"Damn it."
Jessica sighed as the butterfly earring she had enchanted glumly fell back onto the table after only fluttering its wings once. She wanted to make it fly and look like the real thing but she had not found a charm strong enough to animate the emerald stone yet.
She scratched that idea out in her blue diary and clipped the earring back in her ear.
"That's enough for today, you can go now," Jessica told the blonde girl daydreaming at the desk in front of her. It was the first night of December, her period for detention, and though she appreciated the quiet in McGonnagal's classroom because it was raining outside and the sound relaxed her, it was clear that the girl's mind was going estray.
Luna Lovegood looked up at her with her bright blue eyes and dropped the blood-stained quill onto the parchment. Her pale hand was now blistered with the scar that marked most students at Hogwarts these days, and it was a sight that Jessica had hoped to become immune to by now.
"But I haven't finished," Luna said, her voice slightly frailed, "Draco said I had to-"
"It's okay," Jessica interrupted firmly, "you've done enough for tonight. If you leave now you can make it back to Ravenclaw Tower before the curfew starts."
Luna stood up, her writing hand a little shaky from where it hurt, and placed her periwinkle cotton tote bag over her shoulder.
"Goodbye Jessica, it was good to see you, though I would've liked to have done without that," Luna told her kindly as she nodded down towards the desk and quill. She stepped forward into Jessica's personal space and her large eyes stared at her in wonder. "I just want you to know, I don't agree with what they're all saying. I don't think you're a manipulative liar who deserves to be thrown into a fight with the whomping willow. I think it would ruin your hair, and I think it's quite nice how it is now."
"Thanks, Luna," Jess told her, trying to remain neutral as she didn't know how to respond to that. The idea that people wanted her hurt wasn't an alien concept, but it was the first time someone she had punished had spoken to her afterwards, and Luna's kind nature gave her an uneasy feeling of guilt.
Luna half smiled and walked away, entering into a skip as she exited the classroom. Jessica watched her leave her eyesight with an odd interest and then started the usual process of cleaning up the room ready for McGonagall to use on Monday morning. She didn't have to do it, she had never been told to, she just did it as a common courtesy. Professor McGonagall had really taken a dislike to her since her appointment on the Inquisitorial Squad, so it was her way of getting onto her good side.
It hadn't worked yet. Jessica hadn't received a single thank you for doing it.
Once the door was closed and she had waved her wand to lock it, she felt a large pair of hands slither around her waist. She had gotten good at noticing discrepancies in people's touch, so she did not panic as the boy kissed her neck.
"What are you doing here?" Jessica asked with a smile. He was exactly what she needed to take the uneasy feeling away.
"Waiting for you," whispered Adrian, "there are penalties for missing practice you know. You've got to make it up to the Captain."
Adrian ran his hands through his own black hair and spun her around so that her back slammed against the door. He picked her up by under her thighs and placed her down on the window ledge opposite, coming in between her legs and kissing her with both hands on her face. All uncertainty was now evaporated from her body, and she melted into his forceful rhythm, letting him take control. His pelvis pushed into hers and he started unbuttoning her shirt, hoping to achieve a repeat of the week before.
"I'm on duty," Jessica whispered to him as she teased his lower stomach, "we should be doing this in private."
"Does it look like I give a shit," Adrian smirked back, "besides, who's going to punish us for doing it? You?"
He tore her shirt open to expose the dark laced blue bra underneath and she pulled off his shirt to reveal his craved-out abs that were earnt through years of hard quidditch practice. He squeezed her breasts as her hand wandered down his robe, caressing the aroused extension of him that was wanting her touch. Things always escalated quickly like this with Adrian, he wasn't really that much of a talker.
"Seriously," breathed Jessica, "McGonagall will be back any minute, she always checks up on me to make sure I'm gone."
Adrian started pulling on her earlobe with his teeth, "well, maybe she'll want to join in."
Jessica gave him an unapproving glare.
"Fine," he said grumpily as he detached from her, "I know a place on the seventh floor, come on."
They stumbled out into the corridor hand in hand and made their way up the stairs to the secret place Adrian had supposably found. On their way up, whilst trying to hold her clothes together to protect her modesty, Jessica kept hearing sudden shuffling. Like people were constantly running away from them. But surely she was hearing things, it was now past the curfew Umbridge had set.
Once they got upstairs, Jessica had a terrible feeling that this was going to be awfully familiar, and her fears were confirmed when they reached a little broom cupboard door near the Gryffindor common room.
