Chapter Twenty-Two: Stop Touching Me

It was November 24th, the day of the first task. Jamie Devereaux Bruce woke up in the Hospital Wing, which she did not see as a good sign for either Cedric Diggory or Fleur Delacour. While both champions were aware of what the task entailed—fighting off a dragon—it was still extremely daunting for someone who did not want to see the two hurt at all.

Madam Pomfrey had given Jamie a potion for a concussion and warned her to stay away from Fred Weasley, seeing as she always got injured when he was around. The blonde gave her nurse an uncomfortably tight smile before walking out of the Hospital Wing and toward her first class of the day. Seeing as it was a half day because of the task, Jamie was expecting all of her classes to be rather distracted and quick. She groaned when she saw a tall red-headed figure standing guard outside of her charms class. He had four books in his large hand and the sight of one of them made Jamie's heart leap into her throat in panic. Jamie reached the Weasley boy and was immediately on the defense. "Did you read those?!" She asked in panic, grabbing her books from his startled hand and holding them close to her chest. Tucked in between her potions and transfiguration textbook was The Vanishing of Veela Men, the one book she wanted Fred Weasley to read about as much as she wanted to pet a dragon. Jamie shoved the books into her bag that Angelina had brought for her and glared up at the red head.

Fred blinked at her outburst in shock, "I barely read my own textbooks, why would I bother with yours? Why?" Something like excitement mixed with dread crossed his face, "Did I have your diary? Did I miss out on the chance to read. Your. Diary?" The tall boy made a lunge for Jamie's bag. The blonde's hand slapped his lowered forehead, trying to push him off. Both his hands were grabbing at her bag and Jamie was using all of her force to pull away from him, kicking at him as well.

Angelina was standing near the Charms classroom in that moment and gave a sharp bark of laughter at the scene before her. Fred Weasley and Jamie Devereaux were a tangle of limbs as they struggled with one another. Jamie, despite her disadvantage in size, was putting up quite the fight. Her sharp elbows dug into unsuspecting parts of Fred Weasley who let out a loud "Bloody Hell, woman" while still having his eyes on the prize—Jamie's bag. Angelina watched at Jamie grabbed a fistful of Fred's long hair and pull hard.

"Not the hair!" Fred cried.

Jamie's mouth opened in indignation, "That's ironic considering I have at least one bald spot thanks to you!"

George Weasley stood next to Angelina in that moment and nudged the Quidditch Chaser. The dark haired girl jumped with a start at the sudden impact, feeling slight tingles run up and down her arm. George gave a lopsided smile down at her, "Just like old times." Angelina rolled her eyes at George and giggled when she saw Jamie use all of her force to hit Fred hard in the head with her bag full of books.

"Your violent tendencies needs to be looked at, Bruce." Fred stated.

"You gave me a concussion yesterday." Jamie stated, readjusting her bag on her shoulder and watching in satisfaction at Fred rubbing his head with a wince.

"That doesn't mean I deserve one too!" Fred whined, following Jamie as she entered into the Charms classroom with a death grip on her bag. "Did you write about me?" Fred teased.

Jamie Devereaux rolled her eyes at him, "Yes, Fred. I am definitely the kind of girl to keep a diary, and it is filled with pages and pages about you." She sat down at her usual table as Angelina joined her.

A smile split across his face, "Did you hear that, Georgie?"

George, who was sitting next to Fred at their table, nodded, "Little Jamie is in love."

Mallory Norden chose that moment to also walk into the Gryffindor Charms classroom, she laughed at the prospect, "Who are you in love with? That Beauxbatons boy that is always with you and the girl champion?"

The light-hearted mood that had briefly been created between Fred and Jamie altered immediately. "The girl champion," Jamie said testily, "is named Fleur Delacour."

Mallory shrugged and slid into her chair, "whatever."

