Year 3: Not Quite Right

Chapter 22: October 2017

As time went on, Louis and Justin could almost pretend that nothing was wrong. To most, they just seemed like a couple of guys who put in a lot of work for their classes. They even started putting in a bit of extra time each week to study Ancient Runes, even though they didn't have to complete extra assignments for the Slytherins in that class, so that they wouldn't lag behind in one subject.

Due to the now extremely predictable nature of their workload, the boys were able to prioritize their time so that they could continue to attend astronomy club meetings regularly, something that brought both boys a lot of joy. It was nice to be able to escape from real life every now and then and just enjoy being in the company of people who liked talking about astronomy. Last year, Louis had forgotten how much he really enjoyed the subject, and now that he was a third year, he had much more knowledge to bring to the table.

In addition to having time for astronomy club, Justin suddenly found himself with much more free time on his hands, which he began to use, to Louis' dismay, to gaze at Dominique from across large rooms.

"She's acting different this year," Justin pointed out one afternoon in the common room.

"Is she?" Louis shrugged. Both of his older sisters were a bit of a mystery to Louis. He'd never understood their moods and their dramatic emotions.

"Did you notice anything different about her over the holidays?" Justin wondered.

Louis thought about it. He remembered that she'd been rather upset the last night of term. He and Justin had even followed her out of the common room only to find her crying on the stairs with her friend Miles. But when Louis had met up with her and the rest of his family on the train platform the next day, she'd seemed fine. A little quiet, but still her normal self.

He thought back to the rest of the summer. She'd spent a great deal more time alone in her room than in previous summers, but it had also been the first summer that Victoire hadn't been home too. Louis had just figured it had to do with a lack of an older sister to hang around with. Whenever Louis had interacted with Dominique, she'd seemed the same. Then again, Louis had spent a great deal of the summer preoccupied with his own issues. If something had been wrong with Dominique, he doubted he would have noticed.

"She seemed fine," Louis said, unconcerned. If something was wrong, he was sure his parents would have noticed and done something. And if not, Dominique had her friends to keep an eye on her here, and Victoire if the situation called for it. Louis certainly didn't need to concern himself, and even more so Justin didn't.

"But look at her," Justin insisted, pointing at Louis' older sister.

Across the room, Dominique was surrounded by a group of sixth year boys. She looked confident, happy, maybe even a little flirty. Louis couldn't see anything wrong, apart from the fact that the boys were a little old for her.

"Not seeing the problem," Louis declared.

"Well what's she doing with those guys?" Justin demanded. "She used to spend her time reading those novels she'd borrow from the library or talking with her friends. Now every time I see her, she's with a different guy."

Louis shrugged again. "Maybe she's just trying to make more friends," he said, not getting why Justin was so upset. "Maybe she's tired of hanging around alone all the time."

Louis knew that all three of Dominique's friends were on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. That probably left Dominique with a lot of free time that she usually had to spend alone. Louis also knew that his sister was a very social person who didn't like having to be alone all the time. So, it made perfect sense that she was talking to different people.

"But why does it always have to be guys?" Justin insisted. "Why couldn't she be making friends with other girls? Like her dormmates maybe?"

And suddenly Louis got it. He understood why Justin was so obsessed. He was jealous.

Louis rolled his eyes.

"Justin, you've got to snap out of this," he groaned. "How many years are you going to drool over her from afar?"

"Until she agrees to go out with me," Justin declared.

"Get a hint," Louis said, pointing at the sixth years she was currently surrounded by. "My sister likes older guys. Not thirteen-year-old kids."

"I'm older than I was last year," Justin insisted. "I've matured a lot over the summer."

"Yeah, and so has she," Louis said. "And she'll continue to age as you do."

"The older we are, the smaller age gaps become," Justin said, dreamily staring in Dominique's direction.

Louis his Justin over the head to draw his attention back to the conversation they were having. "You promised you'd give the stalking a rest," he reminded his friend. "It makes me really uncomfortable when you stare at my sister like that."

"I can't control who I fall in love with!" Justin exclaimed emphatically.

"You're not in love with her!" Louis retorted. "You barely even know her. You just think you're in love with her because you don't know any better."

"And you do?" Justin challenged. "You've been in love? You know what it feels like?"

"Of course not, I'm only thirteen!" Louis insisted. "Thirteen-year-olds don't fall in love."

"You can't tell me what I feel," Justin threw back. "Just because you've never felt like this doesn't mean I can't."

