Chapter 41 – Obviously
For so many nights now
I find myself thinking about her now
But how can I win
She keeps dragging me in
I'm wasting my time because she'll never be mine
Sam let his hand fall to his side, the wildflowers he had hastily picked just five minutes ago feeling as limp and pointless as he now felt watching Henry Fontayne kissing Janey in her hospital bed. He wasn't entirely sure what had possessed him to do it. He should have just gone to find his girlfriend—to find Isabella.
But he hadn't.
Even though Janey had insisted that she was fine and didn't blame him in the slightest, Sam was entirely shouldering the guilt of her having gotten hurt. No matter what she said, he felt responsible. If he hadn't been the one to intercept the Bludger that had wreaked so much destruction, he should have at least been the one to catch her as she had fallen.
But he hadn't.
He had frozen. He had been entirely useless.
The least he could do, Sam thought as he had departed the Hospital Wing with the others, was get her some flowers or something. He had separated from the rest of the team, all of them probably assuming he was off to find Isabella, but instead, he had gone to the lake. There wasn't really much in the way of flora, given that it was rapidly approaching Winter, but he had been able to salvage a few wildflowers and form a small, little bouquet.
It would give her something nice to look at whilst she continued to recover, he thought optimistically. Just a little something to brighten her day.
But when he had returned to present his offering, it was clear that she had other such things to brighten her day. Sam didn't know what he had been thinking.
Feeling incredibly hollow, he turned away from the entrance to the Hospital Wing where he had been loitering and began heading back down the corridor. Which is where he promptly ran into—
"Isabella?"
"Hi," the beautiful Ravenclaw girl said in a rather frosty voice.
"I… I was just coming to find you," Sam said weakly.
Isabella did not look convinced, and Sam felt guilty for some reason.
"What's that?" she demanded, eyeing the measly little bouquet in his hand.
"Oh." Sam looked down at his hand, as though surprised about what he found he was clutching. "They're for you," he said, thinking quickly, desperately hoping that Isabella wouldn't see through his meagre lie.
He held up the wilting bunch of wildflowers, smiling hopefully. If there had been a steeliness in her gaze up until then, it had quickly melted away at the sight of the flowers.
"Really?" Isabella asked in wonder.
Sam relaxed. "Yeah, of course."
Isabella had flung her arms around Sam before he could think what to do next, and he softened in her embrace, some of the tension he had been holding in his body since he'd inadvertently seen Henry and Janey kiss fading away.
"You were so incredible out there," she breathed into their embrace. "Congratulations!"
Sam wondered why she had not said any of this first.
"Thanks," he breathed back. "It, ah, it was quite a match."
Isabella released him. "Is Janey okay?" she asked somewhat reluctantly.
Sam felt his heart swell. Although she looked a little pained by it, it was a nice change to see Isabella speak of Janey in a caring way. "Yeah," he said. "She's had about a cauldron's worth of painkillers and stuff, but she's fine. We all came to see her—the team," he said quickly, as though worried Isabella might think he had come alone. Even though, he realised, he was completely alone.
Isabella was smart. And she was quick. "Where's everybody else?"
"They went back to the Gryffindor Tower," Sam explained, forcing himself to try and act as calm and casual as possible, suddenly feeling deeply anxious. "James is throwing a massive victory party tonight."
Isabella pressed her lips together, that steeliness hardening in her eyes once more. Is this what it was like to have a girlfriend, Sam wondered in alarm. Constantly feeling scrutinised and on edge? Constantly looking into the eyes of someone who seemed disappointed in him?
"Well, they would have been going in the same direction that I came from then, wouldn't they?" Isabella said, her tone unrelenting. She'd make a good lawyer, Sam thought weakly. "But I didn't see anybody."
Sam's mouth felt very dry. "They must have gone a different way."
"Well, why didn't you go with them then?"
"Because I was coming to see you," Sam said, starting to get a little annoyed. Why did it feel like he was being interrogated? He hadn't done anything wrong.
Perhaps due to the slight tone shift in his voice, Isabella had now narrowed her eyes. "Were you going back to the Hospital Wing?" she asked, her tone dripping with accusation. But what she was accusing him of, Sam wasn't sure. He just knew that he now felt incredibly panicked.
"I—no," he said truthfully. "I just left. To come and see you," he emphasised once more.
"With flowers," Isabella stated drily.
"Yes."
"That you got… from the Hospital Wing?"
"No," Sam said quickly, heart thumping so loud that he was surprised it hadn't forced its way out of his chest. "I got them from the grounds—by the lake. I picked them for you."
"You picked them for me," Isabella repeated, like she really was a lawyer, recounting the events of a crime to a jury, "and then you went back to the Hospital Wing—"
"No," Sam lied. "I—"
"Sam, there is nothing down here but the Hospital Wing," Isabella snapped, finally losing her patience. "You already left with the rest of the team, you went and picked the flowers, and then you obviously came back here."
"Alright," he conceded. "But I was leaving—I'd left," he amended.
"But why were you here in the first place?"
"I, uh…" Was the room spinning? Sam felt rather dizzy. "I thought I left something there."
Isabella's eyes widened in sudden realisation, but it only made Sam feel more uneasy. Surely she hadn't bought that? But she physically recoiled from him as though he had just struck her, looking first to the pathetic, limp bouquet he was still holding down by his side and then straight into his eyes like he was a total stranger.
"You picked them for Janey," she said in breathy accusation.
Sam longed for nothing more than the ground to swallow him up completely. He felt like the blood in his veins had been replaced with ice. "No," he said quickly, desperately. "No, I—"
"Don't lie to me, Sam!" Isabella said, her voice getting a little shrieky.
