Antidote

Chapter 18 - Beater's Build

"I just wanted to check with you," he spoke again. "Er, I didn't—You weren't—Ugh."

She raised her eyebrows but stayed quiet, waiting for him to find his words. It was a bit of a rarity to see him at a loss.

Finally, he seemed to know what he wanted to say.

"I didn't make you uncomfortable, did I?" he asked.

Jolie sucked in a silent breath in surprise.

"Because if I did," he continued, "that really wasn't my goal. And I'm sorry—"

She raised up a hand and he shut his mouth.

"Weasley, like I said, it was a game. You didn't make me uncomfortable."

He puffed out a breath of obvious relief. Then, leveled himself again.

"It's just—you left so soon after. And I thought you might be angry with me."

She shook her head.

"I'm not angry with you," she told him. "I mean, I was a little worried it might make things awkward between us. Since we have to spend so much time on this." She gestured to the cauldron.

He pressed his lips into a tight line and nodded.

"Do you... Is it awkward now?"

She looked up at him and breathed a laugh. He looked positively wracked with nerves.

"Relax, Weasley. It's not awkward. It didn't mean anything."

She felt a pang in her abdomen as she said it. She watched as his shoulders slumped, his rigid stance finally relaxing.

"Didn't mean anything," he mumbled. "Right. You're right."

She nodded, avoiding his gaze as she readied their cauldron to test the next ingredient.

"I'm always right," she tried to tease, grinning halfheartedly.

He didn't say anything to that, keeping quiet as she added the knotgrass with the powdered moonstone.

She cleared her throat.

"I, erm, I won't be available for our session on Friday," she told him.

When he still said nothing, she glanced up at him. He was watching her intently, his eyes narrowing.

"Why not?"

She frowned.

"I don't owe you an explanation, you know," she informed him airily.

"I always give you one," he argued.

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. "You give it willingly; I don't ask—"

"Because it's common courtesy—"

"If you must know," she interjected before the argument could go further, "I have a prior engagement that can't be rescheduled."

He blinked at her.

"That's it?" he finally asked. "That's your excuse?"

"It's a perfectly respectable explanation—"

"That doesn't really explain anything—"

She pulled her wand from her robe and charmed the spoon to continue stirring on its own, then turned to face him.

"I just told you," she hissed. "I don't owe you," she poked him in the chest with a finger, "any explanation whatsoever. I will be busy on Friday evening. Therefore, I will not be in the library for our session—that's all you need to know."