"I've never been in here, but it should give us some privacy," said Adrian and he went to wave his wand to open the door.
"No!" Jessica shouted, startling him. She had not been in there for about two months, and she certainly wasn't going in there with Adrian of all people. "I've changed my mind, just come here."
She grabbed him by his opened shirt and kissed him, pulling him down to her level. He pushed her against the wall and they started touching each other as they did before. But soon, as was always the case at Hogwarts, their privacy was cut short...
"That was great tonight Harry, did you see Neville's face when he did it, he was so happy!"
"Yeah mate Hermione's right, you're doing a great job."
"Thanks, guys, but we have to be more careful, did you see how Dean and Cho barely escaped Filch tonight?"
"Don't worry Harry, George and I have got plans to deal with that- oh great...a live sex show."
Jessica and Adrian pulled away from each other to slowly turn their heads in the direction of their intruders. They were met with five pairs of loathing eyes, each of them owned by her ex-roommates at Grimmauld place.
"This corridor is taken," Adrian called out cockily, "so get lost."
Jessica observed their little shocked faces and smirked with glee as she slowly did up her school shirt buttons, "unless you want to watch, but we'll have to charge."
"You don't own the corridor," moaned Ron, "we're allowed to walk through here."
"No brother," said George as he pointed down at the shadowed wall next to him, "there's a little graffiti marking there saying property of little bitch. They do own it."
"Big words coming from someone with a marshmallow hand," Adrian jeered back, and Jessica looked down at Georges's hand. It was in a bloodied cast just like Fred's had been. She hadn't even seen him in the past couple of weeks to take note of it.
"I wasn't talking about you," George replied, and Jessica's eyes moved up from his hand to his face. He was looking directly at her.
She suddenly didn't feel any sympathy for him anymore.
"What are you doing here anyway? It's past curfew," she snapped as she pulled her tie back around her neck. Something told her the romance with Adrian had passed for tonight.
"We're not past curfew," argued Hermione straight away, "it's 9."
Jessica smiled smartly. She was now able to know all the things Hermione didn't. "Rules changed this morning. Unless with permission or doing detention, curfew is 8 o'clock. I ask again. What are you doing out?"
"Sleepwalking," Harry replied sarcastically.
"In a group?" Jessica retorted.
"Yeah, it's a common condition, we've synced to be a support group."
"Don't be stupid I know none of you sleepwalk," said Jessica, "and also if you're going to lie at least make it plausible."
"Preaching to us about lying," George mumbled to Fred, "that's ironic."
Fred didn't say a single word, and Jessica stared at him as she enforced her power. She wasn't afraid to look him in the eyes anymore, no matter how much they were burning back at her with detest.
"Report cards," she demanded as she abandoned Adrian and walked over to them, "hand them over."
"And if we refuse?" asked Ron. This had been the first time she had dealt with them and he obviously wanted to challenge her authority.
"Umbridge deals with you," she told him simply as she raised an eyebrow at his stupidness to argue with her, "I don't care either way but can you make a decision because I have stuff to be getting on with."
They all dipped into their pockets and handed her the report cards that had become mandatory for all students to carry. It was Umbridge's way of keeping track of who was the worst behaved. For every detention or punishment you got given, a little red dot would appear in a box. Jessica was less shocked than she should've been to see so many markings on each of their cards, but she kept going with apathy, tapping each one to mark a little red dot.
"You'll have detention tomorrow morning with either Theo or Pansy," she said unenthusiastically as she handed Harry back his card.
"But that's during quidditch!" Harry exclaimed and he forgot to grip his hand, causing his report card to fall to the floor.
Jessica shrugged without looking at him and she continued marking Ron's card, "not my problem."
"You've fucking done that on purpose, it's the final game of the term!" George accused her in outrage, "It's us versus you...the girls can't play with only three players, they'll have to forfeit!"
"Should've thought about that before you sneaked out at night," she said, handing Hermione her card back, but then she snapped it away with a challenging look in her eye, "unless you want to tell me the real reason you're sneaking around the castle?"
They were all silent, which answered her question. They were doing something very illegal. She observed that Hermione was hesitating about answering and that was interesting, all of those bad marks on her record must have really been killing her.
"Tomorrow morning it is," Jessica said happily and she politely gave Hermione her card, leaving only Fred and George's left.
They were the most marked of all. Both only had seven spaces left, and at the rate they were going, she wouldn't have been surprised if the book was filled by the end of the term.
