Author's Note: Oh, I had such a fun time writing this one! Get ready for some familiar faces :) M rating for language
Chapter 28 – Gold Rush
Everybody wants you
Everybody wonders what it would be like to love you
But I don't like a gold rush
Janey was both excited and nervous at the prospect of the large gathering of people she would encounter at the Potters' barbecue. She always loved seeing her friends and got on well with James, Albus, and Rose's vast cohort of cousins. She was even kind of excited to see some of the professors again, and she liked Rose's parents. But she was also painfully aware, as much as she often liked all eyes on her, that this would be her and Sam's first big outing as a proper couple. They had only gone official on the last day of term, after all, and she hadn't yet had to navigate being Sam's public girlfriend around anyone other than their immediate group of friends.
It seemed almost naive to be anxious about it, given how seriously their relationship had escalated behind closed doors, but Janey felt incredibly self-conscious at the thought of people perceiving her in a state she viewed as emotionally vulnerable. Like she truly would be wearing her heart on her sleeve, free for anyone to take a fatal shot.
But she was being ridiculous, she knew. She was perfectly safe around the group of people she would be spending her time with. Nobody was going to probe, or mock, or make her feel exposed in any way. Janey also realised that almost everybody there had very much been present in the room when she had flung herself at Sam for the first time, and many ears had heard both her and Sam spill their Veritaserum-prompted confessions of attraction shortly after.
Janey arrived late, of course, well past the hour Rose had recommended people arrive. She never liked to be the first person at any event, much preferring to ease in once it was already in full swing.
James was the first to spot her and flung his arms wide in apparent marvel. "Janey," he cried with such delight that Janey suspected he might already be drunk. It was mid-afternoon, but she absolutely wouldn't put it past him. But as Janey approached, amused, she realised James wasn't drunk, he was just in his element. It was his house, after all, and no doubt he'd be acting like it was his event, showboating for all the world to see.
Janey responded with a subdued smile, taking in the hordes of people gathered out in the garden. At a glance, she saw a lot of red hair.
By James' side, Ebony looked far less thrilled by the crowd she was immersed in, and Janey thought she understood. Ebony was a Potter now too, she guessed, and she expected that had drawn a lot of attention from the Potter-Weasleys, intrigued as they would be by the teenaged bride who had joined their ranks and locked down one of their most notoriously non-committed rebels. But Ebony did not do well with crowds and attention, and Janey's heart went out to her. She suddenly felt guilty for being worried people might be intrigued by her and Sam when clearly Ebony was going to be the spectacle at that event.
Janey gravitated towards Rose, knowing she would ground her in this sea of red, and was unsurprised to find the other Gryffin-Girls with her, alongside little Lily Potter—though with every passing day, she was less and less little.
Janey had only a fleeting moment to wonder where on earth Sam might be—if he was even there yet, though, unlike herself, he was always punctual—before her friends noticed her presence and pulled her into a hug.
"About time," Taylor said, rolling her eyes. "We couldn't tell if you were a no-show or just being fashionably late."
"Always the latter," Janey drawled, a small smile on her face.
She whipped out her oversized sunglasses and settled them atop the bridge of her nose. Immediately, she felt better, both for the reduction of brightness, sunny as it was on that August day, and also for the mental protection it also seemed to provide. If people could only see half her face then she felt they couldn't see anything she might not wish to convey in an accidental expression. No emotion meant no vulnerability.
"Nice house," Janey said appreciatively, looking at the structure behind her, which she hadn't yet set foot in, having been given instructions to head straight for the garden. It was bigger than Sam's, and slightly bigger than Rose's, presumably due to the family who resided there being larger in size, but it conveyed that sense of familial warmth she associated with both. It's red brick exterior immediately felt more comforting to her than her own white-washed mansion, and she'd only been there for a couple of minutes.
"Thanks," Lily said coyly, and in truth Janey had forgotten she lived there; she had just been thinking out loud.
"Lily's hoping she'll find out today if she made Prefect," Rose explained, clearly inviting Janey into the conversation they must have been having before her arrival.
Janey was shocked that Lily was old enough to be in Fifth Year, given how petite she was, but she supposed she could hardly talk. By the looks of it, Lily would be overtaking her in height in no time. But no, that was right. She was two years younger than Rose and Albus.
"They haven't sent the badges out yet?" Janey asked curiously. She was sure she had received her own badge much nearer to the start of the summer.
"Well, Bobbin's probably been a bit preoccupied, hasn't she?" Gwen pointed out.
"Oh, yeah," Janey smirked. "She's got a hot new boy toy to use and abuse."
"I meant because of the wedding," Gwen said, though she was smiling.
"Well," Janey said kindly, speaking directly to Lily—the Potter she had overlapped with the least, given her age and the fact that she was in Ravenclaw—"if you do make Prefect, you can sit with me in meetings."
Lily returned her smile, clearly grateful for the older girl's offer of companionship.
"And you can let me know which of the others are little snobs who need to be shunned."
Rose frowned. "Janey—"
"Sure," Lily cut across Rose, still smiling. "But it might not even be me—Serephina is a much better shout."
Janey was about to question who this was, but then she remembered. The pale-skinned blonde often by Lily's side—the female variation of Scorpius Malfoy.
"No," Janey said firmly, as though making the decision herself. "Scorpius is already Prefect—Bobbin can't go full nepo."
"She made her literal daughter a Prefect," Taylor reminded Janey. "And her boyfriend Head Boy."
"Professor Roberts is Head Boy?" Janey asked dumbly, prompting laughter from all four other girls.
"I meant James," Taylor said, rolling her eyes.
