By Sunday evening, all of Willow's friends knew about Mirlisa becoming a real thing, and by Tuesday, nearly all of Ravenclaw was cheering them on. Willow had never seen Lisa blush as often as she did those first few days. Miranda took it in stride and made his happiness very obvious. The pair constantly held hands as they walked around the castle, and every once in a while, Miranda would peck Lisa on the cheek before leaving for class. Willow was happy to be the one that finally got them together.
Meanwhile, Cypress was taking his sweet old time asking Oliver out, and it was driving Willow insane. She didn't know how Oliver had the patience; she would have definitely asked Cypress out by now if she were in his shoes, but then again, she was a domineering personality, and Oliver was one of the shyest people on the planet. Willow decided to give them a few more months before she stepped in to rectify the situation.
On Wednesday morning, Willow woke with a start. She clapped a hand to her mouth when she realized what day it was. The first task of the Triwizard Tournament was happening today! Her gut roiled with sickening regret; she hadn't tipped Harry off about the dragons! She hoped against hope that someone else had gotten to him in time and he'd put together a plan. If worse came to worse, Willow was prepared to jump into the arena and tackle the dragons herself. What were they going to do? Expel her for protecting her friend? Harry wasn't supposed to be in the Tournament in the first place!
After a hasty run, a quick shower, and completely forgetting about breakfast, Willow joined up with Paige, the Weasley twins, and Lee on her way to the stadium. They seated themselves among their fellow rowdy Gryffindors. Willow wished she shared their enthusiasm. Just thinking about Harry facing one of those dragons made her sick to her stomach. She made sure she had an aisle seat in case of an emergency, and her wand was firmly in her grasp. She didn't care if the Ministry took all the precautions in the world to protect the Champions; the only way to protect against a dragon was another dragon. Revealing herself as an "animagus" might get in the papers, but if all she got for saving Harry was a newspaper article and some teasing, it was well worth the pain.
The Gryffindor Sisters surrounded Willow the moment they found her in the stands. They picked her up and set her on her feet. So much energy and enthusiasm radiated from that small group of girls that Willow questioned if they weren't high on unsafe levels of caffeine. They handed Willow a sign that read, in bold letters, "THAT'S OUR SEEKER!" Willow rolled her eyes but held the gift up proudly. A few minutes later, she noticed someone was missing.
"Where's Sally?" Willow asked.
"She isn't feeling well again," Parvati sighed. "I told my sister to bring her a famous draft of her Super Pepperup Potion after the task. Poor thing, always getting sick and never getting any sleep..."
"Huh. This is the third time this year," Willow realized. "Hopefully her immune system isn't getting run down from the extra stress."
"We've already got a plan, don't worry!" Lavender giggled, winking. "We're going to get her a real boyfriend that will help take her mind off things without hurting her in the process."
"...Whatever works?" Willow said.
As her Sisters dissolved into further chatter about possible dates for Sally, Willow's attention turned toward the task. The arena was circular, bordered by sturdy metal fences, and encased with strong chains to prevent escapee dragons. The floor was very rocky with multiple nooks and crannies in which the Champions could hide. A nest of dragon eggs was planted in the exact center of the arena. For some reason, amid the stony grey real dragon eggs, a golden one was shining between them. Willow wondered what on Earth the task was when the announcers answered her every question.
The Champions were tasked with successfully stealing the golden egg from each dragon. The one to do so the quickest and with the least amount of damage would receive the most points. Madame Pomfrey was ready in the Champion's tent for the moment they returned. Willow thought she was going to throw up. Dragons were bad enough, but mamma dragons, protecting their soon-to-be babies? That was ten times worse than an already impossible situation. Willow fond Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Colin huddled together, faces a rather sickly shade of white. She scooted over and let them squeeze her arms until the bone nearly shattered.
"He'll get himself killed," Ron breathed. He swallowed hard. "He– He did this to himself, though, didn't he?"
"No way in hell," Willow said. "He wouldn't have signed up for yet another near-death experience, Ron."
"It's alright. It will go smoothly," Hermione said, though Willow wasn't sure whether she was reassuring them or herself. "Hagrid showed Harry the dragons. We worked on summoning charms so that he'd have his firebolt. All he has to do is perform the spell correctly, and he'll be fine. He'll be fine, right?"
