I track down the others on my way to Quidditch practice, dressed in an additional quarter-zip over my long sleeve shirt thanks to the extra chill in the air. Liam's got a date with one of the Sixth Year Gryffindors, but Dan agrees to tag along and accepts my grateful hug with a laugh. Even Meg promises to try and meet up with us later in the day once she and Tim spend some time together.
Feeling much better about the whole thing, I make my way down to Quidditch practice, waiting patiently for James to begin. He keeps glancing at me suspiciously as we wait for the rest of the team. "Why are you so cheerful?"
"Just excited to be here,"
His eyes narrow and his suspicious look remains. "You're acting weird,"
"You sure know how to make a girl feel good,"
"That's not what I meant!"
I snicker. "I know, I'm just messing with you,"
James's eye narrow again. "We're going to run 15 laps today,"
"No, please, don't," I whine. "You're wonderful and I love you,"
He snickers. "I know, I'm just messing with you," He mocks me.
I pout back to him. "That was mean."
He slings his arm over my shoulder as we wait for Freddy and Fitz, the last two stragglers, to make their way in. "So we'll stick with 12 then, yeah?"
"Zero?" I ask hopefully.
"Nice try," He says, beginning his jog. "Get running," He calls back.
Scott, who's already following him, picks up his pace. Maddy begins her run with just a secret eye roll at me; I'm so proud. And, with only a few curses muttered under our breath (drastically improved from the long string we used to shout at James), Freddy, Coop, Fitz, and I start running.
"Freddy," I start, once we get into our groove, you know at like the end of lap 3. "We're all going to Hogsmeade together this weekend, you in?"
"Can't," He says. "Busy,"
I frown. "With what?"
"I have a date,"
"With who?"
"Kylie Hendrix,"
I stop running and around me, the three of them do as well. "That Ravenclaw witch?"
"Did you mean—"Coop starts.
I cut him off. "I meant what I said. She's evil and I hate her!"
"You were the one who told me to make a move or move on with…"
"With anyone but my new mortal enemy!"
"I feel like you're being a tad dramatic," Freddy hesitates. I stare at him; he looks nervous as he looks back at me. Finally, I start running again, without a word. He breathes out a sigh of relief and follows, Coop and Fitz immediately joining, but as soon as they start, I run a little faster. "Where are you going?"
"Away from you, Brutus!"
"Seriously?" Freddy cries, speeding up to catch up with me.
I break into a full sprint when I see him catching up. "Stop running faster! I can't run any faster than this!"
James turns, looking back to see me pressing forward, Freddy catching up, and Fitz and Coop looking miserable as they try to match his pace. Evidently, James probably just decides he's happy we're even showing minimal effort to run and wants nothing to do with our nonsense, so he turns back around just as Freddy calls back to me. "Me either!"
"Good!" I yell back, catching up with Maddy.
"What is happening back there?" She asks me.
"Don't get old," I tell her.
She looks over her shoulder back at Freddy, Coop, and Fitz, who are all clutching their sides are their brief sprint attempt. "Noted,"
"Carson!" Maddy calls, while I'm still in the shower, long after practice has ended. "Are you still alive?"
"Yes!" I call back. "You can leave. I'm purposely taking forever to avoid talking to Freddy,"
"Is it really that bad?"
"I am refraining from calling him a Pettigrew out of respect for James' family, but he betrayed me and everything I stand for since 10am this morning!"
I can hear her laugh. "You are my idol,"
"Love you," I shout back to her. "Be careful walking back if no one's out there."
"Yes, Mum,"
There's silence when she leaves and when I finally shut the water off to get dressed, I fill it, singing along to Purple Pygmy Puffs incredibly catchy new album. Damn those boys for putting out a whole collection of bangers. Erin's going to be thrilled when I get home.
Shockingly, though, James is waiting for me outside the locker room when I do eventually leave. He's got an amused grin on his face, leaning against the wall. "Ugh," I say. "I should have known,"
"Should you?" James says, and then, in a terrible imitation, sings, "Or should you wonder what I—"
"Stop!" I shove his chest. He stops singing, thankfully, and starts laughing. "You should never sing, ever. That was awful."
