Year 3: Not Quite Right

Chapter 26: February 2018

The more time passed, the more Louis knew there was no escaping it. He was dating Julia and there was nothing he could do about it. He supposed he could break up with her, but he felt bad. She clearly liked him a lot and he didn't want to hurt her. If it had been a matter of choosing between Julia and someone he really liked, the answer would have been obvious. But there was no reason to hurt Julia, apart from his lack of interest in kissing her and holding her hand.

Meanwhile, Louis had to work extra hard now to hide the situation he and Justin had found themselves in with the Slytherins from Julia. She was always insisting on joining Louis in the library or in the common room when he was doing his homework and he was nervous that she would soon catch on to the fact that he had so much more work than she did.

On more than one occasion, Julia expressed confusion over the fact that Louis was working on an essay she could have sworn she'd seen him write already. Louis would cover by saying that he hadn't been satisfied with his original draft and that he wanted a second pass at it, but he suspected that excuse wasn't going to work forever. For now, Julia was contended in thinking that her boyfriend was simply very dedicated to his schoolwork.

Justin was much more nervous about Julia's proximity to their secrets than Louis was.

"What if she notices that its not our name at the top of the essay?" he demanded under his breath one day while Julia was searching for a library book a few aisles away.

"Maybe you shouldn't put names on the essays while you're writing them," Louis recommended. "Besides, it's your own fault that she wants to spend every waking moment with me, so quit complaining."

"What do you mean fault?" Justin demanded. "You're the one that had the crush on her."

"And you're the one that set us up in the first place," Louis retorted.

"You didn't have to keep dating if you didn't want to," Justin declared. "This is all on you."

The boys couldn't continue their argument, because Julia returned at that point with her book in hand.

"Everything okay?" she asked suspiciously. "You were whispering again."

Louis waved her concern away. "Don't worry about it," he assured her. "Everything's fine."

"You whisper a lot," Julia commented. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Of course not," Louis assured her, patting her hand. "We just don't want to get yelled at my Madam Maxwell for talking too loudly in the library."

"You're talking plenty loud right now," Julia pointed out.

Almost as if on cue, Madam Maxwell appeared around the corner and shushed the three of them. Feeling vindicated, Louis gave Julia his best I-told-you-so look before returning to his work.

Julia just rolled her eyes, her expression indicating that she was nowhere near done pressing the topic.

LlLlLlLlLlL

As always, Sunday evenings were reserved for Louis and Justin's weekly meeting with a representative of the third year Slytherins to pass over their homework. During the first few weeks of Louis and Julia's relationship, she'd accepted without complaint when Louis would tell her he had to meet up with someone and that he would be back shortly. But as the weeks went on, she began to grow suspicious of this too.

"Why do you always have to go somewhere on Sunday nights?" she asked one Sunday as they left the Great Hall after dinner.

"I'm sure it's not every Sunday night," Louis said, pretending that he didn't know what she was talking about. "Just sometimes I have to meet up with people. You know, for astronomy club."

"I know this has nothing to do with astronomy club," Julia insisted. "Astronomy club doesn't meet on Sundays at all. Kelsey Olsen told me."

"Since when do you talk to Kelsey Olsen?" Louis questioned. "She's a sixth year."

"I don't talk to her," Julia defended. "I just asked her about when the astronomy club meets."

"Why couldn't you just ask me?" Louis demanded. "I'm in the astronomy club, you know."

"Because I was trying to figure out where you keep going on Sunday evenings and I knew you wouldn't tell me the truth!" Julia cried.

"I don't go anywhere on Sunday evenings," Louis insisted. "I just happen to have a quick meeting today."

"Well it's not for astronomy club, so who's it with?" Julia demanded.

"That's none of your business," Louis insisted, getting defensive. He didn't like how nosy Julia was being. If she kept prying, she could find things out that he didn't want her to know. Or worse, she could end up involved somehow.

"None of my business?" Julia cried. "I'm only your girlfriend."

"Look," Louis said, attempting to de-escalate the situation. The last thing he needed was someone from Slytherin walking out of the Great Hall and hearing them fighting and arguing about this. "I'm sorry if you think I'm being secretive, but we've only been dating a short while. There are things that we haven't talked about yet, and I would appreciate it if you would respect my privacy. I'm sure there are things about you that I don't know yet, but you don't hear me demanding to know your every move."

Julia visibly deflated as Louis spoke. "You're right," she agreed. "You can tell me whenever you're ready to tell me. If you want this to be a secret, I should respect that."

"Thank you," Louis said in relief. "Now I have to go, but I'll meet you back in the common room in a bit, alright?"

Julia nodded and leaned in for a quick kiss before leaving. Louis allowed it, though it meant nothing to him, and then waited in the Entrance Hall until he'd seen her disappear around the corner in the direction of the Grand Staircase.

"Good, you got rid of her," Justin said, appearing from the shadows. "Now come on, or we're going to be late."

