An Art of Balance

Chapter 26: The Right Path

"What story, McNully?" Orion asked, but even though his voice was patient, he could feel his shoulders tense.

Very uncharacteristic for him, Murphy seemed to struggle to find the words he was looking for. Not finding a proper way to nicely phrase what he was about to say, he answered only hesitantly. "The common theme seems to be Lizzie screwing with Charlie Weasley and... well you, I suppose, at the same time," he finished meekly.

Seeing Orion's expression darken considerably, he quickly added, "Which is nonsense of course; we both know Lizzie would never do something like that."

As much as Orion wanted to believe him, he found a tiny flicker of doubt tugging at his faith in Lizzie; he had known her for so long and had always believed her to be a person that wore her heart on her sleeve; instead, she had tangled herself in a web of lies that were falling back on her now. He had been honest when he had told her that he didn't hold it against her; but he couldn't help the thought that maybe he didn't know her as well has he had thought.

As if on cue, the sneering voice of Everett cut through the silent atmosphere of the room; he and a few of his friends had just entered the Common Room. He held his head even higher than usual and a smug grin was plastered onto his face. He was talking loudly to his companions as he made a point of walking past Murphy and Orion.

"From what I've heard, Jameson's had a fling with Weasley for over a year now; apparently they hooked up at his home over the Christmas break." He let out a menacing laugh. "But I'm not surprised, to be honest, I always thought she was a rather loose one."

"Watch your mouth, Everett," Murphy cut him off angrily. "These rumours are absolutely baseless; the chances of them being true are so low, they're not even worth calculating."

Everett turned towards them, his eyes looking down at Murphy condescendingly. "Is that so?" His smile grew even wider, the complacency positively dripping from his words. "Well big news, McNully, I heard it from her best friend myself."

Before he had a chance to stop himself, Orion's head went up at his words and his jaw locked. The motion was only minuscule, but Everett had noticed it all the same.

"Her little prefect friend was bitching to Penny Haywood this morning on their way to breakfast. She seemed pretty sure they have something going and Jameson's been lying straight to their faces the whole time, kept the whole thing her dirty little secret. Just shows what kind of person she really is."

His attention turned to Orion; he was sizing him up gloatingly. "If you ask me, kind of pathetic someone like our Captain fell for her."

Murphy was bristling up but Orion silenced him by putting a hand on his shoulder. The calm expression he held Everett's gaze with was a stark contrast to the anger boiling under his skin. His whole philosophy was against fighting another person, let alone a member of his own team, but much to his surprise, he felt the tips of his fingers twitching with suppressed rage and the sudden desire to wipe the smug grin off Everett's face.

Everett's confident smile started to waver as Orion's gaze bored into his; he may have looked composed but there was a cold fire burning in his eyes that made Everett flinch subconsciously.

"I understand the frustration of being rejected where others are not may run deep," he answered coolly, "but be careful; spreading rumours is playing with fire." His eyes grew harder and he raised his chin. "Take care not to burn yourself."

Everett held his gaze for a moment longer before he dropped his eyes with a derisive snort. He motioned his friends to follow him and stalked over to the other side of the Common Room, as far away from Murphy and Orion as possible.