The match had gone on for over three hours and Dominique had been glued to it for every minute. It had been a fantastic showing, especially for amateur players. The action had been so fast-paced that she'd even stopped watching Jack from time to time to focus on the incredible skills from the other athletes. Zara gave constant commentary on the Chasers, seeing as she seemed to know a lot about all of them; who was the best at what particular skill set and how they were playing up to their strengths.

The Keepers were both unbelievable—keeping an insanely low scoring game despite the Chasers endless attempts. If both didn't end up playing professional Quidditch somewhere, Dominique felt she would be upset on their behalf. The Seekers, she had to admit, were the most uneventful part. Valentina did come up with the Snitch at the end, which Dominique was excited to see. It had come down to a quick dive—a three mark if Dominique had to label it—and that had been her strength all along. She'd out paced Jere by several broom lengths, causing the arena to erupt in a loud cheer when she'd captured the Snitch and the green team won. It was to be noted that both Seekers did manage to play the entire match—so no alternate was needed.

The Beaters were solid. They weren't the stars of the show, but the work they put in was vital to the success of everyone else around them. Tree Trunks had stood out as a beast of an athlete, taking two of the starting Chasers out by the end and probably causing every Beater scout in the arena to reel at the possibilities he possessed. The blue team's Beaters were both good, but had a hard time defending against Tree Trunks and paled in comparison. Jack was luckily on his team and didn't have to deal with receiving any of his Bludgers, so it allowed him to shine more than anyone on the blue team could.

He'd played phenomenally. His hits were clean, his aim was spot on, he defended well, and he'd pulled out some great shots while switching hands mid air. He'd done everything he could have done playing in the shadow of a guy like Tree Trunks. There was no way he wasn't pleased with his performance.

The arena emptied out afterwards and soon bodies were filling the camp once more. This time though, the mass exodus was heading toward the large auditorium building, where Dominique had heard they'd set up Porkeys for all the participating countries. The queue was already quite long, though many were choosing to wait around—pick up a quick match of Quidditch or lounge in the canteen to wait things out. As she and the others returned to the dormitory to grab their things, they were forced to dodge all the broom handles and suitcases that were being drug down the corridors and out of the building. Leaving day was truly upon them.

"We're going to go get in the queue," Michael had said as he and Ellibit popped into their room to grab their things.

"Me too," Erin said. "I'm going home to sleep for a few days."

Zara was already tossing her duffle out into the corridor, readying to leave. Dominique had every intention of leaving right after the match—and in fact, a part of her still wanted to—but a larger part of her was telling her to wait. She hadn't gotten to see Jack afterwards in all the chaos and she wanted to congratulate him. After their pre-match chat had turned out to not be awkward at all, she wasn't worried about seeing him. They were friends and they'd come into this together. It was only right they left it as well.

"You waiting for Jack?" Michael asked, his bag slung over his shoulder as he and Ellibit shut their dorm door for the last time.

She nodded. "Probably should."

"Tell him he killed it," Michael said. "Those were some next level skills out there." He glanced over at Ellibit. "Makes me happy I'm a Keeper and I won't be seeing any of those Bludgers headed my way."

Ellibit frowned. "You have no idea how much they hurt," she said before she looked at Dominique. "It'll be a long season."

"A season that Slytherin is going to completely dominate," Zara said in a lofty way, laughing as she did. "I'm telling you, it's going to be our year."

"Not bloody likely," Dominique said. "Got to get past Gryffindor first."

"And Hufflepuff," Michael added, though his tone was dripping with sarcasm. He even added an over the top, "Woooo!" It caused Ellibit to roll her eyes, but she wasn't even attempting to defend them.

Erin had grabbed her things and was now shutting her door for the last time. As she slung her bag up over her shoulder and grabbed her broom, she glanced first at Zara before looking over at Michael and Ellibit. "Off we go?"

"Yeah, before the queue gets too long."

Dominique stood back to let them pass more, each of them throwing her smiles of sorts as if to say goodbye. Ellibit added a polite, "See you at school." as Zara waved and said, "Seventh-year." Michael said, "See you, Weasley," leaving only Erin—who was lagging behind.

