At career counseling with Professor Bones last year, Liam had been told that he needed at least "Exceeds Expectations" in Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts at N.E.W.T.-level to become a healer.
Not that it was his big dream to work in Sgt. Mongus or anything, but when looking at the potential career paths laid out in front of him, it was the one that seemed the most appealing.
He was never going to be a professor or an auror or any kind of ministry-official, and he sure as hell wasn't gonna become a professional Quidditch-player (he could barely stay on a broom for more than 10 seconds) so a healer seemed like the most viable option.
But it was going to be very difficult. Most of the other Hufflepuffs in his year either chose easier future professions, which required less of them in classes, or didn't seem to care about their grades at all.
Liam could for the life of him not understand why the other students were so lazy and procrastinated their homework all the time. They were learning MAGIC for crying out loud! How could you NOT care?
But a lot of the students (mostly full-bloods) didn't give two shits about their classes or homework. A whole bunch of students weren't even eligible for certain classes as some professors had minimum requirements for their O.W.L.-scores last year to continue the subject this year. And even most of those who were good enough to take as many classes as they wanted, still decided not to continue in multiple of their subjects.
Liam kept hearing people talking in the common room or in the halls about how thrilled they were to have all this free time. Liam himself, however, was swamped with difficult lessons and homework from all his many subjects even a few weeks into the semester. He especially struggled in Herbology where Professor Longbottom had been kind enough to let him attend even though he only received "Acceptable" in his O.W.L.-exam before the summer break.
Liam spent the entire afternoon in the library, reading up on Venomous Tentaculas to stop them from seizing him from behind like it had done earlier that day.
He decided to bring the book back to his dormitory where he could read on for the rest of the evening. Proceeding past the large still life that formed the entrance to the kitchens, he went to the pile of large barrels stacked in a shadowy stone recess on the right-hand side of the corridor. He tapped the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff', and the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, opened. He was always extra careful not to tap on the wrong barrel or tap an incorrect number of times as that would result in one of the other lids bursting off and drenching him in vinegar. He'd only tried it once, but that alone was embarrassing as hell. Once was enough.
As he entered the common room, he noticed that a big group of older Hufflepuffs (most sixth-years and seventh-years but also a few from fifth) were all sitting in a big circle with an empty bottle of Gigglewater in the center. They were all laughing and talking so loudly, it seemed to Liam that they were all blabbering at the same time.
Liam tried to keep a low-profile and just sneaked past the group and approached the round doors to the dormitories. He noticed that Caleb spotted him and then whispered something to Ethan who just shrugged.
"Hey, Liam!" Caleb then shouted at him as Liam was just about to be out of sight. Liam stopped and looked back. The whole circle had suddenly gone quiet.
"We're playing a game; care to join?"
Liam considered it for a moment. He didn't really want to. He never felt like he could be himself around his housemates. But still, it was nice of Caleb to ask, or even notice him.
"Okay," Liam said hoarsely, as he hadn't really talked for several hours. He then put down the book and went over to the circle on the floor.
Ava scooched back to make room for him next to her and a fifth-year called Oliver Johnson. "We're playing truth or dare," Ava told him. "Whoever the bottle lands on gets to choose whether they want to answer a personal question or do a forfeit."
Liam nodded and prayed that the bottle would never land on him.
"Alright let's go again," Lucas said and flicked his wand. The bottle instantly started rotating on the floor.
Liam was so envious that Lucas was already this good at non-verbal spells. He didn't even seem to try that hard, it just came naturally to him, that fucker.
After seeing the bottle spin for a few seconds, it stopped and pointed at Noah.
"Okay, Noah," Caleb started. "Truth or dare?"
Noah thought about it for a second. "Let's go truth."
There were a few disappointed groans here and there from the other participants.
"I got one," one of the girls from year 7 said. "Woud you rather lick chocolate sauce off of Hagrid's toe… or from the headmistress' buttcrack?"
The groans from the crowd were back but this time they were filled with disgust while Liam noticed multiple students thinking about it and actually taking the question seriously.
Noah didn't hesitate though. "Oh, McGonagall's buttcrack for sure. She's a sexy piece of ass."
People were laughing and grimacing at Noah.
"You're built different, man," Ethan said and put a hand on Noah's shoulder.
"Nah man, you lot are sleeping on a fit mature woman. I'll happily lick anywhere on her body if she wants me to!"
A collective "ewwww" filled the common room.
Lucas shrugged. "Bloody hell, let's move on from Noah's perversions."
He once again flicked his wand and the bottle started spinning. Liam started sweating as the bottle approached him slowly but could take a big sigh of relief as it stopped just before him and pointed to Oliver Johnson.
"Truth or dare, Oliver?" Caleb once again said.
Oliver looked confidently around the room before he proudly said: "Dare."
A few people cheered at him.
"Good choice, mate!" Lucas said. "Now let's think of something fun."
Lucas looked around the circle to find a "victim".
"How about you take your hand and put it down…" Lucas' eyes locked on Lily. "…Lily's panties for 30 seconds."
Lily gaped her mouth and looked indignantly at Lucas. "Fuck you, Lucas! It's not my dare."
While Oliver seemed a bit uncomfortable, he still looked at Lily with a hopeful gaze, obviously wanting her to consent.
"Oh, come on, Lily," Ethan said and gave her a gentle push. "Don't ruin the game. It's just a bit of fun."
Lily rolled her eyes and sighed, giving in to the peer pressure. She stood up and reached her hand out to Oliver.
"Come on, kid. Let's get on with it."
Oliver smiled and grabbed Lily's hand as she helped him to his feet.
