Chapter Two
The rest of the summer holidays seemed to fly by. Zacharias found himself doing more reading and N.E.W.T. preparations than anything, only seeing Hannah a few times before September first rolled around. He hardly saw Ernie except when they were forced together by one of the gang, mostly because Ernie had to be picked up and Hannah's parents were the only ones willing to drive to get him. Zacharias's parents might have as well, but being seen in public with them was never something he'd do purposefully.
"I can't believe you're in sixth year already," his mum said over dinner the night before he was to leave. "You're growing up so fast."
"He grew up when he was ten," his father said with a slight smirk. Rolling his eyes seemed to go unnoticed in this household, but the boy did it anyway. "I want to go onto the platform with you this year."
"N-No!"
"Why not?" Now his mother was looking excited, her face all lit up like a Christmas tree. "I'd love to meet your friends' parents, especially the wizarding ones. And we could get some new ideas for wizard fashion!" She was glowing, and Zacharias was picturing the looks on everyone's faces, well, the muggle-borns anyway. "In six years I've never been to the platform with you," she added, his father also looking up wistfully and exchanging a heated look with his wife.
Zacharias's mum had used the nineteenth century wizard clothing as an example in her teachings. She told anyone who would listen that she wore the clothes as an expression of the oppression of women for the last thousand years. It had even gotten Hannah's interest, much to Zacharias's dismay. Interest meant discussion, which meant more people knowing his parents were batty.
"I just don't think it's a good idea." He had never said to their faces that they embarrassed him, as he did love them, but he was running out of ideas. For first year he had just said he wanted to go alone, and that had been enough. By second year, he'd had to claim they didn't allow muggles on the platform. Unfortunately in third year, they met Ernie's folks outside and they explained that wasn't true, so Zacharias had suggested that they all go out for lunch. That had been a mistake because that's how it came to pass that Ernie wouldn't speak to him for the rest of the school year when his mum wrote that Zacharias's mum had told her Ernie was gay and gone off on how proud they should be. Ernie later told him that his parents weren't so much upset about his being gay, but more that they'd been unceremoniously tricked into having dinner with his boyfriend's parents without prior knowledge. Both boys were disgusted.
Fourth year had been easy as they had gone to a friend's wedding and he hadn't needed worry, but fifth year required planning. Zacharias was good at planning, and succeeded in setting it up that his parents would be quite busy when it came time to leave, giving him opportunity to take the underground into the city and avoid them even coming along. This time, he didn't know what to do.
That's how he ended up at King's Cross with his parents, all standing next to the barrier to Platform 9¾ and preparing to fall into it. His parents went first so he could walk through normally with his trolley, and he gave a burdened sigh when his mom squealed before falling through.
Things were just as bad as he'd expected when everyone was there watching, including Harry Potter of all people. His parents looked just like every other wizarding family though, so he almost felt relieved that no one seemed to actually be paying attention. He would never have admitted that to anyone, though. His muggle-born friends were still seeing his batty parents, and they would know the difference.
"ZACHY!!" Susan Bones ran up to him and practically knocked him over, hugged him so tight he had trouble breathing, and causing several parents and a few students to look over. One of them was Ginny Weasley, whom Zacharias knew from the DA meetings least year.
"Hullo, Susan," he replied, his tone flat and controlled while he tried to pull himself from her embrace.
"Have you seen?" she whispered conspiratorially. "Harry's got new glasses this year. And look at those jeans! His arse, Zachy!" She was the only one who could get away with calling him that, mostly because she hexed him every time he suggested she call him 'Zacharias' for all of second year. She was a lot better at hexes than he was, even after time spent in the DA.
"Susan," he said, his teeth gritted and a practical whine in his voice as Harry motioned passed them to get to his own friends. "He can hear you!"
"No he can not. Don't be such a prat all the time; you'll get warts." She beamed at him, planted a kiss on his mouth and dragged him over to everyone else.
Justin was there, positively glowing. "Eleven O.W.L.S.," he was saying. "My parents were so proud!"
"Oh give it a rest, Justin," Hannah said before putting her arm around Zacharias and Ernie, pulling them close and trying to weasel their arms around each other. Ernie poked her and pulled away, standing next to Susan who gave Hannah an unreadable look. "We all know how many O.W.L.S. you've got," she finished.