Sam felt mortified. What if Henry and Janey heard them?
"Izzy, please," Sam pleaded, looking sharply around the corridor.
"Tell me the truth," she demanded.
In truth, Sam was starting to feel a little irritated by Isabella's reactions. Why was she acting like she had caught him doing something unforgivable? Okay, yeah, maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to lie to her—but could you blame him? Not after the reaction the truth had garnered. And it was stupid, he thought angrily, for her to even be acting so upset by it all. He hadn't done anything wrong.
"Alright, I picked the flowers for Janey," he said in an angry hiss. "I thought it would be something nice given that she almost died because of me. But I changed my mind—I wanted to give them to you instead."
"Why?" Isabella asked with less warmth than an iceberg.
"Because you're my girlfriend!" Sam exclaimed in total disbelief. "Why wouldn't I want to give you flowers?"
"I meant," Isabella snarled, "why did you change your mind about giving them to Janey?"
"Because… because," Sam spluttered, desperately thinking of a respectable answer. But why lie?—he realised. It hadn't done him any good so far. "Because Henry's in there with her. Did you know that?" he asked, confused as to why it sounded so much like an accusation.
"Of course," Isabella said with ease, frowning at Sam's abrupt hostility. "He said he wanted to come and visit her to make sure she was okay?"
"Oh." Sam gulped.
"Why does that matter?"
"Izzy, I think we might have gone too far," Sam said, his mind desperately leaping to the next thing. "With the whole 'Henry and Janey' thing."
Isabella seemed to have softened with this new line of thinking, but she seemed more confused than concerned. "What do you mean?"
"I thought it would be good, you know? Having Henry hang out with Janey for a bit so that we could have some peace—but I think she's actually starting to fall for him. It seems a bit cruel, doesn't it? To mess with her like that?"
Isabella didn't look as upset by Sam speaking of Janey with concern like he might have feared, but was now actually smiling. What was happening? He couldn't help but think of the tender way Henry had just pressed his lips to Janey's. He might not have liked the girl, but he didn't want her to get hurt. And the deeper she fell, the worse it would be when they revealed it was all fake.
Though that kiss hadn't seemed all that fake…
"Sam," Isabella said with a gentle laugh. "Henry's not pretending—I think he genuinely likes her."
"What?"
"I asked him to maybe hang out with her a bit so we could have some time to be together, and he was super reluctant," Isabella explained. "But he said she'd been hanging out a lot in the library for some reason and they just genuinely started spending time together. I know it's super early, but I think he does actually like her."
Sam was stunned. He didn't know what to say. "But, ah…"
"Is that a problem?" Isabella asked, suddenly narrowing her eyes once more.
"No, of course not," Sam insisted, though his thumping heart seemed to be screaming in protest. "I just don't want her to get hurt."
But as he should have known, this didn't make the situation at all better.
"She has been nothing but nasty to you for years," Isabella reminded him. "I don't understand why you all of a sudden care so much about her getting hurt?"
"I just think she should know the truth," Sam replied calmly. "That it isn't real."
"It is real," Isabella cried, laughing in disbelief. "My brother really doesn't care so much about our relationship to go to so much effort to spend time with a girl he can't stand. He seems genuinely besotted by her."
Sam's stomach had stirred up some deep feelings of unease. "Oh," was all he said again, feeling dizzy once more. Well, that had been entirely unexpected. That Janey and Henry had developed real feelings for each other? Was that really true?
Something didn't sit right with him. But he'd be an idiot to try and protest it with Isabella any further. She seemed to have finally softened to him after all his misdemeanours.
"I really am sorry, Izzy," Sam said weakly. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad about the flowers. I think I just feel really guilty about everything that happened in the match."
Isabella's eyes seemed to twinkle. "Just don't lie to me," she said, but her tone was now kind.
"I won't," Sam vowed, hoping it was true. He held out the flowers to her with a small, hopeful smile.
After a moment's hesitation, she took them, playfully rolling her eyes. "I want a real bouquet next time," she said.
Sam was grinning now. "I'm pretty limited given the season, but I'll do my best." Slipping his hand into Isabella's free one, they began walking down the corridor, thoughts of Janey and Henry all but gone.
They had almost turned the corner, making idle small talk about the more positive aspects of the match when they almost ran headfirst into a redheaded girl.
"Rose?" Sam asked in surprise.
"Oh—hi, Sam!" Rose said, recognising her teammate. She noticed the girl he was attached to. "Hi, Isabella."
Isabella smiled politely back, but she didn't say anything herself.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked.
"Oh, I think I left my wand by Janey's bed," Rose explained with a small laugh. She then frowned, confused. "Wait, what are you still doing here?"
"I ran into Isabella," Sam said quickly, really not wishing to relay the mishap with the flowers.
"But—"
"I'll see you later at the party, yeah?" Sam interrupted.
Rose smiled. "Oh, for sure. Are you going to come, Isabella?" she asked kindly. "It will be in the Gryffindor Common Room, but you'd be more than welcome—James won't care."
Something about the invitation made Sam feel uneasy. He still hadn't really had Isabella overlap with his friends too much. And what if a recovered Janey was there? No doubt she'd hate to spend her victory party in Isabella's presence.
"Maybe," Isabella said non-committedly, which Sam hoped was an indicator that she also didn't share much enthusiasm for the invitation.
"Okay, great!" Rose beamed at them both. She was about to continue down the corridor back to the Hospital Wing when she turned towards Sam like she had just remembered something.
Before he could enquire what, or maybe even issue a warning that Janey might not be too happy to be interrupted given what she was up to with Henry, Rose had flung her arms around Sam, surprising both him and Isabella, whose hand got wrenched from his in the process.
