Chapter 25

Complication #25: Tension left untapped will only build.

There are three things I notice when I wake up the next morning on one of the Potter's couches.

First is that my head feels like it's about to split open; I'm instantly regretting the five shots of whiskey that James and I took before going to bed.

Second is that the aforementioned boy is currently asleep on the floor in front of the couch I'm on. He's sprawled on the floor, vaguely resembling a starfish with all of his limbs going out in different directions. He's also not the only one sleeping on the floor; the entire living room is covered with people in tangled sleeping positions.

At first, I'm a bit confused as to why James is sleeping on the floor in his own house, when he has his own bedroom upstairs. Then I remember what we discovered last night. Clearly he's not a fan of sleeping on the same bed he'd found his cousin and best mate snogging on.

The third is that there is a piece of parchment in my hand. I bring it up to my face, squinting to read the words despite the strong sensation that the room is spinning around me.

INTERVENTION

Potter Dining Room

1:00 pm is enough for the drunkest of you to sleep off the worst of your hangovers, right?

We're going with 1:00 pm, I don't care if you're still dying, you better be there

This is the second intervention this year that's centred around the fact that one of James' best mates snogged a Weasley cousin. I can't help but wonder if this is an anomaly or if every year involves this many intra-group relationships.

After James and I found Simon and Louis snogging last night, the party was already dying down anyways and the new discovery proved to be the final nail in the coffin. The two boys fell asleep in different places in the house – I'm pretty sure Louis is still in James' bed, and Simon is on the other side of the room from me, curled up in a tight ball.

I peek at the watch around James' wrist, noting that it's only a little bit after 9. So I bury my face into the couch in an attempt to sleep off this awful headache.

Most of the Potter/Weasley clan isn't in much better shape by the time the actual intervention rolls around. A large batch of Pepper-Up Potion was prepared to help handle this, but there's only so much that the potion can do.

As a result of this chaos, there's absolutely no briefing before Simon and Louis show up. We're all going in blind. I'm not even sure that everyone here knows why this intervention is happening in the first place, since James and I were the only people who actually saw it happen. But news among this group spreads like Fiendfyre, so there's about an 80% chance that everyone already knows.

Louis walks in, to the dining room red-faced, and Simon refuses to make eye contact with anyone when he follows in behind Louis.

Fred clears his throat. "Given that we're all currently hungover pieces of shit, we never prepared anything to say. So, in lieu of the lot of us starting the intervention, would one of you two care to explain what happened last night?"

Simon looks up for the first time since entering the room, an unreadable expression on his face. "None of us can ever make a proper announcement of anything around here, can we?" he says wryly.

"So you're saying that…" Amelie looks like she's deep in thought.

"I'm saying that I'm gay," Simon responds, a bit louder this time. "I've known it for a while now, but I dunno, I hadn't really given any thought to how I planned on coming out to you lot. Guess I don't have to now."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" James says quietly.

Simon shrugs. "I didn't know how you'd react, I guess. I wanted to make sure the timing was right and it wasn't going to make anything weird."

"This doesn't make anything weird," Alec replies. "If anything, it just helps explain why you've never been all that thrilled about my attempts to set you up. But you're practically my brother – and I know Freddy and James feel the same way – and nothing you could ever tell us would change that, really."

Fred and James both nod in earnest.

"Thanks, guys," Simon says.

"Now, onto the more pressing matter of business, why the hell were you two snogging last night?"

Louis answers this time. "We were both piss-drunk," he says, as means of explanation. "Although, we've had a bit of a chat this morning, and we've decided to make a go of it."

He grabs Simon's hand, and I watch as a blush creeps up Simon's cheeks.

Fred laughs. "What is it with all my mates dating my cousins?"

"I mean, theoretically, you're safe when it comes to James," Alec responds. "He can't exactly date any of your cousins."

"I would just like to point out that no one has threatened Simon's existence yet, and I really think that's just evidence that you lot are bloody sexist," Dom rants, holding her boyfriend's hand just a little bit tighter.

"Anyways," Molly begins, looking a little worse for wear, "good for you two. Now can we please end this thing so that I can go sleep for another 12 hours?"

"Roger that," Fred replies. "I move that this intervention be dismissed."

It's the most spirited anyone has been all day. "Dismissed!"

"Wait!" James yells, stopping everyone in their tracks. "One more thing."

Louis is the first to respond. "Yes?"

"If you're going to snog again, for the love of Merlin, don't do it on my bed." He looks around the room. "That rule applies to all of you. The only person allowed to snog on my bed is me."

"If you're the only person allowed, does that mean you're snogging yourself?" Lily quips.

The entire room bursts into raucous laughter as James attempts to backtrack his previous statement.

Luckily, we go back to Hogwarts only a few days after New Year's. That means only a few short days of trying to make sure Lila doesn't escape my room, because my mother's already moody enough without a cat running rampant around the flat. She's not as cross by the time I go to leave for Hogwarts, but I can't help but feel like she's still a bit hurt that I dared to spend part of Christmas with my father and Diana.

She gives me a hug on the platform, and I board the train, hoping to find my friends quickly.

I don't know why I'm worried about finding them, really, because I just have to listen for the loudest compartment.

I slide the compartment door open a bit slowly; I underestimated how much more difficult hauling around my luggage is with the addition of Lila's carrier.

