DISTANT GAME ━ charlie weasley

xi. a speck of flour

     "Yeah, whatever. What else happened, despite you betraying my trust, or whatever."

     Avery mentally prepares herself for what she's about to say. She takes a deep breath. She drops her quill down and places her hands flat against the counter.

     "Okay," says Avery. "You know Nico Valdez?"

     "That Slytherin guy?" Rowan's mouth perks down curiously.

     "Uh-huh," says Avery.

     "What about him?" questions Dominique. "Despite him worming himself into our party, must be clever enough to answer a few riddles."

     "Or he blackmailed a first year to do it."

     Rowan and Dominique shot Avery perturbed looks.

     "Never mind," Avery clicks her tongue. "So. Yes. Nico Valdez. You guys know who he is."

     Avery opens her mouth, then closes it. She sighs.

     "I—I messed up, guys—at the party—with Nico—we made a bet, whoever was able to finish the Firewhiskey first would ask Hannah out on a date —for Nico, can you believe that guy, he just couldn't ask her out herself —and I went along with it because Nico seemed desperate and I love Hannah and what was the harm?— apart from having Charlie have to brush my hair but we ignore that, anyways, I went along with the bet, and, well, I'm so embarrassed to say but... he won the bet."

The two girls blink at Avery, in-sync.

Avery looks back at them, eyes wide.

"God, Avery." Dominique was the one to break the silence. "You are so dramatic."

It was Avery's turn to blink at the redhead.

"So what, you lost a bet?" said Dominique. "You'll have to organise this date. Big deal. Hannah won't mind. Sure, Nico is a bit of a prat. And yeah, you messed up a bit—no, a lot, I will never forget your betrayal— but Hannah's more laid-back than we know. You did this for her anyways, right?"

"I suppose so..." Avery trails off.

Rowan says, "Since when did Nico Valdez fancy Hannah?"

Avery shrugs. "Can't blame him, can you? I get where you're coming from. Hannah doesn't seem like his type."

"Definitely not," says Dominique. "There was that one time I stumbled on him snogging a girl in the prefects bathroom—since most people have gotten wind of the password by now—and I swear, his hand was so far up her—"

Avery clears her throat. Dominique halts, eyes wide.

"Now do you understand why I'm nervous about setting Hannah up on this date?"

"Yeah, okay." says Dominique. She thinks hard for a moment, searching for a diverting topic to replace the one at hand. "How's Valerie?"

Avery furrows her eyebrows for a minute. "She's... fine?"

"How fine?"

"Finer than usual?" She looks at Dominique, confused. Rowan is sipping slowly on her smoothie. "She's mentoring some kid at Gringotts, training him to be a Curse Breaker like herself. Feel bad for the guy. He has no idea what he's in for. I mean... it's a violent business. I'm surprised Mum hasn't contracted some vicious curse yet."

"And Jem?"

"... Jem is fine too? I mean, he's studying in Copenhagen, he has two more years until he's a fully qualified Alchemist, and him and Alice seem to be doing good too. He's supposed to be spending the Christmas at her family's cabin in Folgaria in Italy."