Chapter Thirty-Two: Lying Clay-Brained Harpy
Cedric Diggory sat atop a desk, his long legs swinging back and forth as he watched Jamie Devereaux Bruce pour over yet another Defense Against the Dark Arts book. There was a large stack of old books on the desk Cedric perched on. Some were from the restricted section, some were third year charms that he wouldn't think to use but could be necessary while in the third task. It had only been a day since he and the other three champions had been told about the maze. However, because Jamie would be busy with finals in the upcoming weeks, as well as her Birthday, Jamie was taking advantage of her free time to help out the Hufflepuff boy as much as she possibly could.
The maze that Ludo Bagman had revealed to be the third task seemed ominous and close to impossible for a seventeen-year-old to get through. Jamie had reassured Cedric many times that he needed just three or four spells that he could use for anything and became second nature when he was in fear. After finding a shield charm in the DADA text book, the little blonde witch began pressuring Cedric to practice it as much as possible, "If you get good enough at it, it can protect you against basically anything. Monsters are immediately going to be aggressors, so your only chance is to be really good at defending yourself." She tapped the long, white wand on her cheek in thought, "I bet at least one of Hagrid's blast-ended skrewts in there. But I don't know what other types of creatures he would have rounded up."
"You're not going to appear out of a bush?" Cedric joked, earning a glare from the Gryffindor.
"Hardy, Har. Be thankful I wasn't asked to, no shield charm could stop me from making you spill your guts."
"Do we know that for sure?" Cedric mused, reading over all the types of dangers a shield charm could prevent.
"Let's be honest we know nothing for sure." Jamie stated, hoisting herself up on the desk across from Cedric, "If I found out tomorrow that I can grow a tail at will I wouldn't even be surprised. I would just accept it, learn how to use that tail to the best of my ability, and cut holes in all my pants."
Cedric snorted, "That would be a sight to see. But what if you have a stinger that would be much more useful. And would get you a invite into the maze with all the other dangerous monsters."
Jamie chucked a book at him, which he leaned out of the way to dodge, "Prat."
The Hufflepuff boy jumped to his feet and stretched his arm out, "Help me practice the bloody shield charm, I'm meeting Cho later."
"I'm meeting Cho later." Jamie mocked in a deep voice, rolling her eyes. She walked to the other end of the room, "Ready?"
"Hit me with your best shot." Cedric said.
Jamie giggled to herself, "Fire away." The muggleborn hummed under her breath before sending a disarming charm toward the boy. Cedric Diggory made a sweeping motion over the front of his face, summoning a shield charm. It wasn't completely effective, knocking the Hufflepuff back a few steps from the impact of Jamie's spell. "Weak!" Jamie taunted. They went on like that for about half an hour until Cedric had successfully blocked ten spells in a row with perfect Shield Charms. Jamie beamed at him as the exited the empty class room together.
"So next time we practice we work on at least one other protection charm. You're also going to need a spell to navigate the maze. I doubt they would let you bring my compass with you." Jamie mused as they walked past students that were bustling through the hallway. Several students waved hi to Jamie and nodded toward Cedric.
The Hufflepuff boy looked at Jamie, confused, "People are saying hi to you now? Since when did you become approachable."
"Since my incredible personality wooed everyone in this damned place." Jamie deadpanned. The truth was, since Jamie could no longer handle prolonged silences or walking places alone, she ended up jumpstarting conversations with practical strangers that were heading in her direction. Granted, no one in Hogwarts was really a stranger, but now that Jamie Devereaux was branching out and speaking to more than just her immediate circle, she had begun to quite enjoy talking to other students. The blonde witch was careful not to speak from the back of her throat, but she was learning that the thick walls of the castle were surprisingly thin and everyone had gossip on everyone else. Several Ravenclaw girls were quite eager to be exposing every small rumor that was around. What was strange, Jamie had learned, about rumors was that when they weren't true a person could still tell them to her. If they really believed it to be true. Yet there would be a dull head-ache that Jamie would get in the front of her head and she would know that it was in fact just a rumor and not hot gossip. This new party trick was perhaps Jamie's favorite thing to come from being male-Veela. It meant she could be lied to, as long as the 'liar' wasn't aware they were lying. She was more surprised than anyone else that it had been uncovered behind whispered hands and giggling lips of school girls. Before almost drowning during the second task, she had never bothered to get to know any of them or branch out. Since the task, Jamie Devereaux had embraced the side of Loren Bruce that she had almost never acknowledged. Sure she wasn't the girliest of all girls, but she could hold her own during a seven minute walk to the dungeons. "That reminds me, I heard some interesting gossip about you and miss Chang." Jamie teased.
Cedric looked at her from the corner of his eye with fear, "About what?"
