The Houses Competition

House: Hufflepuff

Class: Potions

Category: Standard

Prompts: (trope) fake dating, (last line) I never saw her again., and (color) red

Word Count: 1,815

Warnings: Discrimination, mentions of a one-night stand, pregnancy, Muggle!AU, and a slight bit out of character due to the AU used.

I hope you all enjoy Letting Go of Maybe.

I never saw her again.

You're probably wondering why I'm choosing to begin my story in such a fashion. But if I hadn't begun it that way the full effect of the story I am going to tell wouldn't hit you as it did me.

Her name was Bellatrix Black. She was one of the most beautiful girls in all of Hogwarts University. She was tall and statuesque.

Her curly black waves were usually tied up in some intricate style that she'd seen on YouTube or something like that. She always had the best clothes and shoes that money could buy which is why I should have known that it wasn't bound to last when she sat down desperately at my table that day in the library.

I should have known that the most gorgeous girl in the entire school would never fall for someone as dorky and friendless as me. But a guy could hope, right? I hear her words as though she had spoken them to me yesterday.

She looked over her shoulder towards the library door where a huge meathead jock was just entering the library. She reached out and took my hand.

"Please pretend that you're happy to see me," she whispered, eyes pleading with me to help her out here.

I smiled and laced my fingers through hers. "What took you so long?" I asked, teasingly.

"A girl can't just wake up this perfect," she said, indicating her flawless makeup and hair in a ta-da sort of way.

"But somehow you always manage to pull it off," I told her, meaning every word that came out of my mouth. I had always thought of Bellatrix Black as the ideal woman.

"You are such a joker, Eddie," she said, blushing and looking at the table.

"Bella," the blond lug who was looking for her said, stopping at the table as though he'd just noticed her there, "your sister, Narcissa and I have been looking for you all over."

I made the mistake of smarting off. "Apparently not everywhere," I said offhandedly, not bothering to look up at him. My whole attention was on Bellatrix Black.

How many times was I going to get to say that Bellatrix Black actually spoke to me? That she was holding my hand. It was almost like I was in a dream which must have made me brave enough to say what I had just said.

Lucius's eyes burned with a fury that I had only ever seen him have while on wrestling mats. Or when he and Narcissa were having one of their bitter breakups in the quad.

They were that dramatic couple who enjoyed having everyone's attention on them. But that wasn't why he was angry now. No, his furious eyes were trained on my hand which still held Bellatrix's.

"Bella," he said ignoring me and turning back to her, "Narcissa and I want to set you up with one of our friends. We know your parents are—"

And that is when she said it. The one thing that would change my life for the next day and a half and lead me to heartbreak.

"I'm already dating someone," she said nonchalantly, squeezing my hand and nodding towards me. "I'm dating Edgar here."

Lucius snorted as his equally blonde and annoying girlfriend approached us. "I don't buy that, you are dating him," he said, indicating to me.

I knew that guys like Lucius didn't care much for guys like me. They usually bullied guys like me and stuffed us in our lockers. Or gave us wedgies. Or hung us from the flagpole and all those other cliche horrible things you see jock bullies do in those tasteless Rom-Coms.

"Did you tell Bella about the guy we're setting her up with?" Narcissa asked, pretending not to hear what Bellatrix or Lucius had just said.

Narcissa was one of those popular girls you hate because she's so cliche it makes your head hurt. If Lucius was your typical jock boyfriend then Narcissa was your typical cheerleader girlfriend. The type of girl who didn't care if she hurt you with her words or not.

"Apparently your sister is dating Ed here," Lucius said, indicating to me.

Narcissa looked at me as though she'd just noticed me. Anger slid across her perfect features and a look like she was looking at something disgusting that had crawled across her shoes.

"But he's such a nerd," Narcissa said, shaking her head. "I thought Andy had a bad taste in men and here you are slumming it with Ed Bones. Bella, are you tripping?"

"Maybe Andy's more right about her taste in men than you are," Bellatrix stated nonchalantly, folding her arms over her chest in a defensive position. The only sense of displeasure one could sense from her was the flare of her nostrils. That was always a cue that she was angry about something.

"How long have you been dating for then?" Narcissa said, glaring between the two of us. "And why have you never mentioned having a boyfriend before now?"