"Oh, like you were much better?"
I laugh. "I wasn't worse," He laughs, agreeing, as we begin our walk back to the castle. "Surprised you were still there,"
"Freddy ran out before I could ask him what happened," He admits. "So I figured I could snag you instead,"
"He's dead to me," I announce.
"He might cry about that," James responds seriously. "But what happened?"
I explain to James about Freddy's date, without mentioning how he feels about Meg since I'm unsure if he's mentioned that to any of the boys yet. He listens, nodding along at the appropriate times. "It's the worst thing he could have done to me!"
"Don't hate me," James starts.
"Not starting off strong,"
He laughs. "Are these your deeply rooted abandonment issues coming to light?"
I firmly shake my head. "No, for once it is not! I am 100% confident he couldn't do that even if he tried!"
"Ok then," James says patiently. "What's your issue?"
"That he asked that girl out on this day," I say, after a minute of us walking in silence. "If it had been any other girl, I'd have been fine. Hell, if this morning hadn't gone down the way it did, he could have asked this girl out. But I cannot pretend to like this girl now and I will not pretend to like this girl now,"
He snickers. "Divorced child, party of one?" I give him a look. "I wouldn't worry about it Carson. It probably won't last. Freddy doesn't tend to stick with his dates for too long,"
My eyebrows fly up. This is unexpected information. "Why?"
James sighs. "It's—tough, finding someone who doesn't think they already know everything about you, or your parents,"
I bite my lip, feeling slightly guilty now. "Yeah," I slowly let out a breath. "I guess I know what that's like,"
Saturday morning rolls around to be the kind of beautiful weather that's perfect for walking around in—that not too hot, not too cold, just a little breezy, but brightly sunny kind of day. Meg yanks me out of bed entirely too early but it's worth it to watch her try on eight outfits to impress her boyfriend of two years.
"I don't want to be too cold!" She exclaims.
"You kill me," I laugh, going into the bathroom to shower. By the time I come out, she's settled on a pair of jeans and a light sweater and waiting impatiently to beg me to let her to do my makeup. "Fine," I agree. "But no red lip,"
"C-Dub!" She pouts, but agrees all the same, settling for the neutral palette that I usually go for, but applying it in a much better way than I'll ever achieve.
Meg finishes up with her hair while I rifle through my closet for an outfit, quickly pulling out my favorite denim jacket, a knotted gray v-neck t-shirt, black jeans, and white converse. Meg nods approvingly at it, so we make our way down the breakfast to meet up with the boys.
It's a quick affair today, just grabbing a short meal before Meg ditches us to meet Tim at the Slytherin table and the rest of us head to the Front Hall to meet up with everyone. Vero and Maeve are already waiting for us, unsurprisingly, waiting off the side to let those already ready to go, pass.
"Your ass looks great in those jeans!" Vero says, peering around me.
I turn my head and look, grinning. It definitely does today. "James made us do 200 squats in practice this week to help with our kickoff or something and I was pissed at the time but I mean…" I trail off, punctuating instead with a little booty shake.
She laughs. "Can I come do 200 squats in Quidditch practice?"
"Absolutely," James says.
"No," I whine. "You said we were done with them!"
"You seem to be benefitting from them,"
"That doesn't mean I like them!"
He laughs, turning back to Lou and Dan, and I round on Vero. "Stop encouraging him!"
"Well Jack's been eying you up since he turned the corner so you're clearly doing something right,"
I turn at her words, smiling and waving at Jack and Dave as they make their way down the hall. They both return the sentiment, starting to shove their way through the younger kids faster. "Stop encouraging him too!"
Vero grins back at me. "I'm going to have so much fun today!"
"Can't you keep her on her leash?" I mutter to Maeve, as Jack and Dave approach.
"I've tried in the past," Maeve says. "It doesn't work."
"Damn," I swear.
"Was that a 'damn' like 'dayummmm you fine'?" Jack greets.
"Probably more like 'damn I'm regretting agreeing to this in the first place," Dave jokes.
"Actually, it was 'damn you two were late, what's the hold up'?" I tease.