"James is Bobbin's boyfriend?" Janey asked, though this time she was teasing. Once the laughter had subsided, she enquired, serious now, "Where is your boyfriend anyway?" She craned her neck, partially looking for the tell-tale whitish blond, but also still deeply curious about her own boyfriend's whereabouts.
Janey should have known what was coming.
"Scorpius is not my boyfriend," Rose said with indignation, but, as usual, her face was flushed at the mention.
Janey noticed the redness that had crept into Lily's cheeks too. She supposed it was all a bit too fresh—the admissions of Lily's constant involvement in both the highs and lows of Rose and Scorpius' entire love affair, fuelled seemingly by her own crush.
"I didn't say Scorpius' name," Janey pointed out with a smirk.
Rose glared at her.
"But as you did—where is he? Or did invitations to hang out with us only extend to the beach?"
"He's here," Rose said calmly, acting like she didn't care either way. "Albus invited him."
Janey grinned, feeling appeased.
"And Lily invited Serephina."
"They're with Ebony," Lily explained, far less embarrassed by the Malfoys' presence than Rose was.
Janey supposed that made sense. If Scorpius wasn't going to be clinging to Rose, he would be clinging to Ebony—perhaps his only safe haven in a sea full of enemies. Although, Janey doubted whether any of the Potter-Weasleys would care about his presence given everything they'd all been through and fighting on the same team together back in June. No, Janey was certain there would only be one person distressed by Scorpius being at the family function.
"And where's your dad?" Janey asked.
A knowing smile flickered onto Rose's face, unable to contain her own enjoyment at the situation. "In the kitchen," she said slyly.
Before anything further could be said, two older girls had approached the group. "Alright, Lils?" the dark-skinned one asked.
Janey recognised this as Roxanne, a Gryffindor who must have just finished her Seventh Year and henceforth wouldn't be returning to the school with them next year. Although she'd always known her to be one of Rose's cousins, Janey and the Gryffin-Girls hadn't much overlapped with her. She hadn't been a Quidditch player, nor a Prefect, but she had been pretty and popular, and Janey had always liked her. She had been involved in the Rosewood mission too, which was probably the closest they'd ever really been.
The girl by her side was a sandy-haired blonde with a spattering of golden freckles across her cream-coloured skin. She had beautiful sky-blue eyes framed by effortlessly long lashes, and she towered over Janey like a gazelle. This was Dominique. Janey couldn't be sure how many years older she was, but she had been out of Hogwarts for at least the past one, maybe more—and nobody who saw either her, her older sister Victoire, or their younger brother Louis, could deny that they were the offspring of Bill and Fleur Weasley. As surely as you could assume a redhead walking the corridors was part of the Weasley clan, you knew these golden-haired angelic beings had Veela blood running through their veins.
Janey had always been bitterly envious. And she felt no different now, eyeing the stunning intruder who hadn't as of yet even said a word.
"Hi," Lily answered her cousin.
Roxanne beamed at the other girls in the group.
"Rose," Dominique said, completely ignoring everybody else, "where are all your hot, single friends? I seem to be related to everybody here, and I specifically asked you to invite guys over!"
"Dom," Roxanne chastised. "You're a bit too old to be going after Hogwarts students now, aren't you?"
Dominique merely smirked, her eyes glinting with flirtation that set Janey on edge.
"I don't have any 'hot, single friends,'" Rose said, bemused.
"Mason's single," Gwen pointed out.
"Yeah, and isn't Scorpius?" Janey taunted, unable to help herself.
Rose glowered at her. "Well, yes," she said stiffly.
But Dominique didn't take the bait. Instead, her eyes were darting around the garden, desperately searching for the prey she so desired. Perhaps she wasn't a gazelle, after all, Janey thought, but a lioness. "What ever happened to that guy who stayed in the Burrow over the summer?"
"Who?" Rose asked, genuinely confused.
Janey was intrigued. She'd never heard about Rose having some guy stay over.
"You remember?" Dominique urged, her blue eyes still scanning for her target. "When Teddy and Victoire got married? James and Uncle Ron invited some guy round who used to have a crush on you because they thought you'd go for him instead of Scorpius."
Rose frowned, eyes widening, and Janey's heart sank.
"Oh." Dominique's eyes lit up with triumphant glee. "There he is."
Janey followed the older girl's gaze towards the back of the house, knowing exactly what she'd find. Sam was standing on the patio, drink in hand and in animated conversation with Professor Longbottom, apparently oblivious to the fact that the group of girls were now staring at him with varying expressions. Dominique's was one of hungry desire, Roxanne indifference, Taylor confusion, Gwen alarm, Rose concern, and Janey remained perfectly impassive. Her heart, thumping away in her chest, told a different story though.
"Dom," Rose said quickly, side-eyeing Janey with panic in her eyes.
"I know, I know, he's too young for me," Dominique interrupted with brazen amusement.
"No, it's not that." Rose looked back at Janey again, something akin to fear in her expression. "Sam is—"
"Tell me about it later," Dominique dismissed. "It's just a bit of harmless flirting anyway? It's fun." And she had skipped off before any of them could stop her, apparently intent on charming her way into Sam's graces for a bit of fun.
Janey watched her go, golden hair swinging, and she felt like ice had slid into her veins. When she turned back, all three Gryffin-Girls were staring at her with wide eyes. Roxanne alone seemed unconcerned by this development, if not a little embarrassed by her inability to dissuade her cousin from flirting with seventeen-year-olds.
"What?" Janey demanded, a hostile edge to her tone as they all continued to stare at her with alarm and concern. What did they honestly expect? That she would sprint after the girl and hold her back by her scalp?
"Uhh," Taylor said, her eyes nervously flickering to Rose for help.
