Bondesy

by helladrarry

jadesy version.

September 29 - October 1

Day 1, Tuesday

...the hell was that?

Jade swam back into awareness, finally focussing on something. The ceiling. The very familiar ceiling of... the hospital wing.

Damn, not again, was her first thought.

How did it happen this time? was her second.

Quidditch? No, she wasn't wearing Quidditch gear, and didn't hurt anywhere other than her head. Not the scar itself but the general area around her... actually, all over her head. Pounding pain behind her eyes, in the back, near her neck...

She heard a faint moan, realized she hadn't made it, looked for its source.

Nelson. Groaning and looking like she'd just come to, in the bed to the right of her. Promptly surrounded by a press of adults - Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore, Lucius Nelson- what?

"Jade!" Pomfrey glanced over at Jade as a familiar voice spoke from the left side of her bed. Jade turned quickly.

"Professor Lupin?"

Lupin smiled. "How do you feel?"

"Like I need a chocolate," Jade said, disoriented, and Lupin smiled. "What happened?"

Lupin reached into his pocket, taking out a square of chocolate and placing it on the bed next to Jade as Madam Pomfrey bustled over to her

"How are you feeling, Thirlwall?"

"Fine, I think - my head hurts a bit," Jade began, and she nodded briskly.

"That's to be expected, you were knocked out cold. Here, sit up," she motioned, and put a small bottle of potion on the table next to her bed. "Eat up that chocolate and drink what's in the bottle. What do you remember?"

Jade sat up slowly, still confused. There seemed to be a great many people around - not just Dumbledore, Pomfrey, Lucius Nelson and Lupin, but McGonagall and Snape as well - and he couldn't focus on any one voice. What was going on?

"Not much - I, I was leaving a classroom, I think..."

"What curse?" Nelso's voice rose from other bed and she sat up. Jade frowned as a rustle of unease went through the adults around her, none of them seeming to want to answer. "What curse?" Nelson demanded again.

"Girls," Dumbledore said slowly, "I'm afraid you've been... well, bonded."

Silence.

"What?" Nelson said weakly.

"A bonding spell was on a door you both went through, set to go off in the presence of high emotion. When you walked through it, you were arguing about something, and..."

"No. God, no," Nelson looked at the adults, her eyes growing wider as each face mirrored the sombre look on Dumbledore's. "That - that's not possible." She stared at her father, who pressed his lips together and nodded. Silence. "That's... that's fucking - that's insane! No!"

"Jesy-" her father began, and Jade felt a flicker of fear as Nelson interrupted him and scrambled off the bed.

"No! You can't be serious!"

"Mrs. Nelson, I'm sorry, but we're absolutely sure," Dumbledore said.

"Fuck! NO!"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Jade broke in. "What bonding spell?"

Nelson gaped at Jade. "A bonding spell, you fucking idiot."

Jade glanced from Nelson to the adults, utterly lost and also more than a little bewildered that no one was saying a word about Nelson's foul language. She would have expected her father at least to reprimand her, but Lucius was looking shaken, almost ill, nothing like the cold collected authority figure she had always been.

"But what - what does that mean?"

"You don't even know - oh, wonderful," Jesy slammed her fist into her night table and turned away in disgust.

"Thirlwall, bonding is wizard marriage-" Pomfrey began, and Nelson interrupted her.

"It's a fucking marriage curse, Thirlwall," Nelson spat. "The curse was on the door, we got caught in it, we're married. What part of that is too difficult for your little Gryffindor brain to grasp?"

"But how can - marriage isn't a curse, how can-"

"Thirlwall. Let me explain," Professor McGonagall said firmly. "In the wizarding world, a marriage is not a marriage until a bonding spell has been cast, binding the two spouses together. Normally this is done voluntarily, much the same way that Muggles make vows-" Lucius made an indignant sound in his throat but didn't interrupt her, "-but unlike Muggle vows, a bonding spell imposes certain behaviour on the spouses. And unlike Muggle vows, a bonding spell can be cast as a curse, without the consent of the two parties. It is of course absolutely illegal to cast such a curse, but it is still binding on the parties."

Jade frowned at her, utterly baffled. A curse that forced people to be marriedagainst their will? It sounded like a bad joke. She quickly glanced around the hospital wing, hoping to spot the Weasley twins cackling at the success of their latest hallucination gag.

No such luck. "But that's ridiculous. Love potions, I understand, but how you be forced to be married?"

"The spell compels you to act as spouses. For the first months of the marriage, you need to live together, be near one another almost constantly, do everything a married couple does, or suffer consequences."

"Everything - no, wait-"

"No, that does not always mean consummating the relationship sexually," Pomfrey cut in matter-of-factly. "People can be bonded without being married - it happens with twins sometimes, or very close friends who've decided to enjoy the benefits of a bond without the sexual aspect. But the majority of bonds are also sexual in nature, unless there is a good reason for them not to be."