"Yeah, well, how many did you get, Smith?" Justin had called him 'Smith' since halfway through first year. "'Zacharias' is just too long, so if you won't let me call you 'Zach', I'll just call you 'Smith'."
"I received eleven as well," he said proudly, his parents making their way back over just in time to hear.
"He would have had twelve, but he couldn't remember some runes' names," his mother said, beaming. "I'm Mrs. Smith," she said to Susan, who was looking as though she were trying to place her.
"Susan," she smiled, taking note of the clothing and adding, "I thought Zachy had muggle parents?"
"Oh we are!" She looked over to Zacharias and winked, inclining her head at Susan's use of his nickname. "We just love the clothes." His mum hooked her arm into Susan's and began to walk away, whispered lectures on the importance of women's history no doubt spewing from her mouth.
"Oh here comes Granger," Ernie said with a tone. "She'll no doubt start in on that spew thing again, you think?"
"Oh she must have given up already," Hannah said with assurance. "She's much too reasonable to think anyone cares. Hermione!" She rushed over to greet Granger with a hug, pulling her over to stand next to Zacharias, making winking faces at him as she mouthed 'She knows Potter' as if Zacharias were stupid. "You remember Zacharias?"
"Oh yes," she said with a snotty tone, obviously not pleased. Zacharias wasn't too thrilled with the idea of the high-and-mighty Gryffindor 'know-it-all' either. Unfortunately even he couldn't help but admit that she was right a lot, and therefore he didn't actually hate her.
He was about to retort when Justin came up behind him and poked him hard in the back, whispering, "You'll never get Potter if you make her an enemy!"
Zacharias flushed and sputtered, "H-hullo," instead, vowing to dump ink all over Finch-Fletchley's bed when they got to school.
"I just came over because I wanted to see if –" She was pulling out a box that rattled, which everyone remembered.
"Hermione! You must come to the Hufflepuff pajama party on Saturday. It'll be a blast!" Hannah was cutting her off, obviously trying to stop her from going on about 'spew'.
"Oh, I, well, I suppose that might be fun."
"And don't forget to bring Harry." Justin poked her too. "And Ron," she added quickly.
"Oh, of course, but about –" Hannah began leading her away and Zacharias caught a few words, "no one wants to hear about 'spew', dear." - "It's S.P.E.W.!"
"I hate you all," Zach said to Justin and Ernie, who both looked extremely pleased with themselves.
"I heard Potter and that Thomas bloke were caught making out at the Astronomy tower," Justin said, ignoring Zacharias.
"I heard it was Finnegan."
"They're not gay," Susan said, returning without Zacharias's mom, who he could now see talking to Susan's aunt. "Dean's seeing that Ginny Weasley in fifth year and Finnegan was caught in a broom cupboard with Mandy Brocklehurst."
"Oh really? Well, what about Potter?"
"Didn't he have a thing with that Chang girl from Ravenclaw?"
"Oh but that was a nightmare," Hannah said, coming over and joining in the huddle. "I heard she tried to kiss him and he didn't even know what to do!"
"Worse," Susan said, her voice all sultry and in its element. "I heard he spit at her and said she was gross!"
"Oh come on!" Zacharias was sick of this. He knew they were doing it to tease him, but this was going too far. Inviting Potter to the pajama party was ridiculous. Even if he were gay, he was Harry bloody Potter!
"Oh honestly, Zachy," Susan said, pulling him close and pouting at him "We're only trying to help you out."
"The same way you've been trying to get Ernie and I together?"
"No, this time we're serious." She looked like she was plotting something and he suddenly felt as though a nest of wasps had flown into his stomach. Unfortunately before he could say anything, they were all rushed to the train as the whistle sounded. Ernie and Hannah disappeared with the rest of the prefects while Susan and Justin joined him in a compartment.
"I, uh, need to… find the loo," Justin said suspiciously after a few minutes, disappearing with his face all red.
"What's that about?"
"I hear he's seeing a Ravenclaw," Susan said blandly. "Thinks he's being all secretive about it."
"Oh." Zacharias was the only one in the crew who knew that Hannah was madly in love with Justin. She refused to tell him because she knew he considered her more a sister, so she swore her best friend to secrecy.
