Impossible Love
Chapter 21 – End of Term
"You know you can't hide here forever," said Jamie on entering their common room and taking in the sight of Lara curled up on the sofa in front of the fire.
Lara smiled sheepishly at his implication. In the last week, she knew that it was clear to anyone who cared to notice that her and Hestia weren't really speaking. Charms had been particularly tense during their session on extending shield charms. Emily, true to Hufflepuff form, had tried to play peacemaker and speak to her about it in between classes, but Lara shut the conversation down as best she could. The truth was she couldn't tell anyone what they'd fallen out over and, as the days went by and Christmas approached, Lara was beginning to think that Hestia had been right all along.
"I'm not hiding; I'm reading," replied Lara, pointing with one hand to the book in her lap.
"I'm surprised there are still books left for you to read … it's all you've done this week."
Jamie ditched his school bag and flopped onto the other sofa, stretching his legs out and resting his hands behind his head.
He had a point.
Rather than heading to the Hufflepuff common room to join in the Christmas festivities or studying in the Library, Lara had retreated to her room after lessons each day. Books, extra study and writing home to arrange a Christmas catch up with her Muggle friends had occupied her in the final week of term.
Whilst Lara did have the prospect of Christmas Eve drinks in the Elephant and Castle and catching up with her primary school friends to look forward to, what she really needed was her best friend. The balancing act of being Muggle-born was always particularly tricky at Christmas; the guys would ask about school and Lara would simply have to lie. Her friends thought she was doing History, Latin and English Literature at A-Level. Deliberately chosen because either her friends knew nothing about it (Latin) or Lara knew enough to bluff her way through a conversation (History and Literature), acting the part of an ordinary student was a role Lara had become adept at out of necessity.
"You all packed now?" asked Jamie which was followed by a nod from Lara. "Want me to grab your case and bring it down?"
"That'd be great, ta."
It was only when Jamie reappeared from her room, biceps bulging with the strain of carrying her suitcase, that Lara realised the ridiculousness of the offer.
"Hey genius, couldn't either one of us use magic to do that?" said Lara, half-laughing and standing from her seated position.
"Undoubtedly yes, princess, but how else are wizards expected to impress witches with their manly prowess?" he replied with a wink and a jaunty hop down the last step.
Rolling her eyes, Lara grabbed Jamie by the arm as he passed by. She gave it a gentle squeeze, feeling the impressively tensed muscles.
"Consider me impressed," said Lara with a wink of her own and a healthy dose of sarcasm in her voice.
With their suitcases side by side next to the door, Jamie reminded Lara of the transport arrangements for the students' return home tomorrow.
"Unless you want to spend the entire ride home listening to Adam and Ciaran objectify your female classmates, you might want to patch things up with Smith."
Jamie was right. It would be a lonely journey home without Hestia for company, and Lara decided enough was enough. She cared too much about their friendship to let her pride stand in the way of an apology.
"Consider myself told. Don't wait up."
Setting a brisk pace down the corridors, Lara hugged her arms across her chest and rubbed her arms. She should have put her cloak on before setting off, forgetting how cold some parts of the school building could be in winter, and her school jumper was only doing so much to ward off the chill.
Despite it still being relatively early, the dark evenings meant that the candles twinkled, throwing off a warm glow that illuminated the immediate surroundings and left other parts of the corridor in a shadowy dusk. Lara was just descending the final staircase to put her on the basement level near the kitchens when she bumped into two teachers ascending the same stairs.
Professor McGonagall was wearing a black velvet robe with a tartan sash tied at the waist, and Professor Longbottom, with more of a beard than when Lara had last seen him, wore dark cords and a red Fair Isle reindeer jumper with the sleeves pushed up. Cradled in the arms of McGonagall was a large bottle of the finest Firewhisky, whilst Neville balanced a large crate of ale, topped off with a basket of mince pies and chocolate Christmas trees, in his arms.
Upon seeing Lara, Neville's eyes widened in a slight panic.
"Good evening, Hepworth," said McGonagall with a mirth-filled voice. "Don't mind us. Just getting extra supplies for the staff party." With that McGonagall waved the bottle of Firewhisky in the air, nearly hitting the crate Neville was carrying in the process.
"Steady on, Professor," said Neville, having now schooled his features into neutrality.
McGonagall rolled her eyes and whispered confidentially, "He thinks I'm tipsy, but I've been drinking this since before he was even born."