"Such as hating each other?"

"That's not normally a problem," she said bluntly. Jade gaped at her.

"Mordred, close your mouth, Thirlwall, you look even stupider than usual," Jesy snapped.

Jade ignored her. "But why would anybody consent to that?"

"There are benefits, of course. Heightened magical powers, that sort of thing. As well as everything else that applies to non-bonded marriage, like companionship, friendship, emotional balance."

"But how can any of that happen if you don't even want this in the first place?"

"The bonding spell helps bring about those benefits by imposing behaviour likely to foster them. Most marriages start from at least the willingness to enter into the marriage, but it's not impossible to make a marriage work out of a forced bonding."

"How?"

"Because you have no choice about the matter, so you make it work," Snape said curtly. "Muggles think it imperative to start with flowers and romance and sickly sweetness to create commitment. Wizards know better."

"How would you know?" Jade snapped before she could stop herself or say it in a semi-respectful tone. But Snape didn't seem to notice.

"Though it is absolutely no business of yours, I was married, Thirlwall. For seven years, happily, to a woman I hardly knew when we bonded."

Nelson glared at him. "That's completely different!"

"Many wizard marriages start out with nothing else, Jesy," Lucius said quietly and Nelson glared at him too. "You know your mother and I barely knew one another before our bonding. You knew something like this would happen some day, you had agreed to marry whomever we chose for you-"

"I agreed because it was supposed to be an alliance that would benefit the family, and, and I knew you wouldn't force me to marry somebody I despised and-"

Lucius grimaced and shook his head. "I know. But you don't have a choice. Calm yourself down-"

"Don't fucking well tell me to calm myself down!" Nelson shouted, and Lucius frowned at her, standing up.

"She's upset, Lucius, she needs time to-" Snape started to say but Lucius cut him off, facing his daughter sternly.

"Jessica! You are upset, I can understand that, but that is no excuse for-" Lucius tried to put a quelling hand on Nelson's shoulder but gasped and pulled back as Nelson flinched and cried out in pain. "I'm - I'm sorry, I forgot-" he put his hand out, not touching Jesy, who stared at him in dismay. "Sit down. Please."

Nelson dropped into a chair, jaw set and hands still clenched.

"I'm sorry," Lucius said softly, and his words and manner chilled Jade thoroughly. She'd never seen Lucius Nelson treat his daughter with anything other than cold reserve, and yet here he was, the very picture of a concerned father, looking like he wanted to comfort his daughter but was unable to figure out how. Oh god. "Jesy, I'm sorry," Lucius repeated.

Nelson put her elbows on her knees and leaned forward, her head in her hands. Jade looked from one adult to another, her dread growing at their resigned, mournful expressions.

"Wait - don't wizards ever get unbonded?" Jade asked desperately. "Divorced?"

"Both parties must agree to dissolve the bond-" Snape began.

"I think we can safely say we'd both agree-"

"-and only the caster can break the spell. It isn't normally a problem because the casters are the pair in question, but in the case of an involuntary bond..."

"You mean whoever did this to us has to break it? We can't break it ourselves?"

"It's fascinating just how long it takes to get such simple concepts through your thick head, Thirlwall," Nelson spat, not raising her head from her hands.

"You can rest assured that we will do everything possible to find the person or persons responsible," Snape said, "but the odds of doing so are remarkably slim, unless someone were to step forward and confess. This is a highly illegal spell, Mrs. Thirlwall. Nobody will admit to having cast it. And whoever did so will almost certainly cover their tracks."

"But... but I'm not even a lesbian!"

Nelson rolled her eyes as her father made another tsk of distaste. "Honestly, Muggles," Nelson sneered.

"We understand that in the Muggle world there is some confusion about sexual relationships between people of the same sex," Pomfrey began, "but in the wizarding world-"

"I've never heard of a single married lesbian couple in the wizarding world!"

"You have not been part of our world for long," McGonagall said, "and you have been at school where most of the people around you are not married. It's rare but not unheard of. It's true that many people feel that it isn't terribly responsible of wizards to marry somebody of the same sex, as our birthrates are not as high as they should be, but we don't have the kind of blind prejudice that the Muggle world has."

"'I'm not even a lesbian'" mimicked Nelson nastily. "Honestly, how completely Gryffindor to focus on the least relevant problem."

"So what's the most relevant problem? The fact that if I have to live with you, I may very well kill you?" Jade shot back.

"That is not a laughing matter, Thirlwall," McGonagall said firmly. "Part of why involuntary bonding spells are so very illegal is that they can result in the spouses murdering one another. It is an extremely stressful situation to be subjected to. You will both need to be closely monitored to make sure that the... animosity between you does not get out of hand and result in serious injury to either of you."

"That doesn't seem like such a bad solution right now," Jade muttered, and Jesy rolled her eyes.

