A/N: Hannah goes looking for Susan and finds her in a compromising situation.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) - Task #10 (Petrificus Totalus: Write about being caught in an act)

Character Diversity Boot Camp - #42 (funny), Hannah Abbott

If You Dare Challenge - #2 (Vague Misery)

Are You Crazy Enough To Do It Challenge - #395 (can't use male characters)

Build A Zoo Challenge - Tigers (Hannah Abbott)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


When Hannah saw her entire dormitory at lunch, but her best friend, Susan was absent, she was confused. Susan never missed a meal. "Is she sick?" Hannah asked Megan Jones. Susan had left after Charms to study in the library for a while, she knew, but she always came back to the Great Hall for lunch. It was her favorite today: steak pie.

The girl flicked her hair back, staring her down. This was her attempt to look intimidating, Hannah knew. "She left to go to the toilet," Megan replied.

"When?"

The girl shrugged.

"Is she coming to class?"

She merely shrugged again. Megan was a girl of few words.

Hannah studied her for a few more seconds and then glanced at the clock, determining that she had enough time to locate Susan before class started again.

She rushed to the first floor girl's toilet, which was the nearest one. Upon shouting her Susan's name, she frightened a first year so badly that the girl dropped her glasses. She checked each usable girl's bathroom, but Susan Bones was not there. It was almost time for class; where was Susan?

In her desperation, she wandered to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She had asked several ghosts already concerning the whereabouts of her best friend, so perhaps Myrtle knew something she didn't.

As she neared the bathroom's entrance, a translucent figure flew through the door, grumbling incessantly. It was Moaning Myrtle, but she didn't look vaguely miserable as per usual; in fact, she seemed more irritated than anything else. "It's my bathroom," she complained, floating past Hannah with her hands balled into fists. "It's mine!"

"Excuse me," said Hannah. "Have you seen my friend Susan?"

The pale ghost spotted Hannah and rolled her eyes, letting out an angry hmph and stomping her foot into empty air. "Oh, not another one!" Then she drifted past Hannah, grousing further about her bathroom. Intrigued, Hannah walked to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. What would she find there that was making Myrtle so frustrated?

The door to Myrtle's toilet was ajar, and rust coated its hinges. Hannah crept towards the entrance, right hand on her wand and left hand on the door. The door seemed to understand her want for stealth, for it did not squeak as she pulled it open. Sliding into the room, she heard the rustle of cloth, followed by a muffled giggle. She took another step. Who was in—

Hannah stood with her mouth agape, watching her best friend laugh again. Susan was leaning against the wall by the sink, snogging lazily with a dark-haired girl, both freckled arms looped against the girl's neck to draw her closer. The other girl was a Gryffindor, for Hannah could see the hint of a maroon-and-gold tie beneath her collar. "Now," said the girl, her voice lovely and low, "isn't this better than studying for Transfiguration?"

"Mm…" murmured Susan in agreement. The dark-haired Gryffindor pulled at Susan's waist and kissed her again; her lips spread into a smile as her olive fingers slipped under Susan's Hufflepuff sweater—

Unable to see any more, Hannah stammered, "S-Susan?"

Susan jerked away from the other girl so fast that her head slammed against the wall, and all of a sudden the two students were three feet apart. Now, Hannah could see the Gryffindor girl for the first time; it was Fay Dunbar, a girl from their year. If Hannah remembered correctly, her family had moved here from Grenada to enroll her at Hogwarts.

Susan swiped furiously at her mouth with the sleeve of her sweater, for it was smeared with Fay's lip gloss. Fay straightened her shirt, her fingers stumbling to rebutton correctly. Fay's blush was hidden beneath her dark skin, but her face felt hot with embarrassment. She rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

Susan opened her mouth to say something, anything, but she didn't have any words.

Hannah did it for her. "I thought…" she began. "I thought you were going to the…"

"Library?" Susan finished. "I know… I went, Hannah, but then I…" This time, Susan blushed, and her rosy cheeks were much more noticeable than Fay's. "Well, I…" She seemed unable to finish even a simple sentence. "Fay found me." It was crystal clear to Hannah that even mentioning Fay's name made a smile spread across her best friend's face.

"So you two are…"

"Together," Susan explained, chewing her lip.

"For how long?"

Hannah didn't know it was possibly, but Susan's face reddened further, and Fay looked down at her feet, shuffling back and forth. "Since July," her best friend answered.

July. Since July. It was November now. "You've been dating for five bloody months and you didn't even tell me?"

Susan gave Hannah a sheepish grin. "I was worried you…"

"What? That I would kill you for lying to me?"

"No…" She always smiled when she was nervous. "I was worried you might feel… abandoned."

The sense of betrayal that Susan had sparked in her chest fizzled out immediately. Susan hadn't told Hannah that she had a girlfriend because she didn't want Hannah to feel left out? Her shoulders relaxed, and she laughed out loud.

Susan and Fay shared a concerned glance. "What-What's so funny?"

Hannah couldn't seem to stop laughing. "Merlin, Susan, I thought you were dying or something, but here you are, snogging the—life—out of—" She was doubled over now, laughing like a maniac. "In Myrtle's—bloody toilet!" She laughed so hard tears sprouted from her eyes, and she wiped them away with her shirt sleeve. Susan had always found laughter more contagious than a cold, so she started to giggle, too. Even Fay joined in.

Once their laughter faded, each girl left with that familiar ache in their stomachs, they sat on the floor of Moaning Myrtle's toilet. Susan tilted her head back. "By the way," she said, interrupting the silence, "I'm gay."

Hannah grinned. "Yeah, I got that part."

Susan interlaced her fingers with Fay's and kissed her cheek.


A/N: Thanks for reading! Please favorite, follow, and review!