"Let her go," Janey insisted, though she knew she couldn't disguise the venom she spoke with. "See if I care."
Roxanne furrowed her brow, apparently confused as to why Janey would be invested in whether or not Dominique Weasley flirted with Sam Tyler. But then her eyes widened too, like she had suddenly remembered something. No doubt the two dishevelled teenagers making out in the middle of Rosewood Manor's ruins.
"Oh," she said, speaking to Janey and looking apologetic. "Are you and he—?"
Janey didn't answer directly. "I don't care," she insisted, though she didn't know whether she was speaking to her friends or herself. "Sam can do what he wants. He can talk to other girls." But Janey was suddenly thinking of Isabella, and the ice in her veins had melted and morphed into lava. "In fact," she went on, "I'd quite like to see how this plays out."
"Janey," Rose said in a tone clearly meant to soothe and reassure, "Dominique likes to flirt with guys. She doesn't actually—she's not—"
Janey assumed, as Rose stammered and struggled for words, that she was trying to say something along the lines of Dominique not being a threat—that it was all just harmless fun the kind Janey had often liked to enjoy—but they all knew that was absurd. Dominique was irresistibly beautiful, and Sam was an idiot around beautiful girls.
Janey alone let her eyes follow Dominique's leggy figure as she retreated towards an unsuspecting Sam, the others all still unsubtly side-eyeing her. Janey thought back to the whole Isabella mess, and perhaps they were too—recalling the vicious hostility in that competitive situation, and that was before Sam and Janey were even truly a thing. What would the blonde girl do this time? Now that another girl was moving in on her boyfriend?
But Janey did not rise to whatever they thought she might. She wasn't going to scream, or pursue, or fight. In fact, as she observed with calm coolness, as she'd said previously, she very much wanted to see how it played out. She wanted to see what Sam would do in that situation.
Janey watched with narrowed eyes as Sam realised Dominique had approached him, furious that she was at too much of a distance to overhear their conversation. She noted the look of initial surprise and then something like recognition. Professor Longbottom excused himself. Dominique seemed to toss her wave of golden hair to the side, and though Janey could only see her back, she seemed to be giggling. Sam smiled in response and began chatting animatedly.
Interesting, Janey thought, her lips now tightly pursed. So he hadn't immediately told this blonde intruder to back off? That he couldn't possibly entertain a conversation with her because he was in a committed relationship with a girl he already adored and who, not that he'd bothered to notice, was standing just at the other side of the garden?
"Arsehole," she muttered in disgust, not realising she had spoken it aloud.
"Janey," Rose said quickly, conciliatory, that nervous edge of panic in her voice continuing to grow. She obviously didn't want a scene caused at her family's barbecue and knew what Janey was capable of.
But Janey was annoyed, both at Rose for trying to calm her when she wasn't even doing anything, and at Sam for not having shut the conversation down the instant Dominique had coyly batted her long lashes at him.
But no, she thought with deep vitriol, he was probably loving it. A beautiful, leggy blonde, who seemingly already had a prior flirtatious connection to him from two summers back? Well, she had certainly never been told that piece of information before. Had the attraction been mutual? Had she and Sam had a thing? A bit of open flirting that had never led anywhere but that they both felt no qualms about entertaining because neither of them were serious about it? Maybe they had even kissed and Sam had conveniently omitted that part of his romantic history.
And if Dominique had ever been serious about him, if she had genuinely actively tried to pursue him, you couldn't honestly expect Janey to believe that Sam wouldn't have eagerly, desperately gone for her too. if Dominique had gotten there first, Janey would have never stood a chance. Sam never would have looked at her twice, he would have let his resentment continue to grow for her and ruthlessly clashed with her all the while with the beautiful Dominique hanging off his arm.
And even now, Janey considered, her heart racing a mile a minute, her blood pressure rising with every stretched-out second Sam continued to spend in her company, completely oblivious to the fact that Janey was even there, if she were to present a genuine offer, what's to say he wouldn't immediately ditch one blonde for the other? For the obviously superior one? The older, taller, slimmer, prettier one? The one who didn't have a complicated emotional barrier in place and was entirely open with her heart?
Dominique reached out a hand, and to Janey's absolute fury, grasped the top of Sam's arm like she was squeezing his bicep. Sam smiled in complete amusement instead of deigning to slap her hand away in disgust and declare the only person who was allowed to touch him so intimately was his small but feisty girlfriend who would surely kick her arse if it came down to a physical fight.
Janey could bear it no more and sprung into action, furiously storming across the garden to finally intervene, unsure whether she was angrier with Dominique or with Sam. Rose called out after her, but Janey was a woman on a mission, pushing her sunglasses up onto her forehead all the better to glare at her cheating, scheming, idiotic boyfriend.
Sam finally looked up and recognised her, his eyes lighting up. "Oh, that's her," she heard him say, and she wanted nothing more than to wipe the irritatingly innocent grin on his face clean off.
"Hi," he said to Janey in warm greeting, immediately beaming in her presence. This did nothing to quell the fire currently burning through her. "I was wondering where you were."
"I've been here," she said bitingly, and sensing her tone, which was hardly subtle, Sam's smile immediately faltered.
"Oh," Dominique said as her big blue eyes fell on Janey, apparently in understanding.
Janey didn't want to look at the other girl. Her beauty was incredibly threatening up close. There wasn't a single flaw or blemish to be found on her face at all. Her hair seemed to fall perfectly into place without a modicum of effort. What must it have been like to grow up that beautiful, Janey couldn't help but wonder, her heart feeling hollow in her chest. No awkward, gawky phase. No desperate overcorrections to try and mould herself into somebody people liked and respected because you already always had been.