"Just how stupid are you, Thirlwall? Because you're really reaching new heights here-"

"Mrs. Nelson" McGonagall cut in. "Kindly shut up." She turned to Jade. "While the bond is new, you are highly attuned to one another's emotions and well-being. If one spouse dies or is seriously injured, the shock is usually enough to kill the other. Especially if the other spouse is the cause of that death or serious injury."

Jade sat back limply.

There was a long silence, finally broken by McGonagall.

"Ladies, I think this will take some time for you to accept. I believe it would be best if Madam Pomfrey explains some of what you can expect to go through, while we discuss how best to get you through it in one piece."

"You mean you're going to discuss without us-" "You're going to decide-" both girls spoke over each other in their indignation, and Lucius Nelson broke in.

"Jesy, you're hardly in a position to make any decisions right now. You don't even fully understand what a bonding spell entails," he pointed out.

"That doesn't mean you get to decide everything for me!" Jesy said hotly, and her father's eyebrows climbed up in surprise. So did Jade's. As far as she'd ever seen, Nelson's father did decide everything for his daughter, right down to which classes she took and which people she socialized with. Jesy had to be in severe distress to even think of rebelling against that.

"Ladies, nobody will be making any decisions for you," McGonagall said reasonably. "We will simply discuss possibilities until you can join us with better information about your situation and take part in the discussion." Lucius stared at her in surprise as well, and a distant part of Jade's brain reflected that it was actually rather gratifying to see him so off-balance. If Jade hadn't been utterly off-balance herself, she would have found Lucius Nelson's expression downright hilarious.

"It's all right, Jade," Lupin said gently. "Go, listen to Poppy."

ooooooo

Jade climbed into her hospital bed a few hours later, still in a state of numb semi-shock.

Following an extremely disturbing information session with Pomfrey, they'd returned to the adults and worked out the practical aspects of how to live in constant close proximity. Jade was glad Dumbledore had thought to call Remus Lupin in, as the closest thing to a parental figure Jade had at the moment. She'd relied heavily on Lupin' steadiness and good humour through the process of working through their school schedules and living arrangements, the highly distressful discussion about Quidditch, and the growing realization that this was really, really not a joke.

Perrie and Zayn, when she'd finally seen them a few hours later, had not been as comforting, through no fault of their own. Their relieved expressions upon seeing her safe and well had changed into horror as they learned of the curse; Perrie more so than Zayn, because she'd been raised knowing what a bonding spell was. She'd known enough, for example, to knock Zayn's hand aside when he reached out to give Jade a hug; the curse was supposed to make anybody's touch but a spouse's quite painful for the first few months. But otherwise, they hadn't known what to say to Jade, and their worried and hostile glances at Nelson, who sullenly ignored them, made Jade all too aware that this was one of her worst nightmares come to life. He hated Nelson as much as Perrie and Zayn did. But unlike them, she couldn't just walk out of the room and avoid her.

Nelson hadn't asked to have any of her friends visit her in the Infirmary.

Luckily, Jade hadn't had to face stares at the Great Hall, as their dinners were brought to the hospital and they ate as far apart as they could. In fact, so far Jade really didn't see why they couldn't go back to their dorms, as they didn't seem to need to be that physically close. Pomfrey had assured them, however, that actually being in different rooms would be very painful.

And so now here they were. Getting ready for bed, in the hospital. So far they had at least agreed on one thing: they both wanted to carry on as before as much as possible. No taking a few days off to come to terms with this or get to know each other better or any of the other suggestions the adults had made. The Heads of the houses would be explaining the situation to their students tonight after dinner, to answer questions and deal with any misinformation, and they would be going back to classes tomorrow and moving into their own rooms after school.

Jade glanced at Jesy, who was already in the next bed and staring up at the ceiling expressionlessly. By tacit agreement, they hadn't said much to one other, except for small snipes as they listened to Madam Pomfrey.

Jade lay down in her own bed, staring at the ceiling herself, thinking of Pomfrey's information. Roughly five or six months of forced contact. Having to be in the same room, within roughly six to twelve feet of each other, to the point that being too far apart would cause them extreme discomfort and eventual collapse if they ignored the urge to come back to each other. Needing to touch every few minutes. Slowly growing sexually aware of one another, then needing sexual contact, within a few weeks of the spell being cast. Being attuned to one another's moods, so that physical or emotional pain or discomfort for one would result in pain and discomfort for the other.

Brilliant. Just brilliant. One of Nelson's chief pleasures in life seemed to consist of making Jade feel pain and discomfort. Jade would've been quite pleased at the thought of that backfiring on Nelson if she hadn't been self-aware enough to know that causing Nelson to feel bad also held a great deal of appeal for her.

And she didn't even want to think about the whole "contact" thing.