"Tell Ians when you see him he did do really well," she said. "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry about running my mouth last night. Hope I didn't make things awkward for you."

"I'll handle it."

Erin nodded. "See you at school." She turned to follow the others, now disappearing around the corner and out of sight.

Dominique sighed. It was only her now. She grabbed her things from her room and walked out to the common area, placing them down on the first table she'd come across. There were people there hanging about, but everything seemed very on-the-go; people were saying goodbyes and having quick conversations as they passed each other. Some people were crying, but Dominique wasn't about to presume she knew what people were going through. She'd learned lately that things were never quite as they seemed on the outside.

She sat and people watched for a bit. The crowd began to thin as more and more people moved themselves out. People were coming and going—some she recognized, some she didn't. She'd seen Gabriel and another Beauxbatons' boy pass. They seemed ready to leave as they lugged oversized bags on their shoulders and headed toward the exits. Behind them, Vanessa, Chloe, and three other people were following.

Chloe was the only one of that group who'd noticed her; Dominique even threw her a deliberate wave, though she didn't return it. She instead immediately averted her eyes and quickened her pace to catch up to Gabriel and the other boy, nearly knocking right into Giggleswick and his broom as he entered the building with Ansel in tow. It was Dominique's turn to avert her eyes; she suddenly became incredibly fascinated with examining the tabletop.

The Ravenclaw boys barrelled right past her without noticing her. They were down the corridor and gone for all of five minutes before reappearing back in the common area with bags and brooms in hand. Again, neither of them seemed to take notice of her as they walked toward the exit, which was the way she preferred it. The last thing she needed was to have it out with Giggleswick right now. She was actually in a fairly decent mood.

Ten more minutes passed before the faces that she recognized from the match began appearing. A pair of female Chasers came in laughing with Valentina, while the tall male Keeper from the winning team walked in with his arm around a girl that Dominique didn't recognize. Two more Chasers accompanied by some friends, Tree Trunks with the other Keeper and a small crowd that were either friends or fans. Lastly, at the end, the three remaining Beaters—including Jack—and the leftover Chasers walked in. They were happily involved in a conversation; presumably about the match. Jack and Diego were animatedly talking about something; whatever it was made one of the female Chasers laugh loudly, and they were all very much in their own little bubble. It made Dominique have second thoughts about waiting around.

He'd been about to walk right past her, though at the very last second, someone in the common area let out a howl of a cheer, which commanded everyone's attention. It was because of that that Jack noticed she was sitting nearby. He grinned and called out, "You didn't leave?"

She shrugged.

"No, good, hey, hold on, then," he said, still being swept up in the elite crowd that had all disappeared down the corridor toward the rooms."I'll be back in a few. Wait for me.""

She sighed, feeling rather stupid. She should have just gone. Jack was clearly busy dealing with the aftermath of the match and talking to people, making connections, being an all-star. She felt wildly out of place waiting here all of the sudden.

Five more minutes passed—then ten. Had he not specifically asked her to hold on, she would have left. She was giving him one more minute; though after a minute passed, she gave him one more. After ten additional minutes, she finally was picking up her bags and telling herself he could find her in the bloody queue if he actually wanted to, but that was of course when he came around the corner with his bag and his broom. He was changed now and looked to have taken a shower. That probably explained what had taken so long.

"Hey," he said as he approached her with a friendly smile. "Sorry. You were probably waiting for a bit."

She made a face as if to say it wasn't a big deal. "Couldn't leave without talking to you about that match, now could I?"

He continued to smile. He was clearly high on post match adrenaline given the antsy nature about him. He probably could have run a marathon or climbed a mountain given how excited he seemed. "I think it went well."

"I'd say so," she offered, noticing then that Diego and a few of the other players were now appearing with their things; all looking as if they were headed off. Diego specifically came over to personally say goodbye to Jack, talking about how it was unfortunate he still had another year of school left, but here's hoping they could reconnect out there on the professional scene one day. He turned and smiled at Dominique before he left, throwing her a quick wink before he did. She wasn't too keen on him, but Jack seemed to like him. It was the only thing stopping her from flipping him off.

