Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: Okay, first thing's first: I'm not officially "back". I just had this story idea stuck in my head and I really wanted to just write it and get it out there. So, in all honesty, I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to update "Out of the Cellar" anytime soon. So sorry.
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This was definitely not the same girl he had known for the past five years.
The Megan Jones he had known was a gossip, overly enthusiastic, and quite full of herself. This Megan Jones, however, seemed to be the exact opposite. She still looked basically the same, yes, but she was acting quite different. Instead of being in the center of the Hufflepuff table, she was seated at the end, away from the chatter and excited conversation that the others were partaking in. Randy Rivers and Alana Runcor, Megan's best friends, were nowhere to be found; scratch that, he did see them, but they most certainly weren't giggling with Megan at the moment. The two were flirting annoyingly loud with Wayne Hopkins, the only roommate besides Ernie Macmillan that he didn't care for much.
Megan was cutting up her food into small bits, he noticed, carefully dissecting the meal into little pieces. She was concentrating extremely hard on it; perhaps too hard. She would grind her teeth, he observed, every time Randy or Alana let out a high-pitched squeal of joy. Perhaps Megan was in a fight with the two of them? He couldn't think of any other reason why she had isolated herself from the girls.
Zacharias Smith blinked. What was he doing, concerning himself with Megan's business? He had worked too hard to ignore the daily drama over the years that seemed to follow the vexing trio of Hufflepuff. Anyway, this separation from everyone else was probably Megan's way of gaining attention. She seemed to enjoy being in the limelight.
The blond boy glanced back over to Megan. He couldn't believe that he had actually taken her to the Yule Ball back in their fourth year. Though, he was very despite, having made a bet with Ernie that he would, in fact, get a date before the ball started. But when the ball had started and Megan had decided to share her exciting life-story with him, he realized that he could've lived without the galleon he had won from the bet. Ten excuses later he finally made it out of the Great Hall and sat alone on a hidden bench for the rest of the night, surrounded by lovely sounds of others kissing that came from the bushes behind him.
Before Zacharias knew it, dinner had ended and everyone was getting up to head to the common room. He made a mental note to go to sleep before 11 that night, since the first day of classes were tomorrow.
He followed the rest of the sixth-year Hufflepuffs, minus Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbot who were once again prefects and currently talking to the first-years, down the stairs that lead to the common room. The room was brimming with students who were catching up with old friends and filling each other in with the latest news and summer stories.
Zacharias looked around and was disappointed to not see Susan Bones, his only real friend. With a heavy sigh, he started upstairs, not even bothering to wait for her. He did consider turning around and asking Megan what was going on with her, but decided against it. It was better to leave things alone. And anyway, if he pried, he'd most likely wind up in the middle of whatever was going on. With that last thought, he dragged himself up the boys' staircase, into the sixth-year dormitory, into his warm bed, and into a deep, comfortable sleep.
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But much to Zacharias' surprise, Megan's "call for attention" didn't cease by December and he was starting to seriously doubt his assumption.
The Hufflepuff boy had taken to watching Megan, waiting for her to do something that would prove that she and her friends were just acting. He would stare, waiting for her to foul up and let her guard down, for her to prove his theory right.
But she never did.
The tension between Randy, Alana and Megan was as thick as ever. They never spoke, but whenever they were in the same room Megan looked like she was going to break out in tears. They never got into any physical fights, but whenever Megan would leave a room she was in with them, she looked like she had been slapped hard in the face. The emotional stress they were putting on her was too much, and they weren't even doing it directly.
And though he would never admit to it, Zacharias was starting to feel bad for her.
She would sit alone in the Great Hall, off to the side like she had been tossed away. She even had a schedule of when she would eat her meals; she would already be almost done with her breakfast when the hall was beginning to fill up; she ate exactly five minutes worth of lunch midday; and she would come and go as quickly as she could for dinner, which ranged between five and seven minutes. Zacharias did notice her getting into the habit of wrapping a roll into a napkin and leaving with it in her robe pocket; she hardly ate anything at meals, so she must get hungry later, he assumed.
No one made any contact with Megan anymore, except for Susan who spoke to her occasionally. Wayne had stopped hitting on her, a Ravenclaw by the name of Kevin Entwhistle had stopped starring at her during class, and even some of the younger girls who had looked up to her stopped following her "example". She didn't even bother to come to Hogsmeade on a regular basis.
As the holidays drew nearer, many girls decided to dress more festively by tying their hair in red and green ribbons and wearing cheap, singing earrings that Zacharias wanted nothing more than to pull off of their ears and throw in the lake. Megan used to wear stupid things like that, he remembered vaguely.
The holidays came and went quickly. Before Zacharias knew it, he was back in school, hauling his heavy books around and once again, watching Megan.
In the back of his mind, Zacharias knew that there was no point in watching her anymore. He knew that he was wrong about his "attention" theory, that something had happened between her little gang and she was no longer friends with them. But Zacharias, being the stubborn boy he was, continued to watch her, looking for proof that he was right.
He really did find Megan fun to watch; while she was distinctly quieter this year, she still had her share of goof ups, whether it was a wrong ingredient in Potions class or the wrong answer to a question. And she did make a sort of cute face when she realized her mistake, he noticed. Hell, she was really pretty when she didn't screw up.