"Your parents are lovely," she said with a smile. "Your mum introduced me to your dad, and he's just as proud of you as she is. And how they wear wizard clothing! It's so supportive." He rolled his eyes, about to go on about how annoying it all was when she said, "And if I ever hear you so much as breathe such nasty things about your parents again, I'll hex you so bad you'll never recover." He looked startled, and she continued. "All last year you went on about how much of a bother they were, and how embarrassing they are." She shook her head, looking more like a mother than a friend. "And you, who claim to like Harry, have the nerve to complain about such loving parents?"
"I—" He was distinctly bothered by this. It was so bad he no longer knew what to say, even.
"You're not only going to talk to Potter at the party, but you're going to be the nicest person you can be." She was holding her wand threateningly and Zacharias couldn't help swallowing a rather large stone that had lodged itself in his throat. "You were a complete prat to him last year, and even though I know it's because you fancy him, after this bit of realization, I'm quite upset with you."
"Susan, I…" He was at a loss for words. No one had ever spoken to him like this in his entire life, and he was suddenly feeling very young. "I'm sorry."
"As you should be." She stood up and dropped heavily next to him. "Now that's said, I think we should get more pictures of Potter for your wall." She was glowing, her tone so different from just a moment ago that Zacharias had a sudden feeling of having been in a twister. "I have that Creevey bloke on payroll to get a few good shots in."
"You're paying him?"
"Well he's not nearly as infatuated as he was in first year," she said, her voice inflecting purposefully at her use of the word 'infatuated'. "I had to promise him seven of my chocolate frog cards for six photos. It would have been one per, but he said he'd want at least two for the picture of Harry in his boxers."
"You didn't!" Zacharias's face was completely red at the idea for two reasons; one reason was that it was bound to get out that he'd wanted it and also because the idea was extremely attractive.
"Didn't what," Justin asked, returning with very kissed lips.
"Never you mind," Susan said, her face becoming rather menacing. "Just who have you been snogging?"
"I—What?" Justin was looking as if someone had just turned his mum into a toad like in the fairytales and he was backing toward the door. "No one. I… don't have anyone—"
"Right," Susan said, her eyes squinted in determination.
- - -
"Merlin that Malfoy is a prat," Hannah exclaimed as she sat roughly down between Ernie and Zacharias, her rage apparently not enough to stop her from grabbing both their hands and trying to tug them together. Neither would let her, but neither even feigned concern as this was such a common occurrence they both assumed it was mere habit.
"What'd he do now?"
"He hexed Elanor's hair so it turned yellow and black and tries to jump off her head." Justin made a snorting noise that promptly caused Hannah's book to jump out of her hand and nick him in the head with its corner. Susan merely smiled behind her book until she could gather up enough disgust to scowl.
"If it weren't Malfoy, you'd all be laughing. That Elanor girl is a bit off and you know you'd have done it yourself if you'd thought of it first." Zacharias purposely ignored all the glares he was now receiving, finding the passage in Quidditch Through the Ages more interesting. He'd seen Harry reading this book, so he thought he might check it out again.
"Did you hear?" Hannah was ignoring Zacharias and her tone was now very secretive, a whisper that made everyone but him lean in for the gossip. "Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are finally together."
"Oh that's old news," Ernie said quickly, affecting a bored tone.
"Well I know a better secret than that," Susan said, positively grinning at Justin, who suddenly looked as though he'd rather be anywhere but at this study table. "Guess who's been seeing Lisa Turpin?" Justin's face was now completely red and his hands were shaking. He also seemed to find the lines on the table fascinating.
"Could it be the boy who's gone red and can't control his hands?"
"Oh, Zachy I'm going to hex you! You're always spoiling my fun!" He quirked an eyebrow at her suggestively and she threw a quill at him.
"I—I…"
"As if we didn't all know," Hannah said, a painted grin on her face. Quietly, Zacharias reached under the table and took her hand in his, squeezing it. "No big deal, Justin."
"Lisa Turpin?" Ernie looked contemplative. "She's alright. I prefer that Padma Patil if you're going to go Ravenclaw." Everyone turned toward him, shocked expressions on their faces. "What? It's not like you ever asked me if I were gay."
"Oh yes we did!" Susan looked utterly flabbergasted. "You said you were!"
"No, I said I fancied Wayne, not that I was gay."
"You devil!" Hannah was hitting him with her textbook repeatedly, which was causing him to slink away from her only to be hit harder. "You purposefully implied –"
"Excuse me! That is not how books are meant to be used! And your noise level is quite inappropriate!"