"Come on, guys, this is Harry Potter!" Colin chirped. "He already bested You-Know-Who. Anything short of that is a piece of cake, right?"
"Right, Willow?" Ginny squeaked.
Willow threw a smile on her face. "Right."
The whistle sounded, and the first task of the Triwizard Tournament began. A Swedish Shortsnout was pushed into the arena to many gasps from the crowd. Moment later, Cedric appeared from a gap in the enclosure wall. His face drained of all colour when he laid eyes on the dragon. Sticking to the shadows, he remained out of sight. He pulled out his wand and whispered an incantation. Moment later, a rock was transfigured into a chocolate labrador. Cedric sent the dog in the opposite direction. The dragon instantly pounced on the intruder, giving Cedric the window he needed. He sprinted out of his hiding spot and snatched the golden egg. A massive roar went up from the Hufflepuff section of the stadium.
"That was quite clever!" Willow applauded.
Just then, the dragon shattered the rock. The moment it realized the "dog" was actually a decoy, it whipped around, only to catch Cedric red-handed. The dragon unleashed a jet of flame faster than Willow could blink. Cedric dove out of the way, but not in time. He let out a heart-wrenching cry as his right arm caught the worst of the heat. Willow shot to her feet. She fought against Hermione and Ron as they held her back.
"They've got this, Willow, no need to intervene," Hermione whispered in her ear.
Willow took a deep breath and forced herself to sit down. "Sorry. Instincts."
To her enormous relief, Cedric escaped the arena without any other complications. Ludo Bagman announced that Cedric had successfully completed the task and would be awarded points shortly. Willow seriously hoped that Madame Pomfrey was prepared for the severity of Cedric's burns. Her heart refused to settle. As much as she reminded herself that Cedric was in good hands, it did nothing to cure her desperate need to jump into action and help.
You can't do anything right now. Let the adults take care of their mess, Willow scolded herself. She tightened her hands around her knees. It's not like when Rion died. Make Paige and George happy. Just because you feel like you have to save everyone to make up for the one time you chose not to doesn't mean you need to jump into a literal pit of dragons.
Willow found her muscles relaxing. She opened her eyes and genuinely smiled. She glowed with pride. Maybe her mental health was improving, after all.
The next dragon to enter the arena was the Common Welsh Green. A minute later, Fleur emerged from the Champion tent, focused and determined to complete the task at hand. Willow heard Benigno cup his hands around his mouth and cheer the loudest for his best friend. She politely chanted Fleur's name along with the Beauxbatons students. At first, she got a few weird looks from her fellow Gryffindors, but as Fleur danced out of the way of a jet of flame, the whole stadium took up the cheer. The half-veela stoically faced down the dragon like she did it in her sleep. Within a few minutes, she got a clear shot, and Fleur fired a spell at the dragon that rendered it unconscious. Fleur practically floated to the nest and picked up the golden egg.
"WELL DONE!" Bagman boomed over the loudspeaker.
The stadium rumbled with the stomps, claps, and cheers of the students. Fleur unfortunately made the mistake of turning her back to the dragon as she walked away. The Welsh Green's eyes snapped open, and within milliseconds, a fireball rocketed towards Fleur. She dove out of the way, and unlike Cedric, only the fringe of her skirt caught fire. She easily put it out with a water spell and jogged into the safety of the Champions' tent.
"I enjoyed watching that one," Ron admitted.
"Oh, shut it, that's just because she's part-veela," Hermione snapped.
Ron sheepishly smiled. "She's pretty and brave, Hermione."
"At least he's honest about it," Willow chortled.
Hermione huffed and crossed her arms. Ginny and Colin giggled and teased Ron about having a new French girlfriend. The poor boy flushed a deep shade of red, refusing to speak for the rest of the task.
The next dragon was the Chinese Fireball, one of Willow's personal favorites. She watched Krum march out and attack the dragon right off the bat. The creature hardly got a glimpse of the Bulgarian before its eyes were struck with a nasty spell. Krum stayed out of the way as the dragon blindly stomped around, roaring in frustration. Willow cried out when the dragon crushed its own real eggs, leaving the golden one as the sole survivor.