"Okay, let's just dial this back for a second," Louis insisted. He could feel the conversation spiralling out of control and he wanted to get it back on track. This wasn't a debate about whether thirteen-year-olds could feel love, but a plea for Justin to leave Louis' sister alone. "I'm not trying to tell you what to feel. I'm just asking that you leave my sister out of it."

"Well what do you propose then?" Justin asked. "You can't expect me to just shut off my feelings."

"Maybe if you focused on girls your own age," Louis suggested. "There are some pretty nice-looking girls in our year. Maybe you could try spending some time with one of them."

"If the girls in our year are so nice-looking, why don't you go out with one of them?" Justin challenged.

"What?" Louis asked, flustered. This wasn't at all where he'd expected the conversation to go, and he suddenly felt vey uncomfortable. "No, this isn't about me."

"Well I'm making it about you," Justin smirked. "Go on, you said that some of the girls in our year are nice-looking. Who were you talking about?"

"That's not – I didn't – " Louis stammered. The truth was, he hadn't really thought about it much. He'd just said that as a part of his argument to try and convince Justin to refocus his attention on someone more appropriate.

If Louis was being honest with himself, he'd never really been particularly interested in anyone in that way. He wasn't bothered by it; he was still young. There was time for all of that later. But even in just sitting there in the common room, scanning through all the mental pictures Louis had in his brain of his female classmates, not one of them stood out in his mind as any prettier or more attractive than another.

"Go on," Justin was grinning like an idiot and Louis was wary of his attitude. "Who is she?"

"Who's who?" Louis asked in bewilderment.

"Of course you do!" Justin exclaimed. "You were just thinking about her. Go on, I'm your best friend, you can tell me."

"I swear, there's no one," Louis insisted. "I wasn't talking about myself; I was talking about you."

"Oh come on, you're a guy," Justin pushed further. "You must have some interest in someone. Is it someone from astronomy club? Is it Abby? Is it Samantha?"

"What? No!" Louis exclaimed. "They're my friends, that's all."

"I'm not going to let this go," Justin warned Louis. "You're not going to weasel out of this conversation."

Louis squirmed under all the questions. Even just thinking about his friends and classmates like this made him uncomfortable. Just having this conversation with Justin even – it had strayed so far from its' original purpose, and Louis didn't know how to steer it back.

Knowing Justin, his threat would prove true. He would never let the topic go until Louis gave him a name. Louis knew well enough that even if he managed to get the topic dropped today, Justin would just keep bringing it up every day after until Louis caved and gave him an answer. So, casting his eyes around the common room, Louis named the first girl that he saw.

"Fine!" he said. "It's Julia Arnold."

Julia was a Gryffindor (obviously) in Louis' year. She had straight brown hair and slightly larger than normal eyes that gave her a very innocent face. She was just slightly shorter than Louis was and very slim. Currently, she was sitting with her best friend, Olivia Thomas, and the two were sharing a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

"Really?" Justin said, craning his head to look at her.

Frantically, Louis kicked Justin before he could draw attention to the fact that they were talking about her. "Don't look at her," he insisted. "She'll see you."

Justin shook his head. "Well if you like her, why haven't you asked her out?" he demanded.

"What?" Louis frowned. He'd thought by naming someone, the conversation could come to a close, but now he was feeling more uncomfortable than ever. "Why would I do that?"

"Because that's what you do when you like someone," Justin insisted.

"Oh, well I don't – that isn't – "

"Or are you too shy?" Justin said mockingly.

Though normally Louis wouldn't want Justin to think him weak, in this particular situation he felt that it would be the quickest way out.

"Yes, that's it," Louis said, hanging his head in appropriate abashment. "I'm too shy."

He felt Justin patting him on the shoulder and he looked up, surprised to find compassion in his friends' eyes.

"Don't worry," Justin assured him. "We'll get you sorted."

LlLlLlLlLlL

If Louis thought that would be the end of the conversation, he was sorely mistaken. In the days that followed, Justin spent every moment doing anything he could to force Louis into situations where he was forced to talk to Julia Arnold. Louis almost wished that he'd never said a name in the first place, uncomfortable as that conversation had been, because having Justin think he was playing matchmaker was altogether worse.

The first time, Louis and Justin were passing Julia and her friend Olivia in the corridor, and Justin shoved Louis into Julia so that the both of them crashed into each other and dropped everything they were carrying.