So. Tomorrow was Wednesday. Double Potions, first thing in the morning, the same mixed-house class as always. Then, instead of Muggle Studies, she'd attend Transfiguration with the Slytherins and Ravenclaws, then lunch, then back to her own Gryffindor Charms class, with Nelson now tagging along. Then off to Nelson's Arithmancy class. Thankfully, Zayn was taking that class too, so he could keep her company and help her catch up. Then for last period she'd be sitting in Nelson's Ancient Runes class but working on Astronomy, as they'd been unable to compromise on those two and had decided to see if they could just attend their current classes every other day. They were fairly easy classes anyway.

God, how had the world changed so dramatically in one short moment.

Jade sighed. She wanted to be back in her dorm room listening to Perrie and Dinah and Nicki' bedtime routines. She wondered what her roommates were doing right now. Were they discussing her? Upset that, just like that, Jade was out of their dorm room and off the Quidditch team? Talking about what it would be like to have to have bloody Jesy Nelson around every time they wanted to see Jade? Wondering what she was doing? Missing her?

She certainly missed them. Missed her home. Missed everything.

Jade turned over, her back to Jesy, and tried to make herself go to sleep.

ooooooo

Day 2, Wednesday

Jesy opened her eyes, momentarily disoriented. Where she - oh.

Oh, god. She closed her eyes tightly, willing herself back to sleep, desperately hoping she could somehow make whatever she'd been dreaming about real, and this morning's reality a nightmare only.

She opened his eyes again. No. No such luck.

She looked over at the next bed. Thirlwall was still asleep, her face peaceful and relaxed, and Jesy was seized with an almost overwhelming urge to hit her. Hard. For daring to look so untroubled when here they were, in the hospital, facing the first day of the rest of their lives bloody well shackled together.

Jesy turned his back to Thirlwall, hoping she could convince herself that she was just in the hospital due to a Quidditch injury. Pushed that thought away, because that made her think about Quidditch and that was too painful to deal with first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, just about everything else that came to her mind was also too painful to deal with first thing in the morning.

And it was odd, she thought, how her mind couldn't seem to decide between frantically skittering away from the memory of Pomfrey's information session last night, and rehashing it in excruciating detail. Especially the part about eventually needing to touch one another - and Jesy's mouth twisted in disgust, as she felt absolutely no desire to touch Jade right now in any way other than violently. But apparently they'd feel compelled to touch, casually at first, then for comfort, and then, eventually, in a sexual manner. Jesy grimaced at that thought too. Not a good image, that one. Not that touching another girl that way was all that disgusting a concept, but Jade Thirlwall of all people. God, how revolting. Only marginally better than touching a Mudblood.

Jesy sighed and closed her eyes again. It could have been worse, she tried to tell herself. She could have walked past that bloody door arguing with Zayn Malik.

Actually, no. There wasn't any way of making this any better. Malik would've been awful and a horrible embarrassment to the pure-blooded Nelson family, but in the end he was just a Mudblood. As long as Jesy didn't have children with him (and she would have made sure she didn't) he would've been tolerable. He wasn't the enemy of their family's Lord.

Jesy couldn't imagine how their family would survive this blow. The Dark Lord surely wouldn't feel he could trust Lucius' loyalty to remain unshakeable. Maybe, in a few years, when the spell had worn down a little and the bond was less raw, it would be possible for Jesy to survive with few ill effects once Voldemort vanquished Thirlwall. But... the confrontation was supposed to happen soon. And Voldemort would surely not totally trust a man who knew that his only daughter might die if Thilwall was killed or injured.

So much for Father's position as Voldemort's right-hand man.

God, this was so utterly horrible.

"All right then, ladies, time to wake up," Madam Pomfrey bustled into the room and Jade woke up. Jesy watched her face go through the same disorientation, followed by sinking realization of where she was and what that meant. Thirlwall glanced over at her and they shared a blank look of distaste. Jesy looked away.

"Now, I'll just have a look at you both-" Pomfrey took out her wand and waved it over Jesy and she flinched a little, alarmed. "Just a quick once-over, Mrs. Nelson... you seem fine..." she turned to Thirlwall and repeated the movement, "As do you... how did you sleep?"

"Er, fine," mumbled Thirlwall. She looked at Jesy and she nodded.

"Separately?"

"Yes!" they both snapped in identical tones of embarrassment and irritation.

Pomfrey fixed them both with a level gaze, "I have to ask. I'm monitoring the state of your bond. In the next few months I will be asking plenty of questions that you will find intrusive and possibly embarrassing, and you had better get used to it." She clapped her hands and a couple of house elves appeared with breakfast trays, two others with small piles of clothing and books. "Here are your books and clothing, showers are in there," she pointed, "and you've got forty-five minutes until class. Any questions?"

Jesy and Jade stared at her.