"Ooh, that's going to lose him some points," Bagman lamented.
Krum darted in and snatched the golden egg when the opportunity presented itself, then left the arena as quickly as possible. The dragon's vision only cleared several minutes after Krum disappeared. Willow felt terrible for the poor creature as it crooned sadly over its crushed eggs. The dragon handlers took the grieving mother away before Willow could start crying her eyes out.
"Last but not least, let's welcome Harry Potter to the arena!" Bagman cheered.
Willow's head snapped up. She clapped a hand to her mouth at the sight of the agitated Hungarian Horntail prowling around the arena. Of course Harry would get the nastiest of the four dragons. It was just his luck! The Gryffindor looked ready to be sick as he entered the arena, shaky on his feet, barely holding himself together.
Come on Harry! You got this! Willow shouted silently.
"Accio Firebolt!"
"That was the correct incantation, alright," Hermione muttered. "I only hope he focused enough...he struggled with that every time..."
The wait was agonizing. Willow's feet tapped at an incredible rate. Every second that dragged by seemed like an eternity. Had the spell worked, or was Harry stranded to deal with the dragon on his own?
Then, out of nowhere, the firebolt zoomed into the arena, and Harry was soaring through the air. The entire Gryffindor section shot to their feet and exploded into whistles and screams. Harry dodged flames, escaped snapping jaws, and dove right past fireballs. His fancy flying was mesmerizing to watch. When he finally grabbed the golden egg, Willow screamed herself hoarse along with the rest of the stadium.
"AMAZING! WELL DONE, HARRY, WELL DONE!" Badman thundered.
Hermione and Ron were already sprinting the Champions' tent. Willow soon followed, and moments after she arrived, Hermione burst out of the canvas, positively howling. She crashed into Willow and threw her arms around her.
"Boys — are so — stupid!" Hermione hiccuped.
"I take it Ron and Harry finally made up, then?" Willow chuckled.
"Yes!" Hermione wailed.
Willow patted her back and laughed. "Alright, you don't have to worry about them anymore. Let's go celebrate Ron and Harry getting over themselves and not dying in the process, shall we?"
Right as Willow turned to go, Harry called out for her to wait. She turned around to find Harry placing a few small, moving objects in her hand.
"The four of us thought you might want these," Harry explained.
Willow looked down and squealed. Four miniature versions of the dragons the Champions had faced wrestled in her palm. Willow grinned from ear to ear as the little creatures looked at her with curiosity in their beady eyes.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Willow squealed.
"You're welcome!"
"Oh, Hermione, you can head back with Harry and Ron, I've just had an idea!" Willow exclaimed. "I'll be back soon!"
Willow ran around the arena just in time to see Charlie carting off an unconscious Hungarian Horntail. He whirled around in surprise when she called his name.
"Charlie! I've got something for you!"
Willow deposited the Common Welsh Green and the Hungarian Horntail in Charlie's hand. He freaked out and shrieked unintelligibly as he stroked the Welsh Green's wings. Willow let out a pure laugh.
"Charlie, are you crying?"
"Yes," Charlie sniffled. He wiped his face with his sleeve and gave Willow a one-armed hug. "You are officially my favorite person. Don't tell Mum I said that!"
"Your secret's safe with me. Take care of them, Charlie!"
"You do the same!"
Willow couldn't stop smiling all the way back to the castle. She found her friends still screeching and chanting Harry's name. The whole school (minus the Slytherins, of course) now seemed to rally around both Cedric and Harry as their Champions. Willow was glad to see the positive change. For once, all of Hogwarts stood in solidarity, and though she knew it would only be a brief moment, it was one of the brightest days the castle had seen in a very long time.
Willow went straight to the secret room first chance she got. She intended to slowly introduce her miniature dragons to her other creatures, and eventually her friends, but it ended up happening all at once. All of the fourth-year Gryffindors had crowded into the secret room and were either busily preparing Dean's art supplies, or, in Sally's and Parvati's cases, entertaining Willow's creatures amid the chaos. The Swedish Shortsnout growled with the sudden introduction of so much noise.
"Willow! Perfect timing!" Dean called. "Help me with this layout, will you? We've got seven banners to make within the next two hours!"