Jamie Devereaux didn't need to be in the champion tent to know that her best friend was pacing with nerves. It was something Cedric Diggory had done since they were kids. The first time the young blonde had witnessed him pace was after his mother sent him a Howler. The five minutes before he opened it was the most nervous she had ever seen the Hufflepuff. The red letter had exploded and yelled at Cedric for almost getting killed during his second year Quidditch match, threatening to have him removed from the team. The only thing that settled the Diggory boy after that was the second letter he received from Amos Diggory saying how proud he was that his son was on the team at such a young age.

The silver-head of Jamie poked into the champion tent. Cedric immediately stopped pacing and headed over to her. He took in Jamie's appearance and had a burst of happiness. She was wearing a bright yellow muggle baseball cap that said "TEAM DIGGORY" in large black letters. Loren Bruce had custom made ten of the caps for Jamie, who distributed it to anyone who wanted one. The older Bruce had also sent two to Cedric's parents. Jamie was certain that Amos would most likely sleep in his. The blonde also wore a large thick jacket along with two scarves. One scarf was a Hufflepuff scarf she had taken from Cedric, and the older was a beautiful blue scarf that had been given to her by Fleur to wear as a good luck charm. Cedric let out a light laugh, "How does Loren manage to make my day without ever being here?" He asked, pulling his best friend into a tight hug.

Jamie hugged him back, more nervous than the Triwizard champion was. "It's a Bruce specialty." When they released their grip on one another, Jamie wished Cedric a sincere good-luck before hugging Fleur as well. "Don't forget: you are 'incroyable.'" Jamie said in an attempt at a French accent, which made Fleur laugh and touch the smaller blonde's face, kindly.

When Jamie left the champion tent, she joined the Hogwarts students in the stands, standing next to Angelina. The two Gryffindor sixth-years stood side-by-side in excitement and panic at the prospect of what was to come.

Fred and George Weasley stood behind Jamie and Angelina in the stands. The pony tail of little Jamie Devereaux in that blasted yellow hat was taunting and it took a lot in Fred to not tug at it, especially after this morning. For a short moment Fred had thought things had gone back to normal. She rolled her eyes at him, she was sarcastic, she had even tugged his hair. For a moment Fred had been reminded what he was missing without her in his life. She had always been, and would always be, the only one for him. But then Mallory bloody Norden had inserted herself into the conversation and made Jamie remember what a git Fred truly was. But sixteen year olds made mistakes. And the tall red-head was bound to make even more mistakes in the future.

Jamie watched as a giant dragon was brought into the tournament. Her breath caught in her throat and everything went by in a blur of emotion and panic. Cedric Diggory, the closest thing Jamie had ever had to a brother, walked out of the tent and into the area with a fire breathing animal that both she and her mother had been shocked to discover actually existed. He looked brave and handsome and determined as he stood there, facing off the dragon with his arms up and his wand out. He moved, and suddenly Cedric had transformed a rock into a Labrador. The dog ran around the legs of the dragon, distracting it. The Hufflepuff boy dove In between the monsters legs, lunging toward the golden egg amongst the many real ones.

Jamie Devereaux gripped Angelina's arm in panic as the Dragon became no longer distracted with the Labrador, instead focusing on Cedric once again. There was a burst of fire and even from the stands Jamie could feel the heat that reverberated off of it. She heard a yell from Cedric but then a scream from the stands. He had done it. Cedric had grabbed the egg and completed the first task.

The slight moment of relief that Jamie felt when Cedric was receiving his score was taken away almost immediately. Fleur was up now, and it seemed to go by even quicker than Cedric's turn. Sparkles emerged around Fleur and she began to move, almost similar to the Veela that were at the Quidditch World Cup. Her dragon, which looked a tad nicer than Cedric's, began to appear dazed. It was as if the creature was in a trance. Jamie watched as the dragon's eyes grew heavy and it started to doze off. Fleur's slight figure darted through the arena, toward the egg. But the dragon snored with such a fierce noise that it woke itself up. In the moment it came to, it shot fire at the beautiful Beauxbatons witch.