"Right then. Hurry up, ladies," she bustled off.

ooooooo

Snape didn't glance at them as they entered his Potions class and had a battle of wills as to where they would sit. They had been mostly speaking only in monosyllables until this point, save for an occasional, "Hurry up," or "Get out of my way."

"Come on," Jesy hissed impatiently, not liking the fact that their classmates were trying to look like they weren't staring at them.

"No," Thirlwall muttered back. "I want to sit here."

Jesy didn't bother to consider it. There was no way she was going to sit next to the Mudblood and the Perry. "Don't be ridiculous."

"You go sit wherever you want," Thirlwall hissed, setting her books down with a thump next to Malik. "I'm sitting here." Jesy narrowed her eyes, not wanting to give in, then looked at her regular desk, mentally measuring the distance.

Maybe twelve, fifteen feet or so. Fine, then. She stalked over to it and sat down next to Normani, ignoring Normani's startled expression and returning his fellow Slytherins' hesitant greetings with a curt nod.

Halfway through the class, she was almost ready to admit this had been a bad idea. What had started as faint unease had turned into annoyance, then an itching feeling like she needed to go sit next to Thirlwall. The feeling was growing stronger and she was becoming unable to concentrate on the lesson. Snape was saying something about how you had to dry some plant... what was it... to prevent some potion from doing... something...

Brilliant, Jesy thought. Very precise. She made herself focus on Snape despite the growing irritation. It felt like she was being surrounded by buzzing bees. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the feeling. No, that didn't work. She rubbed her eyes, letting out a small breath of annoyance.

"Jesy? You all right?" Normani said quietly.

"Yeah," she muttered, forcing herself into stillness.

Get up. Get up, walk to the back of the class, tell Malik to move, and sit. You'll feel better.

She ignored the little voice, blew out her breath again and focussed on Snape.

"The hollyhock must be used within three days of harvesting, who can tell me why?" Snape glanced over at Jesy, his eyes narrowing briefly. He flicked his gaze over to the back of the room, then back to Jesy. Jesy tensed, hoping Snape wouldn't pick on her because she really had no idea - "Thirlwall?" Snape said. Jesy gave a small start. There was a short silence, followed by an audible small thump. Jesy forced herself not to turn around.

"Um - I'm sorry, Professor, what was the question?" Thirlwall's voice sounded rather unsteady.

Snape did that smirking-without-moving-a-facial-muscle thing he was so good at, as the Slytherins in the room chuckled. "I asked, Mrs. Thirlwall, why the hollyhock must be used within three days of harvesting."

Silence. "I don't know, sir."

"Then why don't we see if you can deduce it. This is a question even Dinah Jane should be able to answer. Tell me, what is the purpose of hollyhock in this potion? And no, Mr. Malik, do not whisper the answer to her."

Another silence. "I don't know."

Snape's non-smirk grew and Jesy felt herself inexplicably blushing as the snickers from her fellow Slytherins got louder. "What is the purpose of the potion, then, Mrs. Thirlwall?"

"I don't know," Thirlwall replied sullenly.

"What is the name of the potion?"

"I. Don't. Know," Thirlwall said clearly, anger simmering through her tone. Jesy felt his own pulse speeding up, anger growing in her as well at Snape's questioning. Damn it, Snape knew exactly what was wrong, why couldn't he pick on somebody else-

No, Snape was right. Jade wasn't paying attention and Snape knew exactly why that was and he was doing the right thing. Making Jade look like a fool in front of the class so that Jade wouldn't repeat the same mistake twice - she'd sit where Jesy wanted to sit next time. This was good. She should be feeling grateful to Snape.

Except that, thanks to the damnable bond, Jesy was feeling Thirlwall's anger instead of gratitude.

"What is the name of this class?" Snape asked.

"Potions!" Jade snapped.

"Finally, a question you can answer. Very good, one point to Gryffindor for that answer. Ten points from Gryffindor for your complete inability to answer anything else." There was a rustle of dismay from the Gryffindors, and a wave of snickers from the Slytherins. "I would suggest you find a way to concentrate, Thirlwall. I will be calling on you again."

Jesy closed her eyes tightly, trying to push away Thirlwall's anger and resentment and her own rapidly growing need to change seats and put them both out of their misery.

No. No. No no no no.

Snape was talking again, about who knew what, and there was another voice closer to her that she couldn't even identify and the bees were buzzing louder and

"Ow, FUCK!" she burst out, white hot pain blazing from her arm, pulling away from the source of the pain and opening her eyes to Normani gaping at her and the rest of the class staring in surprise. She moved back, rubbing her arm and trying to steady herself.

"Is there a problem?" Snape's voice cut through the buzzing.

