Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing.
A/N: as i've said in the summary, this is Hugo's story from His Gryffindor Minx. there are two sides to every story. enjoy :)
Hugo Septimus Weasley was in his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He found himself lounging in his Hufflepuff dorm thinking about how he started having a crush on none other than seventh year James Sirius Potter, his first cousin. His common sense was screaming the word 'cousin' at him, but he couldn't help his feelings. James had always been somewhat of an older brother to Hugo. Since Rose never stepped up to the plate as being an over protective older sibling, James unknowingly had in turn making Hugo crush on him.
Growing up, Hugo was an overweight child from birth. Although his family never voiced it out loud, it never boded well considering the fame they received after the second war. Before he stepped foot in Hogwarts, he had to go to a muggle elementary school. The kids were vicious with the words they aimed at Hugo. They taunted him, calling him chubby and accusing him of being a girl. His own sister, Rose, sometimes mimicked the words the kids used at the muggle school, not knowing it would have life-long effects on her little brother.
Hugo grew up around his mom and grandmother and aunts. Apparently, hanging around the female part of his family made him speak and act like a girl sometimes. His looks didn't help matters much either. He had curly red hair and soft pale skin with freckles on his nose.
When he turned eleven, he received his Hogwarts letter. He was very excited, to say the least. He thought Hogwarts would at least accept him knowing who his family was. Having arrived at the magical school, he thought wrong.
By his second year at Hogwarts, the taunts turned even more vicious. The words evolved from chubby to the word fat; from calling him a girl, now calling him a fag. He was crowned with the nickname Huge-o. 'Very original' thought Hugo, sarcastically. From all the gossip columns, all the unwanted fame from his family, all the taunting made Hugo close himself off emotionally from everyone, including his own family. He was always being put on a pedestal and judged, all the while feeling naked and vulnerable.
Halfway through second year, Hugo's knight in shining armour came in the form of brown untidy hair and light brown eyes. He was minding his own business walking down a corridor when someone shouldered him hard making him drop his books.
"Watch where you're walking, lard-o." Third year Gregory Flint said.
A second before he was shouldered, James Sirius Potter walked around a corner and witnessed the entire scene. Within seconds, Gregory was pushed up against the wall with James' wand pressed against his Adam's apple.
"If I ever see or hear you bullying my cousin again, I'll hex you so bad, you'll be sucking on your thumb in the infirmary crying for your mama. And also, pass this message along to everyone else: mess with Hugo, you mess with me. Got it?" James asked.
Gregory nodded while eyeing James' wand nervously.
While all this happened, Hugo couldn't help but notice the flash of anger in James' eyes, making it look dark brown. He had a weird feeling in his stomach, but he didn't know what. James wrapped one arm around Hugo's waist and led him to the Hufflepuff common room.
A couple months before Hugo was scheduled to attend Hogwarts, James shared a secret with him. Before sharing the secret, James stated he never shared it with anyone else. Hugo felt special for that fact. He shared with Hugo that after years of doing some digging, he noted that Hufflepuff didn't really shine in the spotlight like the other three houses did. When the sorting hat was put on his head, the thoughts of his research were on his mind and the sorting hat was surprised that he felt compassion for the Hufflepuff house. So the sorting hat asked him if he wanted to be in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. He didn't know students were allowed to choose. He chose Hufflepuff, deciding that when allowed, he'd try out for the Quidditch team and make Helga Hufflepuff proud by winning the Quidditch cup year after year.
And make her proud, he did. Since James' third year, the Hufflepuff Quidditch team has been unbeatable being the best seeker, maybe even rivalling his own father when he was attending Hogwarts.
Since James shared that little piece of information about choosing which house you wanted to be in, Hugo decided he wanted to be in Hufflepuff, close to James.
Two months before the end of Hugo's second year, James offered to help Hugo lose weight by exercising with him. Hugo didn't have to think twice before saying yes. None of his other family ever offered to exercise WITH him. James was strict with Hugo's exercise and diet. By the end of third year, Hugo was finally down to 150 pounds. A considerable change, but he still wanted to lose more weight. 120 pounds would be his ideal weight he decided. The middle of fourth year, he finally reached his goal weight. He also realized his true feelings for James too. James stood up for him when nobody else did; James helped him when nobody else bothered to; James encouraged him to keep going when he felt all was lost. James was his inspiration to wake up with a positive smile on his face, something he hasn't done in a long time.
His family noticed his weight loss and his complete change in attitude, but James kindly asked them not to question it. He did, however, explain everything, making Hermione Granger-Weasley be grateful to him for the rest of her life.