The blonde watching from the stands shouted in fear, but Fleur remained calm. The quarter veela doused the fire with a burst of water from her wand, all while continuing her sprint toward the egg. With a shout from the stands, Jamie recognized it was over. Both Fleur and Cedric had completed the first task. The little blonde's heart was beating so quickly, she had not registered that there was a large hand on her shoulder, which was trying to steady her.

Fred Weasley looked down at Jamie with concern. His witch appeared as if she was about to collapse. "Jamie? Are you okay?" Fred's head was close to her ear so that she could hear him. The stands were loud with chanting as Fleur received her scores. Jamie shrugged his hand off of her in a huff, "Of course I am, Weasley." Jamie walked in a daze of fear and concern back toward the Champion tent.

Jamie walked into the Gryffindor common room after the first task and the energy was electric. Everyone was cheering and happy, even Harry Potter looked more happy than usual. The blonde witch walked up to Harry and congratulated him on earning first place. "Cedric was brilliant, too! I didn't see him, but Ron filled me in on his transfiguration."

Jamie Devereaux lowered her voice as she spoke, "It's thanks to you, Harry. If you hadn't warned him he would have been a lot worse off. Thank you." The dark-haired boy blushed at Jamie's small hand on his shoulder, but he was bursting with pride in that moment.

"James!" Angelina called, walking up to the surprising pair. She had something wrapped in a napkin and handed it to the blonde, "It's the last chocolate caldron cake, so I grabbed it for you."

Giving her sweets was one of the best ways to improve Jamie Devereaux's mood. The fears of the tournament was gone from her mind in that moment. Her friends were fine, everyone was okay, and the next task wasn't for three months. Eagerly, the sixth-year Gryffindor took a large bite into the chocolate cake. The crumbs fell down her still several layers that she was wearing and Jamie gave a pleased, closed mouth smile to Angelina who laughed at the image.

George Weasley joined the girls, taking the yellow hat that was on Jamie's head, "You dare wear enemy colors in front of our champion?" Jamie rolled her eyes, looking up at the red-head who held her hat in his hand. George looked at the baseball cap in confusion, "How did you get it to say that? Is it a transfiguration?"

Jamie couldn't help the loud laugh that escaped her, "No! It's a muggle hat. It was made like that."

Fred Weasley seemed to appear next to his twin out of nowhere, "Her mum owns a personalization shop in London. That's why she and Cedric always have sweaters and scarves that say puns on them."

The blonde blinked at the twin, shocked that he had known this about Loren Bruce. The reason behind Loren's shop stemmed from the funny Christmas stockings that Loren had ordered when Jamie was two years old. They took a month to get to their small home and, when they did arrive, they were misspelled. While the misspelling is what made them fun, it gave Loren the idea to transform her once clothing boutique into a personalization store for muggles. Everyone in London loved Loren&James, it had become a cute staple where most people bought their loved ones presents.

George was shocked at the realization, "Mum would love that. She hand-knits all of our name sweaters."

"She finds it easier to tell all of her red-headed children apart if we are labeled." Fred commented. "Jokes on her though, every Christmas we switch sweaters."

Jamie and Angelina laughed. "But can't she tell you apart?" The blonde asked, looking between the two twins. "It's fairly easy if you look close enough."

Angelina agreed, "The chins and the eyes."

"And the foreheads." Jamie chimed in.

The Weasley twins gasped and looked at each other, as if seeing one another for the first time, "Different foreheads?!" They chimed together, in shock.

There was a commotion in the common room when Neville Longbottom, a fourth-year, had bitten into cream custards. He transformed before everyone's eyes, sprouting a rather impressive amount of feathers. Jamie immediately turned to the twins with an unimpressed gaze, "What did you two do?"

"Canary Creams!" Fred called out, loud enough for all the Gryffindor's to hear him, "George and I invented them! Seven Sickles each, a bargain!"

"Seven sickles to turn yourself into a bird?" Jamie asked in disbelief.