"Ah, you're party planning, I get it now," Willow realized. She spread a massive sheet of parchment over the floor and held it down with four paint buckets in each corner. "So I'm taking it we're boosting Harry's ego here?"
"And preserving the memory of Cedric setting himself on fire," Seamus chortled. Dean shot him a look. "But that's beside the point!"
Dean ran over to Lavender, Fay, and Mia to help them with moving an older canvas painting out of the way. Willow turned to Seamus and raised her eyebrows at him.
"So you want the upper hand, yet you're letting him boss you around?" she teased.
"What? No– I am not!" Seamus protested.
"Please. You're practically acting submissive, as long as it makes Dean fancy you even more." Seamus opened his mouth to retort, but Willow waved him off. "Nope! No denying it! All I'm saying is don't change the way you act just to win a relationship."
Seamus crossed his arms and shot Willow a glare. "You're hardly helpful."
"Don't I know it! I'll still be there when Deamus is a thing!"
Seamus's mouth fell open at the ship name. Willow teasingly winked at him as she skipped away to her creatures. She introduced the tiny dragons to Felicity, who was more than happy to share his tree with the creatures. Fidget crawled out of his day nest, which Willow had helped him build when she realized she couldn't take him with her all the time, and he appeared to take to the dragons rather well. The little bowtruckle gladly found a pair of nooks in the network of branches and got to work assembling a makeshift nest until Willow had more time to give them a proper place to sleep.
While she watched them work, Willow noticed out of the corner of her eye that Sally was looking remarkably well for someone who was too sick to attend the Triwizard Tournament only a few hours prior. The Tournament was back for the first time in centuries; even if she was deathly ill, Willow would have forced someone to levitate her to the stands. Sally wasn't even that fazed, if she was sick at all, because she still had all the colour in her cheeks, and she was moving around and helping like nothing was wrong with her. The only thing out of place was the odd shiftiness in her gaze. She constantly wrung her hands and couldn't stare at anything for more than a few seconds.
Something's definitely up, Willow thought.
Instead of fretting over her friend's odd behaviour, she busied herself with coming up with names for the newest additions to her creature collection. The Chinese Fireball became Ruby, and the Swedish Shortsnout Sapphire. Ruby and Sapphire appeared very happy with their new accomodations and even sneezed fire at Willow as a sort of thank-you.
"You're welcome," she giggled.
"Willow! The Weasley twins are calling for you!" Neville announced from the doorway.
"Ah. Duty calls." Willow scratched the dragons' heads. "Sorry, I got to go. I'll be back later to make sure Phoebe isn't messing with you."
Leaving her dragons behind, Willow jogged to the doorway — definitely not failing to see Dean teaching Seamus proper brushstrokes, both with flaming cheeks — and discreetly closed it behind her. She hoped to God her friends wouldn't destroy the secret room as she made her way to Fred and George. The twins excitably explained what they needed from the kitchens, and before Willow could comprehend their lightning-fast speech, she was already being dragged out of the common room with them. She gave up thinking and just started acting.
Three trips, a run-in with Filch, and a booing by the Slytherins later, the three had almost gathered everything that they needed. Willow offered to grab the last few boxes of butterbeer while the twins helped Paige and Lee finish setting up the common room. She made her way down to the kitchens and tickled the pear again. The house elves graciously offered up some leftover desserts as she passed by. Willow couldn't help but grin and take one of the treacle tarts. She praised them for their work, and a few burst into happy tears. Willow was glad to make the house elves' day. She resolved to make a point of thanking the house elves in person at least once a week.
Having nabbed the last three cases of butterbeer from the twins' personal pantry, Willow exited the kitchens and took care to shut the door nicely behind her. She was about to turn the corner and head upstairs when she nearly ran into someone.
"Willow! I – uh – hi! What are you doing here?"
"Sam? What are you doing here?"
Sam's eyes widened. "I was just – you know – looking for the best place to – prank the Slytherins!" At Willow's look, he cleared his throat. "They jinxed Neville on the way back from the Tournament. I thought a prank involving that very jinx would be a good way to get back at them."
"You should let the twins and I in on that one. We're experts at pissing off the Slytherins by now."
Sam smiled weakly. "I might do that."
Willow motioned for him to follow. "Come on, pranking can wait until later. The party's this way!"
