AN: For QL Round Seven. BEATER 1: Scream 4 (2011) [9. (emotion) envy, 15. (genre) angst] I took the theme: doing something bad because of jealousy from Scre4m.
Word Count: 2432
Warnings: Homophobic Slurs, Cyber Bullying, Suicide [No details.]
friendzoned (you will be mine)
By MagicMinnie
oOo
October, Thursday 25th 2018, 13:25.
Hogwarts Sixth Form Library.
Salazar and Rowena sat beside one another in the Upper Sixth Library. She was talking fast and passionately about astrophysics and, despite the fact he made it seem like he wasn't really listening, he was entirely entranced. He loved her passion, her zest for the intellectual; Rowena was his best friend. Her company was far superior in comparison to the rest of the population of the upper sixth — everyone else was an idiot.
"Anyway, what classes do you have this afternoon?"
Salazar looked up from the book he was reading for English Literature. Rowena was looking at him through soft brown eyes. She was leaning back in her chair, her fingers playing with the end of her plaited black hair.
"Just History," he responded. "Then a study period at the end of the day, yourself?"
Salazar knew her timetable; he was only asking out of politeness.
"Maths, and then Maths again afterwards," Rowena sighed. "Mr Martin makes the subject so boring."
Salazar nodded, recalling having the aforementioned teacher when he'd been doing his GCSE's. The man, he was sure, was older than the school itself. With grey hair that stuck out in all directions, he could make even the most exciting topics unbelievably boring.
"Well, once you've gotten through the most boring afternoon of the week, meet me at the front gate and we'll walk home," Salazar said.
Rowena's face fell. "Oh, I can't. I promised I'd walk with Helga today."
Helga Hufflepuff was one of the upper sixth's most popular girls. Her and Rowena had quite a close friendship. Salazar had noticed — especially since they'd all returned from the summer holidays — that the two girls were spending a lot more time together.
"That's fine," he said, somewhat irritated considering that he and Rowena had walked home together every day since year seven. "Tomorrow."
"Actually, I can't tomorrow either," she said, looking quite apologetic. "We're going on a date."
"We're?"
She laughed softly. "Yes, me and Helga, Sal. We're going to a screening of Hocus Pocus at the Hogsmeade Dome."
Salazar felt himself blanch. He had assumed that Rowena was referring to her 'girlfriend' in a gimmicky way, like she would any friend of hers that was female. She was too pretty to be a lesbian.
"I didn't realise that—that you were..." Salazar trailed off, not sure whether to actually say the 'L' word.
Perhaps it was a phase. Or maybe, she was simply bi-curious, or whatever the phrase was.
"Gay?" Rowena supplied with one eyebrow raised. "I thought you knew, Sal. I literally refer to Helga as my girlfriend all the time."
Salazar didn't know what to say. He and Rowena had always been so close. She hugged him when she was down, confessed her fears and secrets to him. Taking all that to mind, Salazar had always assumed that one day he would ask her on a date and they would be boyfriend and girlfriend.
Before anymore could be said between them, the bell rang, signalling that lunch was over and they should be heading to class.
They both packed away. Salazar shoved his books into his satchel and swung in over his shoulder, whilst Rowena, still looking at him hopefully for some sort of acceptance of her new relationship, was packing far slower. She could afford to take her time since her class was in this building.
"I better get to the Humanities block," Salazar said stiffly.
"Sal, you're not against people being gay are you?"
"No, of course not," he responded.
He wasn't homophobic, he was just against Rowena being gay. She'd always acted as though they were a couple, and now she'd just friendzoned him. Salazar excused himself quickly and left before it was clear he was pissed about her and Helga being an item.
oOo
October, Thursday 25th 2018, 16:07.
Outside the School Gates.
Later, when the bell rang to signal the end of the day, Salazar sat on the wall outside watching Rowena from afar as she met with Helga.
They were like two opposites.
Helga was blonde to Rowena's black hair; she was pale to Rowena's dark skin. Shorter than average and too muscular for Salazar's taste, Helga was toned from years of competitive hockey. That, amongst her academic achievements and her regular participation in several school plays, had made her prime choice for the Head Girl position she'd been awarded this year.