Fred looked down with a bemused smile, "To turn others into a bird. Come on, Bruce, you have to appreciate the fun that kind of prank would bring."

Jamie looked at Fred and had to remind herself that he didn't like her. That he had snogged Mallory less than a month ago. Talking to him and acting the way she had that day would only further confuse her emotions. She was beginning to treat him like he hadn't been a prat against S.P.E.W. or hadn't told her she was just a pretty face. Jamie wondered how hard she hit her head for her to let everything that had occurred in the past six months to disappear just because they had joked around about a diary this morning. Jamie Devereaux Bruce needed to remind herself that she had spent months obsessing about Fred Weasley and he did not feel the same way. She looked down at her feet, trying to disengage from the fun conversation that was occurring in that moment.

Fred kicked out his foot, tapping Jamie's toe to draw her back to the room. Jamie's foot jerked back at the contact and she glared at him. Fred Weasley blinked, completely taken aback from the one-eighty the little witch had done. But, at the same time, Fred knew exactly where it had come from. He had spent too many hours and too many years watching the blonde. The Weasley boy knew all of her cues. Jamie wanted to be mad at him, and Fred was going to let her. Reaching out he made a move to tug at a strand of her hair.

Jamie whacked his hand away, hard. "Excuse me?" she hissed, glaring up at him and trying not to make a scene. Jamie Devereaux looked around and, seeing that no one was paying attention to them she whispered to Fred. "You. Follow me."

There was definite fear in Fred as he followed the short witch out of the portrait. He knew he was about to get a scolding that would put his own mother to shame. But the red-head would have followed her anywhere, so he came willingly. Jamie turned on him once they were alone in the hall. "Stop it." Jamie said. Fred waited for her to continue, but that was all she said.

Fred looked down at her, confused "Stop what?"

"Stop touching me."

The red-head laughed, hard. "That's why you're mad? Because I touched you?"

"Because you keep touching me. We aren't friends. You can't keep grabbing me when it suits you. It's rude. It's disrespectful. It's a complete invasion of personal space and do it again I swear to god, Weasley, I will chop both your hands off." The sharpened nose and narrowed eyes only proved to make Fred want to touch the little witch more.

He leaned closer toward Jamie, his face only few inches away, "You mean like this?" He teased, reaching out to poke her. "Bloody Hell!" He cried, clutching his forehead that Jamie had just flicked, hard. "Did you just flick me?"

The familiar white wand was drawn close to his face, "Yes I did you Rude, Satanic Bastard." Genuine panic at the idea of what Jamie Devereaux might do to him in her state made Fred grab her wand from her outstretched hand. "How DARE you!" Jamie cried, reaching out for her wand. The pair stopped moving when they realized something strange. The wand wasn't burning Fred Weasley's hand.

"I think your wand is warming up to me." Fred said, his hand still far above Jamie Devereaux's head. With a swift kick to his shin, Jamie forced Fred down toward her height, ripping her wand out of his large hand.

"That makes one of us, Weasel." Jamie started to storm away but Fred said something that stopped her in her tracks.

"Wait, Jamie, I'm sorry!" When Jamie turned back toward him, the red-head took a deep breath and continued, "You're right. I shouldn't touch you without your permission. I'm…I'm a prat."

"That's all you're sorry for?" Jamie prompted. She wanted to hear that he was sorry for snogging Mallory Norden. Even though there was no reason for him to have to apologize for that, considering the two were not dating.

Fred swallowed hard, "I am sorry for being a prat this semester. Can we…can we try and be friends?"

Jamie pursed her lips tightly, "Pass."

"Can we go back to being enemies?" Fred offered, jokingly. Jamie Devereaux glared at him, hard. She didn't say anything for a few moments, contemplating it. Could she go back to the time of joking and messing around? Could she do it without catching feelings like she had in the first place?

"We'll see." Was all the little blonde said, immediately becoming apprehensive about her choice.