Sam, almost ashamedly, fell into step with Willow. They silently made their way back to the Gryffindor common room. Willow didn't believe Sam's BS excuse for one second. Even she lied better than that on her good days. Sam was obviously sneaking around for some other reason, a reason he didn't want to explain to one of his closest friends. Did Sally know what was going on? Willow highly doubted it, seeing as Sally was keeping something from Sam, too. It sickened Willow to think that the previously open twins were now being secretive with not only their friends, but each other. Something terrible was going on between them, and even if it was the last thing she did, Willow was going to get to the bottom of it.
I'm not going to see another pair of siblings get torn apart.
When they got back to the common room, Sam found Sally across the room and immediately pulled her into a hushed conversation. Willow couldn't watch anymore when it got heated. She forced the matter temporarily out of her mind and slapped a smile on her face. She delivered the butterbeer to Lee — with the traditional warning not to spike hers, which he would likely ignore — then ran off to find Fred prepping the party trays with exorbitant amounts of food. She jumped into action and spared him half the time it would have taken to prepare it alone.
"Thanks for that," Fred said. He smirked mischievously. "Don't tell George I warned you, but watch out for the custard creams. We've hexed them. They're our newest invention, called Canary Creams."
"Oh, I'm still eating one later, just for fun," Willow chortled.
"I can always count on you for free advertising."
"And testing. And marketing. And ethics. And— "
"—scaring us half to death with near-death experiences?"
Willow beamed. "Hell yeah, I can. I've got four to go, if I'm averaging once a year!"
"Blimey, Willow, don't go giving us a heart attack," Fred chuckled. "At least wait until we've written our will."
"You're in luck, Fred. I'm fresh out of ideas that could get me killed." Willow glanced over to Lee, who was hard at work setting out the bottles of butterbeer. "Please tell me he'll actually listen to my request."
"Oh, there's no way he'll let you leave this party without making you more fun than before. It's a Triwizard Tournament celebration. We can only do this three times in our lives."
"Guess I'll be sticking to water, then," Willow laughed.
"Smart choice, but he'll find a way around it. He always does." Fred shot a glance at his twin and Paige. "Those two are going to fight over you tonight."
"Let them. I'm going to make them dance with each other."
Fred burst out laughing. "That might just be the worst and most brilliant idea you've ever had. I'd like to see that."
"Oh, you will." Willow tapped her watch. "It's nearly time. I'm going to help Dean hang up his posters. Save one of those Canary Creams for me, will you?"
"Will do!"
Willow darted back into the secret room, emerging less than a minute later with seven giant posters in hand. Dean artfully helped her position the banners so that they shimmered properly in the party lighting. Parvati and Mia charmed the paintings so that drawing-Harry zoomed in and out of the frame, pausing every now and then to bask in a glorious golden sheen. Willow shook her head. Leave it to her fellow Gryffindors to inflate Harry's ego yet again.
While the girls skipped away to attempt to find Benigno before the party, and Neville and Sam went back to their dormitory for a few minutes of quiet, Willow returned to the secret room to help Dean and Seamus clean up their art supplies. She successfully cleaned and put away the paintbrushes, but inevitably, she spilled paint on herself while putting it on the shelves. She cursed under her breath and went to wash her hands at the sink when she heard Dean and Seamus talking behind her. She turned off the sink to hear them.
"—wondering what it would be like if you had been in Harry's shoes," Dean said. "What would our resident expert pyrotechnic do?"
"Probably set off and explosion to distract the dragon," Seamus snorted. "It won't hurt them, will it?"
"No, they're fireproof," Dean chuckled. "I wonder why no one else thought of bombarda or the like? It would have been simple for Cedric and the other two."
"Because none of them are as brilliant as me."
"Oh, please, your ego needs no inflation. It's Harry that's the brilliant one tonight, remember? This party is in his honour."
Seamus groaned dramatically. "Forever the sidekick."
"You're not even the sidekick. You're...a background character."
"Ouch. I didn't ask for the truth."
Dean tossed a paintbrush at Seamus. "But I gave it to you anyway, so you've got to take it."
"I'll take it if you give me something else."