"Abby!" Dom says by way of greeting. "Nice of you to join – oh my Merlin is that a kitty?"

I smile and nod, bringing the carrier over to her. "Meet Lila."

Dom's infatuated immediately. "This is the most beautiful kitten I've ever seen in my life."

I laugh. "Well, she's turned me into a pet person, so she's clearly something special."

Behind me, James grabs my trunk and loads it above the compartment for me.

"Why does your trunk only weigh like 5 kilos?" he asks, after shoving it on the shelf.

"I charmed it to be lighter," I respond. "I have to. Do you really think I'm capable of lifting that heavy of an object over my head without some magical assistance?"

James smirks. "Good point. You are pretty weak."

I give James a look of mock challenge as I take a step towards him. "Care to repeat that?"

"You heard me." His eyes are twinkling, the specks of gold in his irises clearly visible given how close we're standing right now.

The environment suddenly shifts, and it goes from playful banter while surrounded by our friends to just the two of us, locking eyes.

I worry that if I stand there long enough, I might drown. It's as if there's an invisible thread between the two of us, pulling us closer and closer, until –

I snap out of it.

Merlin, I can't keep letting myself get like this around James – we're friends, for Godric's sake.

I don't know what's changed, why the tension and attraction between us is suddenly so much higher than it was last term. I blame New Year's.

"I should probably take Lila off your hands so you can get to the Prefect meeting," I tell Dom, scooping the small white kitten off of her lap.

"Fuck, I forgot about that," she replies. "I better go before Molly tries to hunt me down."

As she leaves, she catches my eye and gives me a look that clearly expresses something along the lines of 'what on earth was that?'

I hope that she forgets about it by the time we get to the dormitory this evening, because I don't have an answer to her question.

I fall into the seat next to Fred, who's now unintentionally acting as a buffer between me and James. I need the space to clear my head.

The first half of the train ride passes by rather uneventfully. The compartment falls back into casual conversation, largely revolving around how we spent our holidays. The Weasleys and Potters have slightly less to contribute to this conversation, given that they spent most of the holidays with each other.

Dom comes back after an hour or so, reclaiming her position by the window with her legs across Alec's lap.

"So how'd the prefect meeting go?" Fred asks. "Any new ridiculous rules Molly's decided to put into place?"

"No, actually," Dom responds. "Although, she was, like, abnormally happy. And I understand that she gets a little bit of a power trip from being Head Girl and addressing all the prefects and all, but this was a bit excessive for that."

Looks like Davies took our conversation to heart and finally did something about his obvious crush on Molly. Thank Merlin.

"I wonder if it has to do with Davies," Amelie muses.

"I have a pretty good feeling it does," I confirm.

Dom looks at me questioningly. "How do you know that?"

"Davies and I had a little chat before we left for holidays," I explain. "I basically told him to get out of his own head, because he and Molly obviously both fancy the pants off each other."

"Atta girl." Amelie beams at me.

"I think you've got yourself a new career path," Dom says. "I can see it now: Abby Winchester, professional matchmaker."

Somehow I doubt I'm qualified to professionally sort out people's love lives when I still have no idea what in the name of Merlin is happening with mine.

Regardless, I laugh at her words. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You'd pull it off really well," Alec says. "You could decorate your space to look like something out of Trelawney's classroom, and people come in expecting this mystical experience and then you essentially just smack them upside the head with some really blunt truths. It's a great business model."

"That's it: I'm opening up my shop in Hogsmeade next month," I joke.

"I'll send all of the people trying to buy love potions from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes in your direction," Fred supplies.

"And I'm sending you Teddy, because Merlin knows he should've proposed to Victoire ages ago," Dom adds.

"Give him a break, he's going at his own p

ace," James chimes in. And then after a moment, he continues, "And you are not allowed to repeat this to your sister, but I went ring shopping with Teddy yesterday."

"What!?" Dom almost falls out of her seat.

"He's planning on proposing within the next month or so," James elaborates.

"Well good," Dom replies, regaining her composure. "It's about fucking time."

A few moments later, Molly comes bounding in to the compartment.

"Michael asked me on the first Hogsmeade weekend!" she cries, jumping into the open space next to James. "He also apologized for acting like such a ponce last semester and asked me to be his girlfriend, and oh, life is so good right now!"

Fred and James exchange a look. "Which one of us is responsible for threatening Davies?" Fred asks him.

"You two are the worst. Leave him alone."

More eye contact is exchanged between the two male cousins.

"James is on it!" Fred declares.

Molly rolls her eyes. "I can't believe you two – oh my Merlin is that a kitty?"

A/N: Making James/Abby stuff almost happen is like dangling candy in front of a baby… for that, I am very sorry.

Sneak peek of chapter 26…

I change into pyjamas and am just about to go to bed when the door opens and Caroline walks in. She looks around the room for a moment, and then her eyes settle on me.

"Can we… talk?" she asks hesitantly, not moving from the doorway.

I can't deny that her behavior recently has been an subject of curiosity, which is part of the reason I find myself agreeing to hear her out.

She makes her way over to my bed, and sits on the end of it. She looks like she feels out of place, which is so strange when you consider that she spent every Sunday night of our first six years sitting on it, gossiping.