Chapter 16: The Hog's Head

April, Fifth Year

She wouldn't look at me. I just wanted things to go back to normal, but she wouldn't even glance my way. What was she expecting to see? It wasn't like I'd said anything different to what we'd always said - both of us, not just me. It didn't mean anything and it never had, but now she'd got this idea into her head and she was being all distant, and it was driving me crazy. We couldn't even go to Hogsmeade just the two of us like we normally did, we'd been pulled into a group with Puck, Quinn, Finn, Matt and - for some reason I couldn't work out - Artie. Why had Brittany brought that idiot along? He slowed us down with his ridiculous mechanical legs. He might as well just be in a wheelchair for all the good that magic did him.

"What's up with you and Britt?" Puck asked as we made our way down to the town. Brittany was lingering behind so that Artie wouldn't be left on his own. Fucking ridiculous. I rolled my eyes at Puck, not looking at him properly. After two weeks, he'd finally noticed that something was wrong. Glorious.

"Nothing," I muttered. Like it was any of his business.

"Doesn't look like nothing. You're not ignoring me to talk to her, for one," he commented snarkily.

"Then take the hint when I say it's nothing and enjoy the attention," I snapped back. That shut him up, thank god. He was still trying to be all talkative and take me out for meals when really all he was doing was getting on my nerves. What was up with everyone trying to change things up lately? Since when had meaningless sex become a bad thing? No one had ever complained before but now Britt and Puck were both trying to talk about feelings. At least Brittany had got the hint the first time and not tried to mention it again. She was being silly anyway - I mean, in love with me? I shuddered as the implications flashed into my mind again. No, she was just confused like I'd said. Confused and drunk.

"What's got you so grumpy?" someone else asked from my other side. I glanced over to see that this time it was Quinn sticking her nose in.

"What's with you people? Can't I just have a bad day and not have to explain it to everyone?" I demanded.

"Excuse me for trying to look out for you," Quinn snapped back. She was never afraid to argue with me. Sometimes I appreciated it, but mostly it was just annoying. "Britt won't talk either so obviously something's up."

I looked her in the eye, then quickly looked away again. Ever since she'd walked in on us in the prefects' bathroom I'd noticed her watching me and Brittany more than usual. And she always had that look in her eyes that made me think she was reading too much into what she'd seen, even though she said she accepted my explanation that we were drunk. I hated to imagine what she thought about how Brittany had been acting these past two weeks, avoiding me as much as she could and spending more and more time with Artie.

"Well what do you expect when she's ignoring me for Four-Eyes back there?" I asked, risking a glance back to see them laughing at something. I rolled my eyes. Pathetic, he was doing everything possible to worm his way into being her friend. Why couldn't she see what a loser he was?

"Jealous?" Quinn taunted quietly.

"No." I replied too quickly; I knew I did, because she looked triumphant. "I just think she has enough friends already and she doesn't have to lower herself to befriending that cripple out of pity, it's going to drag her reputation down."

"Since when did Brittany care about her reputation? She wouldn't care whether someone she dated was a one-legged geek who was the most unpopular kid in school if she liked them. I bet she wouldn't even care if someone she liked was a girl if she really wanted to date them."

My whole body was tensing up. What the fuck was she playing at? Did she think this was all a game? She knew as well as I did that Brittany would be shunned if she dated me- a girl. Any girl. I didn't know how to reply though. She was testing me, and she knew she was getting to me and I hated it. Why hadn't I made sure that bathroom door was locked? It would have prevented all of this from ever happening and now it was just spiralling out of control.

"Well, I'm there to care for her reputation, aren't I?" I replied slowly. "I always have been. But she won't listen to me this time, that's why we're not talking as much," I said firmly. It was a decent explanation. Quinn shrugged and didn't reply, and I released a silent sigh of relief. I just had to get those crazy ideas out of her head before she did something stupid.

"Hog's Head?" Puck called from where he was now walking in front with Matt and Finn. It was the only place in Hogsmeade that would serve us without checking our wands.

"Isn't that place kind of dodgy?" I heard Artie mutter from behind. I turned to see him looking up at Brittany, who was shrugging in response. I caught her gaze for a moment and held it, but then she pulled her eyes away and back to Artie. Back to the cripple.

"Hog's Head sounds great!" I replied to Puck. He grinned and casually saluted with one hand, then led the way.

"It's fine Artie, it's not as bad as everyone makes out," Brittany reassured him. God, Quinn better not be right about her wanting to date him. I mean, it would be good because Brittany would be over the idea of dating me, but I couldn't handle him hanging out with us - at least Mike had been kind of fun most of the time. Although since she'd dumped him - I still couldn't understand why - he'd been avoiding us as much as he could. I caught Quinn looking at me again and rolled my eyes.