The two boys turned and headed towards the staircase that led to the dungeons. They walked the familiar path to the corridor containing the statue of Cormoran the Cruel to find Darian Reed waiting for them.

"Took you long enough," he barked as they approached, stopping just outside his reach. "I don't like to be kept waiting."

"Sorry," Louis apologized. "It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't," Reed said.

Louis and Justin produced the assignments from their bags. Because of the delay that Julia had caused, they hadn't had a chance to consolidate and organize them like they usually did.

"What's this?" Reed demanded, looking at the mess of parchment they tried to hand over.

"Sorry," Louis repeated. "It's a little disorganized today, but it's all there."

Sucking in a breath, Reed took the assignments and shoved them unceremoniously into his own bag. "Lucky for you, Arthur likes to sort things."

Louis let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"Are we done?" Justin asked in a hard voice.

Reed bobbed his head once. "I suggest you do better next week," he warned. "I'm giving you a pass today, but David's been itching for an excuse to teach someone a lesson."

"Understood," Justin said while Louis swallowed thickly. "We'll be better prepared in the future."

Without another word, Reed turned and disappeared into the shadows of the dungeons, leaving Louis and Justin alone once again.

Justin let out a slow breath while Louis reached for the wall to steady himself. That had been one of their most tense exchanges since the time that Flint had decided to add care of magical creatures to the list of assignments the Gryffindor boys had to complete for them. He took a minute to steady himself and then turned to Justin.

"Let's get out of here," he recommended. The dungeons were Slytherin territory and both boys disliked spending more time down here than they had to.

The hurried back down the hallway, and when they reached the foot of the stairs, they were met with a surprise. There stood Julia, hands on her hips and a foul expression on her face.

"Julia!" Louis cried in shock. "What are you – ?"

"So this is where you sneak off to every Sunday? Secret meetings with Darian Reed? What even was that?" she demanded.

"It's not important," Justin insisted, trying to push past Julia. "Come on, let's just go up – "

"No," Julia shook her head, pushing Justin back. Her eyes were fixed on Louis. "I want to know what's going on."

"It's nothing," Louis insisted. "Don't worry about it. It's my business. Mine and Justin's."

"Well it sounded shady to me," Julia declared. "And I don't like it. As your girlfriend, I'm demanding that you tell me what's going on. Or else – I could always just ask Darian Reed."

"No!" Louis cried in panic. "Don't do that. Please Julia, do not talk to the Slytherins about this."

"Then tell me what's going on!" Julia cried.

Louis sighed and shut his eyes as he went over his options. Julia knew enough now that she could probably put things together on her own. But if she talked to Reed on her own, it would be bad. Not just for him and Justin, but for her too. Louis didn't know Flint too well, but he suspected that he wouldn't be beyond hurting a girl if it meant he got what he wanted. And Louis wasn't about to let Julia get hurt over this.

"Come upstairs," Louis insisted. "And I promise I'll tell you everything."

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"But that's not right!" Julia exclaimed later in the common room once Louis had told her the whole story. Justin had advised against it, but even he didn't have the power to prevent Louis from telling Julia at this point. She'd implicated herself.

"I never said it was," Louis shrugged. "But we don't have much of a choice. They're too strong."

"You have to tell someone," Julia insisted. "I'm sure Professor Longbottom – "

"No way," Louis shook his head. "We can't get the teachers involved. If we do, Flint and the others will only make things worse for us. There's no beating them. The best we can do is live by their rules and hope we don't end up back in the hospital wing again."

"It's no wonder you never have any free time," Julia marvelled. "How do you make time for astronomy club?"

"We didn't at first," Louis admitted. "But we've worked things out pretty well. We've had a while to establish a routine."

Julia sighed. "I still think there has to be something you can do," she insisted. "They need to be punished! What they're doing isn't right."

"Come on," Louis said. "What can the professors do?"

"Take points away from Slytherin," Julia insisted. "Put them all in detention. Write home to their parents. Maybe even suspend them?"

"Right," Louis agreed. "And what about when that's done? The Slytherins will have had their punishment and they'll be even angrier than they are now."

"And anything they do, we report, and they get in trouble. Eventually they'll stop retaliating because they won't want more detentions," Julia said.

"But how badly do I get injured before they stop?" Louis asked. "How badly does Justin get injured? Or you, once they find out you were involved?"

"They can't – "

"They can," Louis insisted. "They can, they have, and they will if we fight them on this. The best course of action is to just do what they say and stay out of trouble."

"I don't like it," Julia said, crossing her arms.

"Neither do I," Louis agreed. "But it's the only way. You see that, don't you?"

"Maybe," Julia allowed. "I understand where you're coming from, but I still think the professors could do something. Maybe they could put surveillance on you and Justin, so that you're never caught in the corridors alone."

Louis sighed. "Flint would find a way," he said. "He always finds a way. Every time Justina and I have thought we could outsmart him we were wrong. I appreciate what you're trying to do, but please just drop it."