Willow's breath caught in her throat. She peeked around the corner to see Dean staring at Seamus like a deer caught in the headlights. The latter was smirking triumphantly. Willow silently celebrated. Seamus had finally gotten the upper hand, just as he'd wanted! It was finally Dean's turn to redden and clear his throat awkwardly.
"If you're talking about a painting, I've given you six, but I can do another portrait."
"Oh, shut it, you know what I'm saying. You've been a right flirt lately, you know that?"
Dean bit his lip. "Yeah, I'm well aware. That was on purpose. I was...trying to see how many times I could make you speechless."
"You don't have to try, Dean. It's not hard when I'm around you."
Willow muffled a squeal by clapping her hand to her mouth. Dean raised his eyebrows. "Wow. That has to be the most poetic thing you've ever said. What crappy romance poetry have you been reading?"
"My mum may or may not have made me read Shakespeare when I was younger." Seamus pretended to gag. "Romeo and Juliet was the worst love story I've ever read."
"Good thing you're not Romeo, because I'm no Juliet. It takes more than poetic declarations of love to win me over. Although...a visit in a garden? Alone? At night? Pretty romantic, if you ask me."
Dean winked at Seamus, then walked out of the room, leaving the latter boy starstruck. Willow gave him a few moments before she stepped out of her hiding spot. Seamus nearly jumped out of his skin when she walked in front of him.
"Blimey, Willow, don't scare me like that!" he gasped.
"You got the hint, right? You can't possibly have missed it," Willow said quickly. Seamus shot her a quizzical glance. She clapped a hand to her forehead. "Seamus! He was dropping the hint that to win him over, you've got to ask him out, preferably on a starlight date in a natural setting! Don't let the chance slip away!"
Seamus's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "He wants me to — to go out with him — on an actual date?" Willow nodded vigorously. Seamus let out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. "Alright. T-That's fine. I can't plan, let alone execute a plan. How am I supposed to pull this off?"
Willow beamed. "You've got help. Nine second-year Gryffindors, to be exact."
"You'd really do that?"
"You think Lavender and Mia haven't been planning it for you this whole time?" Willow chortled. "They've been rooting for you for over a year now. With a bit of adjustment, their plan is nearly foolproof. We'll start scheming with you tomorrow. For now," Willow said, ushering Seamus to the exit, "we've got a party to enjoy."
They unobtrusively stepped out of the secret room to the roar of the crowd. Harry had just arrived, and to Fred, George, and Lee, that meant the party had started. Willow was jostled around by a pack of sixth-year boys, then ended up in the middle of the common room. Sally and the rest of the Gryffindor Sisters bounced her way with Benigno and Yrsa in tow.
"We found them walking together and discussing you, Willow!" Fay chirped.
"We just had to show them how Gryffindor throws parties," Lavender emphasized.
"Ooh, is that butterbeer?" Parvati squealed.
The girls immediately rushed to Lee's table, leaving Benigno and Yrsa alone with Willow for a single moment. She smiled apologetically and made sure they hadn't been totally kidnapped against their will. Although Benigno seemed a bit flustered, both assured her they were fine. Yrsa was actually interested in observing a Hogwarts party, especially a Gryffindor one, considering they were so rare (and forbidden) at Durmstrang. Willow quickly wished them luck as her roommates dragged them off to another part of the common room.
A dance floor had been cleared in the middle of the space, and even a few minutes into the party, it was packed to the last millimeter with overzealous Gryffindors. Willow couldn't help but laugh as the multitude of students let go and had a great time. Ginny and Colin drug her into the mix within seconds. The three wouldn't have cared if a spotlight was shining on them; they were happy to be free with themselves for once. Willow herself was a terrible dancer, but that didn't stop her from showing off "moves" she'd picked up over the last four years of parties.
After a session of more flailing than dancing with her Gryffindor Sisters, Willow took a break from the action. She grabbed two butterbeers — eyeing Lee all the while — and plopped down on the nearest couch. She gulped one drink down in thirty seconds, then savored the other, deciding to observe the semi-controlled chaos in a content silence. So many moving bodies, so much noise, so many sights and smells...it wasn't her scene. But to sit there, seeing the pure joy on others' faces, hearing their free laughter, watching the extroverts be themselves? It warmed Willow from her head to her toes.