"I don't ha—"

I interrupted Bellatrix before she could say something she would later regret. "We're running late," I told her. "We have reservations at The Broomsticks."

"Oh," she said, trying to calm herself down as she stood up, knocking her chair to the ground in anger. "Yeah. We'd better be going then."

"Bella," Narcissa called after something harsh underlying her voice, "if you walk away we are never going to try and help you again."

"You promise," Bellatrix hissed back over her shoulder as she dragged me out of the library. She didn't stop dragging me until we were halfway across the quad. "I'm sorry about that back there. Narcissa and Lucius can both be very judgemental about people."

"I take it they don't like your sister's relationship with Teddy Tonks?" I asked, stuffing my now free hands into my pockets.

She shook her laughing as walked towards The Broomsticks. The Broomsticks had once upon a time been called the Three Broomsticks but someone had stolen the Three from the sign and the name change just kind of stuck from there. It was the number one date spot on a Friday night and the place where every student at Hogwarts usually came to study. If the library was too full that is.

"Narcissa thinks we should marry for money," Bella told me, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "I'm not some idealistic person or something but at the same time I'm also not narcissistic like other people."

"I never thought you were," I told her, holding the door to The Broomsticks open and allowing her to walk in ahead of me.

"That's good," she said, smiling for the first time since she'd sat down across from me in the library. God was she pretty when she smiled. I wanted to make her smile for the rest of her life and I imagine I probably could have if given the chance. "I hate being judged by people who haven't gotten to know me yet." A flash of cold anger flew across her features.

Bella was probably still thinking about what her sister had said. Not just about her "relationship" with me but also about what she'd said about Ted and Andromeda's relationship.

"You shouldn't let what other people say bother you," I tell her, trying to make her smile and be happy once more. "What do they know?"

"A lot more than anyone else does," she murmured anger clear and present in her voice.

I pulled out a chair for her once we reached an empty table. She seemed genuinely surprised that I would do that for her as she sat down at the table.

Anger bubbled up in my chest at the thought of anyone making Bellatrix feel like she wasn't worthy of having her chair pulled out for her.

Anyone who thought otherwise was a fool. I smiled despite the burning indignation for this woman and what people had put her through rising in my chest.

"So, is this how all of your dates happen to start?" I asked, teasingly.

"No," she smiled a giggle escaping her lips. "Just the good ones."

If I had known at any time during our conversation or what followed our impromptu dinner date that this would be the last time I see or hear from Bella, I would have made it special. I would have made the most of my time with her. Made it something that I would remember for the rest of my life

But I hadn't known that. I had woken up the next day expecting to find Bellatrix next to me where she'd fallen asleep. But she was gone. The scent of her stick on the covers which had covered.

The sounds of our passion playing in the back of my mind. Has it all just been a cruel joke? Had she only sat down at my table to play with my emotions and then break my heart?

I feel the angry tears burning in my eyes. Yesterday I felt like nothing could bring me down because one of the popular girls had spoken to me. Had more than spoken to me. Had eaten a meal with me. Had gone to bed with me.

Bella had told me she loved me. Had those only been words she thought that I had wanted to hear from her.? Has she meant them at all? Has any of it been real?

And as time went on, I forgot about that day. I had forgotten about that day until I thought I saw a hint of her outside of my work office. It had been a quick glimpse. Not enough to confirm who the woman was. But I didn't need to see her face to know who it was.

"Mr. Bones, someone just left this envelope for you," my secretary Angela, a girl who looked like a carbon copy of Bellatrix without the poshness, told me. "It was left by a young woman with a child" She handed me the note.

I went into my office, closing the door behind me. I was tempted to open the letter. To see what was so important she had to drag me through my heartache and misery once more. But then I decided that it wasn't worth it. She hadn't spared a thought about me until now. I would show her the same consideration.

I put the note into the trash can and lit it on fire. I never caught sight of the words that were written on the burning paper. I never saw that the child that was with her was mine. That was the last time that Bellatrix Black ever entered my life again.

As I mentioned at the beginning of our story, dear reader: I never saw her again.

I hope you all enjoyed Letting Go of Maybe as much as I enjoyed reading it. Please let me know if you want a version of this from Bellatrix's POV.