i.
"Where am I?"
Quinn almost sighed with relief. Almost.
If it were anyone but Quinn Grey, they would've laughed hysterically {happily} at the fact he was alive. If it were anyone but Quinn Grey, they would've cried with relief.
But this is Quinn, and Quinn is not free and open with her emotions.
Instead of answering his question, Quinn stood up from her seat in the Hospital Wing, by his bedside. Her tone was even, emotionless {disconnected}. "I'll go get Nurse Pomfrey." No, 'James', no 'Potter', no 'James, you git!'. Only, 'I'll go get Nurse Pomfrey'. Nothing personal. As if she hadn't sat at his bedside for the last forty eight hours, biting her lip and living off of the coffee Al brought her. Like he hadn't broke her heart when he flat lined. Twice.
No. Nothing personal at all.
"Hey, Quinn..." his voice was rough and low from disuse - he'd been in a coma for two weeks, God damn i-
"Yes?" her voice drips with annoyance, the first emotion she's shown since he's woken up.
He gives her the same crooked - lopsided - {lovely} grin he gave her when they first met. "You really do care for me, don't you?"
ii.
Quinn always hated September.
School starts and it was too hot for snow but too cool for it to really feel like summer. So, yes, Quinn really hated September. Anyway...
It was September First, 2015, and already, Quinn was ticked off.
She blamed James Sirius Potter.
Look, it was not her fault she kicked him in the groin - it was all his! He was the {chauvinistic - chivalrous - irritating - handsome} one who asked if she needed him to be her hero! {Quinn Grey was no damsel in distress.}
Fuming, she waited in line to be sorted.
"Grey, Quinn!"
Calmly {nervously}, she strode {scurried} up to the hat.
Minutes {two} later, the hat screamed her verdict. "GRYFFINDOR!"
Quinn stood up, mumbling to herself as "Goldshire, Ian!" was declared a Hufflepuff.
Mum and Dad said Ravenclaw.
Oh, no...
She bit her lip all through "Perkins, Martha!" until -
"Potter, James Sirius!" is announced {In less than a second} "GRYFFINDOR!"
Quinn groaned quietly.
James slides into the seat in front of her. "Still up for that hero offer?" he whispers as "Thomas, Alison!" is called to the stool.
"No!" she whispers back.
iii.
"Quinn!" They're in third year now and Quinn just wants to sleep because, legit, Jake Wood {chaser, sixth year} is a total slave driver Quidditch Captain.
She sighs as her fellow Beater runs up to her.
"Hogsmeade's this weekend and-"
"No." Her tone leaves no debate. She's heard this question thirty times this month.
"But-" James doesn't get it.
"No." 'Temper, temper, Quinny,' {oh how she despises that name} Mum would have chastised her.
"Quinn, come o-"
"No! No! No, Potter! I will not go out with you!" her fist twitches and oh shit did she just break his nose oh God she just did.
He tries to laugh it off and ask her out again as hiscousin {Molly} heals his nose. Quinn storms off.
iv.
Boys are confusing, she decides.
It's fifth year and James is still as annoying {charming} as he was as a first year with a hero complex, but things {Quinn} have changed.
No longer the spitfire who let her emotions run wild, Quinn is guarded. Almost jaded, and almost disowned.
{almost, almost, almost}
She watches her parent's marriage {almost, not quite} fall apart. She almost loses faith in people. She's almost disowned for speaking up and being a Gryffindor, for being a Beater, for being Quinn. She almost never shows emotion with everyone.
{everyone but him}
She's not quite sure what she is to him. He's her best {only} friend, and they fight worse than Slytherins and Gryffindors, flying fists and insults and broken noses {three for him and one for her}, but they always lean on eachother. He steals kisses from her {he stole her first kiss - December fourth, 2018 - it earned him broken nose number two} and flirts with her but he does that to everyone.
Boys are confusing.
v.
"Room of Requirement, midnight. You up for it?" It's June and it's Friday and OWLs are over.
She almost says 'yes'.
She contemplates giving that up to him, to mean more to him than a best friend for a night {a few hours}.
Except it would mean more to her than him and in the morning, she'd still just be 'Quinn, the best friend', not a girlfriend, only a lover for a couple of hours.
"No," she says. Her voice is hard and emotionless. She's never like that with him.
vi.
It was a bet.
They were nearing the end of seventh year {adulthood} and she bet he couldn't do a certain Quidditch move.
He {almost} did it.
One hand on the broom, whacking a bludger across theentire pitch, completely vertical. He does the three flips backwards and -
He falls. He loses his grip from a hundred feet in the air.
She slows his fall with a spell but he hits the ground anyway. She yells for Albus to get Madam Pomfrey with all her Head Girlishness.
He's in a coma for two weeks and almost flatlines twice.
{'Almost,' she murmurs bitterly. 'Almost.'}
vii.
She almost says 'yes, you bastard, of course I care. I almost sorta maybe love you'.
But she is Quinn and she was almost never one for almost love confessions.
She always liked and hated bittersweet endings.
Almost, she thinks. Not quite the right time for confessions of an onesided almost love.
"No," she answers him.