"I didn't mean to - I'm sorry, Professor, I forgot-" Normani said stupidly, "I, she didn't look very good and she didn't answer when I asked her if she was all right and I just tapped her arm, sir-"

Snape made an annoyed sound. "Kordei, move to that empty desk. Thirlwall, take Kordei's place. The reason that hollyhock must be used within three days of harvesting-" and Jesy lost the rest of the sentence as Normani picked up her things and moved to the next desk over with an apologetic look at Jesy. Thirlwall thumped her books onto the desk, sitting down without looking at her.

How utterly disgusting. Jade was sitting next to her and almost immediately the world felt relatively normal again - no buzzing, no itch, no small voice telling him anything. Feeling infinitely better, picking up the thread of Snape's lecture easily and filling in the parts she'd missed almost without effort. Of course, any fool could figure out that if hollyhock was being used for its curative properties, those faded after three days.

She dipped his quill and wrote down Snape's words, glancing over her notes so far and stopping in surprise. Her penmanship was awful, almost illegible. There were words missing, mix-ups... she was going to have to borrow somebody's notes to get anything resembling decent information from the last half-hour or so of this class. She glanced over to Jade's paper and chuckled at the absolute mess evident there.

"Shut up," Thirlwall muttered under his breath. Draco smirked and bent his head back to his own notes, immensely cheered up despite the animosity rolling off Potter like a cloud.

ooooooo

They entered the Great Hall together, having successfully passed the rest of the morning without speaking to one another but now stopping short as they realized they had no idea where to sit. It hadn't been a problem during Transfigurations, which was right after Potions, because since Thirlwall had switched into Jesy's class, she'd had to sit wherever Jesy wanted. And where Jesy wanted to sit was with her friends, who snickered at Jade and welcomed Jesy back amongst them as though nothing had happened and studiously avoided any mention of the curse. Jesy had amused herself for part of the class by imagining what the various parents of her friends must have said to them yesterday. It seemed, for the time being at least, that the overall tactic was one of cautious watchfulness. The Nelson family had suffered a severe setback, but it was not unthinkable that they would recover and most of their peers had learned through bitter experience not to try to exploit their moments of weakness; the Nelson's always exacted revenge.

That didn't help in this current situation, though. The Great Hall was filling with students and here they were, between the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables.

Thirlwall started towards the Gryffindor table and Jesy grabbed her sleeve. "Where are you going?"

"My table. I had to sit with your friends the entire morning. It's your turn."

"I'm not sitting at your table."

"Why not?"

"Don't be stupid."

"Nelson," Thirlwall yanked her arm away, "We have to compromise, remember? Give and take? Does this sound at all familiar?"

"I compromised by dropping History of Magic and switching into your bloody Charms class and picking up Herbology."

"I dropped Muggle Studies and-"

"I'm not sitting at the Gryffindor table!"

"Well, where do you suggest we eat? Because I'm not sitting at the Slytherin table!"

"No Slytherin would want you there anyway!"

"Then come up with another alternative!" They glared at one another, not caring that quite a few people were watching their argument. Finally Jesy moved to the nearest table, reached past two startled Ravenclaws, grabbed two sandwiches and an apple, and motioned to Thirlwall to do the same. Jade did so, following Jesy out of the Great Hall and into the nearest courtyard, and plunking herself down on a bench as far away from Jesy as she could.

ooooooo

This... Jesy really didn't need this. At the end of an entire day spent with Jade, trying as much as possible to ignore her and not think about how completely screwed up this situation was, after an entire day spent trying, as much as possible, to remain in denial about it all, this was... really too much.

Charms class had been bad enough, as he'd had to sit entirely too close to the Mudblood and Perryese and been surrounded by bloody Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs and not a single Slytherin face in sight, but after that they'd had only classes that she'd already been taking before this damn curse.

But now at the end of the day she needed to unwind and maybe go study in the library or spend time with her house mates, playing the interminable Slytherin political games that she was so good at, and enjoyed so much. She needed the comfort of her common room and her dorm room. Having been an only child, she'd always hated having to share a room with three other girls at school, but right now she would've given anything to see Normani and Shereen's stupid faces and hear Harry's affected drawl.

Instead, she'd had to walk past her housemates with Jade in tow, go into her room, and pack away her things so that the house elves could take them to their new quarters. Then she'd had to follow Jade into Gryffindor tower so she could do the same.

And now, here they were. In rooms normally reserved for married professors. One small bedroom, looking rather crowded with two student beds in it. A sitting room, large enough for a few sofas and chairs and two desks. A washroom with a bath - no common washroom to share with other students. A small storage area.

If it had been her own, she would've been quite pleased. Unfortunately, she had a roommate.

She had the most incredible desire to either kill Thirlwall or burst into tears. And she couldn't do either one. She took refuge in automatic motion, putting her things away. Didn't bother to do anything with the knickknacks she'd taken from her dormitory - that would be admitting that this was her home now, and she certainly didn't want to do that. Best to simply put away her clothing and books, as Thirlwall was doing, while ignoring her as she had the whole day, then pick up the Herbology notes she'd received from Professor Sprout and start catching up. She sat down to study and sensed Thirlwall looking at her.