"You were so great today!" Rose enthused. She released a still-startled Sam, smiling up at him with innocently twinkling eyes. "We didn't really get to celebrate our win out on the pitch given all the drama—but congratulations!"
"Oh," Sam said, smiling back. "Yeah, well—you too. We absolutely crushed it!"
Rose offered one, final huge grin before she hurried off back to the Hospital Wing. "Bye, Isabella!" she cheerily called out as she departed.
Why couldn't they all act like that around Isabella, Sam thought appreciatively. Rose was really going out of her way to be kind to Isabella and make her feel included. So why couldn't Janey ever do the same?
But when Sam turned back towards Isabella, eager to retake her hand and spend some quality time together after a gruelling week, his face fell. It appeared, by her expression, that she did not share the same fondness for Rose that Sam was now feeling following their brief interaction. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned. Had he missed something?
Isabella looked embarrassed to have been caught looking so frosty. To mask it, she began walking back down the corridor, indicating for him to join her. "No, I'm fine," she said, but Sam knew he daren't believe it. God, what was it with girls? Why were they so constantly unpredictable in their emotions? What could have possibly upset her now?
Too scared to say anything, Sam just walked by his girlfriend's side, waiting for her to take the lead and say something first. But when she did, his heart seemed to freeze in his chest.
"Rose is pretty, isn't she?" Isabella piped up thoughtfully, her eyes facing dead-straight in front of them as they continued down the corridor.
Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.
Surely this wasn't really happening? Sam had known this was a thing—the weird, hostile jealousy between women that was masked as complimentary appreciation—but God, he and Isabella had only been official for a few weeks. Shouldn't it have been a bit longer before she started getting possessive and competitive?
He knew how he chose to answer could literally be life-or-death where his relationship was concerned, an incredibly fragile line he was being forced to walk. But he wasn't an idiot. He knew better than to tell the truth.
"I don't know," Sam said, trying to sound casual and dismissive, his palms sweating. He dared to sneak a look at her. "Maybe to some people."
That was a good answer, right? It suggested that he thought, sure, she's not a hideous troll—because if he too passionately denounced Rose's beauty or acted like he didn't see it, it would surely look like he was trying too hard to hide something—but that he wasn't personally attracted to her.
Isabella's face dropped, but she remained looking straight ahead. "Hmm," was all she said.
Shit.
"Is she single?" Isabella asked.
Shit, shit, shit.
"Err, yeah. As far as I'm aware."
Isabella seemed to contemplate his answer. Sam's heart was racing in his chest. Her expression gave nothing to indicate whether or not he was answering her probing questions correctly or not. Was he only incriminating himself further?
"She hasn't dated anybody since Scorpius Malfoy." The way she said it was more like it was a statement rather than a question. Sam wasn't sure if he was supposed to answer her or not.
"No," he said simply. "I don't think so."
He knew so, but it seemed safer for Sam to allow some kind of implied disinterest. And he was disinterested, he thought angrily. Obviously, he had once cared for Rose—he couldn't deny that—but that was so far in the past that it almost felt like a distant daydream. Why would Isabella care so much? It wasn't like Rose was a rival to her—both of them vying for Sam's affections. Isabella already had them!
"Did you and her ever kiss?"
"Oh my God, Izzy," Sam finally snapped, his patience running out. "What are you doing?" he demanded, stopping in his tracks so she was forced to turn and look at him if she wanted to continue their conversation. He had dropped her hand in anger.
Isabella met his wrath, her face slipping into a displeased scowl. "Why can't you answer the question?"
"Of course Rose and I have never kissed!" Sam insisted. "And I don't understand what you're trying to imply by asking me this?"
"You used to fancy her," Isabella stated with great bitterness.
Sam knew he couldn't deny it. He had made a complete spectacle of himself by getting into a physical fight with Scorpius back in Fourth Year and publicly yelling to the whole school that he was in love with her. God, it was mortifying to think about given everything that had happened since then.
"That was almost two years ago," Sam said calmly. "Obviously," he snarled, his resolve immediately slipping, looking her very pointedly up and down, "I've moved on."
Sam couldn't be sure when exactly his feelings for Rose had fizzled out—whether they even ever truly had. It was more so that he had so come to terms with her as a firm friend and nothing more, that to even think of her romantically now felt odd and distasteful. If Rose somehow ever decided she wanted Sam as more than a friend and was actively interested in initiating a romance with him then perhaps so too those feelings could be resurrected from within himself, but he was hardly pining for her.
Sam also knew he was stretching the truth by implying his crush had developed and ceased two years ago. As far as he was aware, he had been besotted with Rose from the instant he'd met her, and he hadn't truly overcome that until only around ten months ago. But Isabella really didn't need to know that.
"Izzy," Sam said firmly, because she had made no comment. "Me and Rose are nothing more than friends, okay? And that is all we will ever be."
Isabella looked deeply pained, and Sam felt guilty. Maybe he was overreacting. Maybe it was completely normal and justifiable for her to be feeling the way she was feeling and he was just being unnecessarily cruel.
Softening, he took both of her hands into his. Isabella seemed reluctant at first, but she didn't pull away.
"You and Rose have a pretty dramatic history," Isabella said, sounding solemn. "We all saw what went down with you and Scorpius…"
Oh, Sam hated himself from the past. Why the hell had he acted like such an idiot? He should have known his mortifying exploits would come around to bite him in the arse. He had gone through all that public humiliation, and he hadn't even gotten the girl in the end. What a loser.
"I was young and stupid," Sam insisted. "But that is completely in the past. Rose was never—and is not at all—interested in me, I can assure you. And neither am I with her," he added for good measure. "You are the only girl who I care about, Izzy." He dropped his voice to something softer, his eyes twinkling with reassuring tenderness. "You're the only girl who's captured my heart."