"Anyway," Dominique declared, perhaps sensing the unspoken tensions now hanging in the air between the three of them. "This was fun, but I've got people to see. Massive family," she said with a laugh that Janey thought almost sounded slightly nervous underneath.
Sam did not break eye contact with Janey, his eyes shining with hurt and confusion at her continued lack of warmth, even when he said, "Yeah, of course."
"See you around," Dominique said, more to Sam than Janey. She departed with a slight wave to Sam, and a small, apologetic smile to Janey, which the girl didn't respond to in any form, still aiming her steely gaze, and all of her anger, at Sam alone.
At last, they were alone, and the air between them seemed cold, despite the warm summer breeze that drifted past.
"Why are you looking at me like I've done something wrong?" Sam challenged, no warmth, no greeting, just immediate panicked defensiveness.
"Why are you flirting with stunning blondes right in front of me?" Janey retaliated.
As she'd expected, Sam immediately looked furious at her implication. "Are you kidding me?" he asked in sheer disbelief. "It's a barbecue! She's Rose's cousin! I'm not supposed to talk to anybody?"
"Not anyone who makes your tongue hang out of your mouth like a pathetic idiot," Janey sneered. "Like you could have a chance with her anyway," she added nastily, painfully avoiding the fact that she knew Dominique had very much sought Sam out because she'd deemed him 'hot'.
She saw a fire burning in Sam's stare, the likes of which she was very familiar with but hadn't seen much since they'd officially started dating.
"You are insane," he accused. "Dominique approached me, and I certainly wasn't flirting with her! I spent the whole conversation talking about you."
"That's good of you," Janey said. "To spend your time telling beautiful women about your girlfriend rather than, I don't know, actually talking to your girlfriend."
"Janey!" Sam exclaimed. "I didn't even know you were here—that you were even going to show up!"
"Yeah, I'll bet," Janey retorted. "You were hoping it would be a Weasley free-for-all. See how many you could sink your teeth into whilst I couldn't see."
Janey knew she was being unreasonable, and getting worked up about something that was likely far from the truth, but she couldn't help it. The sight of beautiful, unattainable Dominique had stirred something in her that she hadn't felt for a while, and she knew exactly what it was now. Envy.
It had been hard to identify with Isabella, because Janey hadn't wanted to admit that she was attracted to Sam, but that raging wave in the pit of her stomach was back with uncomfortable vigour. Janey had been, for the most part, so blissfully happy with Sam that the threat of external conflict hadn't crossed her mind until then. Janey had not considered what it would be like to feel threatened by a competitor. To have another woman show attraction to Sam whilst Janey watched helplessly, unable to compare herself to the person he could very well leave her for.
She felt immediate sympathy for Rose. God, how she had coped with Ebony shamelessly trying, and then succeeding, to tempt Scorpius away from her side was remarkable. But then, Janey recalled, she hadn't coped. Rose had been a complete mess. It had taken months for her to finally drag herself out of bed and reconstruct herself from the broken pieces he had left behind.
Sam looked rightfully riled by Janey's accusations. "You are deluded."
"Keep insulting me," Janey dared.
"You're the one who called me a pathetic idiot!"
"Don't be one then."
Sam looked like he was summoning everything he could to not completely lose it, both of them aware how exposed they were—to friends, parents, teachers, strangers. They were guests at somebody else's summer barbecue, after all. Janey had no doubt that Rose, Taylor, and Gwen were still watching her.
"I wasn't flirting with her," Sam said, adopting a forced calm tone. "She came up to me, starting talking to me, I remembered who she was and joined in polite conversation."
Janey felt her chest heaving, but she didn't say anything.
"Rose and Albus have so many cousins—I barely know who's who. What was I going to do? Tell her to go away because I'm only allowed to have one blonde in my life at a time and the position was already taken?"
Janey almost smiled, despite herself, but managed to withhold.
"But you have a history," she said weakly.
Sam looked genuinely confused. "With Dominique? What on earth are you talking about? I've barely spoken to her in my entire life."
"When you stayed with Rose a couple of summers ago." Truth be told, Janey didn't know anything about that situation, but she wasn't going to back down and admit she'd overreacted.
Sam seemed to be casting his mind back, and something like realisation flickered into his eyes. "For her sister's wedding?"
Janey frowned. Rose didn't have a sister? But then she remembered he must have meant Dominique—her older sister was married to Teddy Lupin, the former Hufflepuff Head Boy.
"Janey, I can't have had more than one conversation with her—with any of the Weasleys other than Rose. There is absolutely no 'history' there, and there was no flirting whatsoever going on just now," he insisted.
But Janey knew that wasn't true. By Dominique's own confession, she had approached Sam with the express intention of flirting with him, and whilst he might not have necessarily flirted back, Sam hadn't exactly done much to shut the conversation down or dissuade her in any way. It wasn't exactly like he'd pulled a Scorpius and started snogging her right in front of Janey, but it certainly felt just as disrespectful as though he had.
"She came over here to flirt with you!"
Sam frowned, but his cheeks had gone slightly pink. "What?"
"You heard," Janey growled.
Sam looked dazed, like the concept of anyone—least of all someone like Dominique—having approached him in order to flirt was inconceivable to him. Janey supposed Sam had always been the pursuer in all his romantic entanglements, but this didn't soothe her in the slightest.
"And you didn't discourage her," Janey said, hating the quiver in her voice.
Sam looked like he was ready to deny all once more, but it was as though he had realised an uncomfortable truth. "I didn't… We were just talking," he said, but he now seemed uncertain. "Talking about you," he reminded her, gaining back some of his confidence.
