Lorelei Jones | 4th Year
Lorelei woke up a day later with a splitting migraine and an enormous amount of confusion. She was in the hospital wing, but she couldn't recall what for. She looked at Madam Pomfrey scuttling around the space until her memories from the day before started to flood back into her mind.
Quidditch. Draco. The bludger. The cruel chanting. Draco coming to visit her in the hospital wing.
"Ouch," Lorelei groaned when she moved and pain rippled across her temples. She pressed her fingers to her head gently and squeezed her eyes shut until the pain subsided again.
"Oh, good. You're awake," Madam Pomfrey said as she rushed to Lorelei's bedside. She shoved a small vial of transparent liquid into Lorelei's hands. "Drink this."
Not wanting to disobey, Lorelei threw the contents of the vial into her mouth at once and nearly gagged at the taste of it. As the bitter, rotten-tasting liquid slid down her throat, Lorelei started to wonder exactly what was in the vial she had just drank from. What if she was allergic to that?!
"Give it another couple hours, and you'll be safe to leave, dear," Madam Pomfrey said before she stole the empty vial from Lorelei's shaking fingers and rushed off.
Lorelei watched her go with her mouth agape and head swimming with questions, but the doors to the hospital wing creaked open at that same moment, so Lorelei stopped her worrying and tried to strain to hear what was being said. She couldn't quite make out the hushed voices, and a curtain was drawn around her bed for extra privacy, so she couldn't see anything either.
She cleared her throat in preparation to call out to whoever was there, but the curtain whipped back to reveal Fred and George Weasley. They were both donning huge grins as they stared at her wordlessly. Fred was wiggling his eyebrows while George was staring at her hard, as if he was trying to read her mind. Lorelei hoped to the heavens that George Weasley didn't know legilimency.
"Hello, Lorelei," they said together after she looked between the two of them with her eyebrows drawn together for a long moment.
"Uhm, hi?" Lorelei trailed. She adjusted her sitting position in the hospital bed and scratched the back of her neck. "Do you need something?"
"Not yet," George said with a wide smile.
"We just wanted to thank you," Fred explained with a devilish look in his eyes.
"What for?"
The two brothers smiled at one another. They lifted their eyebrows and twitched their lips in what appeared to be their own unspoken language. Lorelei watched with her shoulders slowly coiling. What were they up to?
"I mean, ickle ronniekins is certainly grateful to you as well," Fred started and took a step closer, his eyes dripping over her soft features and gentle confusion.
"No one's talking about him anymore," George added in explanation as he followed his brother's lead and got closer.
Lorelei processed their words and humorous tones. No one was talking about Ron anymore? What did they mean by that?
"The little Hufflepuff-"
"-who threw off the big, bad Draco Malfoy is stealing all the spotlight-"
"-and everyone wants to know why," George finished with a cheeky grin.
Lorelei flushed bright red. "What do you mean I threw him off?"
Fred had a sparkle in his eyes as he finally launched himself onto the foot of Lorelei's bed. "Your unfortunate accident captured his attention, and Harry caught the snitch first because of it."
"And it's no secret that he came storming in here right after the game."
"He left the pitch while the results were still being announced."
He what? Lorelei felt a crushing weight of guilt eating her up from the inside out. If she had truly taken that victory away from Draco, she couldn't imagine how hurt he must feel. She hadn't meant to distract him, and she was fine, really, so he didn't need to worry so much. Lorelei's gaze darted towards the closed hospital wing doors. She really needed to see Draco.
George squatted into the chair beside Lorelei's bed, and both twins stared at her with expectant grins. Did they really expect her to just tell them her personal life? She didn't even know them!
Fred frowned slightly when Lorelei maintained her flabbergasted silence, but he pulled a bag out of thin air a moment later while donning a wide grin.
"I don't think-" George paled.
"-Yes. You're right, George," Fred said with a silencing stare shot at his twin. "Lorelei, you must be thirsty. I've got a water in here somewhere."
"Oh, no. I'm fine, really," Lorelei said with her heart thundering in her chest. Even if she had never spoken to the Weasley twins before, she had heard of their mischief and knew to avoid whatever they tried to give her.
"Nonsense. You need to stay hydrated," Fred insisted and dropped a water bottle into her bed sheet-covered lap.
"I'm sorry. I'm really not thirsty, so I don't-"
"Oh, just drink it. I can just get another in my dorm if I need it," Fred said.
"We have plenty of bottles in there," George said with a shrug, but there was still something tight dancing in his expression.