Madame Pince always seemed to ruin a good gossip session.
Luckily study time was over and they were all ready to go back and laze about in the common room until the party. Unfortunately, at one point they all shoved Zacharias away and told him they had to speak privately, which left his stomach in knots of terror at what these horribly Slytherin-like Hufflepuffs were up to.
As he sat grumpily in a chair by the window, he'd occasionally shout over things like, "You know, plotting is a Slytherin trait," or "Your face looks quite disgusting when you make that sneaky expression, Susan!" All this earned him was a rather nasty wart on the end of his nose, which he suspected could hardly be flattering in any attempts to win over Harry's heart.
The week's classes had been rather interesting. Usually during the first week things went kind of slow; everyone lethargic from hols gave the teachers an excuse to be lazy as well, or so he'd thought. What he now knew was that they were only taking that break from the pre-O.W.L. students because they redoubled their efforts on the upper-levels. He had seven inches due in Potions already on the history of animaserum and poly-juice each, which he suspected should be banned.
Potter was in his N.E.W.T. class, and from what he gathered no one had suspected that. "Harry's crap at Potions," Neville had said during Herbology. "Or so we all thought. I guess I really am the only one who can't make a potion to save my life." Everyone knew that he was horribly afraid of Snape, but he made up for it with his knowledge of herbs and plants.
When it was finally getting close to time for the party, the gang sweetly invited him back into the huddle, but he refused with a haughty expression and made his way to his rooms to have a shower and get ready.
"Wait! Zachy!" Susan rushed after him, catching him up just before he disappeared down the boy's corridor. "Let me get rid of this," she said, pointing her wand to make the wart disappear. Sadly, he'd forgotten it was there and quickly threw her a dirty look. "Oh don't pout, you know you deserved it." She winked, kissed him and dashed off.
- - -
"Do I look alright?" Justin was blushing and looking at himself in the mirror. He was wearing silk pajama shorts and a matching top that only buttoned up to just around where his nipples would be. The revealing patches of skin showed that he was quite smooth-chested and his skin was just as pale as the rest of him. Zacharias had seen him naked before however, so this didn't even phase him.
"You look like a prat," Ernie said from across the room, brushing his hair in the mirror and wearing a pair of Martin Migg's pajamas with random images of muggle artifacts such as a lighter, a television and a car.
"And you really look better? Haven't you outgrown Martin yet?" Justin's tone was mirthful and Ernie threw a pillow at him in response.
"I'll have you know that Martin the Mad Muggle is an all ages article," he said with a lot of dignity. After laughing a little when Justin gave him a disbelieving look, he turned to Zacharias and said, "Aren't you going to get ready?"
"I'm not going."
"What? Why not?"
"You lot are going to do something awful and embarrassing, I can just tell."
"Oh come on, Smith! You can't sit around being a prat all the time!" Zacharias gave Justin a very put-out look, not quite a pout because he didn't pout, but Justin just shook his head. "Susan and Hannah are going to kill you if you don't come."
"I bet they'll hex him some warts just like Susan's always threatening."
"Yeah! You'll look great with warts," Justin added.
"It'll mar that beautiful skin though," Ernie said regretfully. "I always did love your skin, mate."
"I knew you loved him!" Justin exclaimed. "Just wait until I tell Hannah!" With that, Justin ran out of the room presumably to find Hannah. Ernie chased after him, leaving Zacharias alone, fully dressed in his school uniform.
Happy to be alone, finally, he sat on his bed and grabbed up his borrowed copy of Moste Potente Potions and began reading about the polyjuice potion. He wasn't sure how long he'd really have before the two girls finally found him and dragged him to the party, but he figured he'd get a bit of studying in first.
As predicted, around nine the girls rushed in wearing matching pink pajama outfits, Susan's with old-fashioned frills and Hannah's more of a muggle design.
"Zachy, you can't pout in here all night," Susan began. "There's someone out there waiting for you."
"I doubt he's waiting for me," Zacharias said with no mirth in his tone. "And I really wish you two would stop harassing me about this."
Hannah joined him on the bed, putting her arm around him sympathetically. "It's really too bad, I spoke with Granger about him." The blond gave her a nasty look, doubtful but fearful. "Yup," Hannah added, "And she said she thinks he might be gay after all."