But Janey didn't buy it. "If you were talking about me then why didn't she leave until I came over?"
"Well"—Sam looked panicked now—"she was talking to me about Hogwarts, and Quidditch, and stuff. It wasn't flirting."
Janey rolled her eyes. God, he was naive.
"Or," he said uncertainly, "I didn't realise it was. I just thought we were having a conversation—I swear." He was looking at Janey with pleading in his eyes. "I don't think of other girls like that, Janey," he said firmly, kindly, in spite of her continued hostility towards him. "Every girl in school could flirt with me and I wouldn't realise—or care. I only care about you," he insisted.
Janey felt her heart soften just a fraction, but she wasn't satisfied just yet. Suppose Sam really was that naive, and he had just assumed Dominique was making polite conversation. Maybe all the laughing and smiling was wholly innocent on his end, despite the other girl's overt intentions.
She supposed she and Sam hadn't really had a flirtatious stage. Their relationship certainly hadn't taken the normal trajectory of a teenage romance. They had gone from fiercely loathing each other, to fiercely snogging each other, to then, finally, dating. They had escalated beyond where Janey had ever gone with any other guy, and this thought only made her feel panicked. She had given so much to Sam. If he were to hurt her and discard her after all they'd already been through…
But no, Janey thought savagely. Sam might not be used to being flirted with, but he knew how to dish it out himself. She had seen it, and she felt nauseous as she recalled it, with Isabella. She had seen him charm, and flirt, and date her. He knew what he was doing.
"And how did the bicep-squeezing come into it then?" she snapped.
Sam's face flushed. "I told her I was a Beater," he recalled, "and she said I must have strong arms…"
Janey didn't know whether she wanted to scream at him or hit him. But she resisted doing either.
Sam at least had the decency to now look grave, knowing he couldn't deny that Dominique had very obviously been flirting with him, but this delayed realisation did nothing to endear him to his still-furious girlfriend.
"Janey," he said, looking panicked once more, "I thought it was weird when she did that, okay? And I told her I was looking forward to next year because my girlfriend was on the team too. I told her you were a Seeker, and by then you were already coming over here, and I—"
"That's a nice little story," Janey snarled, cutting him off.
"It's the truth!"
Janey wondered if the mere mention of a girlfriend would have dissuaded Dominique in her playful quest had Janey not at that very moment burst into the conversation and frightened her off. Had Sam been left to his own devices, would he have shut the conversation down himself? Because it sounded like the mention of Janey had been an oblivious one rather than because he was trying to politely let her down.
Sam had initially told her that he had spent the entire conversation talking about Janey. If that were true then Dominique had willfully ignored the fact that he had a girlfriend and continued to shamelessly flirt, clearly not thinking her efforts were futile—so Sam must have been happy to encourage it, Janey reasoned. And if he had, indeed, only mentioned her as Janey had already been rapidly approaching, then he had lied to her. So really, either way, he was in the wrong.
Janey narrowed her eyes once more.
"Janey," Sam tried again, forcing the calm a lot better than she'd have been able to. He placed his drink down on a nearby patio table. For a moment, it looked like he was considering taking her hands into his own but then thought better of it. "If Dominique was flirting with me then I truthfully didn't realise. And if I had, then I very much wouldn't have encouraged it. And if she was, then I absolutely was not reciprocating it, I promise you. I am telling you, I don't see any girl who isn't you."
Janey held his stare, searching for truth, searching for sincerity. She took a shaky breath. "Okay," she conceded. "I just… I find it hard to believe that you wouldn't be encouraged by somebody like Dominique flirting with you."
"What do you mean?"
And once more, Janey felt guilty noting the seemingly genuine sincerity in his question.
"Because she's… you know." Janey felt self-conscious, her cheeks turning pink, and not because of the sun bearing down on them. "Stunning."
Sam's expression didn't change in the slightest. "What?" he asked, letting out a small snort.
If he gave her some bullshit denial about how she wasn't, Janey vowed she'd hit him. "She's one of the Golden Weasleys," Janey explained, because that's what the three siblings had always been called when they were at Hogwarts.
If Sam recognised this, he didn't show it, and Janey was inclined to believe him. He didn't have a very convincing poker face, after all.
Janey felt desperate. "She's—"
"She's not you."
It was as though the earth had stopped moving. The ground beneath their feet came to a shuddering halt, and for one stolen moment, nobody existed in the garden besides them. Janey's blue eyes met Sam's brown, and something stretched between them that far extended the physical distance between them. Something deeply emotional, ethereal, spiritual even. The earth may have stopped moving but Janey's heart was beating strongly enough to power it on its own.
Janey dropped her gaze first, staring down at her feet. When she eventually looked back up, she daren't look Sam in the eye. She gave a slight shake of her head, as though in disbelief. Despite his tender assurances, she could not fathom it.
"Dominique is—"
Sam gave an aggravated roll of his eyes, clearly thinking they had reached some kind of silent, emotional truce.
"—tall, and blonde, and gorgeous, and you can't honestly tell me that you aren't attracted to someone like her, and if she'd wanted to be with you before I came along then you wouldn't look twice at me."
"That's not true," Sam said calmly. "And I am with you," he reminded her. "One pretty girl speaking to me is not ever going to be enough to drag me away from you, Janey. Give me some credit!"
"So you do think she's pretty?"
"Oh my God." Sam rubbed at his eyes, like he was in a nightmare he could somehow wake himself up from. He dropped his hands, took a steadying breath, and stared intently at his insane girlfriend.
Janey tentatively met his eyes once more.
"Janey," Sam said firmly. "Dominique obviously isn't a hideous troll, I can see that."
Janey listened in silence, lips pursed.