Lara privately thought that Neville was right: McGonagall had perhaps started early on the Firewhisky. However, she certainly wasn't going to say that to the respected Headmistress.
With a slight stumble and a moment of steadying herself, Professor McGonagall continued up the stairs and called over her shoulder, "Longbottom, give Lara one of those treats and then come along – there's our game of charades to finish!"
"Here take one of –"
"- I couldn't possibly…"
It was the carefully controlled blank expression on Neville's face that caused Lara pain. Since their first meeting on the train, the warmth of their connection had always been apparent, bubbling away under the surface. Now, Lara felt like a bucket of cold water had been tipped onto it.
"Just take one, please," intoned Neville, aware of the lingering presence of Professor McGonagall at the top of the stairs.
Reaching for a chocolate tree, Lara willed her eyes not to fill with tears. What she wanted to do was run her fingertips up the exposed skin on his powerful forearms and feel the rough scratch of his beard on her face as her lips met his, but that was never a possibility and their separation had never seemed more absolute than in this moment.
He does think the kiss was a mistake.
Making eye contact with Neville, she was sure she could detect a hint of sadness in his deep blue gaze. However, despite sensing that Neville wanted to say something to her, he quickly broke the connection and, as soon as she'd picked up the chocolate, continued on his way back to the Hogwarts' staff room.
The Hufflepuff common room was filled with piles of students' suitcases, Christmas paper chains, glittering tinsel and sixth and seventh years playing a raucous game of Exploding Snap.
"Victory again!" shouted Zain Qadar, an enthusiastic sixth year who had long-held ambitions of replacing Cameron MacPhail as Hufflepuff's Keeper.
"You sure you're not a Gryffindor?" grumbled Emily, annoyed at losing and Zain's competitiveness.
Lara's eyes scanned the group, locating Hestia in the far corner, looking as if she was a million miles away in thought.
Quietly skirting round the group, Lara was stopped by her arm being held. Looking down, Lara smiled at the sight of Cameron, her former boyfriend from fourth year, wearing a green paper crown from a Christmas Cracker on his blonde head.
"Glad you're here, Lar," he said, using his lazy nickname for her. "Don't know what's gone on, but she misses you." He nodded over to Hestia.
Lara smiled in response and closed the last few metres between her and Hestia.
Tapping her friend on the shoulder, Lara offered up the chocolate Christmas tree and said, "Can you forgive me?"
At the sight of her friend, Hestia broke into a relieved grin.
"Of course I can, you daft sod. Will you forgive me?"
"There's nothing to forgive," replied Lara, matching Hestia's smile.
Hugging each other, Lara felt the tightness in her chest unwind.
"Come on, let's take this conversation, and that tasty looking tree, upstairs."
Leading the way, Hestia pushed open the door to the dormitory that Lara had called home for the previous six years at Hogwarts. The room was empty as the rest of the seventh-year girls were in the common room below. Sitting cross-legged on Lara's old bed, they broke into the chocolate first before Hestia spoke.
"I'm sorry I was such a judgemental cow," she said sincerely.
"Sorry I was so defensive," offered Lara in return.
Tucking her hair behind her ear, Hestia hesitated before saying, "So has anything else happened between the two of you?"
Lara sighed and shook her head.
"I bumped into him on my way down here and it was like I was nobody. He definitely regrets it, and I just want to forget about it. Hopefully by the time Christmas is done with, I'll be over this delightful sense of humiliation." Having used sarcasm to mask her sadness, Lara changed the subject, "You all set for a return to Casa Smith?"
"A return to the chaos of my mum complaining about M&S running out of cranberry sauce or supermarket queues and my dad sneaking back to the Ministry with the 'office emergency' excuse to avoid my grandma? Can't wait," said Hestia with a chuckle.
As happened between best friends, the squabble that had resulted in a week of tension was quickly forgotten and Lara only wished she'd done it sooner. Staying in her common room with Jamie hadn't been too bad, but there was no substitute for her best friend. Even though they'd face the two weeks separation during the holidays, Lara was relieved that Hestia was just at the end of an owl if she needed her.
What I need is a quiet Muggle Christmas without any unnecessary drama.
However, she doubted her wish would be granted given how her life seemed to be going this year.
Author's note:
Sorry for the delay with this chapter: work, lockdown and general life stole my writing mojo for a time. Hopefully it's back though and semi-regular updates can resume. Any reviews and thoughts are always appreciated.
Viola Pearl