He continued to say quick goodbyes, hugging or shaking hands with multiple people. One of the Chaser girls in particular seemed to hug him for more seconds than would be considered friendly, and that smile she threw him was certainly more flirtatious than innocent, but Dominique chose to look away. Was this really what it was like when you properly fancied someone? Was she actually going to have a reaction to every single potential flirtation he might have? That sounded exhausting.

When all was said and done and everyone had left, Jack finally returned his attention to her. The rankings truly did make everything different around here. He was on another level at the moment—one she couldn't relate to. While she didn't sense he was taking himself too seriously, at the same time, how could he not?

She must have looked bored or awkward because he'd immediately said, "Everything goes back to normal tomorrow," as if reading her mind. Or perhaps he could just sense her shifted mood about this place. She was trying to be good and show that it didn't bother her, but apparently he'd seen right through that.

"If you say so," she said as she went to pick up her things. "You ready to go?"

He nodded, letting her pass in front of him toward the exit. "I am serious. Tomorrow, all of this is gone and it's back to the same old thing. It's back to the usual group, back to school, back to Flynn's back garden. Back to Gryffindor Quidditch being the priority—"

"I think you've got a few other Quidditch priorities to take into account now," she said, taking one last glance around the common area before heading outside.

It was well after lunch time and still overcast. There were still people pouring out of the other dorms with their things and random Quidditch matches playing out throughout the spaces around the Square. If she had to guess, she'd say the population of the camp had decreased by half already.

Jack was beside her, their brooms knocking into each other as they walked, but neither bothering to adjust to adjust to make it stop. "So. Let's hear it. Don't hold back. Tell me the truth."

She gave a slight start to that. It was only then that she remembered that her secret was out now. She'd actually forgotten up until that point since everything had felt so normal. "What truth?"

"The match," he said. "I know you've got opinions."

Right, the match. Of course. She exhaled. "Well, you played clean and hit well. I only saw you miss two defensive Bludgers that you shouldn't have."

"Of course you did. How did I know you'd say that?"

"Because I see everything. That's what..."

"...Seekers do," he said, finishing for her. "Yeah, yeah. It's your mantra."

She glanced back at him. "You did really well. Especially considering Tree Trunks was out there practically murdering people. You looked as good as you could have."

"Tree Trunks?"

"The bloke with the arms as large as tree trunks."

He laughed at that. "Funnily enough, his name is Louis. And he is absolutely mental. Would not surprise me to find out he actually has murdered someone. Absolute beast, though."

They reached the center of camp then and now saw the auditorium and the queue that led inside of the building. They walked a little further, chatting about the match while she watched everyone go about their business. The canteen was still filled with people; she began to wonder when the last people actually left this place. Was there a closing time?

"So," Jack asked once they'd finally reached the end of the queue and the talk of the final match lulled. "What are you doing when you get home?"

"I have to go to France," she said, as the real world suddenly came rushing back to her. She was headed home only to turn right around and visit her grandparents beach house in the south of France. She was due to spend the following week there; trading in one foreign bed for another.

Her mother was especially keen on getting them all to go as a family, considering who knew what everyone's plans were going to be next summer. And by everyone, she obviously meant Louis since he was most likely going to be plucked up by one of the many Ministry offices that would eventually lead him to becoming the Minister of Magic or something equally as important one day.

"Right," Jack said as if suddenly remembering. "Off to enjoy the beach and the sun. Lucky you."

She shrugged off the entire idea of it being a luxury sort of holiday instead of a chance for her to see her family. "What about you?"

He shrugged. "Nothing. Stay at home and play Muggle for a bit." He stepped forward as the queue moved along. "Put the wand away and spend some time with the family. Watch my brother's shitty band at a few of his gigs because I kept telling him I would."

"Your brother's in a band?"