Something seemed to soften in Isabella's stormy blue eyes as she stared back at Sam, but then another nervous look flitted across her face. "It's just… that hug," she gulped. "It seemed pretty intimate."
"What?" Sam asked, genuinely dumbfounded. Was Isabella deluded? Sam had shared more passionate embraces with James after they'd triumphed after some pretty exhilarating Quidditch matches!
"Rose is just like that with her friends," Sam said, knowing it to be true. Rose had always hugged him—had always hugged all of them. It certainly wasn't anything to read into.
Sam almost wondered if he should mention that Rose and Mason had actually kissed before, to emphasise that if she were going to be romantically involved with any one of them from their little friend group then it was more likely to be him than the guy she had consistently and constantly rejected. But he didn't think Rose would appreciate it, especially given that it very much seemed like there was nothing underlying occurring between them since then—almost a year ago now. He didn't want to contribute to idle gossip, and he felt Isabella, like Janey, would be the kind of girl to relish in it.
"Look," Sam suggested, smiling despite himself and his continued frustration at the situation. "If it means that much to you, I'll set some firm boundaries with Rose, alright?"
"Sam," Isabella groaned, looking embarrassed. "I didn't mean—"
"No, I'm serious," Sam interrupted. "No touching—keep your hands off of me, missy—that's what I'll tell her."
Isabella snorted.
"If she comes even within a five-foot radius of me, I'll hex her."
Isabella was fully laughing now, and Sam felt immensely relieved.
"In all honesty, Izzy, you really do not need to worry. Not when it comes to Rose," Sam assured her, hoping they could put this bizarre, unexpected argument to rest and never dwell on it again.
Isabella was tight-lipped once more. "Not when it comes to Rose?" she repeated.
Sam frowned. "Not when it comes to anybody."
What the hell was the problem now? Sam felt scrutinised once more, but he honestly had no idea why. What was he supposed to do—not have female friends? Not ever speak to another human woman ever again to prove his loyalty? And where the hell had any of this even come from? Isabella had not seemed the type to be possessive and jealous. She had seemed so sweet, so charming, so kind…
Before Sam could somehow dig himself an even deeper hole, he pulled Isabella towards him and planted a kiss on her lips. She didn't push him away in disgust, so that seemed like a positive, but she also didn't feel particularly warm to him.
Sam released her, feeling sad, feeling hollow. "Will you come to the party?" he asked, gently playing with her hands
Isabella dropped her eyes before she answered, and so too Sam's heart dropped, knowing what her answer would be. "I don't really feel up to it…"
"Okay," he said sadly. "I'll miss you."
Isabella quirked an eyebrow, but Sam didn't really pay it much mind.
"At least now, what with the match being over, we won't be having practice every day—so we'll actually get to spend some time together this week," he said with hopeful optimism.
Isabella offered a small smile that very much did not extend to her eyes.
"Right, well," Sam announced, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"
"I guess," Isabella said stiffly.
Confused, Sam pulled her into a hug. He figured she was probably just still feeling a little trepidation after the whirlwind rollercoaster of their conversation, but he definitely sensed a very heavy coldness from her. She was hugging him back, but it very much felt like something was off between them. Well, he guessed, it had been an emotional day so far—in many aspects. Maybe they just needed to start the week afresh and the spark between them would flourish once more.
Sam released her, holding her at arm's length. Even if she was upset with him—for whatever multitude of reasons she had decided to be offended by—she was still so beautiful. "Do you want me to walk you back to the Ravenclaw Tower?" he offered, sort of hoping she'd say no. Honestly, after how the day had gone so far, he just wanted to cut loose in the Gryffindor Common Room and celebrate their victory—with or without his girlfriend.
"No," Isabella said firmly.
Sam frowned.
"Bye, Sam."
"Izzy?"
But she was already gone, striding away down the corridor with a very determined bitterness, leaving Sam more confused than ever. Right as he thought she was about to disappear for good without so much as a departing smile, she turned her head, her wave of raven hair flying up around her face. In a voice colder than he'd ever heard her use before, the light in her eyes entirely diminished, she said, "Thanks for the flowers."
Janey never could have foreseen her romance with Henry Fontayne. It felt like he had come out of nowhere and completely upended her life—in the best way possible. It wasn't like she hadn't known him all those years prior—especially since they'd both become Prefects—but that the blue-eyed, bookish Ravenclaw boy would become so quickly important to her was not anything she could have predicted. Not even so much as a couple of weeks ago!
They had not defined anything, but unlike with Roman (and perhaps because of it), Janey was actually grateful. In this instance, she actually liked not knowing what, exactly, they 'were' or where it might be going. She didn't feel any pressure with Henry—she just truly enjoyed spending time with him.
After all the confusion with Roman, it felt so refreshingly simplistic and affirming to share what she did with Henry. They weren't yet dating—not how Janey would define it—but it was very clear that they were both focused on only each other, and that Henry did genuinely like her in a romantic sense. There were no grey areas. He was both interested and attentive, but he also gave her space. He seemed loyal, but independent too.
She was excited to see where it was heading. As were, irritatingly, all of her friends.
After he had come to see her in the Hospital Wing, Janey knew she couldn't deny that she was in the throes of a fresh new romance with the Ravenclaw, and they weren't missing any opportunities to endlessly probe her on their progress.
"You should ask him out," Rose was insisting one rainy evening in the Gryffindor Common Room. It was now cold enough for them to make use of the grand fireplace, and they were cast into a pleasant orange glow.