"Oh," he said, letting out his held breath. "Well that doesn't mean he'll be into me. He seemed to despise me last year."
"That's because you spent the whole year saying useless shite and spouting doubts about his honour," Susan said angrily. "I'd hate you too."
"Yeah, I have to agree," Hannah added. "But you're still coming, and you're going to straighten your hair, too."
"I most certainly am not."
Susan pointed her wand, which seemed almost to appear in her hand, at his head and muttered the straitening spell while Hannah made a quick move to restrain him from ducking out of the way. When it was over, he ran over to the mirror and gaped at it; standing before him was the same image he saw every day, a skinny blond boy with enough muscle to keep him from looking emaciated, a face that was smooth and pale and a gawky bone structure that bothered him immensely. Only now, his hair was straight and he resembled some sort of pretty-boy model, which was the last thing he needed.
"What'd you go and do that for?" he asked, shouting. "I look like bloody Jonathan Brandis or something!"
"Is that bad?" Susan asked. "I rather think Jonathan's a hottie."
"Yeah me too," Hannah said with a huge grin. "And so are you!"
He looked back at the mirror, his image winking at him and grimaced. Zacharias had never, and could never think of himself as anything near 'pretty', and faking his appearance was definitely not something he was happy to be doing. "I'm not going."
"You are going even if we have to bind you and strip you ourselves." He believed Susan, but he was hoping to convince Hannah.
"Hannah, you can't be serious. You're going to make a –"
But suddenly he couldn't speak, or move, or even blink; all he could do was stand there, looking ahead at the two of them in mortified shock. They were seriously binding him and, yes, stripping him!
"Ooh, Zachy," Susan cooed. "Nice boxers."
"I love the plaid, it's so … Hufflepuff." Hannah smirked up at him, giving him a kiss on the cheek and whispering, "It'll be alright love, trust us," in his ear.
"Oh merlin! His socks too! My, you are full of house pride, aren't you?"
"I don't like them," Hannah judged, her fingers rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "They're sort of a mustard color, aren't they? Not really house colors."
"Close enough," Susan decided, waving her wand to float him through the door and out into the common room. When they reached the edge of the hallway, where Zacharias could now see the common room filled with mostly his housemates, but also a few Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, notably Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley who were talking with that batty Luna Lovegood, but so far no Harry. Zach would have let out a sigh of relief, but he was currently unable to.
"Suppose we should let him out? Or maybe we should bind his wrists first."
"No, he'll stay, or he'll have to live with bat's ears until next week." For emphasis, Susan came around and tapped her wand against her palm in support of her threat. Then, after releasing the bind, she tucked it into the waistband of her silk pajama bottoms.
"I hate you both. Hate."
"You love us," Hannah consoled, taking his arm into hers and leading him towards an empty sofa. "And Harry will be here soon."
"Bloody hell," he muttered, sitting down, embarrassed to be in his knickers in front of the entire house. "Couldn't I at least go and change into – "
"No," they said in unison.
He flopped backward grumpily and glared at everyone who bothered to look in his direction. "Hate," he muttered once in a while. "You," he would add after a minute, and then, "Both," not much after.
However, after only ten minutes of sitting around dejectedly, Zacharias heard the entrance open up and couldn't help glancing over nervously; knowing Harry was the only one missing from the soiree. And, because it was physically painful to look at Harry whilst Zacharias was only clad in his boxers, he immediately turned away and tried to see if he could count the cracks in the floor.
"He's here," Hannah squealed. "I'll go get Granger," she said, jumping up and taking off toward where Hermione must have been.
"Granger's in on this?"
"Well, not that she really knows she is," Susan answered, distracted by something. "Hannah has her thinking that Hannah has the crush, though she never lied directly."
He could see where this was going, and it wasn't a good place. He made to get up and run but Susan's distraction was apparently not enough because she had her wand out and pointed at him before he could even lean all the way forward.
"I don't think so," she smirked. "You're in for the long haul."
Resigned, he sat back and watched as Harry made his way over to the Weasley & Granger show, guest starring Hannah Abbott. The Boy Who Lived was still wearing all his clothes, which garnered him skeptical looks from some of the seventh-years dancing about. The music, which Zacharias now realized was muggle in origin, was playing along at a fast pace with words barely discernable from the background noise. It was good for dancing, but Zacharias suspected this crap wouldn't make it anywhere near his bedroom unless someone drugged him.