Jack laughs. "We're here; let's move out."
It takes a few minutes for us all to get organized enough to move out the door and begin the short walk to Hogsmeade. "So does anyone have a plan set out for today?" I ask, during a lull in the conversation, once we get close to the gates. A small silence follows. "Maeve, I'm so disappointed in you!"
"Vero told me to be more fun and spontaneous!" She cries. "I'm so uncomfortable not having one!"
We all start laughing and even Maeve grins after a second. When James recovers, he says, "I thought maybe we'd just walk around for a bit, hit up a few stores for a few hours, and then stop at Three Broomsticks for late lunch or early dinner and a few drinks and just stay there until we're ready to come back?"
"Works for me," Louis says and everyone else agrees so we continue on.
"Take my picture with Uncle George, handing him my gift card," I lean forward, holding out my Weasley's Wizard Wheezes gift card. Obligingly, Uncle George leans in across the counter, throwing one arm around my shoulders and reaching out with his free hand.
Louis, who I thrown my phone to, says flatly, "Smile," and Uncle George and I both beam.
"5 degree tilt!" Vero screeches and Lou, who's been struggling to get that perfect flattering phone angle all day, tilts the phone too far, only for Vero to yank it out of his hands. "Ugh, give me that." She positions the phone at the correct angle, snaps a few, and hands it over.
The lack of phone service at Hogwarts had been a hard adjustment for me. At Ilvermorny, modern wizard technology was a staple. Hogwarts was so old and rooted in its magic that it was unable to make the adjustments need to allow for phones to work. I'd turned my phone back on in the village to a few texts from my old friends and a slew of messages and pictures from Alicia.
"That was a good one," I say, firing it off to Alicia immediately.
"Are you documenting your first trip to Hogsmeade?" Aunt Angelina asks. She's standing on our side of the counter, behind Louis, having been over helping some younger students with a product they'd had questions with.
"Second," James says from next to me.
"Nice," Uncle George high fives him.
"Sorta," I answer his question. "I'm taking pictures with all my gift cards from Aunt Katie and Uncle Roger and I'm going to print them all before we leave so I can send them one with a little thank you and then I'll send the rest to dad and fawn about how great it was,"
Amidst laughter from his aunt and uncle, James nudges me. "We should go if you want to print those first,"
"JJ! Dave! Leave the pygmy puffs; we're moving on!"
Dave pouts. "But they're so cute!"
"I've got to say," James says, when we're hours into our day at Three Broomsticks (and a little tipsy, drinks have been flowing). "I'm impressed."
"By what?"
"How well you've managed this day," He gestures around us. Meg and Tim have joined us by now and they're chatting with Dave and Jack while Vero and Maeve have ganged up on Lou, teasing him about the girl he likes (completely unbeknownst to the fact that it's Maeve). "I was pretty skeptical,"
"Super skeptical," Dan adds, leaning over.
"So untrusting," I shake my head. "Like I couldn't navigate my way through a wildly awkward situation and end up on top,"
James and Dan just blink at me, staring blankly. "Has this happened to you before?" Dan asks.
"I mean, not this exact situation,"
They continue to start blankly at me. "I don't even want to know," James says, reaching for his drink.
"Your loss," I shrug. "I'm going to get another drink," I nod at Dan's request for another as well and push my way forward to the bar.
The restaurant is crowded, filled with mostly students, though I spy a few of our professors in the far corner. The music has only recently jumped in volume, taking on more of a bar vibe and less of the restaurant one that we entered a few hours ago. As I wait for my drinks, I chat with a few of the Ravenclaws in Meg's Muggle Studies class at the bar, nodding goodbyes as I grab my drinks and shove my way through the crows, spotting my favorite person on my way back.
"Albus!" I cry, making conscious effort not to spill as I throw myself at him.
He looks entirely unamused as he catches me. "Hi, Carson." He's with Scorpius and a few others, none that I recognize.
"Are you going to come hang out with us?"
Al shakes his head. "I can't, I still don't think my liver has recovered from last time,"
"Hey Carson, I've got a beef about last time!" Scorpius says. "Where was my brunch invite?"