"Absolutely not," Janey scoffed. "I don't ask guys out—they ask me. And anyway," she said, feeling a little bashful, "We've only been seeing each other for a couple of weeks…"
That didn't normally stop Janey, but things felt different with Henry, and she didn't want to rush or ruin anything. She wanted it—if anything were even going to happen—to just happen organically.
James took the opportunity from where he was lying spread out over an entire sofa by himself to smirk, first at Janey and then at Sam, who she was surprised had actually opted to spend the evening with them instead of sloping off to seek out Isabella. She had noticed that he'd been spending far less time with her recently.
"What?" Janey asked with narrowed eyes, recognising the mischievous twinkle in James' eye that suggested he was going to say something he thought was humorous at her expense.
"Nothing," he said casually, though still with a deep smirk. "I just think it's nice that you and Sam share a type."
Janey glared at him. Thankfully, she didn't have a chance to make a retort of her own before Taylor had interrupted.
"You should at least ask him on a date," she urged.
Janey unintentionally wrinkled her nose up at the suggestion. "I don't really 'do' dates. And besides, we don't have another Hogsmeade weekend until December."
"You don't 'do' dates?" Gwen repeated, amused.
"Not really, no," Janey said in a dismissive manner. Why was that so hard to believe? She had been on dates, sure, but they always felt oddly formal and left her feeling out of sorts. She preferred casual hang-outs.
Rose dropped her eyes to the floor, and so too dropped her voice. "Not your own anyway."
Janey now glared at her. Nobody else knew that she had forced Rose to stalk Sam and Isabella's Hogsmeade date, and she really didn't wish for it to be revealed—especially not to the boy himself.
"Why don't the rest of you go on your own dates," she snapped in defence. All three of her female friends immediately dropped their smiles.
"Yeah," James chimed in gleefully. "This is a pretty poor showing from our group in the romance department. You guys need to take a leaf out of Sam's book and step it up. We're the reigning Quidditch team and he's the only one getting some action? It just isn't right." He shook his head sadly.
Gwen was now eyeing James with deep concern.
"What?" he asked, catching on.
"What about Ebony?" she demanded.
James frowned. "Ebony's not on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team? But she's getting plenty of action, I can assure you."
"But you just said Sam was the only one!"
James rolled his eyes. "I excluded me and Janey—obviously. We've always got something going on."
Janey high-fived him without thinking.
"I just meant—Sam's stepped up his game, and look how it's going!"
Sam looked flustered as all eyes turned to him, even though most seemed to be looking at him with pride. Janey felt uncomfortable scrutinising the boy and looked away. She was somewhat glad that the conversation had shifted from talk of her and Henry, but she didn't particularly want to discuss Sam's relationship with Isabella either.
"Where is she anyway?" Taylor demanded. "How come she never hangs out with us? Ebony does."
Sam looked affronted. "Ebony's not here right now," he pointed out defensively.
"She blew me off," James sighed wistfully. "To hang out with—" he hesitated and cleared his throat to disguise it. "Her other loser friends," he finished, purposefully avoiding looking at Rose.
Nobody said a word. The unspoken name seemed to haunt the common room.
"And anyway, she's busy," Sam went on like nothing had happened.
"Doing what?" Taylor asked suspiciously. "You've been spending way more time with us this week than usual—anybody would assume you'd be with her right now."
Janey had been thinking the same thing. They had barely seen Sam over the past month—something she had been incredibly grateful for—but ever since their Quidditch win, he had been spending way more time in the Gryffindor Tower. Whenever Janey wasn't with Henry, Sam always seemed to be there. It was weird.
"She's busy," Sam said dismissively, apparently none-too-happy with Taylor's interrogation. "She's got… homework."
But nobody seemed to be buying it. Janey wondered if something had happened—whether they'd maybe had an argument or something. Was their short-lived romance already on the rocks? She wasn't sure why this consideration excited her. Perhaps because Sam had been so smug and so dismissive about Janey's own dating life. If all wasn't sunshine and rainbows in his own relationship then maybe it was comeuppance.
Rose seemed determined to prove James' almost-slip-up hadn't bothered her and join in their conversation. "I thought Isabella was going to come to the party last week?" she asked Sam kindly.
"Oh, err, she didn't feel good," Sam answered quickly. A little too quickly.
It seemed like a lie, Janey thought to herself. Something was definitely up.
"But she—"
"Look, why is everybody grilling me about my girlfriend?" Sam snapped, apparently losing his patience. He glared at both Rose and Taylor in particular. "She's fine. We're fine. Why can't I hang out with my friends every now and again?"
Rose and Taylor exchanged a guilty look, perhaps feeling bad for having pushed Sam.
"That's not what I was saying, Sam," Rose said calmly, looking apologetic. "I was just suggesting it would be more than okay—nice, even—if Isabella ever wanted to hang out with us too."
Janey involuntarily made a gagging noise that didn't go unnoticed by Sam.
"What?" she demanded, unable to help herself feeling riled. "Isn't it bad enough that some of us have to endure her company at Prefect meetings? Now you want to integrate her into our social lives too?"
Of course, this only succeeded in conjuring an angry scowl upon Sam's face. And it had been so long since they'd last argued too—almost an entire week. Ever since Janey's brief stay in the Hospital Wing, Sam had been noticeably kinder to her. But she assumed, by the look on his face, that was all about to come crashing down.
Well, she thought, she supposed she had provoked it. But just because she and Sam had been on good terms, and just because she was now somewhat sort of dating her brother, that didn't mean that Isabella didn't still irritate Janey to no end. And she wasn't going to pretend she didn't just for Sam's sake.
"Maybe this is why I don't want to ever bring her round?" Sam said sarcastically, looking vindicated. "Because everybody is just so pleasant and welcoming."