As he continued to monitor, Weasley and Granger both goaded Harry into stripping out of his trousers, which now completely held the disgustingly hormonal gay boy's attention. Potter's face reddened as he revealed red boxers with white hearts, only slightly faded from use, and a pair of old socks that looked the worse for wear, even though they were still white as the day they were bought. Good thing about magic, but apparently he didn't know the spell to fix the elastic as his right sock couldn't seem to keep itself up. Zacharias found himself taking in Harry's legs, which were so lightly haired they almost appeared smooth from this distance. He followed them up to the boxers, noticing the beautiful curve of a seeker's legs, sleek and tight and … His mind was racing and he suddenly needed to grab the nearby pillow and look away.
"Oh Zachy, if you keep that up you'll not even need Potter's help."
"Hate. You." He glared at her, but to no avail as she was now pulling him forcibly up and to the dance floor, where, to his horror, he saw that Hannah and Potter were now dancing. Harry was still wearing his white uniform shirt, apparently not having that stripped off as well.
As Susan dragged him around, pretending to dance, suddenly Justin's voice echoed around the room, "Okay everyone, same-sex partners only!" There was a gasp and several giggles, but because it was a party and everyone enjoyed a good bit of fun in Hufflepuff house, no one hesitated to switch off, including and most especially Hannah and Susan, who threw Harry and Zacharias together.
"Uh, hullo Smith," Harry said nervously as they began to dance.
"Hullo, Potter. Alright?"
"Alright."
They remained silent as they danced, Harry holding his hand and apparently just as nervous as Zacharias felt. His head was spinning from the heat of the room, the feel of Harry's sweaty hand rubbing against his own and his other caressing Potter's waist, feeling the thin material of the faded boxers as the only barrier between him and the silky, beautiful skin beneath. He could tell he was starting to hyperventilate, the song and noise of the crowd around him nearly drowned out completely from the beating of his heart. He was hardly aware of how the song suddenly changed paces, and now it was slower and Potter was pulling him closer and, oh my god, he was going to slow dance with Harry fucking Potter.
"This is a bit silly, isn't it?" Harry's voice was soft, right in his ear where his cheek was currently rubbing against Zacharias's own.
"No," he said, his voice strong and sure, the façade he kept around Potter holding. "It's what we do every year."
"Oh. Well, it's quite…" Harry's face was so close that Zacharias could feel the day's light stubble pressing against his own smooth face. Apparently Harry didn't use shaving spells, but maybe an old fashioned razor instead. He felt the boy's chest touch his own, a full on contact he wasn't ready for. His racing pulse increased another few notches and he breathed out lustfully into his partner's ear. "Nice," Harry finished, his breath soft against the blond's earlobe. "Your hair," he said, his voice a bit louder. "Did you change it?"
"Susan," he breathed, so softly that he wondered if it had even been loud enough.
"Looks nice," Harry replied softly.
He was so close now that they were nearly touching all over, and Zacharias was oblivious to the rest of the crowd, which was something he'd never felt before. Harry was sucking him up and pulling him out of the real world into this fantasy where two boys could fall in love in the middle of a crowded dance floor. But, this was Harry Potter, he reminded himself.
As they continued to dance, Zacharias thought of his mum and dad embarrassing him in front of Michael and all his old school mates, telling them all about how he came to be called 'flower' at his tenth birthday party. How Michael had laughed at him and his 'friends' had started to make fun of him, calling him 'flower' every time they saw him. How suddenly kids at school were calling him 'bender' and 'fag' and throwing things and hurting him.
"This is fucking bullshit," Zacharias said suddenly, the feel of Potter's body against his not enough to keep him from being extremely angry. He pulled away, practically shoving Potter and stormed off to his dorm.
Susan and Hannah both watched him go with their mouths hung open, slowly turning to the rather embarrassed Harry. "What – "
"He's such a git," Harry said, his face red with anger. He stormed over to his friends, grabbed his trousers and hurriedly put them on before running out of the common room.
"Well that didn't fucking work," Susan said, dispirited.
"He's a bloody wanker," Hannah sighed.
"I'm going to hex him." Susan made to go but Hannah grabbed her hand.
"Leave him."
Susan just nodded, looking back at where Zacharias had disappeared, her expression both disappointed and annoyed.
"I'll get him later," Hannah added, and Susan's face brightened.