Disclaimer: Most stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
This is a prequel to Chapter 162: Love Potions. It's part of the Harry Potter world, and dedicated to Alan Rickman who passed today. What a man!
1.
Gale found that it was easier for him to get his work done if he was outside. He has to take advantage of it during the warmer months, like right when school begins or near the end, because the winter is too damn cold to ever leave the common room. Not that the dungeons are much warmer, but certainly better than outside.
He favors the Quidditch pitch. He isn't sure why, considering he hates flying and those that fly would normally distract him, but he thinks the background noise and being able to glance up every now and again allows him to focus best.
That's what he tells Katniss, anyway.
She follows him around like a lost little puppy. Gale doesn't mind. It is only her first year at Hogwarts.
Katniss is more easily distracted by the Quidditch pitch, however. "Look," she says, pointing down onto the field. "That's Madge." Gale gives his friend an annoyed glance – he has to get this damn potions work done – before following where she's pointing.
The girl named Madge is standing with a bunch of other kids donning Gryffindor gear. He can't see her, she's too far away, but curly blonde hair sticks out of her cap. It's try-out season. "She's a first year?" Gale asks.
Katniss nods her head. "Her bed's next to mine," she says.
"She won't get whatever she's trying out for," Gale murmurs before returning to his work. "First years never do."
Katniss huffs angrily and crosses her arms over her chest. She completely ignores her books that were strewn out across the stands. Ten minutes into it, she and Gale get snapped at by an older Gryffindor because he thinks they're spying on their try-outs, but after seeing Katniss's colors backs off.
But Gale does his potions work and Katniss watches her friend attempting to be taken in as a Seeker. He's nearly finished when Katniss gasps and Gale looks up, watching people crowding around the blonde girl.
"Guess you were wrong," Katniss says smugly.
Gale frowns. "Guess so."
2.
He's not supposed to be in the hallway, but Gale will go out of his way a few minutes a day to see Katniss. It's a stupid, awful crush that he knows probably won't go anywhere, but he can't help himself. Katniss has sworn off dating, love, marriage, all of it. But Gale's 14 and she makes him feel warm in ways she doesn't know.
He runs into her when she's with her friend.
It's the first time he sees the girl up close, Madge, and is immediately stunned by her looks. Her eyes are so blue, so piercing and clear, that he forgets what he was going to use as an excuse for him to be in the hallway. Her hair is long and golden, curly and free, and she blushes under his observation.
"Katniss," he finally says.
She wrinkles her nose at him. "Shouldn't you be in Charms?"
"Ah," Gale tips his head forward but doesn't elaborate. "You're Gryffindor's new Seeker," he says to Madge. She tips her head forward. "You're a first year."
"So was my dad when he became a Seeker," Madge responds. Her voice isn't how he expected. It's soft, silky. "So what?"
"So good luck getting destroyed by Slytherin in a few weeks," Gale mutters.
"Gale!" Katniss huffs angrily and looks at her friend before motioning to Madge that they should step around him. "You should really be in class," Katniss says to Gale before the two girls walk away.
3.
Katniss is situated beside Gale on the stands as they prepare for the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match, though she's clearly still angry with him. Katniss isn't the best at making friends and he went and offended one of her first ones. He tried to apologize and she acted as though she accepted it, but she's cold beside him now with her hands crossed over her arm.
"You don't have to sit with me if you don't want," he mutters angrily. Especially because they're not even rooting for the same team.
"Who else am I going to sit with?"
Gale huffs, angry that this is her only reason for being by his side. She sticks out like a sore thumb, a Gryffindor immersed in the Slytherin stand, but no one thinks to cross Gale.
Gryffindor wins. Madge catches the Snitch.
When they climb down from the stands Gale ignores Katniss's small smile as she goes off the join the cheering of her house. He catches a glimpse of Madge being hoisted up onto her team members shoulders. There's a wild look in her blue eyes. Wisps of her golden hair have come undone from her braid and are framing her face. She has a grin so bright Gale has to look away.
He thinks about apologizing.
He decides against it.
4.