While reminiscing in bed, an eagle patronus Hugo immediately recognized flew into his dorm room.
"Hugo, I forgot which barrel to tap again. I'm stuck at the entrance. Can you please come and get me?" James asked in an irritated voice.
The patronus vanished while Hugo leapt from his bed headed up through the common room and crawled out of the entrance. He found James with his arms crossed and tapping his right foot. A strong smell of vinegar invaded Hugo's nose making him scrunch it in disgust. He took one look at James' appearance and burst out laughing, holding his stomach.
"It is NOT funny, Hugo!" James said in a dangerous voice.
"Oh, come on. You have to admit, it's a bit funny, Jamie." Hugo replied, hardly stifling a giggle.
James sighed dramatically and gave Hugo a genuine smile that reached his eyes. Hugo always liked getting this smile. It made James' eyes look like they were dancing. James grabbed Hugo around the neck with one arm and ruffled his hair with the other.
"Yeah, it is sort of funny."
"Ugh! Gross, James. You stink like vinegar. You need a shower ASAP." Hugo exclaimed.
"Pfft! You know you love me, Hugo."
"Sometimes I wonder why" Hugo teased, earning him a light punch to the shoulder.
"Come on, let's head down to my dorm. I need a shower to wash this dreadful vinegar smell out of my hair."
"You don't need me to go with you. You're perfectly fine going to your dorm alone."
James gave Hugo his best puppy dog eyes. "Aww, but Hugo I miss having your company. Please?"
"Ok ok. Only because you said 'please'" Hugo said while sticking his tongue out.
They crawled through the entrance and made their way down to James' dorm. As soon as they walked into James' dorm, James' immediately discarded his shirt making Hugo all but drool at the sight. James had a toned body from Quidditch and exercising. James' body had just the right amount of muscle in all the right places. What Hugo liked the most was James' washboard abs. He wanted to trace each ab with his tongue and savour the taste for as long as he could.
'Damn it, Hugo. Get a hold of yourself! James would never return the feelings. He's your first cousin for crying out loud' Hugo thought while mentally slapping himself.
He sat on James' bed waiting for him to be done with his shower. After ten minutes Hugo got a little bored and decided to look at James pictures and posters. He did not hear James sneak up behind him. James pressed his body into Hugo's back and Hugo tensed at the close proximity.
"Do you like my stuff? I take pride in them." James said into Hugo's ear.
Hugo felt him smile against his ear. "Yes. Where did you get these posters? And why aren't they moving like the other pictures?" Hugo asked curiously while eyeing the poster with three creatures he did not recognize.
James chuckled and replied, "Those are Egyptian God Monsters in this muggle anime called 'Yu-gi-oh'. The gold coloured monster is called The Winged Dragon of Ra. The red montster is Slifer the Sky Dragon. And the blue monster is Obelisk the Tormentor. Pretty cool, huh?"
Hugo couldn't help but admire the three monsters in question. They did look pretty cool. "Yes, you'll have to show me this yu-gi-oh anime sometime."
"For sure, Hugo." James replied while moving away to comb his unruly hair.
"It's supper time. I'm going to head up to the Great Hall. Are you coming, James?"
"Yes, you can go on ahead. I'll be there shortly."
Hugo was planning on waiting for James but he wanted to talk to Lily quickly. Lily was always too observant for her own good. She figured out from third year that Hugo fancied James. Although Hugo did not realize it at the time that he did. He found Lily sitting at the Gryffindor table talk to Albus.
"Hello, Hugo. I was just quickly saying hi to my dear sister." Albus smiled.
"Hi, Albus. Excited about the Quidditch game coming up?" Albus was in Slytherin and is one of the chasers on the Slytherin team.
Albus scowled. "No. You already know that James is going to flatten us like he does all the other house teams."
Hugo grinned like an idiot and admired James' skills. "Yeah, I don't envy you for facing off against him." Hugo replied trying, but failing, to sound sad.
"Meh. Whatever. We are still going to play our best against the Hufflepuff team." Albus said nonchalantly.
"I don't doubt that." Hugo said with a smile.
Albus bid farewell and headed to the Slytherin table to sit beside his best friend Scorpius. Hugo turned to Lily and saw that she had one earphone in her ear from a muggle iPod touch.
'Probably listening to that muggle artist Nicki Minaj' Hugo thought. She always complained to Hugo that she did not understand wizard music. She elaborated by mentioning that they talk about hippogriffs and dragons and blast-ended skrewts.