Once the book was filled, it meant permanent expulsion and a trial in front of the Education Committee at the Ministry of Magic. If the situation was bad enough, there was potential for wands to be broken.
"If you can only win by cheating then that's not winning," said Hermione who was still agitated on the boy's behalf.
"You're just scared that you're going to lose," Ron grunted.
"I saw your game against Ravenclaw," Jessica laughed as she marked George's card, "believe me, I'm not worried about that."
"Then prove it," Fred spoke out for the first time as she tossed George's card in his direction, "or is the 'Golden Girl' afraid of a little rough play?"
Jessica ignored him. She had trained herself to just tune him out in a crowd.
"I can tell you now...she isn't," Adrian boasted from behind her as he strutted up to her side, "but you never got to find that out did you?"
Jessica quickly waved her wand and a red dot appeared on Fred's card. After Adrian's comment, she thought it best to get it over with. She hadn't told him about her and Fred, she hadn't had to; Pansy, Theo and Draco had kept their promise to her to keep it a secret. Adrian still thought of the twins as pining over her, which she wasn't going to correct as it made him protective.
"Fine I'll do you a favour, wouldn't want to sacrifice entertainment for the school," she told them all as she stuck her hand out for Fred to collect his card, "tomorrow afternoon, fourth classroom on the second floor. I think I'll put you with Draco, he's been waiting to have you all and I owe him one."
They had just found out earlier that day that they had achieved a perfect 110% on their astronomy project, and it was all down to Draco's expert tutoring of the constellations.
"Why not with you?" asked Harry, probably hoping that they would have more time to rip into her.
"I already have Ginny booked in then," Jessica stated, "caught her with Michael Corner in the girl's bathroom the other day, she can't seem to control herself. Seems to take after her big brothers in that respect."
She couldn't help but make that jibe even though it was clearly directed at one brother. George had surprisingly gone quiet in the woman department, making up for the access of his brother.
"Says you who seems to be making her way through the whole school," scoffed George, "I don't think there's a seventh year you haven't had your hands on, where's the respect in that?"
It all happened in a matter of seconds. One minute George was there, the next minute he was on the floor. Adrian had reached over and swung his fist at his nose, giving George such a hard punch that he was knocked to the ground. Jessica was horrified at how brutal Adrian had been, she had never seen someone throw a punch with such carelessness before. It was like how Luna had made her feel just ten minutes before. She was happy at what had been done, George did deserve it and she was happy that Adrian had stood up for her, but it made her feel really off balance.
Ron, Hermione and Harry quickly took to George's side and got him back on his feet. It took all three of them to lift him. Hermione suggested immediately that they took him to the hospital wing, and as they did so Jessica could hear all three of them whispering callous words about her, which she felt unfair as Adrian had actually been the one to do it.
Fred stayed behind, an air of pure violence in his eyes.
"You're gonna pay for that," he threatened and he squared up to Adrian, both of them matching in height and muscle. If there was ever a bond Jessica could describe as unbreakable, it was the bond between Fred and George. They always had each other's backs.
"Fine, I'm happy to complete the set," Adrian tormented back as he rolled up his bloodied sleeve.
Jessica scratched her head and slumped her hand back down on her thigh. It has been such a long day, and she was so tired. So tired in fact, that her words weren't connecting with what she wanted to say.
"Adrian don't he's not worth it," she huffed. She immediately realised her mistake, as she had wanted to say 'it'.
"Not worth it am I?" exasperated Fred as he snapped his head around to look at her like a fish who had just willingly got caught on a hook, "tell me exactly, what would I have to be to be worth it to you?"
"Don't talk to her, talk to me," said Adrian as he guided Fred's eye line back to him with his hands, "we all know you only hate her because she wouldn't let you fuck her. I told you before, guys like me always win in the end."
Adrian got the reaction he wanted, and Fred pulled his wand out to fire a jinx of unknown severity. Jessica assessed the situation quickly and bravely ran in between them, trusting that Fred wouldn't fire a spell her way whilst her back was turned.
He didn't.
"Adrian go back to the common room," she demanded, her heart pulsing fast out of her chest.
"But-"
"I said go back," she barked, "that's an order. I don't care who you are, I'll mark your card."
Adrian, though her Captain first and foremost, knew not to mess with her. She was still her inside with her stubborn ways, nothing had changed that, she was just now a polished product who took her dark side in her stride.