"Go talk to Matt, he's been making googly eyes at you for weeks so I'm sure he won't mind you staring at him constantly," I snapped, finally having had enough of her looks. "I, however, would rather not be examined like a broomstick for sale." What was she expecting me to do, suddenly turn around and start making out with Britt again in front of her? I wish. We'd barely even kissed since she'd dumped Mike.

Quinn stalked off, but when I felt an arm loop around mine I realised I had put myself in the situation of being alone with Brittany and Artie. She was making an effort to smile at me, but it was more forced than usual. Four-Eyes was grinning up at her like he was having the best day of his life, and it made me want to kick one of those mechanical legs out from under him. I stepped back to walk next to her anyway, ignoring him as much as possible as she began chattering away about Professor Holliday's latest muggle studies class. Even though her dad was a muggle she loved everything about that subject - unlike the rest of the school who all took it because Professor Holliday was by far the best teacher at Hogwarts.

I tried to hurry our pace a little, hoping she would let Artie fall behind, but she tightened her arm around mine and slowed me. She looked at me again, accusing, and this time it was me who had to look away. And now I had that familiar crawling feeling in my stomach that only she and my family could make me feel - guilt. What did I even have to be guilty about? It wasn't my fault he couldn't walk at a decent pace…

…You almost ruined everything!

That. That was the conversation I couldn't get out of my head; that was the conversation that kept replaying every time she looked at me like she just had. I couldn't forget the expression on her face when I'd reminded her of what we'd always said before - it meant nothing. Brittany had even said it before herself, but that time she'd stared at me like I'd ripped her apart. And ever since she'd rushed out of my dorm, I kept seeing that look in her eyes again. I didn't want her to feel like that, but what could I do?

"Hurry up you guys!" Puck called from where he was standing next to the Hog's Head. The others had obviously already gone inside. I sighed internally when I noticed Artie's pathetic efforts to walk faster.

"Why is he even here?" I muttered to Brittany as she held the pub door open for him.

"He had no one to go with," she replied without looking at me. She had paused at the doorway though, not following Artie and knowing that I had more to say.

"There's a reason for that, Britt. He's a loser. He has no friends."

"I'm his friend."

"But why? He's an idiot, not to mention an invalid-"

"Don't talk about him like that, Santana!" she interrupted me, turning around to frown at me and letting the door to the pub swing shut. It was the closest she really got to scowling, but it was making me feel guilty again as her eyes bore into me. "Artie's nice. He listens to everything I say and he never makes me feel bad." The implication was clear, and I averted my eyes to watch the swinging signpost above her head. "I like him, and you don't get to choose my friends. So be nice," she finished, turning away from me to enter the Hog's Head. I took a deep breath to loosen the knot in my stomach before following.

Even after she'd told me to be nice, I couldn't help but smirk when I saw Artie standing awkwardly at the side of the table Puck, Matt, Finn and Quinn were sat at, all talking and ignoring him. My smirk disappeared as I watched Brittany smile brightly at him and pull him towards the table to sit next to her, leaving no space for me.

Puck looked up and beckoned me over to sit on the bench next to him, sliding a pint of skrewt beer towards me. His hand dropped to my thigh as soon as I sat down, and I took a long swig of the beer to get rid of the sudden nausea I felt. Ugh, what was the matter with me? I'd never liked talking about feelings which was what he'd been all about lately, but even more recently - ever since that talk with Brittany, in fact - I hadn't even wanted the sex with him. I was probably just distracted, though.

Brittany was certainly being distracting this afternoon. Puck was whispering to me, but I couldn't take my eyes off her. How she was having her own whispered conversation with Artie. How she had barely touched her drink because she was so focused on him. How her fingers were running through her hair like she always did when she flirted, how her hand was on his leg, how happy he looked…

"Jesus, Santana, tense much?" Puck said, his words breaking through my reverie. I released a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding and forced my body to relax, against the will of my brain which was urging me to jump across the table and tear them apart. That should be me! It was me Brittany always whispered secrets to instead of partaking in everyone else's conversation. It was me she got cosy with and shared a beer with, not him! I took another breath and leaned back against the bench, slinging an arm around Puck's shoulders and leaning in.

"Sorry, it's been a stressful week without a few nights in the boys' dorm to calm my nerves. All these OWLs coming up… you know what my parents are like," I murmured, my nails scratching lightly down the back of his neck. It wasn't exactly a lie, either - I'd been getting letters all month from my mamá and abuela, urging me to study as much as possible with subtle threats of hiring a private tutor if I got anything less than Es.

