((This chapter is dedicated to my George, he's sick and needs a pick me up.
WE BROKE 100 FOLLOWERS YAH! Keep faving and reviewing guys!))
Rumors of Josie's playful surprise for the twins spread quickly, people of all houses good and bad quickly hearing the new gossip. Paxton and his friends had taken to playfully calling her "the glitter girl" in the weeks after, a nickname that she didn't mind at all. But in the usual fashion of gossip with the good came the rude, the story of her Valentine's Day prank reaching more people of the wrong kind than the right.
Most of the teasing had rolled off her back, her joy from the night of Valentine's Day making her invisible against all the rude and ignorant students that poked fun at her, but that began to change faster than it had happened. After returning from Quidditch practice the prior week the twins had been abnormally tense, and neither of them would tell her what was wrong. Not even Lee would admit why they were acting differently, his only response an awkward shrug and adverted eyes when Josie asked before Charms days later. The way they treated Josie had not drastically changed, this she was thankful for, but something was obviously amiss. A competitive aura surrounded them when they were together, jaws tense and eyes challenging as they glanced at each other, followed by downcast eyes and white knuckles. They were obviously competing or fighting over something, everything they did seemed like an attempt to one-up the other; Fred had almost raced George down the staircase to be the first one to say good morning, George had taken her hand when walking to History Of Magic, Fred had written her nearly illegible but flirtatious notes, both of them sat on opposite sides of her during Astronomy the night before and had taken turns moving closer to her until she had to elbow them both away. At first she had enjoyed this attention, but once she caught them arguing in hushed tones while waiting for her after Defense Against the Dark Arts the anger in their voices cut her so deeply that she was scared to say anything for hours in fear after realizing something was majorly wrong. The only comfort she found was in the bracelet they had given her, but even that comfort was slowly fading as the weeks went on, its glow not even enough to light up her thoughts.
Josie was at her wits end, the silence covering lunch ringing in her ears loudly enough to deafen her as they picked at their food. Lee and Marina sat uncomfortably across from her, watching as Josie slowly sunk further down into the bench, hands beginning to shake. It was too quiet, too cold. The voice in her mind screamed at her that this was her fault, planting a seed of guilt in her that grew as she raced through all the options of what she could have done. You pushed them too far on Valentine's; they felt obligated to get you something. They probably are fighting because of you. You must have done something wrong. They're going to break up with you. The barrage of thoughts ceased when Marina touched her hand from across the table, her eyes focusing on her and Lee's expressions, staring at her with furrowed brows. "Josie, you've bent your fork." Lee said, his voice a mix of worry and astonishment.
Josie became aware of the warm metal in her hands, glancing down to find her fingers gripping her silverware tightly as it pressed against the table. The fork was bent sharply, the prongs forming a right angle with the handle. The metal thudded against the stone floor as she dropped it suddenly, pulling her hand back as something had bitten her and clutching her fingers to her chest. She felt Fred and George turn into her and hesitantly touch her arms in an attempt to comfort her, but she hardly looked as she excused herself and left the table, red-heeled shoes clacking against the floor as she left the hall and hid in the nearest bathroom, the echo of the twins calling after her lost to the crowd of voices from their table.
Slamming the door behind her and leaning against the stall, Josie tried to slow down her rapid breathing as she broke out into a cold sweat, finding herself already farther into an anxiety attack than she had thought. They dryness in her throat and the heat under her skin became unbearable after minutes, forcing her to slip out of the comfort of the stall to run water into her hands and splash it onto her face to attempt to wash away the agony.
She didn't know what was wrong or how to fix it, and it was driving her insane. Her nerves were tight, goosebumps rising from her skin and cold shivers running down her spine despite the heat she felt. Everything she thought to do was shot down in her conscience, every cause pointing towards her. It took her what felt like hours to calm down, her forehead pressed against the cool glass of the mirror as she breathed slowly and held her pulse until is slowed to a reasonable pace. The sound of the door opening and someone going into a stall pried open her eyes, the metallic ringing sending the pain in her head to rest between her eye sockets; blurred vision through dilated pupils catching sight of the red seeping up around her fingernails. In the time it took her to wash her hands and focus well enough to walk, she was not alone. A foul aroma of sickening sweetness mixed with what smelt like animal musk filled her nostrils. The area in front of the sinks was now occupied by another girl; the second-to-last girl Josie wanted to be alone with in a time like this.
The side-kick of the girl who hated her so much, whose name she had come to know as Seraphina De'Maricle, had stopped fixing her short blonde curls and had fixed cold grey eyes on Josie. Slim hips leaning against the cold porcelain of the sink, Seraphina smiled cruelly as she folded her arms in front of her before speaking. "What's wrong mon ami, are you sick? Did you look in the mirror?" she said, ill-intent dripping from her overly pouty lips. "I was fine until you walked in, must be the smell." Josie quickly retorted, jerking back a bit in surprise at her own words. Heavily false lashed eyes narrowed as she smiled, sickeningly strait teeth gleaming in the harsh light. "Well it's not meant for you, I wouldn't swing your way even if you paid me. It's a special potion that is made to attract the male senses. Obviously it works, and much better than throwing weak scented glitter." Josie's chest became tight and she felt her heartbeat pick up again, her hip bumping painfully into the sink as she moved back from Seraphina as she advanced towards her.