He considered the possibilities, then lightly grabbed her by the throat and kissed her deeply. Jessica closed her eyes out of wanting to block everything else out but she could sense Adrian looking over her shoulder at Fred like this was just another way of pressing his buttons, and not because he wanted to kiss her. Little did he know that this would actually have no effect. Fred hated her. He was claiming his territory unnecessarily.
"See you in bed," Adrian told her and he walked away with swag in his stride, quietly turning the corner to go back down the staircase.
The rain was pouring hard against the Hogwarts exterior now, and thunder rumbled throughout the high-ceiling corridor. Jessica was glad of it, it filled the heavy silence. It was now only her and Fred, the first time they had been alone since before Decree no.29 was unveiled.
Fred broke the silence first. "You found someone else to boss around quick didn't you," he laughed derisively.
"You've only got six chances left," said Jess as she turned around to face him, wanting to provide a warning, "would it kill you to stop breaking the rules and act your age."
Fred exhaled a sarcastic laugh and his face wrinkled up in the forced expression. "What and I should act like your boyfriend and be mature, going around breaking peoples noses?"
"George deserved that," Jessica spat back at him, her eyes as cold as the weather outside.
"He deserved it?" Fred questioned, lifting his arm and waving it in her face. His scar had healed, but it had left a black and blue bruise in its wake. "What like these scars on our hands that all of you lot keep saying we deserve?"
She smacked his hand away with force, being grossed out by its presence, "It's quite simple Fred if you break the rules you get punished. Don't want to get punished? Don't break the fucking rules."
Encouraged by her roughness, Fred stood closer to her and stared down, trying to inspire a further reaction by putting on more pressure. He smelt like fireworks, and it entered her senses with little to no effect. "Yeah well, it's hard not to break the rules when they're changing every other day to suit your agenda. Good for you Jess, you've put yourself in a position where you have the luxury of being unaffected, but what about the shitting rest of us...we're getting targeted every day and you are doing nothing."
Jessica rolled her eyes at him and a chuckle escaped her mouth. He hadn't changed one bit. "Oh my god Fred, not everything is a war, no one is out to get you. You bring this all on yourself and I don't owe you protection, I'm not your mother. Are you not embarrassed to be acting like a kid and thinking it's cool to break the rules-"
"Embarrassed?!" Fred shouted in her face in disbelief, "bloody hell the only thing I'm embarrassed about is my association with you!"
The raindrops fell at an incredible speed and pounded on the glass beside them. A lightning bolt erupted from the thunder and lit up the corridor, encasing them both in light before returning to shadows. The weather signalled what was to come, a metaphor for where the now non-existent relationship between them was now heading.
"Well I guess that's one thing we can mutually agree on," Jessica said quietly, smirking up at him and looking him up and down. Ever since they had grown apart every part of her life had gotten better, and she would not let him tear her back down to make himself feel superior. "See you tomorrow on the pitch. I would say good luck but you're going to need something much stronger than that."
She then walked away as she always did now. With her head held high, her mind empty, and with the sure confidence that she was never going to be the fool again.
"I'd be more worried about your own team if I were you," Fred called after her as her heels stomped on the floor to the beat of the falling raindrops.
"And why's that Weasley?" she mocked him, dusting off her sleeves that still had Adrian's scent clinging to them.
"Because the sky is the only place Umbridge and your status can't fucking protect you. We'll all finally get to see what the 'Golden Girl of Slytherin' is really made off."
"Is that a threat?" Jessica asked cockily, looking over her shoulder. He really had the audacity to talk like that...to her?
"It's a promise," Fred stated seriously, his jawline tightening to make his face look thin and tired, "and unlike someone I used to know...I don't break mine."
Jessica bit her lip to stop her from annihilating him. There were so many things she could say to disprove his point. However, she had kept peace within herself for so long that she would not let old anger disrupt it. He would get his comeuppance once Slytherin won tomorrow.
"You might want to rethink that," she said and she gave him a final forced smile, "goodnight Fred. Give George my best wishes for a speedy recovery."
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Hey guys, so good to be back!
Sorry for the break, I had to re-evaluate where I wanted the story to go, but it's all good now and I have the chapters planned.
I loved your comments on the last chapter - especially the suggestion that 'Good For You' should've been the soundtrack for Fred's POV!
Thank you for your continued support of this story and my new book 'The Angel Of Mercy'. If you haven't checked that out yet then please do! :)
K xx