The two girls embraced and Salazar scoffed under his breath.
Suddenly someone slammed their hands down on his shoulders and he jumped, twisting to see who the culprit was.
"Hey, Sally."
Godric Gryffindor, Head Boy and another highly-popular socialite in the upper sixth, was grinning widely at him. Rolling his eyes to the heavens, Salazar shrugged him off and look back across to the two girls as they walked together away from school hand in hand.
"Shame, really." Godric jumped the wall beside him, the gravel crunching underfoot as he landed. "I would have fucked them both. I definitely didn't think Rowena would be into girls — I always thought she was dating you. Gutted, mate."
"You are grotesque." Salazar slid off the wall, brushing the creases from his trousers. "Honestly."
"Are you telling me you wouldn't jump at the offer of sex from either of them?"
"I'm leaving before you say anything else that no one needs to hear," Salazar said.
"Oh, come on. I was only playing." Godric called after him as the other boy walked away with his hands buried deep in his pockets. "C'mon, Salazar! Don't be a prude."
Without looking back, Salazar started his journey home. He kicked his feet and mumbled to himself. There definitely could have been a scenario, if he'd spoken up sooner, where he and Rowena could have been together — maybe, somehow, there still was.
He just had to come up with a plan.
oOo
October, Friday 26th 2018, 22:57.
Helga's Direct Messages. [HelgaPuffleHuff00 & theBaSiliSk]
Hi Helga
How are you?
Hi, do I know you?
No, but I know you.
Okayyy?
What's up?
I just want to know why you're such a slag, dyke.
Who are you?
You can't just go around insulting people.
Do your parents know your queer?
Because I can tell them, bet they'd love to know their daughters queer af.
You're bluffing.
And I'm blocking you.
Good luck, loser.
You have blocked this user.
oOo
October, Monday 29th 2018, 08:17.
The Sixth Form Corridor.
Salazar was feeling light on his feet as he walked to school on Monday morning.
He'd occupied his weekend with several forrays into social media. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. He'd found himself setting up several fake accounts on each one just to make Helga realise just how wrong she was. If Helga was on edge, then she and Rowena would fight. Then his best friend would come back to him — where she belonged.
The school grounds were quiet for a Monday morning. With the weather turning bitterly cold, there wasn't even a group of upper school boys congregated on the concrete square between blocks to play football.
He walked fast towards the Sixth Form block, flashing his prefect badge in the direction of two year sevens huddled in the doorway and telling them to loiter elsewhere. Once inside he headed to his locker to put away his bag. He was rummaging around, figuring out what books he would need for his two classes this morning, when he heard people talking just around the corner.
"It was all weekend! All weekend, Rowena." A strained voice spoke, hissing the words out. "I've barely slept."
"Helga, it's just a troll, just ignore them," Rowena said.
There was an audible slam of a locker door.
"You don't understand, Ro," Helga retorted irritably. "It was constant, and horrible, and I'm so tired."
Salazar felt his lips quirk up into a smile, his expression hidden in his locker. This was working. His trolling, so to speak, had actually been effective, in that the two girls were arguing. Not believing his luck, he loitered in the pretence that he was still looking through his locker — waiting for the eventual explosion between them.
But it never came.
"Come here," Rowena whispered.
Salazar scowled as he listened to his friend comfort the other girl. It hadn't worked, they were hugging. Swearing under his breath, Salazar slammed his locker door and strode away back into the cold.
He was going to have to try harder.
oOo
October, Monday 29th 2018,16:17.
Helga's Inbox.
To: Helga
From: The Basilisk
If you think you can avoid me just by blocking me you're obviously thick.
No one actually likes you. You're boring and ugly and you don't deserve to be happy.
I'm going to keep coming back.
You can't get rid of me.
oOo
November, Friday 4th 2018, 21:07.
Helga's Direct Messages [HelgaPuffleHuff00 & thebasiliskxx]
Me again lol.
Still kidding yourself?
You should just leave. No one would miss you.
Please stop.
I didn't do anything to deserve this.
Please just stop.
You have blocked this user.
oOo
November, Friday 18th 2018, 10:55.
The Hogwarts Canteen.
Salazar was practically gleeful as he posted yet another message to Helga's Twitter inbox.