Lily started bobbing her head and singing lyrics here and there. "Shitted on em… Put your number twos in the air if you did it on em." Hugo couldn't help but giggle. The song suited her well. It was called 'Did it em'. From the first time Lily set foot in Hogwarts, she walked the halls like she owned the place. She used her family's fame to her advantage and quickly made her own clique. By the second half of her year, her clique was the 'it' group of Hogwarts. All the girls lined up wanting in.
"Are you just going to sit there or are you going to tell me what you came to talk to me about?" Lily asked yanking Hugo from his thoughts.
"Right" Hugo cleared his throat and tried to say what was on his mind but it caught in his throat. While Lily figured out his attraction to her older brother, Hugo never really opened up to her. Never let her in on his emotions. "I'm so confused what to do with James. One part of my mind tells me it's wrong. Another part tells me to just go for it."
"Why let your mind speak for you when you can just let your heart speak for you. What does your heart want, Hugo?"
Hugo shrugged. He never thought to listen to his heart.
"Well think it over and make a decision. Now move along unless you want my friends to ogle you." Lily said dismissively.
"Thanks, Lily."Hugo said while grinning.
Lily nodded curtly and put the other earphone in and started bobbing her head again.
Hugo headed to the Hufflepuff table and sat beside James.
"How is my sister doing?" James asked looking up as Hugo sat down.
"Good. I just had to ask her a quick question about an assignment." Hugo lied.
The rest of dinner, both of them remained quiet, lost in their thoughts. Hugo wondering what he should tell James. He wanted to tell James everything but also didn't want to upon fear of rejection. He also didn't want to not say anything because if he didn't make a bold move, he knew James wouldn't. Whenever he thought of it from James' point of view, he could see why James wouldn't want to confess anything for the same fears Hugo had. The fact that they were related, the fact that James would be graduating in less than two months and also the fact that James probably didn't want to get rejected either. Hugo knew James was gay. James announced it in his sixth year. Hugo did not announce that he was gay yet. It wasn't that he wasn't ready yet, it was just that he always kept things to himself most of the time.
Later on, Hugo was sitting beside James on one of the sofas near the fire.
The Hufflepuff common room is round and earthy and low-ceilinged; it always feels sunny, and its circular windows have a view of rippling grass and dandelions. There is a lot of burnished copper about the place, and many plants, which either hang from the ceiling or sit on the windowsills. The Head of House, Professor Pomona Sprout, is Head of Herbology, and she brings the most interesting specimens (some of which dance and talk) to decorate our room–one reason why Hufflepuffs are often very good at Herbology. Overstuffed sofas and chairs are upholstered in yellow and black, and the dormitories are reached through round doors in the walls of the common room. Copper lamps cast a warm light over the four-poster beds, all of which are covered in patchwork quilts, and copper bed warmers hang on the walls, should the students have cold feet. There is also a large, honey coloured, wooden mantelpiece with carvings of badgers on it. This is located underneath a portrait of the house's founder, Helga Hufflepuff. Hugo was admiring a dancing plant that was in front of the fireplace. He and a couple other students laughed at it a few times the way it wriggled and twisted.
"Hugo, could I have a quick word with you in my dorm?" James asked turning in Hugo's direction.
"Sure" Hugo replied with a small smile.
Hugo followed James to the seventh year boy's dormitory. James entered his dorm and sat on his bed and patted the spot next to him. Once Hugo was seated, James stated what he wanted to talk about.
"So, I was wondering if you wanted to spend the night with me tonight?"
This wasn't an odd thing to ask because it sorted of became a ritual since third year that Hugo would sometimes spend the night with James.
"Yeah, that's fine with me, James."
James grinned widely and ruffled Hugo's hair. "I also have something I wanted to try later after everyone is in bed."
Hugo's heart started pounding wildly. 'What does he want to try?' Hugo thought frantically. "Oh? What did you want to try?" Hugo asked nervously.
"You'll see later on" James said with a sly grin.
Hugo tried not to gulp audibly.
It was just after 1am when James shook Hugo awake.
"Wha…? James? What is it? Something wrong?"
"No, Hugo. Remember I said earlier I wanted to try something?" James had his wand lit reading the marauder's map.
"Why are you looking at the marauder's map?" Hugo asked scratching his head in confusion.
"Don't ask questions and follow me, quietly." James whispered.
"Okay…" Hugo hesitated but reluctantly followed.
They both reached a third floor corridor staircase, James all the while still looking at the marauder's map.
"Why are we here? This corridor has been banned since your dad's first year at Hogwarts."
"I wanted to try something your mom taught me, Hugo. And I wanted to try it some place that hardly anyone uses."
Hugo remained quiet pondering what on earth his mom would have taught James and not him. His thoughts were answered after about a minute of standing in the front of the staircase.