"What?" she asked.

"That's it? You're just settling in to work?"

"I've missed the first month of Herbology," she said curtly. "I don't want to damage my grades. You should get started on Arithmancy; it's not an easy subject."

"It'll be dinner time in an hour."

Jesy shrugged and flipped the page.

"Where will we be sitting for dinner?"

"Not at the Great Hall."

"We'll miss announcements."

"I don't care."

"I do."

"Good for you."

"Nelson, I want to go to the Great Hall and be around other people. As much as I appreciate your silence I don't intend to stay locked up in here with you forever."

"Not your idea of a proper honeymoon, Thirlwall? I'm so sorry, I'll be sure to ask my father to book us a cruise through the Mediterranean." She flipped another page. "After I've caught up on this stupid class."

"Nelson. I'm going to the Great Hall for dinner. I'm going to sit with my friends."

"I'll tell the elves which bed to deposit you on when they bring you in after you pass out."

She could almost hear Thirlwall counting to ten. "Why don't we sit at the Gryffindor table today, and the Slytherin tomorrow?"

"Because my house mates will throw up if they have to sit near you while they're eating."

"Then we can sit at the Gryffindor table again. Gryffindor constitutions are not as delicate."

"Piss off."

"I'd love to. Unfortunately there's this little problem of the curse." Jesy ignored her.

"Nelson" Thirlwall's voice was taking on an exasperated edge. Jesy continued to ignore her.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you."Jesy yawned and flipped another page. This was new. Thirlwall had done this to her a few times over the years - pretending indifference, refusing to be baited, driving Jesy to distraction. Jesy hadn't tried it before, but she could see why Jade did it. It was quite gratifying. She'd have to remember that.

"Nelson!" Thirwall sounded really angry now, and Jesy smiled to herself as she carefully kept her eyes on her Herbology notes. Thirlwall slammed her fist on the desk in front of Jesy, causing Jesy to jump slightly and look up at her.

"Do you have a problem, Thirlwall?" she drawled, taking in Thirlwall's red face with glee.

"Stop being an ass and talk to me!"

"I will not sit at the Gryffindor table for dinner, you will not be allowed to sit at the Slytherin table, I would suggest we ask the house elves to bring us dinner here. I think we're done with this particular domestic dilemma."

Thirwall stared at Jesy for a moment, then stalked off and threw herself down onto her bed.

ooooooo

"There's somebody at the door," their portrait, Sir Xander the German Vampire Hunter, announced a few hours later.

"Who?"

"Zayn Malik and Perrie Edwards."

"Tell them to come in-" "Tell them to bugger off-" they spoke simultaneously.

"This is my room too," Thirlwall said very quietly, and Jesy thought for a minute, weighing her options. She was most tempted to simply refuse, and see what happened. But Thirlwall, damn her, was right - they couldn't just be alone all the time. And while Jesy's next impulse was to tell Thirlwall that if she wanted to be with her friends, she had to do it outside their rooms, unfortunately that would mean that Jesy would have to leave too. And she had no intention of being seen in public with Thirlwall's little friends.

And if she wanted to bring any of her friends here, she'd need Thirlwall's permission to do so.

"All right, your friends can come in - but only if mine can too."

Thirlwall looked at her strangely. "Of course," she said, as if it was obvious. Jesy nodded curtly.

"Jade, where were you at dinner?" Malik said as he and Perrie burst in. Jesy didn't bother to greet them, just buried herself into her notes.

"Here," Thirlwall muttered.

"Oh, Jadey-"

Jesy impatiently picked up her wand and set a silence spell around her desk, blocking out the sound of Thirlwall's despicable little cronies and plunging herself back into Herbology.

ooooooo

Day 3, Thursday

God, no, Jade thought the next day as she woke up.

This didn't seem to get any better, did it?

She glanced over to the other bed, where Nelson was still sleeping. Looking rather more pleasant than when she was awake, without her normal smirk and sneer. Except that for the last two days, Nelson hadn't been wearing either expression much. "Sullen" seemed to be her expression of choice instead.

Asleep was better.

Jade gazed at her, thinking. She'd spent the last two days dealing with the reality of day-to-day life, and had deliberately not let herself think of what it all meant. It still seemed inconceivable that they were expected to actually live together at all, let alone as a couple. Whenever her thoughts went down that path, she'd distracted herself by remembering Pomfrey saying that not all bonds were like marriages. Maybe theirs would be one of the lucky few that consisted of simply living together, distasteful as the idea seemed. Lifelong roommates. Not even that, actually - according to Pomfrey, this need to be physically close wouldn't last forever. Some day, all this might be but a far off, unhappy memory of the one year at Hogwarts that had been ruined by having to spend the bulk of his time with Jesy, who now lived on the other side of the world.