Paige and George joined Willow on the couch. They chatted quietly (well, as quietly as the din allowed) about the party and all things fun, then fell into a comfortable silence, enjoying their break from the action together. Their peace was only broken by Lee's roaring proposal.
"WHO WANTS TO PLAY SPIN THE BOTTLE?!"
Several hands within the crowd shot up to a multitude of cheers. Willow shot a questioning glance at Paige and George, and they each groaned and pressed their hands to their temples.
"Lee should not be allowed to use that microphone anymore," Paige sighed. "Spin the Bottle is a game for idiots, Willow. A group of people take turns spinning a bottle on the floor, and whoever spins it has to kiss the person the bottle points to."
"Oh God," Willow chuckled. "That does sound like a terrible idea."
"It sounds great when you're as gone as Lee is. Why he insists on spiking his drinks, I have absolutely no idea, but apparently, he enjoys it enough to dismiss awful hangovers."
"Enough to sneak a bit into mine as well," Willow said.
"Oh no, did he try and bring out the extroverted Willow again?" George teased.
"Tried and failed. I'm all good...for the most part."
"Willow! You didn't!" Paige gasped, though she was failing to conceal a laugh.
"Paige, George, Willow, you're playing!" Lee suddenly announced, throwing his arms around them. He pushed them into a large circular couch with multiple others amid their protests. "Come on, it will be fun!"
Willow, Paige, and George exchanged exasperated glances. When all the players had arrived, Lee gave them the saving grace of not having to go through with it if they didn't want to, but they had to do a shot instead. Willow was glad she brought her own untampered butterbeer and poured it into three glasses, for Paige, George, and herself. Lee began the game, and Willow had to cover her eyes multiple times to avoid throwing up.
Finally, it was her turn. Willow prayed to God that it would point to herself and spun the bottle. It swirled around for several agonizing seconds, then began to slow. Willow's heart hammered against her chest. Please point to me, please point to me, please point to me! The bottle slowed down — it was merely rolling now — it was going to stop — it was so close to her—
George...and Paige?
Willow's cheeks flamed. Of course. Great. This was her luck! The bottle stopped directly between the two people she fancied, and the two very people that fancied her considerably more. Lee and the other players gasped and cheered her on. Multiple people whined that Willow was so lucky, that she got two people in one spin. She didn't quite think so. Willow finally averted her eyes from the floor and glanced between Paige and George.
"Remember, you don't have to," Paige reminded her.
"We'll make sure Lee doesn't call you a chicken," George reassured.
Willow gulped. Her first instinct was to take a drink. She hadn't spiked it, after all. It was the safest option possible. And the least embarrassing, of course. But deep down, Willow had always wondered if this was what she truly wanted. She now had a chance to test her feelings for both Paige and George all in one go. This could finally reveal the answer to her burning question: one, both, or neither?
Lee and the others chanted Willow's name, slowly at first, then picking up speed. Willow bit her lip and hid a nervous smile. She glanced up at George first.
Here goes nothing...
Willow brought her lips to George's. The contestants cheered. George froze in surprise, then suddenly returned the gesture. Willow pulled back after a few seconds and could hardly look him in the eye. Her face was on fire. George's cheeks matched his hair colour. In the background, Fred very indiscreetly celebrated.
"You still got one more, Willow!" Lee chuckled.
Taking a deep breath to clear her fuzzy head, Willow turned to Paige. The older girl raised a questioning eyebrow, but Willow didn't hesitate. She kissed Paige in front of everybody. Lee and the rest of the players went crazy. Paige blinked when Willow pulled away.
"You did that," Paige breathed.
"With both of us," George said disbelievingly.
"The bottle did point between you, did it not?" Willow said teasingly.
Paige and George gently slapped her at the same time. Willow grinned, but internally, she was screaming. Both kisses felt right. Neither made her uncomfortable. She doubted she fancied one over the other now more than ever. Willow wanted to cry and punch a hole in the wall all at once. Why couldn't her feelings sort themselves out? It seemed like even fate knew she was destined to struggle between two people forever. Willow knew she wasn't polyamorous for certain now; she wasn't into relationships with more than one person, and neither were George or Paige. So what on Earth was she supposed to do?
Rion help me...