"A shitty band," he repeated, smiling as he said it. "No, actually they're not half bad. I'm actually looking forward to seeing him now that he's home since he's been traveling a lot." He glanced over at her. "I'd invite you along, but you'll be in—"

"France," she said, following the queue forward. "It sounds fun. Sarah would probably be into it. Music is her thing, after all. Louis too, obviously, but he'll also be in—"

"France," they both said in unison, laughing a little as they did. She then added, "No, but seriously, Sarah would probably enjoy it."

He hummed a little, but didn't indicate that he'd say anything one way or the other. A silence fell between them as Dominique observed only about ten to fifteen people ahead of them in the queue; an IQA official was standing at the front directing people where to go. It seemed it was simply a matter of making sure you went in the correct direction.

"Did you hang out with Zara and Erin a lot while you were here?" he suddenly asked.

He was staring at her, though her face went blank. Why was he…? She started shaking her head. "Um, no. I didn't. No. I mean, maybe once or twice. Not really, though. Why would I hang out with them? We're not friends. We barely talk. You know that. We definitely don't talk." She stopped once she realized she was speaking very quickly. "Why...why are you asking?"

"Just wondering," he said, looking up ahead to check the queue for himself. He'd almost looked as if he had another question or something else to say; she found herself conflicted as to whether or not she wanted to hear it.

An older man in front of them in the queue suddenly inquired if Jack had been in the Premier match, causing a welcome distraction that allowed Dominique to catch herself as Jack admitted he had. A few other people had now turned around to take him in or congratulate him; all of whom now adding their own opinions about the match as Jack politely listened.

As they reached the front, the woman in the red robes asked a question in something resembling Swedish or Finnish, but Dominique couldn't understand one way or the other. It seemed her language charm had worn off, but Jack's was still properly working. He immediately answered, "Britain," before the woman pointed to her right and moved onto the person behind them.

It was near the end that a sign which read Britain caught both of their attention. They approached another woman who was standing there, though she was not wearing IQA red robes. She instead had on a rather smart looking robe set.

"Afternoon," she said, smiling at the pair. "Our next Portkey leaves in about five minutes, so you're just in time." She picked up a long green rod, like a baton, and handed it to Dominique. "Everyone get a hand on it."

She held it out so that Jack could take the other end. They both stood holding it in silence while they exchanged tentative looks with the woman, seeing as this all seemed rather awkward. She smiled lazily at them, which caused both of them to turn away and make faces at each other.

After a minute or so of forced silence, Jack suddenly said. "I'll probably end up back at Flynn's again before school starts up." He looked over at her. "If you find yourself with nothing to do once you're back from France."

"I'm sure I'll find my way over. It's where we've found ourselves all summer."

"Do you want to do something else?" he asked. "We could do something else."

"Yeah, but you know Sarah and Louis like it because they can get wrecked and then stumble back to her place. All very convenient for those two. We'd have to convince them to do something else."

"Or, they don't have to come," he said. "You and I can hang out without them. I think this week has proven we can do that."

She stared at him. The two of them were close. They were friends. They hung out. But that was at school and Quidditch. Outside of those places, especially over the summer, it was sort of understood that Louis was still their common connector. They both showed up to the same places because Louis facilitated things. Neither of them had ever really attempted to do something with the other without Louis being the middleman. Was he cutting out the middleman? Why would he be cutting out the middleman? She almost felt a little frozen to the spot. What was he asking, exactly?

"Hey! I know you two," someone shouted as the sounds of shuffling and running drew their attention toward the sight of several people dashing toward. Durrin, who was leading the charge, was carrying all of his things. Behind him, Annabelle, Felicity, and the Seeker bloke Dominique remembered being called Andy were following. Annabelle's face lit up when she saw them standing there.

"You have less than a minute," the woman running the Portkeys said to the group that had just arrived. "I'm not sure you'll be able to grab on, but I do have another one scheduled to leave in ten minutes."

"Ah, we'll make it, I'm sure," Durrin said, squeezing his way in, followed by Annabelle and the others. "We're all friends here." The space had then become incredibly cramped, with Dominique now smashed up between Jack and Felicity—her broom gripped tightly in her free hand for fear she was going to drop it.

"Twenty seconds," the woman said. "Please hold on."

"Cozy," came Durrin's voice. "Nice to get a little close in the afternoon, isn't it?"