It had become a game over the last few weeks. Seeing what sort of comments elicited a response from Helga was fascinating from a psychological standpoint. It was starting to get to the point where he was confident that he instilled so much fear in Helga that he could probably make her break up with Rowena with just one message.
Then things would go back to the way they were. He would have Rowena back and Helga could go back to sleeping at night.
Glancing across to the opposite table, where Rowena was sat with Helga, he waited for her to see the new message waiting in her DMs. Helga was paler than usual, dark circles now a prominent feature on her face. She looked as though she might fall asleep right there whilst eating the peach in her hand.
Then, finally, her screen lit up on her phone.
Salazar watched her eyes flicker down and her hand pick up the phone. Her face turned from one of exhaustion to one of abject defeat. Numbly, she stood up and Rowena frowned at her sudden movement.
"What's up?" she asked.
"I'm so tired, Ro," Helga responded, her voice strained. "I'm going to go sign out and go home."
"You're sure?" Rowena asked, worry etched into her expression.
Helga nodded. "Yeah, I need to try sleep."
Rowena pushed her chair back and put her blazer back on before taking the blonde girl's hand.
"I'll come with you to the office."
Salazar watched them walk away as he contemplated what to say next to the flailing Head Girl.
Yes, he thought to himself. This is the weekend to end it all.
oOo
November, Saturday 19th 2018, 23:51.
Helga's Inbox.
To: Helga
From: The Basilisk
You're ruining everyone's life who's around you.
They're not your friends; your gf cries because you cry. You're just depressing everyone. You might as well cut off your so-called friends and girlfriend.
You're such a emo-dyke, just do everyone a favour and leave people alone.
oOo
November, Monday 21st 2018, 08:40.
The Sixth Form Common Room.
The sixth form common room was abuzz with noise. The whole year had been called to meeting this morning and rumours were rife amongst the upper sixth students. Salazar had already come across a few nonsensical ideas that he were positive weren't the reason behind this meeting.
One thing he did notice though was that Helga wasn't there.
Rowena came in, however, her eyes puffy as she came to sit beside him on the windowsill.
"What's wrong?"
She hesitated and then turned to him. "I—I haven't heard anything from Helga since late Saturday night."
"She's probably late," Salazar responded soothingly, as though he cared.
Rowena looked as though she didn't believe him at all. He kept noticing her looking out through the window and then to the door, in search for her girlfriend. Salazar screwed up his nose in mild disgust. Rowena was supposed to be his friend. Her blatant disinterest in speaking to him just pissed him off even more.
Eventually, the head of Sixth Form, Mr Reid graced them all with his presence.
His usually flat brown hair was on end, as though he'd ran his hand through it in frustration one too many times. But more noticeably, his expression seemed solemn, and the room fell silent immediately. Even Godric, who had been messing around with a group of boys on the rugby team, stopped to pay attention.
"Morning, Upper Sixth," he said. "I have called this meeting, not regarding the upcoming mock exams, nor about the broken table in the sixth form library, but rather with far more macabre news."
Salazar found himself frowning. Had a teacher died? They had done something similar two years ago when Mr McKinley, a history teacher had been caught up in a car crash and passed. Although, that time the whole school had been in attendance.
"Last night I received a phone call informing me that Helga Hufflepuff, our Head Girl and your classmate, had taken her own life," Mr Reid explained.
It was as though the air in the room fell still. Everyone was quiet, but Salazar fast noticed people with tears in their eyes.
"Understandably, this comes as a grave shock to all of us here," Mr Reid continued. "Coping with the loss of a classmate and a friend can be extremely difficult. We have already put into place counselling should you want to talk to someone. After speaking with the Headmistress, and taking into account that Helga was a prominent member of the year, all upper sixth students have been granted a half week off school. Normal classes will resume on Thursday; your form tutors, the office staff, and myself are here to aid you should you need anything at all."
As mumbles spread around the common room like wildfire, Salazar turned to his friend whose face was wet with tears. She looked distraught as he put his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. Rowena leaned into him, crying against his chest, her shoulders shaking.
It was unfortunate, of course, that Helga had been so fragile that she'd done this to herself.
But very soon, Salazar would have Rowena back.