Janey opened her mouth to engage in battle, but Taylor impatiently cut across. "Ignore her," she told Sam. "Janey aside, it feels like she just doesn't like us."
Sam looked dazed. "She likes you," he insisted, though not convincingly.
James was now looking thoughtful. "Who wouldn't—we're a delightful bunch."
"We can be a bit overbearing," Rose mused, frowning slightly, like she herself felt responsible for Isabella's perceived slight.
This more than anything seemed to invoke Sam's need to placate and reassure. "Isabella likes you," he told Rose, and then blushed slightly. "All of you," he insisted, trying to cover it up.
Janey just scoffed again, but Sam ignored her. He focused back on Rose.
"Literally the other day she was telling me how pretty she thought you were."
Rose looked flattered, but Janey's entire body seemed to light up with glee. "Ha!" she involuntarily exclaimed.
Rose looked at her, confused.
"Oh, you're gorgeous, don't worry," Janey quickly assured her with a playful cadence. "But you're deluded if you think that was a sincere compliment," Janey informed Sam with even more joy.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.
"What girl ever just randomly tells the guy she's seeing how pretty she thinks his friend is?" She had addressed the question to the group as a whole, and even though she hadn't really expected anybody to respond, no one said anything, though all looked intrigued. "She's jealous as hell," Janey declared. "That was a nasty, snakey, jealous compliment. Probably to see how you'd react."
"Isabella's not like that," Sam mumbled unconvincingly. "She was just being kind. Some people," he said critically, "can be nice about other women. They don't need to compete."
Janey's face dropped into a scowl. "Oh, a man-splained lecture about feminism from everybody's favourite supporter of women?" she asked sarcastically. "I'd love to hear this."
"You're just trying to start drama that doesn't exist," Sam insisted, remarkably calm given how he normally responded to Janey's taunts.
"I'm not. I'm being incredibly sincere here. I know more about how girls' minds operate than you ever could. Some girls get really weird about guys having female friends—believe me."
Sam looked uncomfortable. He was looking at the other girls in the group as though they might confirm or deny Janey's assurance.
"Is that true?" he asked desperately when no one offered anything up. He focused on Gwen. "Did you feel like that with Mason?" he asked.
The boy in question, who so far had not really contributed much to the conversation himself, looked up at the sound of his name.
Gwen looked affronted at her previous relationship being addressed so directly—especially given that Mason was also sitting right there. "No, of course not," she said quickly. "Though I suppose that's because all of Mason's female friends were my friends anyway." She let out an uneasy laugh.
"And maybe, given how things turned out, you should have been wary," Janey couldn't help but say, desperate to prove her point. Her eyes very pointedly flickered to Rose. But she should have known to bite her tongue, given the outrage this comment caused.
"Janey," Gwen said irritably, Mason too letting out a mortified, defensive exclamation.
Rose remained silent, but she looked like she wished the ground would swallow her up.
James alone seemed to be confused by what everybody was referencing. "Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Gwen said quickly, glaring at Janey.
The blonde girl fell silent. She supposed James was the only one who didn't know that Mason and Gwen had ended their relationship, in part, because he had kissed Rose. And she should have known it wasn't her place to make glib comments about the whole thing—she had just wanted to prove her point.
James seemed to have moved on though. "Ebony's never been like that," he said thoughtfully. "She loves you guys."
"Yes, but, again," Janey emphasised, "she was already friends with all of us anyway. Why would she ever feel threatened? God knows her biggest competition was always Rose—and that obviously wasn't going to be a factor with her cousin," she snorted.
And, once more, the entire group looked mortified. Janey felt annoyed again. Why was there so much that she wasn't allowed to reference out loud? All of these were completely valid points that proved her completely right! Rose had been immensely jealous of Scorpius' close friendship with Ebony—and rightly so given that he had ended up cheating on and then leaving her to be with the other girl.
"Look, all I'm saying," Janey said, feeling irritable, "is that I've had countless guys feel threatened by my friendship with James."
"Really?" James asked excitedly.
"Tonnes!" Janey confirmed. "People don't get that men and women can be that close without there ever being anything romantic, so they feel super threatened."
James looked absolutely delighted at this revelation. "So this whole time I've been breaking even more hearts than I ever realised? Poor guys—I can't even imagine having to compete with me."
"They weren't competing with you!" Janey reminded him, laughing. "There was no credible threat there, obviously—guys just get competitive for no reason And girls," she emphasised, "are even worse. We get jealous over everything," she informed Sam a little smugly.
He had gone remarkably pale, the truth perhaps sinking in.
"You hang out with the hottest girls Gryffindor has to offer," Janey said with a smirk. "Mega babes on the Quidditch team. And Taylor," she added.
"Hey!"
"Who is your ex," Janey reminded him, ignoring Taylor.
Sam was now looking incredibly flustered. "Yeah but, that's not—we weren't—"
"This actually makes a lot of sense," Albus piped up, looking deeply thoughtful at all he had seemingly learnt about how girls' minds worked in their brief conversation.
"Isabella is not jealous," Sam reaffirmed calmly. "Not of any of you."
But Janey felt immensely vindicated. "Yeah? What exactly was the context of her telling you, out of the blue, that she thought Rose was pretty then?"
Sam looked like he was considering not being entirely truthful, but he seemed to think better of it. "Right after Rose hugged me," he sighed, perhaps knowing this would only affirm Janey's accusations.
Janey beamed. She leaned back in satisfaction whilst Rose's face dropped.
"Outside of the Hospital Wing?" she asked, sounding panicked. "When I congratulated you on our win?"
"Yeah," Sam mumbled.
Even Gwen raised her eyebrows.
"And then what did she say?" Janey prompted, revelling in her smugness. She had earned it, after all.