By mid-January, he finally spoke to her. It wasn't a long conversation my any means; it was simple, casual, just asking for the time when he found himself seated at the table next to hers in the library one evening. She had hesitated before answering him, and when she did respond, it was in a soft voice that couldn't be any more different from the one she had in the fifth-year.
He tried to concentrate on his textbook, but found himself reading the same sentence over and over again; all he could think about was Megan. It was becoming unhealthy, the felling that he just wanted to watch her in silence for the rest of his life. This was way too out of character for him; he had never been so interested in someone's life. Zacharias usually just brushed things off, didn't really consider the details and didn't pay attention to the smaller things. This was unusual and weird, and he was a bit freaked out.
He could list off all the little things that he noticed her do in certain situations; she'd play with her hair and twist it around her finger absentmindedly when she was bored; she'd pick at her finger nails when she was nervous, but never actually bit them; she'd bite her lip when she was in an uncomfortable position and really wanted to say something, most notably when Randy or Alana were around; she'd avoid eye contact by looking down or pretending to do something else when she didn't want to talk; she'd grit her teeth or furrow her brow when she was frustrated which was often in Snape's class. He could list so many more things it was scary.
Not able to stand it anymore, Zacharias Smith packed all his things into his bag and left the library, not looking back at Megan Jones.
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You'd think that after avoiding someone for a few weeks, you'd start to forget about them and your fascination with them.
No such luck for Zacharias.
He felt like a stalker, the way he would watch her. It felt wrong, and yet he couldn't stop. Maybe he should just ask her what had happened over the summer between her and her friends? Maybe that was why he felt the need to watch her?
He decided to go for it and see what happened.
He waited until after dinner (well, after she finished dinner, which was only a few minutes into the meal) before following her out of the Great Hall and ultimately cornering her. He never realized how overwhelming he might seem; she wasn't short, but he was still considerably taller then her. Trying to ignore her fearful look and the butterflies that had taken residence in his stomach, he asked her bluntly what was going on between her and her friends.
Megan hesitated and didn't answer for awhile, though it didn't matter to Zacharias; the only thing he was concerned about was whether or not she was going to burst out crying, because she certainly looked like it. And he was never good in those kinds of situations.
She finally responded, and he was rather disappointed with the answer; she told him that she didn't want to talk about it, but she was grateful that he was concerned. She gave him a kind of half-smile before slipping past him and heading towards the Hufflepuff dormitories.
And though Zacharias would never admit it, that half-smile had made his heart beat faster than he ever thought possible.
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Zacharias Smith was never one to wear his heart of his sleeve or let his emotions show. He wasn't romantic in the least bit and often felt uncomfortable in situations where you were expected to show how you feel.
So Zacharias was rather surprised when he thought about sending Megan a gift for Valentines Day.
After that confrontation after dinner, he and Megan had spoken only two more times. It was progress, and now he didn't feel as uncomfortable with his interest in her as he did when he'd never even spoken to her.
After much debate over the situation with himself, Zacharias decided not to send anything to Megan. Perhaps if he didn't make an effort in their relationship (if there was anything there in the first place), nothing would happen further and he'd be able to move on. Yes, that seemed reasonable.
But as February the 14th drew closer, he started to feel guilty about not buying her flowers or chocolates or something.
But he hardly knew the girl, why would he get her something if they spoke a grand total of five times?
Though, it would be nice if he got her something, not many people did something for her this year…
The constant debate back and forth in his head was driving him up the wall. Finally, on the 13th, he decided that at Hogsmeade the next day, he'd pick up flowers and have them sent to her dormitory. It was the least he could do.
Valentines Day arrived very quickly, almost too quickly for Zacharias' taste. The sight in the Great Hall was sickening; a majority of the girls her dressed in pink or another "festive" color, and most were giggling with their friends over the pile of cards in front of them. The boys glanced quickly over at certain girls and fidgeted slightly, waiting to get to Hogsmeade so they could spread some "quality time" with their girlfriends or love interests or whatever they wanted to call it.
Zacharias considered leaving for a second, but his stomach's growls weren't exactly pleasant, so he sat himself down by Susan and decided to ignore everyone around him and attempt to eat his breakfast in peace.
He had a lovely time in Hogsmeade attempting to find a flower shop and trying to get in and out without anyone seeing. Unfortunately, it was Valentines Day and unfortunately, many people had procrastinated like him. He fidgeted slightly while waiting in line to pay and when he finally made it out of the store, he made a mad dash towards the school so that he could make it there without being noticed much.
The rest of the day had gone by quickly. By early evening, he started to hear kids entering the common room, chatting excitedly about the day. Zacharias decided to head to dinner early in order to avoid the questions from his roommates as to why they might've seen him in the flower shop.
All he could think about while walking to the Great Hall was whether or not Megan liked the flowers. Zacharias didn't know the first thing about flowers, but he thought they were pretty enough… or so he hoped…
He was snapped out of his musings by someone behind him calling his name. Turning around, he found Megan standing by the Hufflepuff portrait hole, wet streaks down her face that could only mean one thing: she was crying.
Zacharias' eyes widened and he wasn't sure what to do. It was these kinds of situations where he felt uncomfortable, when someone was expressing a strong emotion and he would just stand there, often shifting from foot to foot, looking like a complete and total idiot.
But before he even realized it, Megan had walked up to him and was now in the process of standing on her tiptoes and planting a kiss softly on his lips.
And it was all Zacharias could to not to melt right there.