"This is my worst nightmare," Felicity said, her voice shaking. Dominique could remember her talking about how much she hated people and crowds.

"Ten seconds."

The seconds ticked by slowly and Dominique's face buried into Jack's upper back—mostly because she really didn't have a choice due to the cramped nature of the situation, but ultimately things could be worse. It was the first time that week that she'd been close enough to notice that he didn't smell like sweat and Quidditch, but rather he smelled like soap and...nothing. He smelled normal. She kind of missed the alternative, even though this was nice too.

"Don't forget to bend your knees," Durrin called out as the swooping feeling around Dominique's waste began to take hold. "Always the key to not falling!"

Pulled and pushed and jostled, the Portkey transported them up and away and spun and wrung them around until she could feel the ground under feet once more as they slammed hard into it. She dropped the rod, and it seemed everyone but Durrin did as well because he was the one left holding it in the end. He gave it a playful little toss in the air before he glanced down and noticed Annabelle sitting on the floor—the only one who hadn't landed on her feet.

"You didn't fall," Dominique said, looking over at Jack with an impressive smile.

"I bent my knees," he said, now investigating where they'd ended up. It was there that they saw a bored looking man who was sitting behind a podium; he barely looked up from whatever he was reading when they'd arrived.

"Leave the rod," he said, now pointing toward a walkway. "Exit that way. Welcome home."

Dominique had no idea where they were, but she'd guess somewhere in London near the Ministry if she were a betting person. She followed the others down the walkway where they entered a closed courtyard that was surrounded on four sides by brick walls. There was a door on the other end to enter one of the buildings, but it seemed that was unnecessary. Andy bid them all farewell before Apparating away. Felicity did the same moments later.

"You," Durrin said to Jack, coming over to give him a hug of sorts, "You need to remember me when you go professional and I need decent tickets to matches. Seriously, mate, you were fucking unreal out there."

"You really were stellar," Annabelle agreed. "Well done."

Jack shrugged modestly.

"And I was the one who took a chance on a third-year Muggleborn kid who'd barely even held a bat in his life," Durrin said, though to whom he was addressing, Dominique didn't know. "And look at what he's become. Fucking unreal. Shame you have to go back to school. They'd have probably already signed you on somewhere if you didn't have to."

"I was born a month too late," joked Jack, referencing his early October birthday. He was right; had he been born a little more than a month earlier, he'd have started school the previous year and would have been in Victoire's class. But he was born after September 1st and thus, was now where he was. Dominique, for one, was happy with the way things had turned out. She couldn't imagine the last few years without him being a fixture in her and Louis' lives.

"I'm so happy I got to see you before you left," Annabelle said, walking over to Dominique. "Durrin said he and Stu saw you this morning and I was upset because I'd wanted to say goodbye."

Dominique found herself awkwardly smiling. She wasn't good at goodbyes. "Right, well, thanks for your help. I know I had a lot of questions."

Annabelle looked as if she wanted to hug her, though Dominique was at a loss since she wasn't a hugger. She ended up awkwardly standing there, not indicating to Annabelle one way or the other as to what she should do. Annabelle seemed to take the lack of objection as permission and immediately stepped forward with a large and very friendly goodbye hug. "I had a lot of fun that night we hung out and I hope we can do it again sometime. Maybe without the laced dragon grass."

"I'll pass on that next time," she agreed, glancing over to where Durrin and Jack were talking, both of them observing something Jack had taken out of his bag and was now showing off.

"Look at that," Durrin was saying, taking the object—which Dominique now realized was a white cap—to show Annabelle. "He's got the white hat."

Annabelle "oooohed" in a sarcastic way, though she did walk over to look at it. "The famous hat."

"Why's it famous?" Dominique asked.

"You only get one you play in the Premier match," Durrin said as he handed it off to Dominique. "Quite the honor."

"They gave it to me after the match," Jack said, watching as she took it. "I didn't realize it was special. Thought it was sort of a participation gift."