James pointed his wand at the staircase and said "Glisseo"
The staircase smoothed out and created a chute. Hugo's jaw dropped to his knees. James grinned proudly at his work.
"How…what…" Hugo could not form coherent sentences and only spluttered.
"What do you think, Hugo? Pretty cool, huh?" James said confidently, admiring his own spellwork.
"Yes!" Hugo exclaimed.
"Well, come on. Are you just going to stand there or are you going to slide down with me?" James said with a huge smile.
Hugo couldn't help but smile himself because of James' smile.
James backed up a few feet and ran towards the slide while dipping his head low. He sprawled his body out and slid on his stomach all the way to the bottom. Hugo copied his movements and slid down the slide on his stomach. James transformed the slide back into stairs and they both walked back up to the top. After reaching the top, James repeated the spell his aunt Hermione taught him and they did the exact same thing they did minutes before. This time James faced Hugo, his back towards the slide and slid down on his back. Hugo laughed and followed suit.
James cast a Tempus Charm and realized it was 2:45am, so they decided to head back to their dormitory. James had his arm slugged over Hugo's shoulder and Hugo had one hand around James' waist.
"We have to make a ritual of that, Jamie. Maybe we could even invite the rest of the family?"
"Yeah, sure. That's fine with me, Hugo."
The entrance to the Hufflepuff house is located in a nook on the right hand side of the kitchen door. Hugo tapped the barrel two from the bottom, middle of second row, in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff' and the passage swung open for them. Hugo crawled through first followed by James. Once through, they headed for James' dorm to get some sleep. James transfigured the bed wider so they could both fit. They both lay on their sides facing the other way.
After twenty minutes of silence Hugo turned in James' direction and softly said, "James, you awake?"
"Hmm? What's up, Hugo?" James softly replied.
"I had a lot of fun tonight. I just wanted to thank you, James."
"No problem, Hugo. You need more fun and excitement in your life."
Hugo remained quiet for a few minutes before continuing. "James… I just wanted to say… umm… you make me feel like I can trust you… and I feel safe around you. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that you're my best friend and I'd be willing to do anything for you…" Hugo said the last part a little too quietly but James still caught it.
"You're my best friend too, Hugo." James said happily.
Hugo breathed a small sigh of relief and said, "Night, James."
"Good night, Hugo."
A few weeks passed, in which Hugo did a complete attitude change. Never had he been so happy in his life. Nothing or no one made his smile falter. After his last class of the day, Hugo headed back to the Hufflepuff common room. Around a corner, he heard a voice he recognized. James. His smile grew wider and just as he was about to round the corner he halted.
"Yeah, he said he'd be willing to do anything for me…" Hugo thought he heard a smirk in James' voice as he said it.
Before hearing anything more, Hugo ran. He just kept running. Not caring who he pushed past or their questioning looks at his tears. He headed to the one place not many students go, the tower where the former Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was murdered. Only a few people knew the real story of Dumbledore and Snape's agreement, which included the Potter and Weasley family. All the other students stayed away from the tower, fearing somehow it might be cursed or tainted or even haunted with Dumbledore's anguished spirit. Hugo always found solace in the tower when he wanted to get away from everyone. He stood looking out over the grounds of Hogwarts; hands perched on either side of the walls, as if holding him from plunging to his death.
A million things were racing through Hugo's mind at alarming speed.'Why? Why was he bragging about it? Or was he making fun of me? Having a laugh at the pathetic human being I am?'
This is why Hugo closed his emotions off to everyone. So he would never get hurt. And now here he was. Hurt. He never felt so alone in his life. Before second year it hadn't bothered him that he was a loner. But then James came along with his smile that reached his eyes; the smile that Hugo fell in love with.
Having thought of James' smile sent a pang of hurt through Hugo's heart. It felt like someone punched him in the stomach, forcing the air from him. It felt like a devil's snare plant had constricted his chest. All the hope he had of having someone to confide in him vanished, as if a dementor lingered close by. Having thought of a dementor, Hugo wished one would just kiss him and steal all his human emotions; steal his soul, so he wouldn't have to feel so much anymore.
5 years later
Hugo moved into Grimmauld place with Lily after she inherited it from her father. He was almost finished his Healer training and Lily took her mother's old position on the Holyhead Harpie's team.
Hugo avoided James for the rest of the school year, which wasn't long because there was only a month and half left of school. James graduated that year also, making it easier for Hugo to avoid him. All the years after that, he always stayed at school every holiday except summer. And in the summers, he would just lock himself in his room. All of his family tried and failed to ask him what was wrong. The only family member that never gave up was Lily. He never bothered to confide in her though. After all, she was related to James.
