supplier".
"So what now?" Justin asked. "Are we just going to drink? Or play 'truth or dare'? That could be fun. Then again, there's this other game called 'I Never', which some of my Muggle friends once told me about... it sounds like—"
"Justin, just shut up and drink something," Wayne said, thrusting a shot glass of firewhiskey under his nose.
Much to everyone's surprise, Justin actually did shut up. He seized the glass from Wayne and downed it in one mouthful.
"That's disgusting," he said, wrinkling his nose. "Give me some more."
By then, Wayne had poured one for everyone.
As the night wore on, they got progressively more drunk, and things got progressively sillier.
"No joke," Susan was saying, "Ernie actually kissed me at the Yule Ball.
"Even though you didn't go together!" Megan said, laughing raucously and slapping her knee.
"It was while Justin had gone off to pester Zacharias about something, and Hannah was on the loo," she added.
"I bet it was gross," Wayne said. "I bet his fat was wiggling in your face!"
Susan giggled. "Not quite. But it was pretty bad!"
"Okay, okay," Megan said, "Justin's turn. First kiss, no matter how embarrassing."
Justin's cheeks reddened. "It's really embarrassing," he said, "but I've actually never been kissed." He laughed stupidly.
"Never!" Megan shouted. "We need to fix this! Who's going to kiss Justin? Not me!"
"Not me!" Susan echoed. "I want to keep my record of only ever kissing straight men."
"I'm not kissing him," Wayne said when Megan fixed him with a look.
"Hold on just a second," Zacharias interrupted. Up until then, he had been lying on his back staring at the ceiling, feeling he had nothing much to contribute to a discussion about kissing. But something Susan had said had caught his attention. He sat upright. "What do you mean, 'only ever kissing straight men'? Are you insinuating that Justin's..."
He couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence.
"I'm sure I've mentioned it," Justin said, laughing slightly.
"You honestly didn't know?" Susan said. "But I thought it was obvious!"
"Me too," Megan admitted.
"Yeah, man," Wayne said, "even I could see his gay from a mile away."
"Huh," Zacharias said. And then he stopped talking, and the alcohol took over. "Well, if you must, I can kiss you."
Justin's eyes lit up. It seemed he didn't need to be told twice. Launching himself on Zacharias, he pinned him to the ground and pressed their lips together. It was a pretty lacklustre kiss, probably no better than how Ernie had kissed Susan. But then Justin put more force into it, drawing Zacharias's mouth open with his tongue, and then proceeding to explore further with said tongue. Without entirely knowing he was doing it, Zacharias had wrapped his arms around Justin's waist, and all too eagerly kissed him back.
It was like there were fireworks, and a choir of angels, and chords of beautiful music radiating from the sky.
That's how turned on Zacharias was.
"Okay, Justin, don't go overboard," Megan said, and Zacharias bloody well wished she hadn't, because he pulled away from Zacharias with a smirk and rolled over onto his side.
"Sorry," Justin said, possibly the shortest sentence Zacharias had ever heard coming from his mouth.
"Don't apologise," Zacharias said.
Wayne was in hysterics. "Guys, that was brilliant."
Justin ignored him. "Do you reckon we'd get caught if we snuck back to the common room now? I'm sure it'll be empty."
"We could try," Zacharias said contemplatively, "but wouldn't it just be easier to keep snogging and hope that the other three leave out of disgust?"
Once again, Justin didn't need to be told twice.
Luckily for Megan, Susan and Wayne, the Room had arranged itself so that there were several corridors and subdivisions within it, almost as if it knew where the night was headed. They swiftly took advantage of this fact.
Zacharias and Justin didn't notice.
The next morning at breakfast, suffice to say that all five of them were incredibly hungover.
"I hope you're happy," Ernie said self-righteously.
"Ernie, man," Wayne said, "you don't know what you missed out on last night. That was quite a spectacle."
"What was?" Hannah asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"Why don't you ask Justin and Zacharias?" Susan suggested, grinning wickedly.
Seventh Year
Zacharias had never been ambitious enough to be in Slytherin, purity of blood or not. He wasn't smart enough for Ravenclaw, and he certainly wasn't brave enough for Gryffindor.
But he had just the right amount for loyalty for a Hufflepuff.