Gale's a fourth year the next time he has a real conversation with Madge Undersee. Other than that he just gives her annoyed looks in the hallway, or snaps at her if she looks at him a second too long.
He's outside with Katniss and Madge emerges from the building, a tall blond boy by her side wearing Hufflepuff robes. Katniss sits up and looks at them for a moment before blushing and returning to her work.
"Katniss!" Madge calls. She makes a sort of gesture to the boy beside her, who looks just as pink as Katniss does, and the two of them start over in her direction. "Hi, Gale," she says.
"Undersee," he returns.
"Great. Thanks for still not learning my name." She turns to Katniss. "Katniss, you know Peeta, right?"
"We're in Herbology together," Peeta murmurs quietly. Gale represses his urge to groan. Or vomit.
"Yeah," Katniss says. "Hey."
"We're working on some Astronomy stuff if you want to join us," Madge says. Her eyes flicker to Gale. "You too."
"Why would I want to join you?" he mutters. "What good would it do me to hang out with a bunch of second years?"
Katniss shoots him a sharp look. "It looks like you're already hanging out with a second year," Peeta says a little defensively.
Madge looks frustrated. Her cheeks are pink. "I just thought I'd offer," she says. She looks to Katniss again. "We'll be by the lake, if you want." She nods her head at them and the two hurry away without saying goodbye.
Gale gives Katniss a look the moment they're gone. She looks down at her textbook so she doesn't have to look at him.
5.
He finds Katniss in the library. She's at a table with Madge, the two of them working tirelessly on a potions paper that was assigned. Gale watches them for a minute before crossing, sitting down in the seat beside Katniss. His friend Thom is with him, and he takes the seat beside Madge.
Both girls look flustered at their arrival. "What are you doing here?" Katniss asks, her eyes darting back and forth between her Slytherin friends.
"Saw you sitting," Gale answers. "Thought we'd say hello."
"Hi," Madge says. She turns to Thom beside her. "Madge, nice to meet you."
Thom perks up, shaking her outstretched hand. "Thom. You're a damn beauty, anyone ever told you that?" Madge turns pink and laughs a little, unsure if he's seriously flirting or making fun of her. He shrugs innocently when Katniss and Gale both glare at him. "I was just wondering."
"Um, thank you," Madge says. "Gale," she says, tipping her head at him in greeting. He doesn't respond. "We're working on potions, actually. Either of you know anything?"
"I'm great at potions," Thom says, leaning in her direction with a grin. He glances at her parchment. "Calming drought? That's easy."
Madge seems to perk up now. "Really? Do you think you could actually help?"
Thom shrugs his shoulders and pulls up closer to the table. "Sure, I've got nothing else to do."
Gale, across the table, looks at him incredulously. Neither Thom nor Madge seem to notice as they get right to it, him going through her essay and telling her where there are some mistakes.
When they leave the library about an hour later, Gale can't figure out why he's so irritated with his friend.
6.
Gale doesn't mean to snap at Madge.
He doesn't like her, not really, but that doesn't mean he wants to snap at her.
He's a fifth year now and the O.W.L.s are already stressing him out. She's just in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong thing. (Which is making out with Taftan Mellark).
He's going down a deserted hallway, trying to get back to his common room after a long stretch in the library, when he finds them. They're twined together carefully, cautiously, because being caught by a professor like this could be bad. But they're both too caught up in one another that they don't notice Gale.
"Oy!" he finally shouts. The two part at once. Madge's cheeks bloom pink, her eyes widen in shock. "The hell are you doing?"
"Mind your own," Taftan returns sharply.
"Making out where anyone in the world could see you," Gale carries on angrily. "Like other people haven't got shit going on!"
Madge looks at him with her eyebrows drawn together. "I'm sorry," she snaps back. "Did us making out offend you?" Gale doesn't say anything right away, and Madge keeps going. "Did you somehow think that this had anything to do with you? Because I assure you, Gale Hawthorne, if you thought that you should pull the wand out of your ass!"
Taftan says nothing, clearly pleased that Madge can handle her own. "That's not–"
"You aren't the only witch or wizard in this damned school," she carries on. Her eyes, though blue, are on fire. She's angrier than he's ever seen and he can't understand why. "Acting as though we've purposefully picked this spot so we could purposefully ruin your evening! Ha!"