"But even in a sea of the most beautiful women in the world, I would only ever be looking for you."
Janey opened her mouth.
"And the room would be empty anyway because it would just be you," Sam said quickly, irritably, looking like he very much wanted the conversation to be over.
For a few seconds, Janey didn't speak. Sam seemed to be holding his breath, hopeful that he had done enough to now prove his innocence. Janey let the corners of her mouth flicker upwards ever so slightly.
"That was a really lame line."
Sam looked relieved, his own mouth curling into a small smile. "Yes," he emphasised, "because I'm not good at flirting. Or recognising it," he added for good measure.
"Okay." Janey exhaled, releasing the tension she'd been holding in her body. She knew she should apologise, but she felt embarrassed at how worked up she'd gotten over something that really shouldn't have been a big deal. Janey didn't like competition. If she'd ever felt threatened in a prior relationship, or felt her partner perhaps starting to lose interest and stray in a different direction, she'd always ended it immediately. But she knew she'd never be able to do that with Sam. She was already in too deep. He truly held the power to crush her heart into a million tiny pieces, and she hated that relinquishment of control.
Sam offered her a proper smile then, warm and kind. "Beautiful as she may be to any other number of guys, clearly gorgeous blondes are not my type."
If it were any consolation, Sam's face seemed to drop in horror as he realised the impact of what he'd just said in perfect sync with the smile dropping from Janey's face and the ice sliding back into her veins.
She didn't waste a single second before storming off, heading for the most easily-accessible escape, which happened to be through the open back door of the house.
Sam leapt into action. "Janey!" he called desperately, chasing down her hastily-retreating figure and cursing himself a thousand times over for managing to say the most idiotically offensive thing he probably could have in that situation.
A glimpse of blonde hair slipped through another interior door, and Sam followed suit, palms sweating. He had just managed to salvage the situation before he'd immediately screwed it up all over again. Idiot, he cursed himself. He should have just quit whilst he was finally ahead and steered the conversation away to something that didn't centre around rogue Weasley cousins and how physically attractive they may or may not have been.
Sam had genuinely not realised Dominique had approached him with any intentions other than to make polite small talk. And he wasn't sure, if he had, he'd have viciously told her to get lost and stay far away from him like Janey seemed to have wanted him to, but he certainly would have done his best to politely shut the conversation down and remove himself from the situation. He also hadn't realised Janey had arrived and was watching him like a hawk. He was sure she could have only been there for five minutes tops. He had only been engaging in idle chatter with people whilst he awaited her arrival anyway, longing for her company, craving her.
Why would he have ever thought Dominique, whom he had genuinely had scarcely more than one conversation with in his entire life, was trying to chat him up? She had approached him, presumably recognised him as Rose's friend, and he had indulged her. All they had talked about was Hogwarts, the fact that they were both in Gryffindor and she had also been a Prefect during her time at the school, and how Sam was on the Quidditch team. When she'd enquired what position he played, and he'd said Beater, she had commented on the fact that he must have strong arms and reached out to grasp him before he'd even really processed what was happening.
He had already been mid-sentence about how his girlfriend was the Seeker, and perhaps noted the surprise and mild disappointment in Dominique's expression at this revelation, but if Janey had not stormed over at that very moment, Sam was sure he would have started to sense the other girl's intentions and made it clear that he wasn't up for grabs. But God, he was sure Dominique's mission had not been to try and sincerely form a connection with him. She seemed like the kind of girl who enjoyed male attention, not someone who had been trying to secure a seventeen-year-old boyfriend. Was Janey deluded?
Well, yes was the short answer, he thought, as he pushed through the door she had disappeared through seconds before.
"Janey," he called after her, seething once more. "I wasn't saying that you're not gorgeous—or blonde," he added stupidly. "I was saying that she's not my type because you are! Clearly, my type is gorgeous blondes, they just happen to be fucking—"
Sam stopped abruptly, having found himself in the Potters' kitchen. Janey was staring at him beside the kitchen table, arms folded in the way he was very much accustomed to, but she wasn't alone in the kitchen. Sam recognised, in horror, Ron Weasley, who was Rose's dad, Harry Potter, who was obviously their host, and another redheaded man he assumed to be one of Rose's uncles. They were all staring at him, confused but curious expressions on their faces.
"—insane," he finished weakly, flashing them apologetic looks.
Before Sam could process how he was going to win Janey back around whilst also escaping the bemused eyes of his audience, Hermione walked into the kitchen, oblivious to any such tensions hanging in the air.
"I think we should take the trifle out now. We can always put a charm on it to moderate the temperature so it doesn't melt, but I think—"
Just as Sam had done seconds prior, Hermione stopped abruptly once she realised there were more bodies in the kitchen than she was expecting. "Oh, hi, Janey," she greeted, recognising the small blonde in the centre of the room. Her eyes flickered towards Sam, who she was standing next to. They had already had a conversation when Sam had arrived, but he thought she might have been about to greet him again had Janey not spoken up before she had the chance.
"Mrs Weasley, can I ask you a question?" Janey asked sweetly.
Sam felt tense, unsure where she was about to go with this.
"Of course," Hermione said kindly, but her eyes shone with surprise.
Janey glared hard at Sam as she said, "Did your husband ever flirt with other girls in front of you?"
Ron, who had been leaning against the kitchen sink and had apparently just taken a swig from the bottle in his hand, now choked on the mouthful he'd been about to swallow.
Hermione's eyes flickered towards her husband in amusement. "Um…"
"No!" Ron said furiously, apparently shocked and amused by her consideration.
"Right," Janey said, still glaring at Sam. "Because it would be massively disrespectful, wouldn't it?"