In the end, he decided to move in with Lily to escape his mom's watchful eye. He didn't like being scrutinized. James tried countless times to talk to him, Hugo always denied but James never gave up. One day, Hugo found himself home alone. He heard someone come in the house, assuming it was Lily, Hugo stayed confined in his room lying on his stomach, going over his Healer notes. His exam was coming up; it was very important he passed it, because it would mean he would become a full-time Healer. He heard his bedroom door opened and looked up to greet Lily. It wasn't Lily, however, it was James. Hugo froze. James made his way to Hugo's bed and Hugo got in the sitting position and backed up against the headboard quickly, as if his paper's caught fire. James halted, hurt etched on his face. "Hugo, can we please talk?"
"I have nothing to say, James." Hugo replied with despair in his eyes at the look of James' hurt expression.
"Well, I do. So you're going to listen whether you want to or not. You've been avoiding me for five years now, Hugo. I thought we were best friends? I don't know what I did that obviously hurt you." James finished with a questioning look in his eyes.
"What makes you think you hurt me?" Hugo replied impassively.
James rolled his eyes. "Hugo, we've been best friends and inseparable since your second year at Hogwarts. I think that grants me enough knowledge to know you, the real you."
"The real me?" Hugo asked a little frightened tone to his voice.
"Yes, the real you; the one you let nobody else know, the one you hide from the rest of the world. I've been your friend long enough to know that you only let people know the person you want them to know. Not the real person who is underneath. The person I got to know. The person… I…" James trailed off.
"The person you what?" Hugo pressured him to finish.
"The person I fell in love with, okay?"
Hugo sat dumb struck for several long moments. He knew James didn't mean that in a 'family love' sort of way. He couldn't fathom just yet what James confessed to him. James, his cousin; who helped him lose all his weight, who saw past all the walls he built around himself, who stood by him since second year, who was, and still is, his knight in shining armour. Slowly, a huge smile crept up Hugo's cheeks. A smile James hadn't seen since the end of his seventh year. "I love you too, Jamie."
With that statement, Hugo leapt off the bed into James' outstretched arms. They both fell onto the bed and lost themselves in the heated loving moment.
Hours later Hugo, snuggled up in James' arms, sighed contently. "I really missed you, James."
"I missed you too, so much. Can I ask? What happened that made you pull away from me?"
Hugo hesitated. He did not really want to bring it up but thought he might as well clear things up. "It was just before the end of your seventh year. I was heading back to the Hufflepuff common when I overheard you talking to someone. I heard you say what I said to you about willing to do anything for you and I thought you were having a laugh at me. So I just bolted. I didn't want to hear the rest."
James thought for a moment and wide eyed exclaimed, "You thought I was making fun of you for saying you'd do anything for me? Merlin, Hugo, no! I was telling Albus how honoured I was that you told me that. So wait, you're telling me we lost five years, FIVE YEARS HUGO, of not being able to do this because you had jumped to conclusions?"
Hugo hid his face sheepishly into James' chest before mumbling, "Yes."
"That's it. You asked for it!" James flipped Hugo over onto his back and started furiously tickling him.
Another Author's Note: just for reading this, you get a glimpse into the future of His Gryffindor Minx =D
Rose tried shooting another spell at her attacker, but her attacker just laughed and deflected the spell.
"You're weak. And you're supposed to be top in our class? Now here you stand, the Great Rose Weasley, weak and pathetic. I should just crush you like the weasel you are."
"I never claimed to be great. You're the one that thinks so highly of me."
"SHUT UP!"
The attacker slashed their wand and Rose felt like a brick hit the inside of her stomach.
"If you're going to kill me, then just kill me already. Why drag it out?" Rose spread her arms, waiting for death. She accepted it, decided to just embrace it. There was no way she was going to win this time. There was no way out.
"Hmm. You do have a point. Why ask for your death though? Obviously I'm not going to be blamed for your death. Nobody knows we're here."
"You're not going to get away with this. Even if you do manage to pull off making my death look like an accident, you'll be a prisoner within your own mind anyways."
"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"Why should I tell you? You're not going to spare me. Just kill me and be done with it."
"Fine by me."
As her attacker raised their wand, the only thing Rose could think of was Scorpius. She didn't even get a chance to tell him she loved him. She looked towards the ceiling as she waited. Her last words were "I love you, Scorpius." There was a flash of green light as her attacker muttered the words,
"Avada Kedavra!"
Oh my! Go read His Gryffindor Minx if you haven't already :)
o.O