Lorelei paled and stared between them. She didn't want to seem rude by continuing to turn down their offer of water, but the thought of drinking whatever was in his opened water bottle made her feel queasy. What if they were trying to slip her some prototype for their newest prank?
"Drink it, Lorelei... Unless, of course, you just don't trust us," Fred proposed with something unfamiliar dancing in his gaze. George coughed into his fist after Fred said this. His eyes were wide, and Lorelei assumed he was thinking she didn't like them.
Her stomach dropped. She stared down at the clear liquid swishing around in the bottle with horror settling in her bones. She had only just met these boys. She didn't want to ruin a chance at friendship with them so quickly. She could always use more friends, and if this was the way to get another friend, then so be it.
Lorelei uncapped the bottle and lifted it to her mouth. She had just started to tip the bottle back, letting the chilled water flood past her lips and down her throat when someone else walked up to her bedside with wand in hand.
"Alarte ascendare!"
The water bottle flew out of Lorelei's hands and shot into the air above the bed beside hers. Luckily, only a small bit of the water inside sloshed out onto Lorelei as most of the contents of the bottle splashed onto the empty bed a few steps away.
Fred and George let out simultaneous groans as Lorelei's head snapped from looking at the mess to seeing who had created it.
Theo Nott was standing there with his mouth drawn down into a scowl. His wand was held in his outstretched hand, pointed at the place where the water bottle had been. His dark hair was haphazard, and his glare unrelenting as he settled his gaze on the red-haired twins sitting far too close to Lorelei.
"What is your problem, mate?" Fred drawled as he clambered to his feet and stared down the slightly shorter Slytherin.
"You manipulated her into drinking your bloody veritaserum, you twat," Theo growled. His eyes were as dark as the night sky on a cloudy day, yet Lorelei felt oddly safe knowing he had her back. He was Draco's friend, right?
"Wow. You know, I had wondered if it had veritaserum in it, so I didn't want to drink it, but I didn't want them to think I didn't like them because that's not very kind. And I could always use more friends. I mean, Luna is amazing and the best friend I could have ever asked for, but sometimes she's busy, and I mean, she has other friends now, so maybe I should get some more too. Then, she doesn't have to feel like she has to babysit me and-"
"Holy heavens, how much of that did you drink, Lorelei?" Theo groaned and ran his free hand over his face. His gaze softened when he looked at her.
"I don't know. Is that bad?" Lorelei began to panic and pressed her hands to her burning cheeks.
George paled and opened his mouth to apologize, but Theo's glare intensified, so Fred dragged his twin out of the hospital wing before an altercation could occur. Theo glared at their escaping figures until the door shut behind them.
"Are you okay?"
"They were asking a lot of questions about Draco, and I didn't want to answer them because I thought he might get mad at me. Is he already mad at me because I ruined the Quidditch game for him?" Lorelei ran her fingers through her hair over and over as her anxiety mounted to heights she'd never experienced before. Was this normal?
"I promise he isn't mad at you," Theo said while he pocketed his wand and got closer to her bedside. His eyes scanned her body from head to toe for injuries, but he found that her rambling speech and obvious distress were the only negative effects of those bloody Weasleys' prank.
Theo perched on the edge of her hospital bed. His dark green eyes held her gaze with such an assurance that Lorelei just knew she could trust whatever he said. This made her wholeheartedly believe his next words.
"You're going to be fine. I've accidentally ingested some veritaserum before, and I assure you that I am just the same as ever," Theo chuckled. He scanned her face as she took a few deep, calming breaths.
"I believe you."
"Good." Theo smiled. There was a sudden silence that settled over them, but it wasn't uncomfortable for either of them.
"I'd like to be your friend," Lorelei blurted without any filter. Her face heated, and she dropped her head into her hands. "Why won't this thing turn off?"
Theo laughed at Lorelei's drug-induced candor, and an overwhelming desire to protect her settled in his chest. Something about the gentle, soft-spoken girl just made it so easy to adore her. It made perfect sense to him why the icy, whiny Draco Malfoy had grown attached to her. How hadn't everyone?
"I'll be your friend," Theo said and leaned back slightly.
Lorelei slowly grinned. She placed her hands over her mouth to keep herself from spilling her every thought, but she didn't need to. Madam Pomfrey came over a second later and sighed, "Out, out. I need to check on Miss Jones before she can leave."
Theo nodded and stood up. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and said, "Well, I'll see you later, and I'll tell Draco you're alright."
With her hands still clamped over her mouth, Lorelei nodded in understanding. Her eyes twinkled as Theo said, "Bye, Lorelei."
While he walked away, Lorelei happily realized that her only friend had expanded to two.
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