"She asked if Rose was seeing anybody…"
Gwen, Taylor, and Rose now all looked at each other awkwardly, knowing Janey was right.
Only the boys, bar Sam, remained confused.
"Why would that mean she's jealous of Rose?" Albus asked.
"She's not," Sam said weakly, but nobody was listening to him anymore.
"Because if Rose is single—which she is—then she's a threat. A single girl who's super pretty and super close to her boyfriend? What's to decide she won't one day decide she wants Sam for herself and snatch him away?"
Albus looked alarmed. "Do girls really do that?"
Janey stared at him very pointedly. Albus of all people should have known this to be true given who his best friend was. "Ebony," she reminded him like he was an idiot.
"Alright," James said firmly. "If anybody says another slanderous thing about Ebony or her former irrelevant entanglements before she landed this hot piece of arse then they're getting banned from the common room."
Janey knew James wasn't so much annoyed at her casual talks of Ebony's prior relationship with Scorpius than he was just being protective of Rose, but she respected him anyway.
"It happens," was all she insisted to Albus, vowing to mention Ebony no further. Although it was certainly interesting that, in the cases that had been mentioned so far, Rose had always been the threatening other woman—if not the victim herself.
Rose herself looked deeply uncomfortable. "I'm sure Isabella was just being nice," she assured Sam, but she didn't look so sure herself.
"Nope," Janey said gleefully. "She made this comment after Rose hugged you?" she asked Sam, sneering as she did so. "She was trying to gauge whether or not you thought she was attractive. She said it to see how you'd react."
"Well, how did you react?" Mason asked, surprising them all.
"I said I don't know—maybe to some people." He flashed Rose an apologetic look
Janey rolled her eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by Sam.
"Well, what was I supposed to say?" he snapped.
"It doesn't matter!" Janey cried. "If you'd disagreed, which is an obvious lie, she'd think you were trying to hide something. If you'd agreed, then she would have felt humiliated."
All four boys looked deeply confused.
"That's dumb," James said, the others murmuring in agreement.
Janey just shrugged. "That's women."
"I'm glad Ebony doesn't play these mind games," James went on, looking thoughtful.
"Well, suppose she did, what would you say?" Janey asked, intrigued as to how James would handle the situation. He normally played things so cool, she couldn't imagine him tying himself up in knots like Sam inevitably did. "What if Ebony asked you if she thought I was attractive?" she couldn't help but ask, grinning from ear to ear.
James beamed at Janey. "I'd say hell yeah, she is, what a saucy little temptress!"
Janey found herself snorting. "Alright, what if—"
"I'm going to stop you right there," James interrupted. "Because whatever name you say, I'd say Ebony was way more attractive—and I wouldn't be lying."
And Janey knew it to be true. "Alright," she agreed. But she was determined to get a proper answer somehow. "What if she asked if you thought… Professor Bobbin was attractive?" she eventually decided. The Headmistress, though she was the same age as James' parents, was, in Janey's opinion, the most attractive female faculty member.
James seemed to genuinely consider it. "I'd say sure—I would."
Rose looked at her cousin distastefully, whilst the others laughed.
Feeling urged on, James continued. "If she had a daughter, I'd certainly show her a good time."
"James, that's so disrespectful," Rose protested.
"What? She'd still never be as hot as Ebony—and she knows it, so this whole thing is pointless, because she'd never ask me in the first place."
Amused as she was, Janey returned to the matter at hand. "My point is, if Isabella is already this jealous so early on then it's only going to get worse from here," she said brightly, addressing Sam once more.
Sam shook his head. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Fine—don't believe me, but be it on your head. Or, rather, your relationship."
Janey hadn't meant for it to sound like a threat, but Sam narrowed his eyes nevertheless.
"If you don't resolve this soon then she's going to force you to ditch Rose for good," Janey went on matter-of-factly. "She won't trust her. She won't trust you."
"Isabella trusts me," Sam said quickly.
"Sure," Janey drawled. "She sounds like she's really stable and happy about the whole thing."
"What whole thing?"
"Your relationship with Rose."
"But Rose and I don't have a relationship," Sam insisted. He once more looked to the girl in question with a flash of apology. "Not a romantic one anyway."
Janey stared long and hard at Sam, refusing to believe he could be so dumb. "You have a history," she said delicately, unsure whether even talking about Sam's former obsessive crush on Rose would be crossing a line into the whole unspoken saga. "Would you feel comfortable knowing Isabella hung around with a guy she'd told the whole school she was in love with only last year? Wouldn't you feel paranoid and jealous?"
Sam certainly was looking panicked, but Janey couldn't tell whether it was to do with Isabella or the fact that she was so openly talking about his former crush on Rose. Well, if he was embarrassed by it, Janey reasoned, then he shouldn't have acted so embarrassing in the first place. Idiot.
"That's all in the past," Sam said in a calm but firm voice, not really answering the question.
"We'll see," Janey said cryptically.
"Why didn't she come to the party?" Taylor asked, refusing to let it go.
Sam looked aggravated by the girls' refusal to drop their interrogative line of questioning, but Janey was also intrigued.
"I already told you," he sighed impatiently. "She said she didn't feel well."
"No, you must have done something wrong," Janey countered with glee.
"I didn't—"
"What did she say exactly?" Taylor cut across Sam's likely pitiful defence of his hostile girlfriend.
"None of this is any of your business!" He glared at the three girls in particular.
Taylor looked most offended. "Look, Sam, we're just trying to help you—you clearly know nothing about girls." She raised an eyebrow, daring him to contradict her, but Sam knew there was no point.
"I know enough to have a girlfriend in the first place," he reminded them frostily.