She turned it in her hands to read the front. There was a small, golden threaded IQA logo—the Quidditch rings with two brooms crossed over it—in the center and underneath it said "2018 Quidditch Training Trials." Under that, it read "Premier."

"Alright, I've got to go," Durrin said, checking his watch. "Back to the grind tomorrow." He looked at Dominique. "And I'm sure Ted will be thrilled because I know he's been working himself to death to cover my slack." He held out his arms for a hug, which Dominique again didn't invite. He still walked over and wrapped his arms around her. "Good to see you."

"You too," she said, her mouth muffled into his shoulder before he broke away and turned to give Jack a hug as well.

"Have a great seventh-year," Annabelle said, smiling at them both. "Enjoy it while you can."

They all said their goodbyes to each other before Durrin and Annabelle both disappeared immediately one after the other. Dominique watched the spot they'd vanished from for a moment before she realized she was still holding Jack's hat. For a laugh, she put it on her head and smirked at him. "Let me pretend for a minute."

He smiled at her, though that particular smile slowly gave way to a look she wasn't quite sure how to place. It did make her immediately shift her weight a little awkwardly under his gaze. Maybe she looked funny. She'd never really been one for caps and hats since they looked dumb on her, so she probably didn't need to be wearing it. She went to take it off and hand it back to him, but he shook his head.

"Keep it."

Her eyebrows immediately jumped up as she continued to pull it off her head. "No. I didn't earn it. I can't wear a hat I didn't earn. This is yours."

"What am I going to do with it?"

"Wear it," she said. "Walk around and show it off. I would."

His expression turned doubtful. "Right. Wear it around back home where no one has any idea what Quidditch is and I couldn't tell them even if I wanted to? That's where I should wear it?"

It was a fair point. He couldn't exactly wear it up and down the streets of his Muggle neighborhood, but it was still his. She couldn't take it. "You can wear it around school. Show it off at practice."

"Fine, then you hold onto it for me until we get back because I'm going to end up throwing it in a box and forgetting about it." He reached out and took it from her, though he immediately placed it back on her head and pulled the brim down so low it practically covered her eyes. "It looks better on you anyway."

She made a face as her eyes just managed to peek out from under the cap. "It does not. I look stupid in hats."

"No, you don't. You look adorable."

She was happy the cap was covering most of her face because she legitimately felt her cheeks blush at that. She looked down at the ground, blocking him from being able to see her face. He'd said she looked adorable—not a word that people often used to describe her since she usually wasn't the adoring type. She wasn't known to be sweet or cute or any of the plethora of adjectives that are usually associated with adorable things, but yet it was the word he used.

"Fine, I'll hold onto it for you," she said, making her tone sound as if she was being severely inconvenienced. The truth was, given how red her face was right now, he wouldn't be able to rip this hat off her head if he tried. It was her only line of defense in keeping her from being exposed. "But only until we get to school."

"Cool," she heard him say, making her lift her head up every so slightly to look at him. He was still staring at her, so she looked away. She had no idea what to do or say to him.

"I should probably go," she did finally manage to stammer. "I'm going to need to unpack and repack and…Yeah."

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'm fairly excited about sleeping in my own bed tonight."

"Me too," she agreed, now feeling as if she could cut the thickness in the air with a knife. What was happening? This was probably the most boring and dumb conversation either of them had ever had with each other, but yet she wasn't making any effort to leave it. She needed to just leave. Just leave. Go. Leave. Now. Do it.

He cleared his throat. "Ummm, anyway, we should really try to do something before school if you've got time. I was being serious."

"Right. Sure." She swallowed. "And wait, did we decide with or without Louis and Sarah?"

He laughed a little awkwardly, as if he had no idea how to properly answer that. "Um, I mean, they can come. But I thought maybe it would be cool if we could…" he hesitated, "hang out. It was nice this week. Figured we could keep it up."

Her gut reaction was to ask him what he wanted to do, but she shut that urge down as quick as she possibly could and instead nodded at him. That seemed to be all she could do—nod and shrug. What the fuck was wrong with her?

"Let me know," he added, glancing around and preparing himself to Apparate. "I'll see you when you get back. Hopefully."