Sam opened his mouth to protest.
"And then to insult her appearance, and—"
"I did not," Sam said in a low growl, mortified that she was putting on this show in front of their friends' parents.
The Weasley uncle Sam hadn't yet placed looked thoroughly amused by the reaction Janey's question had evoked in his brother. Disguising it with a cough, he muttered what sounded like "Won-won," under his breath, and given the smirks that flitted between himself and Harry, who were both either side of Ron, Sam assumed this was some kind of in-joke.
Hermione too looked thoroughly amused by this remark, whilst Ron had turned a shade only slightly lighter than his vivid red hair. "She was my girlfriend," he said in mild protest.
"Still not nice to conduct yourself like that in front of your future wife, is it, Ron?" the other Weasley asked.
Sam had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that this might be Dominique's father and Janey was going to somehow sink him in trouble with an overprotective dad, but he was sure he had been outside earlier, next to the blonde woman who could only have been the so-called 'Golden Weasleys' mother. He looked to be slightly younger than the other few redheaded men Sam had seen dotted around the garden, and surmised it was likely two of the younger of Rose's cousins' father—Fred and Roxanne. George? It seemed to ring a bell, but Sam really couldn't be sure.
"I didn't know she was my future wife," Ron said indignantly.
Harry said nothing, but Sam noticed how he raised his eyebrows, taking a sip of his own drink.
Hermione's mouth was pressed into an uncontainable smile. "I'm taking the trifle out," she declared, refusing to engage further. She picked up a massive bowl of trifle topped with fresh strawberries that Sam very much hoped he'd be allowed to sample if Janey let him out of the kitchen alive.
Hermione turned to the three men leaning back against the counters. "You three could actually help, you know."
Sam watched enviously as Hermione departed, wishing it would be as easy for him to simply leave and return to the sun-filled warmth of the garden. He wondered what Janey would actually do if he simply followed Hermione, but he wasn't sure he was brave enough to find out.
"I'm a guest here," Ron said in response to his wife's parting remarks. "It's your house," he said, looking at Harry, incredulous.
"Well, I've done everything my wife told me to do," Harry defended. "Which was mostly stay out of the way of anything important and greet people."
Sam now felt incredibly awkward, like he and Janey were intruding on a conversation they were not invited to. He looked towards her, wondering if she would give any kind of indication of how she felt towards him now. When he was met with the same stony glare as before, her arms still tightly folded across her chest, he realised nothing had changed.
"Janey," he said weakly, desperate to end this dumb argument and embarrassed that he still had an audience. He wished they would take up Hermione's command, but none of the three men seemed keen to do anything of the kind.
"I will never speak to another woman so long as I live if it makes you happy," Sam declared.
"Smart man," the redhead Sam had ascertained to be George Weasley said, raising his bottle to him like a toast.
Sam felt flustered, but maybe he could use the three observing men to his advantage. Janey had been the one who wanted to drag adults into this, after all.
"Is it unreasonable," he questioned the three of them, "to engage in polite conversation with someone who you don't even know is supposedly flirting with you, just because your psychotic girlfriend might be lurking nearby?"
Sam realised he shouldn't have added the last bit, not least of all because it prompted Janey to call him an 'absolute prick' under her breath in response.
Harry looked uncomfortable, like he didn't think he should be doling out relationship advice to teenagers he'd never met before. George side-eyed Janey, entertained by her outburst. Ron alone, who Sam knew best, seemed invested in what the boy had to say.
"Before I answer, I need to know—does this have anything to do with my daughter?"
"Rose?" Sam asked stupidly. "God, no." He felt his own face now flush with colour.
"Okay, good, because I couldn't have remained impartial. The answer would always be, to any and every teenaged boy who might be in the vicinity, stay far, far away from my daughter." He nodded to himself like he had said someting incredibly wise.
"Rose isn't flirting with anybody," Sam said without thinking. "She's too busy pretending she's not still—" He had been about to say 'snogging Scorpius Malfoy' but catching Janey's widened eyes and the slight shake of her head, managed to stop himself in time.
Sam gulped, noting by the hardened look in Ron's eyes that he absolutely knew who he had been about to name drop, and was very grateful he hadn't. He was pretty sure Ron was somewhat okay with the idea of Scorpius potentially dating his daughter again, else the blond boy would have been deranged to show up to this event, but absolutely wasn't ready to outwardly celebrate it.
"It was one of her cousins," Sam said, hoping to steer the conversation away from thoughts of Rose and Scorpius, but then he realised, to the other two oblivious men, he very much could have been talking about either of their daughters.
"Nobody's daughter," he added for clarity, catching Harry's eyes and feeling hot. "Well, somebody's daughter," he amended. "Nobody here." Sam wasn't sure why it felt like he was digging a hole when he was the victim in this situation. He had been the flirtee, not the flirter!
"I don't know her dad's name," Sam said, feeling like he needed to explain himself. He wasn't sure why he didn't just say Dominique's name to clear it up, instead of putting all this emphasis on who her father was, but with Janey right there he felt like it would do more harm than good. Although, in truth, he wasn't sure where he was going with this now at all.
"Bill," Janey said, taking them all by surprise. "The hot one." She herself then looked flushed, forgetting who she was speaking to. "Hottest one," she amended, before turning even redder.
Sam felt no sympathy for her, but now felt a pang of annoyance that she could talk about Dominique's supposedly hot dad but he couldn't even entertain an innocent conversation with another attractive girl.
"Victoire was flirting with you?" Ron asked Sam with deep confusion.
Sam thought of the pregnant woman who had been hanging around the garden with her blue-haired husband. "No," he said awkwardly. "The other one."