"That was really sad Josie, that little stunt you pulled on those twins. I mean, it was kind of cute, in an immature, 12 year old girl with a crush kind of way. But the Weasley boys? You're majorly overstepping your worth thinking you could get with either of them, you pushed it with being their friend, but now…" She sighed dramatically, smiling at her. "It's embarrassing to think about actually; do you really think that either of them would fall for your pathetic attempt?" Something must have flashed across Josie's face, a mix between anger and embarrassment perhaps, that caused Seraphina to gasp loudly and lean closer to her. "Or did you think both of them would?" A high-pitched cackle echoed through the room, the sound of the door opening barely audible through it. "You're delusional, but I can understand where your fantasy stems from. If they weren't muggle loving beggars I might have gone for them, like every other girl in our year attempted to when they came back this year after that growth spurt." Josie's knuckles popped as her fists clenched, her breathing quick and harsh through her nose as she grit her teeth to keep back the tears.
The blondes face fell to a scarily serious expression, and it shocked Josie enough to recognize that the room was now occupied by three people; a dark haired girl was lurking near the doorway. She didn't look for long before her attention was drawn back to the blonde towering in front of her, overwhelming perfume causing her to choke. "You're pathetic Josephine. Stop trying to get with what you can't possibly be good enough for and go back to being the quiet foreign girl before I tell the Quidditch girls you're moving in on their territory." Josie's eyes flashed dangerously before she breathed in heavily to talk through gritted teeth. "I don't think anyone is anyone else's territory." Her voice was lower than usually, dangerously calm and clear. She reminded herself of the twins, tilting her head up and glaring up at her with all the bravery she could muster. The Slytherin only laughed. "Please, everyone knows only certain girls can get with certain boys. No pureblood boy goes after a mudblood girl, Slytherin's don't date outside their house, and Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell are the only three girls who could ever get with those twins." Her pale skin crawled as she was looked over, a condescending look of compassion crossing the intimidator's features. "Let's face it, you don't have any chance against them."
All Josie wanted to do was run away, run far away and cry until she shriveled up completely; but she didn't get the opportunity.
Seraphina shrieked loudly as the dark haired girl from the doorway yanked her hair from behind, the height difference between them forcing the blonde to bend backwards painfully as she was thrown towards the door. Josie jumped back in surprise, sucking in air suddenly as she pressed herself against the wall. Shiny shoes splashed through puddles and soaked white stockings as Seraphina turned to face her attacker, first looking at Josie accusingly before noticing the other girl. Josie looked at the girl who had begun to stand up for her, noticing that she was the Slytherin girl who had back talked bullies for her more than once when she had first begun school.
The girl flipped long swooping black bangs out of heavy green eyes as she gazed at Seraphina, her hand resting on her hip lazily as she lulled her head to turn towards her fellow Slytherin. "Don't you have anything better to do than belittle other people for egotistical gain?" She drawled, her voice lazy but melodic as she stared at the other girl. "Yes I do actually, it's your cousin." Was all Seraphina replied, sneering at her. "Good luck with that. Now you might want to get the hell out before I let slip the number of other boys you're "seeing"-" She threw black painted nails up in quotations dramatically before continuing. "-and completely ruin your chances of ever getting with Blaise." Turning her back to the girl to prove the finality of her statement, she moved towards Josie with slow steps, arched brows furrowing in worry. "Are you alright?" she asked, her voice balancing out to a low-toned speech tinted with British middle class.
Josie waited until the blonde had stormed out of the bathroom to answer, having to look up slightly to meet the girl's eye. "I'm fine…uhm…thank you for that. You didn't have to do that...again." She reverted back into shyness, stuttering over her words as she smiled at the girl graciously. "You remember?" "Of course I do; you called a group of 7th year Slytherin girls the Sanderson Sisters. It was brilliant." The girl laughed, slightly crooked teeth peeking out from dark lips as she held out her hand. "Charlie Camson, 3rd year." She said simply, shaking Josie's hand when she took it before turning on her heel to leave. "My names Josie!" she called after her, her voice shaking. Charlie raised a hand in acknowledgement before calling back "I know!" over her shoulder before walking out of the door.
As the door thudded shut and echoed off the tile walls, Josie started to think about taking up the offer Paxton had made at New Years. Picking up her bag from its place it had landed when she threw it to the floor upon running in and slinging it across her shoulders, she headed towards her next class in hopes she would soon find out what was bothering the twins.
They were waiting for her when she rounded the corner, standing in the damp grass conversing softly. As she stopped in front of them, they ceased talking and shuffled awkwardly, grinning at her as they held their arms out to be linked with hers. Josie, still shaken up from the happening in the bathroom, hesitated before slipping her arms into theirs; she felt the twins glance at each other over her head before they began to walk down the hill to Herbology.
"Are you alright?" Fred asked, flipping ginger strands out of his face to look down at her. "I should be asking you two that, you've been acting strange recently." Both of their steps faltered when she spoke, switching their usual roles of them bugging her to tell them what was wrong. "We're fine." They said together, shrugging their shoulders. "Just nervous for the match." George added. Josie stopped, looking at him in shock at the absurdity of the excuse and wincing at the pain that tore through her heart. They were lying to her. "Something is wrong, and it's not the match. I know you better than that; you don't get nervous before a match. You're frighteningly calm or excited, you rile yourselves up to be aware of everything, and you talk big for weeks ahead to keep up your confidence. You do not get nervous, and if you do it is not shown like this; unless you two have suddenly turned into Oliver Wood and if that's the case our relationship needs to be evaluated." She was too defensive and she knew it, but their attitude and tension was eating away at her already eroded nerves.
They were silent for a minute, the twins looking at her with surprised expressions as the wind whipped their hair into their eyes. Fred was the one to speak up. "Josie, we're fine. Just…having an issue. Don't worry about it so much, we'll handle it." Even though she wasn't convinced, she still reluctantly nodded her head and took his outstretched hand so they could get to class on time. The rest of the day dragged on, clouds rolling in over the castle to reflect the mood that had set over the three of them.