The British Ministry of Magic claims that magical blood is dwindling in Pureblood families. This puts some students in awkward positions. Kris Averbach finds himself being dangled like a piece of meat in front of eligible Pureblood young ladies, but...
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Quidditch was the only thing that was going really well for Kit right now. He'd had to serve detention with Professor Avery, which meant missing Dueling Club, which meant missing a chance to make up with Julian. Every time Kit saw the American in the Common Room, he was with Maddock and Elliott, and there was no way in hell Kit was going to approach him with those two around. He couldn't even understand why Julian hung around them if he didn't even care for them. He wished Tyler and Ethan would make more of an effort to hang out with Julian, but they were too devoted to Quidditch.
At least their Quidditch practices were getting better and better, and even though they had yet to see any of the other teams play yet, they felt confident that they would win their first match against Hufflepuff. After Saturday's practice, he changed in the locker room and started back up to the castle with the rest of the team when someone called his name. Kit turned around in surprise to see Julian Wood, of all people, waiting near the broom shed.
"Can we talk for a minute?" Julian asked, his expression neutral.
Kit's throat tightened. A wave of nausea rolled in his belly. After a week of Maddock whispering in Julian's ear, he must have finally convinced him that Kit was a rainbow-flag-waving queer and Julian was going to tell him he never wanted to see him again. Better to get it over with now, he supposed, then to hold onto hope. He nodded goodbye to the others and then walked back over to Julian. He stopped a few feet away and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking at the ground.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry," Julian started. Kit looked up in surprise. "I acted like a jerk last Saturday, and your friend was right, I don't have a right to an opinion."
"You're allowed an opinion, Julian," Kit mumbled.
"Well, maybe, but it didn't need to come between us. I missed hanging out with you this week. I didn't even see you at Dueling Club."
Kit ran his hand through his hair and gave a little laugh. His heart had just lifted to the clouds. "Yeah, well, I was sort of in detention with Professor Avery."
Julian's eyes widened. "Why? What did you do?"
"Nothin' crazy. Tristan and I were just being a bit disruptive during class." He paused and bit his lip. "I missed you, too."
"I saw your friends, by the way," Julian went on. Kit gave him a curious look. "The ones you're trying to get together. In the library. Kris really does like her, huh? He could barely keep his eyes off her."
Kit chuckled. "Yeah, he's hopeless."
"Well, I wish the best for them."
They started walking back up to the castle. Kit chewed his bottom lip and thought hard. He wanted to continue talking to Julian, but if they went back up to the common room together, Maddock was almost guaranteed to be there, and would do something to interrupt any conversation they might have. Then an idea came to him.