Jamie giggled, "I'll give you a hint: You, Cho, and Mrs. Norris walk into the Astronomy Tower."
The Hufflepuff shoved Jamie over, causing her to laugh louder and stumble to the side.
May twenty-ninth was finally there and, as usual, Loren Bruce created a scene for her favorite daughter despite not being within a hundred mile radius of Jamie Devereaux. This year Jamie was turning 'legal' according to the wizarding world and so it turned to the lovely muggle woman to make it a fun event. Loren had always loved to plan parties for Jamie, but Jamie had never had all too many friends growing up. Jamie remembered her seventh birthday party which had been decorated to the tee, with a piñata and individualized party bags with Jamie's face on the side of them that Loren had custom made.
For Jamie's seventeenth birthday, Cedric, Angelina, Alicia, Fred, George, Lee, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Harry all received small packages from Loren Bruce. All the students were rather confused, huddling around Jamie's much larger brown box awaiting her to open it before they opened their individual packages. Inside the blonde's care-package was a box of brownies with little toothpicks sticking out of each of them. Upon further inspection the toothpicks were a cursive 'James' in hot, sparkly pink letters. Fred grabbed a brownie from the stick and plopped it in his mouth in one bite. He kept the James stick in his mouth as Jamie continued to look through her box. A fluffy pink tiara, which Jamie immediately put on her head, as well as a thick green sweater that had a pair of wings in the top right corner that Loren had sewn in silver. The little wings matched perfectly with the necklace that Professor McGonagall had given Jamie and she never took off.
At the bottom of the package was a box identical to the one all of her friends had received as well as a letter and another bottle of alcohol that Jamie quickly covered with her new sweater. Jamie opened the letter and instead of a long-winded message of how loved she was all Loren Bruce had written was 'Have Fun.' Confused, Jamie Devereaux opened up the matching package and revealed a small muggle water gun. Her mouth opened in shock and she watched as her friends unwrapped their own presents to reveal their water-guns as well.
"What is this?" George asked, holding it by the tips of his fingers and dangling it away from his face.
Jamie shook the toy and heard water slosh around. Without answering, she aimed and fired a thin stream of cold water in between Fred Weasley's eyebrows. The tooth-pick that had been in his mouth clattered to the table. "It's a water gun."
Fred immediately ripped open his present and began to spray Jamie with small streams of water. The Gryffindor girl leapt to her feet and, with her package under one arm and her other hand clutching her toy gun she ran out of the Great Hall and toward the Hogwarts grounds. Fred was forced to grab Jamie's school bag for her as he hurried after the small blonde, gesturing for the other nine students to follow along with their little water guns.
George Weasley sprinted onto the large grassy patch in a dramatic knee-high sprint, creating laughter from Angelina Johnson who was spraying him as much as she could. The young wizards soon realized their small guns were not too impactful. Hermione used an engorgement charm on hers and immediately drenched Harry Potter who had been standing still watching the scene before him unfold. The be-speckled boy spluttered and copied his bushy haired friend's idea. Soon all eleven of the students were running around with water guns that required quite a bit of strength behind each shot. "America!" Ron Weasley bellowed, shooting a stream of water into the air so it came down on Alicia and Angelina that were standing next to each other. The game soon became girls vs. boys.
The five girls huddled together behind an archway, with Ginny watching the boys as they also conversed together across the field. Jamie's tiara was already tangled in her hair and her robes were slightly damp thanks to Fred Weasley. "Okay, we need a strategy, ladies." Hermione said, her eyes bright with excitement. Jamie Devereaux had never seen the fourth year so out-for-blood before.
"We can't let the patriarchy win again!" Ginny called, still not keeping her eyes from the boys. The other girls cheered in response, in somewhat of a battle-cry. "We need to pin-point each person's weakness and attack."
"Cedric is fast but he has shit peripheral vision. One of us needs to attack him from the side while he's distracted." Jamie commented, jumping from foot to foot in order to keep her energy up. Her heart was pounding and her cheeks hurt a bit from how wide her smile was. This was by far the best birthday already.
"Lee will stop and laugh at anything, even if it means he gets attacked." Alicia chimed in.
"George will get distracted if Fred gets drenched because he'll be too busy laughing." Angelina stated.
"Ron and Harry attack only what is in front of them. If you get them from behind it won't be too hard to take them down." Hermione added.
Ginny finally took her eyes off the boys and turned to look over her shoulder with a sly smile, "I think we all know Fred's weakness." All girls looked to Jamie and Ginny continued with a rather frightening glint in her eyes, "Jamie distracts Fred and attacks him, Angelina attacks George, I'll get Cedric from the side while Hermione sneaks up behind Ron and Harry and Alicia gets Lee when he's too busy laughing." The youngest Weasley put her slim hand out in the air, "Ready, women."