"Hey, it's okay if you don't want to do this," Oliver said to her quietly, trying not to hide how much he wanted her to let him touch her pussy.
"It's fine. Just don't try any anything, okay?"
Oliver nodded as Lily pulled down the zipper to her jeans.
"Alright, we'll all count to 15 once your hand is all the way down there," Lucas said, trying to hold back a snigger.
Oliver slid his hand quickly down her pants like he couldn't wait. Liam noticed a slight change in his eyes as he got all the way down her knickers. Lily and Oliver were both looking in opposite directions to not catch eye-contact.
Everyone started counting, purposely leaving longer gaps between each number than would constitute an actual second.
"Try not to make her cum," Noah said between counting, and a bunch of people in the circle started laughing, especially the boys.
"Yeah, she can be a bit sensitive," Lucas added, not trying to hide his snigger anymore. Lily flipped the bird at him.
Liam was so happy that he wasn't the one in the middle of the circle right now. The embarrassment would have been too much. He decided that he would try to leave quietly once he got the chance to save himself from doing anything humiliating like this.
Once the choir had counted to 30, Oliver pulled his hand back quickly. Lily didn't look at him as she sat back down.
Oliver sat down next to another fifth-year who loudly asked: "Can I have a sniff?" as he grabbed his hand and pulled it straight up to his own face, inhaling sharply.
While a few laughed, Liam heard Ava next to him mumbling: "disgusting" as she shook her head.
A large amount of Lily's long auburn hair hung in front of her face. It seemed to Liam that she was trying to hide somehow.
"Well, that was fun," Lucas said cheerfully and spun the bottle with his wand once again.
While everyone looked at the spinning bottle, Liam decided that this was the best time to skedaddle and was about to get up before Ava grabbed his shoulder.
"Where are you going?" she asked, and before he could answer, his heart skipped a beat as he saw the bottle had stopped, pointing straight at him.
"Liam!" Caleb said enthusiastically. "Truth or dare?"
Shit, Liam thought. There was no getting out of it now. But there was no way that he was gonna do something as transgressive as what Oliver just did in front of everyone.
"Truth," he quaked, and a disappointed murmur once again filled the circle.
Then everyone was quiet for a moment. It seemed like they were all racking their brain, trying to think of something to ask him. Was he really that uninteresting? Was there really nothing that anyone wanted to know about him?
Then Lucas finally broke the silence.
"I got it," he said and looked intensely into Liam's eyes. "Are you a virgin?"
Every hint of noise disappeared from the room. After it being so loud and atmospheric a second ago, it now felt like you could hear a pin drop. Liam doubted that it had ever been this quiet in the Hufflepuff common room before.
"No," he lied and blinked a few times more than normal.
It still felt eerily quiet in the room. Or maybe Liam just imagined it so.
"Oh," Caleb said. "Who's the lucky girl… or boy?"
"You don't know her," Liam said, his body trembling.
Noah snorted. "Why? Does she go to a different school?"
A scattered chuckle spread around the circle.
"Beauxbatons perhaps?" Oliver added. It seemed his venture into Lily's pants had given him a big shot of confidence.
"Maybe Liam's banging one of them Veela-bitches?" Lucas said as his usual annoying smile grew on his face.
"No, she's a muggle," Liam then said, hoping that they would soon leave him alone and move on. They wouldn't.
"Oh, a muggle! What's her name?" Caleb said.
"Elena," just came rushing out of Liam's mouth before he even thought about it.
A collective "uuuuuh" was heard around the circle.
"Like Nathan's girl?" one of the seventh-year boys asked in an unconvinced tone.
"I bet he wishes it was," Noah then said. "She's hot as fuck."
Oliver's friend said something to him that was clearly supposed to be between them but was loud enough for Liam to hear it: "They'd make a handsome couple."
The sarcasm was so thick, Liam could almost taste it.
"It's a different girl," Liam said, trying to sound confident, although he was almost certain it didn't come off that way.
"Alright," Caleb then said. "Is she your girlfriend?"
"Yes," Liam said immediately, digging himself further into this hole of lies. "And we fuck all the time. The whole summer. Last summer too. Even doing the Christmas break."
"Oh wow," Lucas said in a mocking tone. "Do you have a picture? I'd love to see her."
Liam went quiet for a second and looked at the carpeted floor as if an answer to the question was hidden there.
"No. Unfortunately not. But she's beautiful."
"You've dated her for over a year, and you don't even have a picture of her?" Lucas said, once again looking intensely at Liam as if he was interrogating him.
"I-" Liam was petrified. He didn't know what to say.
"Can't we just get on with the game?" Ava then suddenly said with annoyance in her voice. "You all got your truths out of Liam. Let's spin the bottle."
Thankfully, Lucas shrugged and flicked his wand to make the bottle spin again. Liam could hardly think of a sufficient way to express his gratitude to Ava. He imagined that she had probably noticed how nervy he was and decided to end his misery.
Liam just sat in silence for the rest of the game. The bottle never landed on him again, thank god, but his pathetic lies had almost made him numb. He couldn't imagine anyone fell for it. Heck, even he wouldn't have believed him.
As he got into bed that night, he felt angry. Partly at Oliver and Lucas and Caleb and Noah and Oliver's asshole friend, but he was mostly angry at himself. He put himself into this situation. If he wasn't so god damn awkward and afraid, then maybe he would've been having as much sex as the rest of them, and he wouldn't have to lie like this to feel adequate and accepted.
If only there was a spell or something that could help. Magic could do almost anything. He could turn a living bird into a water goblet if he wanted to. But helping a sad, lonely, sexless boy get the experience and acceptance that he actually wanted was apparently too much to ask.