"I don't know if I can," Julia replied. "Can I sleep on it?"

Louis sighed. "If that's what you need," he allowed. He didn't want to pressure Julia now and risk losing. If she still wasn't in agreement with him in the morning, he could try getting Justin to talk to her.

Julia departed then, joining her friend Olivia and heading up to the girls' dormitories.

"How did it go?" Justin asked, slipping into Julia's vacated seat.

"I don't know," Louis replied honestly. "We'll find out in the morning."

LlLlLlLlLlL

The next morning, Louis and Justin waited impatiently for Julia to descend, but after missing breakfast entirely, they couldn't wait anymore unless they wanted to risk being late for their first class. They had potions first period and as the boys made their way down to the potions classroom, stomachs rumbling, Louis walked with trepidation. What if Julia had awoken early that morning and sought out Professor Longbottom before Louis had even woken up? What if the professors were already rallying and preparing punishments for Flint and his gang?

The Gryffindor boys arrived in their classroom, and a quick glance around the room confirmed that Julia was nowhere to be seen. Professor Abbott-Longbottom called the class to attention and still, Julia remained missing. Louis' heart began to race as he looked from her empty seat to where the Slytherins sat, fearing the worst.

Ten minutes of their lesson went by and Louis didn't hear a word of what was being said. His mind was racing as he tried to think of every possible scenario that could take place after this. For all he knew, he could be spending the night in the hospital wing. He felt physically weak. If he'd tried to walk at this point, he likely would have collapsed because his legs felt like noodles and his body like a ten-tonne weight.

Then, finally, the door at the back of the room opened and Julia hurried inside. Her hair was a mess and her robes were on crooked and she dashed to her seat quickly, trying not to disturb the lesson, though at that point it was a futile attempt.

"Miss Arnold," Professor Abbott-Longbottom addressed her. "Nice of you to join us."

"Sorry Professor," Julia said as she dropped her bag and sat down in her seat. "I overslept."

"Five points from Gryffindor for lateness," Professor Abbott-Longbottom declared before continuing her lecture as though there'd been no interruption.

Louis heard even less of the lecture now than he'd heard before. His eyes bored into Julia's back, willing her to turn around and give him some indication as to her decision. Millions of thoughts swirled in his head. He wondered whether she'd really overslept, or whether it was a ruse to cover for the fact that she'd been speaking with her Head of House all morning. Or if she really had overslept, had she come to a decision, and would Louis like it when he heard it?

But Julia remained seemingly focused on the lecture throughout the lesson and either didn't feel Louis staring intently at her, or didn't acknowledge it. When Professor Abbott-Longbottom finally announced that class was over, Louis felt like an eternity had passed.

He made a beeline for Julia and Olivia's shared workbench and he met her eyes with silent questions.

Julia sighed.

"I went to Professor Longbottom's office this morning," she admitted.

Louis' heart dropped.

"I was going to tell him. I wasn't going to give you the chance to talk me out of it. But the more I thought about it – this is your fight, not mine," she continued.

"So you didn't talk to him?" Louis asked hopefully.

Julia shook her head. "No," she said. "I didn't. I paced outside his office forever, and when he came back from breakfast, he asked what I was doing there and I lied and said I'd got confused about what class we had first period. I was late because by the time I left the herbology wing class was already starting."

"Thank you," Louis said, relief flooding through him. "Thank you so much."

"I still think you should talk to him though," Julia insisted.

"I don't think – "

"I'm promising that I'm not going to say anything," she interrupted Louis. "But that doesn't mean I don't think this needs to be reported. But it's your business, not mine. It's your problem, and it's your fight, and you need to be the one that turns them in."

"I'm not going to do that," Louis said. "I can't."

"I'm hoping you'll change your mind about that," Julia declared.

"And if I don't?" Louis challenged, suddenly anxious. "Will you tell if I refuse?"

"No," Julia shook her head. "Like I said, it's your decision to make. You know what I think you should do, but ultimately, I'll respect your decision. If you like living like this, then I guess you're entitled to it."

"It's not that I like living like this," Louis frowned. "I just prefer it to the alternative."

"Let's not argue about this," Julia pleaded. "I don't want to fight. I told you I'm not going to do anything about it."

"Alright," Louis agreed. Though he was relieved, he also remained trepidatious. Just because Julia wasn't going to do anything now didn't mean she never would. That she knew what was going on was dangerous. But there was nothing Louis could do about that short of erasing her memory, and that spell was much too complicated for a third year to perform successfully.

"To charms?" Louis offered.

"To charms," Julia confirmed, taking Louis' arm as he led her out of the classroom.

As they passed by the Slytherins, Julia sent them all a dirty look. But she didn't say anything, and they passed without incident.

Louis had always known that there was a chance someone would realize what was going on. He'd hoped it wouldn't happen, but now that it had, there was no going back. He could only hope that Julia would keep her word and would allow Louis and Justin to handle things in their own way.