He sat anxiously at the end of the Hufflepuff table with Wayne. The two of them were the only ones in their grade left – Ernie, Hannah and Susan were off with the rest of Dumbledore's Army, to whom Zacharias had gladly neglected his duties, and Justin and Megan were Muggleborn, so they hadn't been at Hogwarts all year.
Megan had written a few times towards the beginning of the year, and then her letters had just stopped coming. No-one knew what had happened to her.
And Justin? Well, he'd as good as disappeared off the face of the Earth. The hollow feeling in the pit of Zacharias's stomach had eventually been replaced by a dreadful resignation.
At least they had parted on good terms. (For "on good terms", read "after a good hour or two in a bathroom on the Hogwarts Express".)
They started to evacuate the Great Hall, moving people out to the Hog's Head through some sort of secret passageway, and Zacharias got up reluctantly. All he really wanted to do was go to his dorm and go to sleep.
And that bloody coin in his pocket was still bloody flashing.
And then it hit Zacharias – if his coin was flashing, then so was Justin's.
Well, shit.
His eyes wide, he began wading through the crowd, pushing past much smaller people.
"Where are you going?" Wayne called after him.
Zacharias didn't answer. He kept going until he was at the front of the crowd, and then dashed past the teachers, even, to get to the Room of Requirement. He scrambled in through the door, and after a quick scan decided that Justin definitely wasn't there. Next stop, Hog's Head.
There was a gap in the wall, and he decided that the secret passageway would probably be through there. Couldn't well be anywhere else.
It might have been a long way, or it might not have – Zacharias was sprinting and every second of uncertainty felt like a lifetime. He stumbled out and fell in a heap on the floor. Not stopping, he pulled himself up and ran out of wherever he was and down a flight of stairs, and into the main bar, where people were assembling to fight.
It was a crowded room, but Zacharias had no trouble picking out Justin. He was standing off to the side looking awkward. Shoving inelegantly past some disgruntled Witches and Wizards, Zacharias strode up to him and without so much as a word kissed him squarely on the lips.
"And just when I was beginning to think that it had all been a dream," Justin said, grinning stupidly, his voice slightly hoarse.
And then, for the first time since his first night at Hogwarts, Zacharias broke down and cried. He wrapped himself around Justin and buried his face in the crook of his neck, and just cried. Justin put his arms around Zacharias comfortingly, and didn't say anything. He didn't need to.
"Why didn't you write?" Zacharias asked after he had exhausted his tears.
"It was too dark in the cellar," Justin replied. "I couldn't very well go out, could I? I heard what they were doing to Muggleborns, so I got my parents to cover for me and say that I was on holiday with friends in Argentina – because I've always wanted to go there – and I hid in the wine cellar, didn't do any magic, and got blinding drunk on 1945 Cabernet every other night."
Zacharias couldn't help laughing slightly. "How did you cope without talking?"
"Shh," Justin said, "I'm making up for lost time now."
"How did you get here without magic?" Zacharias interrupted.
"I didn't," Justin said, "I Apparated. I haven't got my licence yet, but I get the basic idea. I ended up in pigsties the first couple of times, and I'm certain I splinched a curl or two."
"It's not noticeable, if that helps," Zacharias said.
"It helps," Justin said, touching a hand to his hair nervously. "So what's going on up at the school? Are we actually making a fight of it?"
By then students were starting to filter into the bar.
"The Army are," Zacharias said, "I'm not. I don't want to die. Is that selfish?"
"Not at all," Justin said softly. "I don't want to die either. I don't want you to die."
They were silent for a few moments.
"Do you trust me to Apparate to Argentina?" Zacharias asked suddenly.
"No," Justin said, "not in the least. However, I do trust you to Apparate to an airport and transfigure some leaves into money."
Zacharias nodded.
"Aren't you scared?" Justin asked. "Aren't you scared of surviour's guilt? Or missing a historic victory?"
"Merlin, no," Zacharias said, "I'm scared of death. So are we getting out of here or not?"
"You're such a Hufflepuff," Justin joked.
"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Zacharias said proudly.
And then suddenly there were two less people in the Hog's Head than there had been a moment ago.
So what did you think? A new sort of format for me, I think.
Leave a review! You're guaranteed a reply~
And now back to studying for Extension 1 English tomorrow. =D
- Legs