"Cool," he said, still nodding. "Yeah, hopefully."

"Well. Bye."

"Bye."

She Apparated away then. She couldn't handle it any longer. But as soon as she reappeared outside her family home, she felt like kicking herself. What the fuck was wrong with her? Did she forget how to talk? How to not be a complete fucking weirdo who stood their like a goon? She groaned loudly.

She could have at least hugged him, but that would have been even weirder. But she'd hugged everyone else in that courtyard, so why not him? Why didn't she just do it? And what had she even said? Every other word out of her mouth had been some dumb sounding 'yeah', like a complete moron. It was Jack, for fuck's sake, just talk to him.

She walked to the house and let herself in through the front door, dropping her bag in the entryway. It was Sunday, so everyone should be home—or at least not working. The house was mostly quiet, though she did hear some noises—music rather—coming from the kitchen. She set her broom up against the nearest wall and walked straight toward it, where she found her brother sitting with her back to her at the kitchen table. He had his portable radio turned up loudly and hadn't bothered to turn when she entered. He was also still sitting in his pajamas, which was odd even for him considering it was now the afternoon.

She walked past him and gave the back of his head a gentle smack—a tap, really—which caused him to jump a bit in his seat. He turned to look at her, though she breezed right past him on her way to the pantry for something to eat. It wasn't until she'd gotten home that she realized she hadn't eaten much breakfast or lunch and that she was starving.

He'd turned his music down. "You're back."

"Well spotted," she said, opening the panty cupboard. "Where is everyone?"

"Dunno. I've only been up a bit, but the house was empty," he said, though she didn't turn to look at him. Her eyes were busy scanning the shelves of the panty for something good to eat. She ended up settling on a box of crackers in the hopes that there was something good in the icebox.

"Dad mentioned he had to swing by Uncle George's store today," Louis continued. "And I'm sure mum had errands." He was quiet for a long moment. "But thank Merlin you're home."

"Miss me?" she asked, crackers in hand as she turned back to face him. He genuinely looked as if he'd rolled out of bed ten minutes ago with his pajamas and bed head hair. Her brother was notorious for sleeping in when allowed—a side effect the potions he took to eliminate the nightmares he was plagued with. If someone didn't wake him, he could easily sleep until well into the afternoon.

"I did, actually," he said as she noticed he was picking through a package of assorted colored candies, all while discarding the red ones. Ever since he was small, he would always pick out the red ones because he hated them. Luckily, she loved the red ones—which she now took advantage of as she went and helped herself to his small pile. "Mum's been driving me mad."

"Why?" she asked, her mouth full.

"Because I'm the only one here," he said. "And she's bored. Vic's finally gone, though you wouldn't know it since she's been over almost every day since. But mum's been oddly attached to me. I can't get a moment's peace."

"You're her bouncing baby boy," she joked as she went to check the icebox for food. "Her pride and joy. And since you're never around anymore and out all night, she misses you."

He threw her a look.

"Give her a break," she said, noticing that there was very little food—and nothing good—inside the icebox. "I'm sure this Vic move is doing a number on her. Probably didn't help that I left at the same time and she's realizing we'll all be gone soon."

"Don't give me that," he mumbled. "If it were you she was hovering over all week, you'd have already burned the house down to get away."

"Ahhh," she said as she tucked into her crackers. "The difference is that she wouldn't hover over me all week. Again, not the pride and joy. Fairly certain mum tolerates me at best." She shut the icebox after finding nothing. "Where's all the food?"

"Gone. We leave tomorrow for a week, remember? You should probably go pack."

She sighed as she sat down across from him and began eating crackers. "Why aren't you dressed? It's practically dinner time."

"Didn't feel like it," he said. "It's summer. I get a few weeks to be a lazy sod, I'm going to take them." He stopped to observe her. "What's that, then?"

"What's what?"

He learned forward and reached across the table, plucking the hat that she forgot she was wearing off of her head. She attempted to snatch it back, feeling oddly protective of it all of the sudden, but she was too slow. He'd gotten the jump on her.

"Wow," he said, reading it over. "You must have done really well. 'Premier' sounds very important."