"Dominique?" Harry suggested, and Sam was just grateful he hadn't had to say it out loud.
He opted not to confirm or deny, but he thought he saw a flicker of realisation appear in all three men's eyes. Sam wasn't sure if he felt relieved or affronted that he might not be her first victim.
"Wait, wait, wait, can we go back to Bill being the 'hot one'?" George asked, great mirth in his expression. "Who decided this?"
Janey didn't look embarrassed anymore, even slightly pleased with herself. "Gryffindor," she happily answered him. "We had a poll in the common room one evening."
Both Ron and George seemed to learn in eagerly, torn between disbelief and entertainment. Harry just stared, like this was all some elaborate joke.
"What?" Ron snorted.
Janey shrugged, as she so often did. "Yeah, last year, we did a poll to rank all the Weasley dads."
Sam was just as amused by this revelation as the men themselves were, temporarily distracted from his continued annoyance towards Janey.
"And Bill ranked top?" George demanded. But then he seemed to think about it and shook his head. "It's that damn earring, isn't it? And the werewolf scar. Scars are sexy," he said wisely.
Harry said nothing, but Sam saw him break out an involuntary smile.
"As long as I was second," George said.
"You were third," Janey said with an apologetic smile.
"Then who was second?" George asked, looking sharply at Ron, who now looked slightly smug.
"Charlie."
Ron's face dropped. "Charlie?" he demanded. "He's not even a dad!"
Janey shrugged again. "But he's got that whole mysterious loner thing going on."
"And the dragons," George said, nodding to himself again in a conciliatory manner.
"And the dragons," Janey agreed.
Ron now looked outraged. "Please, please tell me I ranked higher than Percy!"
"You did," Janey assured him.
"Oh, thank Merlin."
George side-eyed his brother. "Ron, I think you're a little too invested in how hot these teenage girls think you are."
Ron looked offended. "I'm not," he insisted. "And you're only saying that because you were third."
"Well, just be grateful Fred's not still around, you'd have ranked even lower."
Ron's eyes softened. To distract himself from whatever was on his mind, he looked desperately to both Sam and Janey. "Did Rose at least try and advocate for me?"
"Oh, no," Janey said brightly. "She very much refused to participate. But Hugo fought for you."
Ron looked pleased that at least his son, who did rather resemble him, had thought to defend his perceived attractiveness to a bunch of random schoolgirls.
"We ranked you too, Mr Potter," Janey added, smiling sweetly at Harry. "You were near the top."
Ron frowned again, realising this meant he had been pushed even further down the list. "He's not even a Weasley," he protested.
"Well, he married in," Janey pointed out, grinning. "And James thought it was fair."
Harry looked thoughtul, either at the mention of his son or at his own position in the list.
"And we threw Professor Longbottom in there too."
"Oh, come on," Ron said, now looking distressed. "I've got to be hotter than Neville."
Although everyone in the kitchen was now thoroughly entertained, Janey included, Sam felt his irritation growing once more. Whether she had intended to or not, Janey had completely derailed the conversation, but Sam still wanted his vindication.
"How come," he demanded, turning his anger back towards Janey, who was looking incredibly proud of herself, "I'm not allowed to even talk to another girl, and you can quite happily stand here and openly talk about how hot all our friends' dads are?"
Janey narrowed her eyes at him.
"Fuck off, Sam," she said, daringly uncouth considering there were three parents standing right beside her, one of whom she was a guest in the home of. She was now actively strolling towards the kitchen door, apparently done with the conversation. Before she departed though, she spun on her heel to shoot him one final look of venomous hatred. "Don't even bother speaking to me for the rest of the day. Go and make out with Dominique, and stay the hell away from me."
And then she was gone, leaving an unpleasant atmosphere in her wake. Sam felt his blood boiling once more.
"I wouldn't do that," George advised the teenager. "Bill might be the hot one but he's second to bottom in the 'tolerant father' ranks."
Sam glanced at Ron, assuming he would be taking that bottom spot. But the other man hadn't even heard his brother's quip because he was staring at the spot where Janey had just stormed off from, a look of thoughtful amusement on his face.
"She reminds me a lot of my wife when she was that age," Ron said, realising Sam was watching him. Harry snorted in confirmation by his side.
Feeling riled, Sam said in his most bitter tone, "Yeah, well she is a constant pain in my arse. Insane, and unreasonable, and intent on pissing me off with every waking moment."
George grinned at Ron. "I'm not saying anything."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Sam," he said, taking the younger boy by surprise. He had still been glaring at the door Janey had disappeared through, furiously seething. "Give her space," he advised knowingly.
"I'm not speaking to her for the rest of the day," Sam assured him.
"Well," Ron considered, "I suppose there's that too."
"But I'm not allowed to speak to anybody else," Sam muttered angrily. "God forbid."
Ron looked like he was about to dole out further advice, but at that moment, Hermione walked back into the kitchen. He leapt away from the sink he'd been leaning back against like it was on fire. "I was getting plates," he said hurriedly.
Hermione looked at him distrustfully. Ron smiled encouragingly in response.
"Okay," she said. "Good." Her eyes flitted between Harry and George. "And you two—"
"We're helping, we're helping," George insisted, he and Harry both immediately standing up straight and trying to look busy.
Seeming content, Hermione picked up a pile of napkins off the side before heading back towards the kitchen door. Ron obediently followed his wife with a stack of paper plates. Just as he was about to pass Sam to fulfil the unagreed-upon duties bestowed to him, he leaned in so the teenager alone could hear. In a voice that seemed to convey genuine appreciation and encouragement, he said, "It gets better."
Author's Note: Title and epigraph inspired by Taylor Swift's 'Gold Rush'