"Oops!" Justin cried in false apology. "Sorry about that guys, I must have tripped."

Blushing, not because of hidden romantic feelings, but because Justin was being an idiot, Louis frantically gathered up his books and sped away from the two girls without a word.

"What was that?" Justin had asked later when he caught up to Louis down the hall.

"What was what?" Louis demanded.

"You didn't say a word to her," Justin insisted. "You could have at least helped her to gather her things."

And since then, Justin's actions had only escalated. He'd manufactured many more such 'accidental' encounters, made it so that the two were forced to sit next to each other in class, and even gone so far as to make the two partners in defence by partnering Olivia himself. If it weren't for his good intentions, Louis would have killed Justin by now.

Louis kept trying to tell Justin to stop, that he didn't need or want his help, but Justin couldn't be persuaded. He was convinced he was doing a nice thing for his friend and wouldn't stop until Louis and Julia had a proper date.

One day, Louis and Justin headed down to the library to work on their homework. When they arrived in the library, both boys immediately noticed that Julia and Olivia were sitting at a rather large table completely alone, engrossed in what appeared to be their most recent herbology essay.

"You know what? I think I'd rather study in the common room," Louis immediately said, turning around.

But Justin grabbed him by the arm and prevented him from leaving.

"Oh no you don't," he insisted. "Come on, we're doing this."

And, with Justin in the lead, the two boys approached the girls' table.

"Hey there," Justin said brightly, pulling out a chair. "Can we join you?"

"Sure," Olivia shrugged, gesturing to Louis to take a seat himself.

Reluctantly, Louis did sit down. If he was lucky, he could just do his work and get out of there without Justin embarrassing him too much. Unfortunately, Justin seemed to have other plans.

"What are you girls working on, there?" he asked. "Herbology?"

"Well I'm basically finished," Olivia said. "But Julia's having a rather harder time with it."

"Just because you got a head start while I had to finish my charms paper," Julia insisted.

"Well you're in luck!" Justin exclaimed. "Louis is excellent at herbology. Maybe he could give you a hand, Julia?"

"Oh!" Julia said in surprise. She turned to look at Louis. "Well yeah, if you wouldn't mind…"

"I'm not really that great at – " A look from Justin silenced Louis. He sighed. "Yeah alright, let's take a look," he said.

As he scooted his chair closer to Julia, he glared daggers at Justin. Why couldn't his friend just mind his own business and let Louis conduct his own life as he saw fit?

In the end, Louis had a very unproductive time in the library. As he'd already finished with herbology, helping Julia with it had only been a waste of time, while Justin had the opportunity to get through two entire transfiguration assignments, one for himself and one for Darian Reed.

Eventually, the girls announced that they had plans to go meet some friends. Julia thanked Louis for his help. Though Louis hadn't thought he would be able to help much with herbology, one of his weaker subjects, all the extra time he'd spent working on the Slytherins' essays had given him much more insight than he would have expected.

Once the girls were gone, Justin immediately shifted his chair so that he was across from Louis.

"So?" he asked.

"So what?" Louis frowned.

"How was it?" Justin clarified without clarifying anything.

Louis shrugged. "It was herbology. And really what I needed to do was transfiguration, so I just lost an entire afternoon."

"Yeah, but you got to talk to Julia," Justin pointed out. "So really, you're coming out a winner."

"I guess," Louis shrugged. He didn't really follow Justin's logic, but maybe he would if he were actually interested in Julia.

"Why are you not more excited about this?" Justin frowned.

Louis thought about it. Why wasn't he more excited about this? Why didn't he want to ask out Julia? She was nice, and interesting, and attractive. He should want to go out with her. But instead he felt no interest. Maybe there was something wrong with him. Maybe he'd been born without the capacity to feel those kinds of emotions. The thought made Louis strangely sad.

"I don't know," Louis confessed. "Why are you so excited about this?" he countered.

"Because you're my friend," Justin insisted. "Listen, don't worry about it. I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve."

"Please don't," Louis insisted. "Leave the tricks inside your sleeve where they belong. This is starting to get ridiculous. She's going to get suspicious if you keep having me 'accidentally' bump into her and keep 'coincidentally partnering Olivia in class so that we have to partner each other."

"You're right," Justin agreed. "If I keep this up it will become rather obvious."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Louis pulled out his transfiguration notes, glad that this whole uncomfortable chapter of his life would soon be over.