"Ready!" They all chorused.
George Weasley was gripping his twins face in either of his hands, "Repeat after me, Freddie: I will not let Jamie distract me from winning this war and proving we are the manliest of men."
"I am not going to let her distract me!" Fred said, defensively, pushing George's hands from his cheeks, "On the contrary, Georgie, I am going to be her biggest distraction." All of the young wizards exchanged looks of doubt toward Fred. The middle Weasley child threw his hands up in the air, "Bloody hell, I am not a complete mess around her! I prank her all the time and I came to win, boys."
"Fredward!" A voice called from between the two safe stations of boys vs. girls. Fred turned his head an saw Jamie Devereaux. Her hair was wild and clinging to her neck. The fluffy pink tiara was slanted a bit on her head and her cheeks were flushed pink. Jamie's wide smile and prominent dimples made Fred smile.
"Shit we are going to lose." He mumbled. George slapped him on the back of the head, shaking Fred from his trance. Clearing his throat, Fred gripped his charmed gun tighter in his arms and aimed it toward his little Jamie Devereaux, "Stay back, woman!" Jamie continued to walk toward him, an mischievous glint in her eye that made Fred's heart race. With a deep breath he focused on the fact that this was a game and he needed to win. Fred took steps toward the little blonde, his gun still drawn. "One more step, Jamison, and you'll be drenched." He warned, serious.
Jamie's shoulders tightened and she realized the plan was not working how Ginevra Weasley had planned. Jamie Devereaux removed her gun from behind her back and also pointed it at Fred. "I'm ready when you are, Weasley." She taunted, gripping the gun tightly with her arm on the enlarged trigger. Ginny must have recognized that her plan had gone out the window. From behind her she heard a battle cry of 'Attack!' and all five girls sprinted from the safety of the archway and toward the group of boys.
There was no clear winner. Almost immediately everyone was completely drenched in water, but continued to fight. Ginny Weasley had successfully drenched Cedric Diggory, but was not relenting her attack on the Hufflepuff. Despite her being the youngest, she was by far the most formidable opponent. Angelina and George were running in circles chasing each other and Ron Weasley was screaming 'Against the rules!' as Hermione used her wand to enhance the flow of the water from the water-gun. "Jamie!" Ron yelled as he passed the birthday girl in a sprint to avoid Hermione, "Tell her no magic is allowed!"
Jamie laughed hard, "We never said that!" And then she directed her own stream of water at him.
Fred Weasley approached the blonde witch as she was distracted. He jumped at her from behind, bringing her down to the ground and shooting water directly in her face when she hit the now muddy grass thanks to their water fight. Jamie was squealing but it was often muffled from the splutters that the water caused her to create. Finally when all his water was gone, Fred relented and hit the mud covered ground beside Jamie, immediately ruining his robes. His smile was wide and his eyes were lit up with excitement. The blonde next to him was still coughing a bit and every time the wind blew by them she shivered slightly. "Do you concede?" Fred asked, panting a bit.
Jamie's dark green eyes met him and she glared, "Never." She shot water directly in his face before scrambling up to her feet and running away from him.
After another half hour of running around and laughing loudly, the two teams finally conceded due to pure exhaustion. Fred handed Jamie's bag back to her and the blonde reduced her water gun back to its original size so she could place it in the inner pocket of her bag. As she riffled through she felt her tiara being tugged from her head and watched as the tall red-head placed it on his own hair. Jamie's mouth opened in annoyance. "Hey!"
Fred smirked, "Since I captured the crown I think that means BOYS WIN!" He shouted the end of his statement loudly. Ginny and Angelina walked up behind Jamie and started fighting with Fred angrily. Fred spun on his heels and began to walk quickly away, continuing to declare his victory.
"You-you" Jamie said, fumbling for words as her arm continued to be elbow deep in her school bag. There was a shaking sensation in the dark brown bag. The Jamie Jabs present that she had gotten exactly a year ago spluttered out a past insult, "Lying Clay-Brained Harpy." Jamie half-whispered, looking down in shock at the sprawled writing on the already damp paper due to the fact that her blonde hair was dripping onto it.
Jamie blinked. And blinked again. Third year Fred Weasley had lied to her about the fact that he had stolen one of Loren's brownies from Jamie. He had lied, and it was certainly not something that he believed to be true. Faintly, Jamie heard Ginny Weasley's voice beside her as she ranted about classic men cheating their way to victory. All the blonde, Veela girl could focus on was the fact that, if Fred Weasley had been able to lie to her, it meant he was in love with her.
Fred Weasley was in love with Jamie Devereaux Bruce, and had been for at least three years.