"Yeah, but getting girls is the easy bit," James pointed out, still lolling on the sofa. "Keeping them, however… That's a different ballpark altogether."
"It probably helps not to cheat on them," Mason pointed out in a low mumble, fixing his best friend with a condescending look. It was no secret that James hadn't been particularly faithful to any of the girls he'd dated before Ebony.
James didn't look affronted, but rather thoughtful at the comment, like he had just learned something incredibly insightful.
"What did Isabella say?" Taylor prompted, looking at Sam with impatience.
"Nothing—she just said she wasn't feeling well and she wanted to go back to the Ravenclaw Tower."
"And you walked her back?" Gwen asked.
Sam blushed slightly. "Well, no…"
Gwen and Taylor shared a knowing look.
"But I did offer," Sam added hurriedly. "She said it was fine—I didn't need to."
Gwen and Taylor shared another look. Janey watched it all with a gleeful smile unfurling on her lips. Quality entertainment.
Rose groaned, and when Sam looked panicked by her response, clarified, "Oh, Sam, you should have gone."
"But she said I didn't need to!"
"But she still wanted you to," Rose explained, looking pained by his naivety.
"Well, why didn't she say so?"
"Because she didn't want to ask," Gwen said. Her expression was more one of sympathy, like she pitied Sam for failing to understand his girlfriend's coded communication. "She wanted you to know that she wanted you to—to be assertive."
Sam looked deeply puzzled. "Wouldn't that just come across as controlling?"
"Nope. It was a test," Janey said. She smiled sweetly when Sam looked at her with wariness. "And you failed."
Sam looked dazed as he took it all in.
"How did you leave it?" Taylor asked, more kind now that Sam seemed so distressed by his misgivings.
"I said I was glad that the match was over so that we'd have more time to spend together…"
All four girls winced. It was Albus who looked panicked and confused on Sam's behalf. Janey supposed the ways of women were just as much a mystery to him too, having never had a girlfriend himself. "What was wrong with that?" he asked.
"You didn't offer to spend the afternoon with her?" Gwen asked awkwardly.
Sam stared blankly back. "No," he said, affronted. "I already had plans."
Gwen quirked an eyebrow.
"The party," Sam said dumbly.
Rose groaned once more. Janey was struggling to contain her sheer joy.
"You completely casted her aside," Rose explained when Sam looked at her with further question.
"I invited her to the party!" he protested.
"As an afterthought," Janey chimed in. "But you didn't prioritise her. And you know what she's like—she's definitely an attention-seeker…"
Sam opened his mouth, perhaps to make a snide comment at Janey's expense, but he seemed to think better of it.
"So to summarise," Taylor said brightly. "You hugged another girl in front of your girlfriend—a girl you previously had a very public, very obsessive crush on."
Sam looked mortified.
"You then very plainly told her you didn't want to hang out with her, after barely seeing her all week and finally having free time, in preference to going to a party with said former crush. You invited her as an afterthought, and when she declined—as she obviously would—rather than dropping everything for her as a top priority, you didn't even bother to walk her back to her common room?"
Sam floundered, desperate to defend himself or deny Taylor's account of the events, but there was clearly no point. She had nailed it. And laying it all out like that was clearly a revelation—not just for Sam, but for all the boys.
"Did you at least get a good snog out of it to soften the blow?" James asked after a moment of thoughtful silence.
Sam didn't even bother to reply. His silence said it all. Janey had to summon all her energy to refrain from bursting out into laughter. She didn't want to be too mean given that Sam seemed so completely distressed, but it was proving difficult. God, if he even made it to the end of the month without getting dumped by Isabella, it would be a miracle. She felt incredibly light, like her body was made of sunshine.
"And now, this week, she hardly wants to know you." Taylor's question was more of a statement. They didn't need Sam's clarification to know she was right.
Albus was frowning. "Girls don't make any sense."
"Hey, we're not all like that," Rose protested, but she didn't say it with much conviction. "Some girls are just more emotionally intense than others…"
Janey smiled. Rose was one such girl. And even though Janey felt she was more easy-going than some others, at least outwardly, she knew she'd act as jealous and possessive if she were in Isabella's position. With some other guy. Not with Sam. Obviously.
"Well, I'd say you're in luck if this one turns out to be a psycho, because you can just date her twin instead—but Janey's already taken that option away."
Janey felt so deeply amused by James' comment that she didn't even have the heart to discourage the idea that she and Henry were dating. And whilst everybody else was finding humour in the situation, Sam looked furious.
"I've had enough of this," he said in a gruff voice, pushing himself to his feet.
"Oh, come on, Sam, I was joking!" James protested.
"I don't care," Sam said, ignoring the other Gryffindors' mutual insistence that he stay. "I'm going to see Isabella—as you all care so much about our relationship."
"Sam," Rose pleaded. "We like Isabella," she assured him.
"Yeah," Gwen agreed.
Janey said nothing.
Sam hesitated, looking like he was considering staying.
It was Albus who couldn't help but break into a smirk and add, "Even if she is a psycho," which prompted everybody else to burst into unsubtle sniggers.
Sam offered them a collective glare before he turned on his heel, striding out of the common room without another word or a single glance back.
"Alright, that was pretty mean," Taylor said after a while, once they'd all stopped laughing, although she was still grinning.
Janey felt a weird sense of satisfaction. It was greatly entertaining for her to make fun of Sam, and especially when they did it as a group. And teasing aside, she knew she was right. She knew how girls could be, and precious Isabella was no different. Being ignorant would only result in him getting hurt—so really, she was doing him a favour.
He would thank her one day.
Author's Note: Title and epigraph inspired by McFly's 'Obviously'
Once again, I'm having to miss a Sunday, so here's two chapters this week instead