"Al was supposed to invite you, but I think he was too nauseous to talk,"
"English was hard!" He protests.
Scorpius and I exchanges a glance and laugh. "Time to get back on the horse, kid," I tell him.
"Too bad I'm not 17 and can't drink here," Al says, sounding not at all sorry.
"Yeah, it's not like you have a brother or something who likes exactly like you who's totally legal already and willing to pass his own old, fake ID on to you or something," I beam as Al pales. "So, we'll see you soon?"
"Shots, shots, shots, shots," Scorpius cheers as I make my way back to my friends.
Hours later, Al has changed his tune and he's got a drunken grin on his face while he tries to balance a spoon on his nose as James, Dan, Dave, and JJ cheer him on.
The music changes and my eyes light up as they meet Vero's when the opening chords of Purple Pygmy Puff's new single Girl Next Door starts up. James cracks up as I start to sing along, laughing harder when Vero climbs over all of the boys, pulling Maeve along to come dance with me. "No," Maeve protests, pulling back. This is the most drunk I've ever seen her, so she doesn't do a great job, and it's easy for Vero to pull her out of the booth.
"This song is a classic!" I cry.
"I've never been more disappointed in you," JJ says.
I point at him. "Embrace the Purple Pygmy Puffs, the way we have all embraced them,"
Maeve starts loosening up by the third song we start dancing to, sending Vero and I into a fit of giggles as she starts breaking out a few moves and now I understand why she hates dancing. She's terrible. When she breaks out "the Dumbledore," I sit down on the floor in hysterical laughter, unable to stop laughing.
"Why are you on the floor?" Maeve cries, stopping her arm flapping.
I rub my hands over my face. "I need another drink."
Still giggling, Vero helps me up, and the three of us make our way over to the bar. "So what are you going to tell JJ?" Vero asks.
I scrunch my face up. "Do you think I'll have to tell him anything?"
She stares at me. "He's bought all your food and drinks today,"
"Mmmm," I hesitate.
Another stare. "He is staring at you right now,"
"Damn it," I steady myself on the bar as someone bumps me from behind.
"Sorry," I turn, feeling a slight wetness on the sleeve of my jacket. "Didn't mean to—oh hey!"
"Drew!" I grin.
"Oh no!" Maeve cries, seeing the spilled drink and grabbing napkins to clean the spillage on the floor.
He looks down at her and then back to me. "Don't mind her, she's trashed,"
He laughs. "Sorry, we got bumped by that guy," He points to a townie, who'd shoved his way forward.
"Don't worry about it; it'll dry."
He grins; he's got a great smile. "What's up? I hadn't seen any other students in a while. Thought we might be the only ones left, though we're just about the head back"
"We're the drunk ones in the corner over there," I laugh. "Except we do not look like we're heading back soon,"
Drew laughs. "How's your guys Arithmancy project going?"
I exchange a look with Vero, who snorts into her freshly refilled drink, and we both look down at Maeve, who is rubbing circles into the floor with a (now wet) napkin to dry that spot. "I would say ask Maeve, but she seems a little…uhhh busy right now,"
Drew looks down at her, fighting back a laugh. "Yeah just a bit," He smiles at me after he finishes his drink. "I'll catch you guys later; I'm being called away,"
"Bye Drew," He waves as he heads over to his friends and Vero turns to me.
"I see."
"You see what?"
"Why you don't like JJ,"
"You see nothing!" I cry. "There's nothing to see here except Maeve acting like a drunk slob!"
"These napkins have no absorbency to them!" She cries from the ground. "How am I supposed to clean the spill?"
Vero and I exchange a look and I bite my lip to fight back a laugh. "I mean, we should at least bring her back to the table,"
Vero nods. "I could sit for a little,"
I nod. "Cheese fries sound good,"
"Cheese fries?" Maeve cries, abandoning her napkin. "Where?"
I reach out to help her up from the floor. "Over here honey, come on."
She beams, throwing her arms around my neck. "Yay, Carson!"
What a mess. I'm so proud of this girl.
A/N: Happy you're all enjoying this and hope you continue to do so! Drop a review and let me know what you think of this one.