"It isn't mine. You only got one if you made it into the Premier match. I, unfortunately, did not."

"Why do you have it, then? You pinch it from someone?" He smirked. "I honestly wouldn't put that past you."

"I'm holding on to it for Jack," she said, reaching over the table to snatch it back before Louis got it all sticky with his stupid candy fingers. "It's his. He had no use for it while he's off with his family and Muggles, so he had me take it. I'm going to give it back to him."

"Did Jack make it into the Premier match? Or does this story go deeper as to whom this hat actually belongs to?"

"Yes, Jack did make it into the Premier match," she said, her voice mocking him. "It turns out he was one of the top Beaters at camp. He really was phenomenal. Scouts wanted to talk to him."

He seemed impressed.

"He's well on his way," she said, sighing a little. "He was at the top of his game. He got a nine ranking out of ten and only about twenty-five people in all of camp got a score like that. Out of hundreds."

"Shit," Louis said, sitting back in his chair and looking a little awestruck. "That's my boy. Good on him." He paused for a second before letting his brow furrow. "And what about you?"

She loudly bit into her cracker. "I got a seven."

"Is that bad? Seven sounds alright."

"It's fine, but it's not what I'd hoped for. And you know, being a premier Seeker is harder than being a premier Beater. There's four of them and only two Seekers. Not to discount Jack's hard work, but had there been four Seekers, I would have made it, too."

"Did you at least do better than Giggleswick?"

She again took a loud bite of her cracker, though she averted her eyes up to the ceiling and sighed loudly. It caused Louis to groan before he actually started to boo her.

"There's a story behind that," she cut in. "And I will share it, but I'm not in the mood now. I need a bit of a break from Quidditch."

"That's a first."

"It was a long week," she muttered, nibbling on the end of a cracker again. She picked up the box and stood, planning to take it with her upstairs to start packing. She needed some time to unwind before her parents got home and demanded every detail of her trip. She had to come up with a story that filtered out all the drinking, dragon grass, and casual sex.

"Sarah's keen to hear about your trip," Louis said as she passed. "Wants to know if all the stories are true. About the parties and sex."

"They are."

"Was it that wild?"

"For some people, definitely," she said, casually resting her hand on the chair beside his. "Mine was probably mild by comparison. I drank and got a bit high, but that was maybe two nights. Otherwise, I behaved."

Louis expression seemed to be thoughtfully processing that. He looked as if he'd maybe hoped for a more interesting story, but he'd gotten the answer he'd anticipated.

"And," she added. "I only shagged maybe twenty people."

"Oh, well, way to keep your numbers low."

"I didn't actually," she said, throwing a cracker at him.

He dodged it as it flew past his head and landed on the floor behind him. "Even if you had, I don't care. Long as you're not being dumb about it."

"So, if I told you I only had sex with one person, you wouldn't judge?"

He looked at her, now trying to gauge if she was being serious. And if she was, why she was even telling him that. "Based on that information alone, no. But the way you're looking at me, I feel as if there's more to this story."

"There is, but I'm too tired to tell it." She turned to leave.

"Do I know him?" he called after her. "Is that's why you're being weird about it?"

"Yes," she called back once she reached the stairs.

"It wasn't Jack, was it?"

She stopped and now felt frozen in her tracks; her foot on the first step and her hand on the banister. She turned to look back at the kitchen, despite the fact that she could no longer see him, "No. Why would you ask that?"

"Just making sure," he said, suddenly appearing in the doorway and leaning up against its frame. "You know."

She was ready to say that no, she did not know. What right did he have to have any opinion whether or not she had sex with Jack? Or did anything with Jack? He had fucked her best friend. He had been dating her best friend for over a year. He was in love with her best friend. That was allowed, but reverse the roles around and it was suddenly an issue? He could fuck right off with that.

But she didn't say anything because the subject hit too close to home right now. She was afraid she'd give away too much if she so much as mentioned Jack in any capacity outside of the normal, so she bit her tongue. She bit it really hard.

"Well, you don't have to worry," she said, turning to walk up the stairs. "It definitely wasn't Jack."