"Well that can be fixed easily enough," he replied, the hand on my thigh sliding higher. Something fluttered inside of me. Good. "I have a little something-"

"Merlin, you two, can't we have one conversation that doesn't involve sex?" Quinn asked from the other side of Puck, rolling her eyes at us. I smirked, slipping easily into the familiar role and keeping my hand on his neck.

"Take note, Matt - she's obviously not getting any," I replied with a raised eyebrow, holding in a grin when Quinn blushed. I went to take a sip from my beer and realised it was all gone. "Puck?" I said expectantly. He slid out from the bench straight away, happy now he thought he was going to get some tonight. Now if I could just get him back to the stage of only wanting that and not any feelings talk, it would be perfect. Perfect if Britt would let things go back to normal too, but she still wasn't paying any attention to the rest of us. Her and Artie were in their own little world, and his hand had joined hers on his leg. "Something a bit stronger this time," I called after Puck impulsively. Artie was explaining how the London underground worked, and Brittany was enthralled. If I had to watch much more of that I was going to need something stronger.

Puck returned a minute later with firewhiskey and I gulped it down eagerly, watching her lips brush the edge of his ear as she whispered something to him. Goosebumps rose on my arms and I purposely turned my head towards the conversation about OWLs. Puck was getting handsy again and I made a point to join in the conversation, deriding the others for their nerves, but out of the corner of my eye there was always Artie and Brittany, getting closer and closer, and she wasn't even looking at me. I drank my firewhiskey faster than I had my beer and Puck promptly got me another, which disappeared just as quickly. I was about to send him off to buy another glass when Quinn suggested going to Zonko's. I was perfectly happy to stay here and get steadily drunker for the rest of the afternoon, but then I saw Brittany's eyes lit up as she paused her fawning over Artie when she overheard.

"Sure, why not," I agreed.

"Yes! Artie's never been there before, we have to show him everything!" she enthused, and my heart sank. So much for doing something for her, she was just making it about him. Everyone was already heading towards the door though, and reluctantly I stood up to follow. The pub spun a little and I kept still to try and regain my balance. My vision cleared, and she hadn't even noticed - she was helping Artie out of the door. Puck was there instead, arms around me, one hand pressing into the edge of my bra. The cool air of outside helped clear my head a little and I leaned up to him.

"Go ahead n'help Artie, I wanna talk t'Britt for a sec," I mumbled. I could hear that some of my words were slurred, but I didn't care. I had to talk sense into her before she did something stupid. But I couldn't use that word or she'd be hurt, and I didn't want to hurt her any more than I apparently already had.

"Britt, wait," I called. She looked back just as Puck arrived next to her and muttered something in her ear. She looked a bit dubious about leaving Artie but she dropped back when I beckoned to her.

"What is it?"

"Britt-Britt… what are you doing with him?" I asked. I had to know. I had to know if Quinn was right.

"I told you, he's my friend," she answered, glancing across at Artie and Puck with a worried expression.

"Yeah, but Britt… you don't act like that with friends." Well, except with me. But that was different. "You're acting as if you like like him."

"…So what if I do?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was she serious? She liked Artie the cripple?

"Britt, get real. He's nowhere near your league, you gotta stop leading him on."

"I'm not leading him on," Brittany muttered. She wouldn't look at me.

"Don't be-" The word caught in my throat and I changed it just in time. "-ridiculous. You can't date him."

"Why not, Santana? Why do you care so much, what does it matter to you?" she asked, looking up from the ground to look me in the eye. I could see in her face the answer she wanted, but I couldn't give it to her. I couldn't.

"It'll destroy your reputa-"

"Santana, I don't care! I've never cared about that, it's always been you who cared. I like Artie, I do, and I need to get over…" She trailed off and sniffed, blinking rapidly, and I did my best to ignore the lump in my own throat. "If you're worried about things changing, don't. We can still do what we do, okay?" she said quietly. "Now I need to go show Artie around Zonko's before your boyfriend leads him into a ditch," she added with a flash of annoyance in her face.

She left without giving me time to reply and I stared after her. She never had liked Puck very much, but she normally didn't say anything like that about him. A minute or so later he reappeared at my side.

"On to Zonko's?"

"No."

"No?" He looked confused. Funny how he could find an opportunity to hook up every time except when it was staring him in the face.

"We can find better things to do than hang out in Zonko's. C'mon, your dorm'll be empty with everyone in Hogsmeade," I pointed out, tugging on his arm and almost stumbling when he caught on and was suddenly ahead of me. It would be fine once I got back into the swing of things with Puck, and anything was better than watching Britt flirt more with Artie.

The mention of pubs 'checking wands' – since the age of majority is 17 in the Wizarding World and the trace is on all wands until you reach that age, it makes sense to me that checking for the trace on a wand would be the method of IDing since actual IDs are never mentioned to my knowledge. Do correct me if I'm wrong.