Right.

Jade thought over yesterday's events as she went to the washroom and changed - the horrible disorientation in Potions, Snape needling her, moving to sit next to Nelson and all of a sudden feeling better. The embarrassment of it all - and the small feeling of vindication when she'd looked over and seen that Nelson's notes for the class were not as bad as hers, but were rubbish nonetheless. At least she hadn't been the only one affected.

She missed Perrie. And Zayn. And the thought that they were getting up and doing their morning routine without her, that all of her friends were together in Gryffindor Tower while she was stuck out here with this idiot, was almost unbearable.

Zayn and Perrie had come over last night and stayed for quite a while, but eventually they had to go back to their dorm. And she couldn't go with them. All she could do was get ready for bed and lie down, with Nelson five feet away from her, staring at the ceiling and wondering how she could possibly survive more than a couple of days of this.

One thing she was going to do. She was going to somehow get Nelson to agree to go to the Great Hall for meals. She was going to make sure they were around other people. Maybe today's class schedule would help – Nelson would be attending Jade's classes most of the afternoon; maybe she'd get lonely for hers Slytherin cronies. Jade could only hope.

Nelson turned over, sighing deeply in her sleep, and Jade hated the thought of having to wake her. Wishing that she could leave Jesy to sleep, and just go to breakfast and attend her classes. Unfortunately, if Nelson didn't get up, they'd both be late.

"Nelson"

Nelson didn't stir.

"Nelson" Jade repeated, a little louder. Nelson didn't even twitch. Jade approached Nelson's bed, prodded her shoulder. "Nelson. Wake up." Nelson woke with a start and stared up at Jade. Then she clenched her eyes shut.

"Oh, god, you again," she muttered, voice still groggy.

"Yeah, me again. Get up."

"No."

"No?"

"No. Go away."

Jade stepped back, nonplussed. What was she supposed to do now? She didn't relish the thought of starting the day with a fight and dragging a sullen, difficult Nelson to breakfast and then to classes.

All right, then, she wouldn't. She lay down on her bed and took out a book.

Twenty-five minutes later, Nelson spoke up blearily. "What time is it?"

"8:20."

"What?" Nelson sat up. "We've got class in ten minutes!"

"I know."

"Why in hell didn't you wake me up?"

"I tried. You didn't want me to."

"And you just let me go back to sleep?" Nelson was scrambling out of bed, grabbing her clothing and school robes.

"I'm not your alarm clock," Jade said mildly, getting up, fully dressed and ready to go. She'd miss breakfast, that much was obvious, but it was worth it to see Nelson panicking at the thought of showing up late for McGonagall's class.

"Very-" Nelson's voice was muffled as she ripped her t-shirt off, "funny, Thirlwall. Hilarious, as a matter of fact," she quickly scrambled into clean trousers, "You should really consider going into business with the Edwards twins-" she put on a clean shirt and started doing up the buttons, realized she'd missed one and started over with a frustrated growl, "as you're obviously no earthly use as anything else." She tossed her books into her schoolbag, checking them and realizing one was missing.

"If you're looking for your Defence Against the Dark Arts text..." Jade said helpfully, and Nelson looked up in relief, "... then I'm afraid I can't help you."

It was interesting, thought Jade, how this whole 'feeling the other's feelings' thing worked. She was feeling some of Nelson's anger and discomfort right now, it was true, but it was far outweighed by her own vindictive pleasure. After the embarrassment of yesterday's Potions class, she was now getting some back at the thought of Nelson arriving late and flustered to the class taught by Jade's own Head of house. Not that McGonagall ever played favourites the way Snape did, but it was still a nice image to hold on to.

Then Nelson picked up a textbook and threw it at her, and Jade barely had time to duck before it sailed past her head and hit the wall with a sound smack. Jade stared at Jesy in surprise. Nelson just didn't get physical when she was angry - she was the king of snide put-downs and sarcastic mockery, but any kind of physical intimidation was left to his sidekicks Kordei and Cutkelvin as if Nelson just couldn't be bothered to lower herself down to such menial activities. But here she was, furious and picking up another book to hurl at Jade.

"Nelson, get a grip! We don't have time for this!"

Nelson hurled the book anyway but turned and put on her robes, looking for her tie.

"I do know where your tie is," Jade said pleasantly. Nelson didn't bother acknowledging her. "I'll even bring it to you." She waited a beat. "If we sit with my friends during Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Nelson looked like she wanted to hurl another book at her, but she nodded tightly and Jade smiled and picked up the Slytherin tie, which had fallen under Nelson's desk.

"Come on," Nelson muttered, and they took off for Transfigurations at a run, Nelson hurriedly running her hand through her long and red hair and struggling with her tie.

I must remember I'm living with a Slytherin, thought Jade. Don't bother appealing to fair play and decency; manipulation and self-interest are the only things they understand.