"Madge," Taftan says lightly.
"Bugger off," she snaps to the blond before turning back to Gale. "Hate to break it to you but the world does not revolve around you!"
Gale snaps, "Noted!" Marching away from her, feeling like an idiot, feeling frustrated and angry, and most importantly feeling confused.
He doesn't understand why his chest feels so tight.
7.
She's at the next Hogsmeade trip.
Gale isn't sure why he's surprised. He and Katniss are going together after all. (Not as a date, because he's not ready to step that line yet, but soon. Soon.)
He spots her first. They're in the Three Broomsticks and Madge is at a table with a Ravenclaw. She's happily sipping on butterbeer, laughing at something the boy is saying to her. Katniss says she'll find a table and Gale says he'll get the drinks, but somehow he ends up at Madge's table.
When Gale arrives she looks up at him and her eyes turn cold. They haven't interacted since he ran into her in the hallway and he's glad for it. There also hasn't been any gossip so luckily she's kept her mouth shut.
"Going around the houses then, are you?" Gale asks. He doesn't know why. It's the stupidest fucking thing that could've come out of his mouth. "Gryffindor with the Mellark boy, and now Ravenclaw?"
The boy across from Madge beams. "Finnick," he says happily in introduction. "I didn't know you were going after me, Madge?" She turns to her friend and rolls her eyes slightly. "I would've brought some breath mints if I'd known that were the case."
"Of course I'm going around to all the houses," Madge says. Her voice is thick with sarcasm. "I'm trying to figure out who the best kissers are."
"Happy to help," Finnick says.
"Hufflepuffs are in the lead, though I haven't kissed a Slytherin yet." Gale's face feels hot. Why did he come over here anyway? "Maybe you can ask Thom if he's interested?"
"Ha ha," Gale murmurs. He leaves the table then, crossing to order him and Katniss drinks, and looks back at Madge.
The fire is gone from her and she looks quieter, somehow. Softer. Like her spat with Gale didn't make her feel better. Which is a shocker, honestly, because Gale feels like a pile of trash. Which means Madge won. But it doesn't look like she's happy about it.
8.
She's a fourth year now and she's prettier than ever.
Gale's frustrated by this.
He and Katniss tried dating this past summer and it was an epic failure. The worst thing that's ever happened. It crashed and burned so brilliantly that he's amazed they managed to stay friends through it. He wanted more, Katniss hated affection. He wanted to shower her in it. Publicly. Privately. Any chance he got. She was unsure, nervous, before admitting she didn't feel the same.
It was bad.
Gale was hurt.
Madge is prettier than ever.
Which is a shitty thing to realize after having your heart broken by your best friend. He wants to move on swiftly of course but to her? Katniss's only other friend? Impossible. Wrong. Not correct. Bad.
He messes around a bit to try and get Madge from his mind.
Bristel, from Ravenclaw. Glimmer, from Slytherin. Delly, from Hufflepuff. Anyone but a Gryffindor. Anyone that lasts less than a week.
And maybe it's because they're in a magical school that the circle is completed, but she finds him in a hallway with his hands up someone's shirt.
Madge lets out a dry laugh. "Typical," she says as Gale parts from the pretty Hufflepuff he's currently locking lips with. "Pot calling the kettle black," Madge says, huffing angrily and readjusting her books in her hands.
"Madge," Gale starts after her, but she's too far gone.
He isn't sure why he thinks apologizing would be good enough. He goes back to kissing the Hufflepuff.
9.
Gale loves being a sixth year, because he has free blocks of time.
As he leaves the Great Hall to head back to his room to get some work done he turns down a hallway that will get him there faster. He only slows down his walk when he hears muffled cries, soft and broken.
It takes him a moment to find the source of the crying and when he does he freezes. He's never seen Madge Undersee like this.
She's curled into a ball, a crumpled letter in her hand and her face buried into her knees. She's hiccuping for air, not even having noticed Gale at all.
"Madge?"
She looks up at once. She blinks a few times, tears swimming in her eyes. She swats at her face a few times before sniffling. "Sorry."
"What're you sorry for?" he asks. Gale extends his hand to her but she doesn't take it. Instead she looks down at the letter in her hand. She must've gotten it at breakfast and ran down the hall after reading it. "You alright?"
"Not exactly." Madge swats at her eyes another time. "Not that it matters to you whatsoever."
He suppresses the urge to roll his eyes. "Don't be an idiot," he mutters. "What's happened?"
A fresh set of tears brew and she sniffles loudly. "It's–my mum," Madge forces out. She doesn't look up at him, still down at the letter in her hands. "She's back in St. Mungos… it's…" she trails off. It's not looking so good.
Gale stands for a few more moments before lowering himself to the ground by her side. She doesn't push him away or snap at him. She's that defeated.
"My dad died," he tells her carefully. She tips her head in his direction but doesn't look at him. "Back in the war. He was an Auror." Madge nods slightly. Katniss must've told her the same, that her dad passed in the war too. "It's not… easy," he says. "But it gets easier."
She nods her head forward, finally turning to look at him. "Thanks, Gale," she says softly.
Both of them are quiet. Gale doesn't try to reach for her hand, Madge doesn't ask him anything else. But after a bit Madge stands slowly and he does too.
"If you want to talk," Gale tells her. I'm here. She nods another time, offering him a weak smile.
All Gale can think about is how it's the first time she's really smiled at him.
10.
She becomes a prefect.
It's Gale's last year at Hogwarts and he can't get Madge Undersee off of his mind. It's been to long, his chance has come and gone, and still he thinks of her.
Neither of them snap at each other now, and she does seem kinder to him, but he can't figure out how to have a real, normal conversation with her.
He runs into her when she catches a group of Ravenclaw boys in the hall tormenting a small Slytherin. She casts a spell at them so quickly Gale's immediately impressed. He blinks as she snaps at them, surprised by the fire in her voice, and guides the Slytherin away from them after giving all three of them detention.
"I can walk him back," Gale says, stepping out from a back hallway. She looks pleased because she probably doesn't know where the Slytherin common room is anyway. Madge walks with them for a bit and he turns to her. "You have to talk about careers this year, yeah?" Gale asks. "Fifth year?"
"Yeah," Madge answers.
"You could be an Auror, with reflexes like that." Her face goes pink and she smiles down at her feet. "What're you thinking?"
"Not sure," she admits. "What about you?"
"Auror," he answers. She smiles again, looking up at him. "What?" he asks, almost defensively. "Don't think I can do it?"
"No, I think you'll be great," she answers.
Gale feels the floor swooping beneath his feet.
11.
His eyes seek her out in the Great Hall when it's meal time.
She's infinitely beautiful. If he doesn't do something this year then his chances are ruined, gone for absolutely ever. He supposes he could try something through Katniss, as they're still close, but he wants to do it on his own. On his own terms.
Thom notices it, of course. "You're always bloody staring at her," he points out. "Just ask her to Hogsmeade already."
"Not that simple," Gale murmurs, shoving a bite of oatmeal into his mouth. "I've been a prat to her for the past five years. I can't just ask her out without any basis."
"Then start a normal conversation like a normal person, you idiot."
Gale's still thinking about Madge when Rory (who's annoyingly close to Madge, he's noticed) walks over to the Slytherin table from the Gryffindor one. Rory slips into the free seat by Gale's side and Gale freezes.
"What the bloody hell do you want?" Gale grumbles. He's never been a fan of mornings, and he isn't a fan of his brother annoying the crap out of him. It's his first year and he was sorted Gryffindor, just like their dad, and that alone is enough to frustrate Gale.
"I just wanted to say good morning," Rory says with a frown. He adjusts himself in his seat like he's getting comfortable. "You always come to me when I'm with my friends, I figured I'd come see you with your friends."
Gale doesn't notice Rory slipping the love potion into his oatmeal. He doesn't figure it out until a little after breakfast when his mind is distracted, when his heart is thrumming in his chest, when his thoughts are of Madge Undersee does he put it together.
But he's too far gone at that point to do anything.