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"And then he kissed me."
Bradley's jaw dropped, before his lips curved into a smile. "That's absolutely amazing, M'lady!" he cheered.
"He did what?" Toby stared, his voice a lot more protective and his face more than serious.
"Shh, lower your voices," Genevieve urged, glancing over her shoulder to see if anybody had heard them. As she did so, she wasn't at all surprised to see the library empty.
The match between Gryffindor and Slytherin was that very morning, and if the students of Hogwarts weren't currently indulging themselves in the breakfast laid out for them, then they were marching themselves down to the Quidditch pitch to get good seats in the stands. The last place anyone would be right now was the Library, and that's exactly why she brought Toby and Bradley there. No prying eyes, no listening ears.
"I can't believe it!" Bradley exclaimed, his voice becoming increasingly louder. When he was shushed by Madam Pince this time, he peered around the bookshelves and sent her an apologetic look. "Sorry," he whispered.
"Neither can I," murmured Genevieve, running a hand through her hair. Lily still hadn't braided it for her yet, so she needed to find her before the game to get that sorted.
"Do them lot know yet?" Toby asked.
Genevieve didn't need to ask Toby to know who 'them' were. "No," she muttered lowly, the already growing guilt swarming at the pit of her stomach. If the guilt didn't make her nauseous enough, then the fear of losing todays match did.
Bradley's brows furrowed confusedly. "What's stopping you from telling them?"
"If I tell them they'll corner poor Jessie and beat him to a weird smudge looking thing," she stated as if it was obvious.
"Whose stopping me from doing that?" Toby jested with a raised eyebrow, although his tone wasn't very joking.
"Me," Bradley answered with a playful glare. "A boy with a face like his is too pretty to damage. It's once in a lifetime you a see a nose as perfect as his." Bradley must have spotted Toby rolling his eyes because he quickly pecked the boy on the cheek. "Don't worry, sweet, you're still the handsomest."
Watching the exchange between the two, Genevieve smiled to herself. After Christmas, the had informed her of them two being a couple after talking their feelings through after the situation that occurred on the train. She wasn't at all surprised this happened, but she was happy that it did. She had been counting on it for a while.
It was now Toby's turn to look over his shoulder skeptically, making sure that nobody saw the mindless kiss. He didn't do this for a matter of shame, but rather a matter of safety, and that's what hurt the most for both him and Bradley.
"So are you going to tell them?" Bradley started, distracting himself from the dampened mood. If he occupied himself long enough then he wouldn't have to think about this until later.
Genevieve shrugged and looked down at her red painted nails to avoid their eye contact.
"You don't know?"
"I mean," she started, "If I tell them they'll just chase Jessie off, and while I'm usually pretty thankful for that, I'm not sure I want them to this time. Jessie's nice," she said, a smile unknowingly finding its way onto her face. "He's respectful, and funny, and things aren't complicated with him."
"What about Remus?" Toby interrupted. "Are things complicated with him?" At the confused look on Genevieve's face, the boy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Gen, we know you like Remus. Why would dating him be such a bad thing?"
"Dating Remus would be the most stupidest thing I have ever done," she replied smoothly. Her eyes twinkled momentarily. "But wow, those freckles make me weak." When she realised what she had said and caught the two boys exchanging a glance with each other, she put her head in her hands and let out a loud breath of air.
"Look," she started quietly, suddenly feeling a lot more powerless, "I just want to feel loved by someone. And like, I'm not lonely or anything, but it just gets lonely watching everyone be loved and not actually experiencing it myself."
"But Genevieve," Bradley said sadly, "You are loved."
"It's not the same."
Just as Bradley was about to reply, the sound of heavy footsteps marching themselves into the library stopped him. Poking her head around the bookshelves, Genevieve spotted James walking towards their table with a scowl pulling at his face, his broom in his hand
"Genevieve Mary Lewis!" he scolded in hushed tones. "I have been looking all over for you. You're supposed to be eating breakfast before a match, not gossiping!" Before she could argue back, James was already dragging her from her seat and urging her towards the Great Hall.
"Good luck!" Bradley shouted after them, earning yet another hiss from an irritated Madame Pince.
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The crisp air was becoming harder and harder for the Quidditch players to breathe in as they whizzed around in the air, their grips becoming tighter on their brooms and their jaws becoming more clenched. Flashes of green and red Quidditch robes swarmed the air like birds, weaving in and out of each other with precision and occasional brutality.
"Gen!"
Genevieve turned to the direction of Lin's voice just in time to see a Bludger heading for her head. With ease, she managed to hit it away from her and into the back end of Mulciber's broom. With a smile, she held a thumbs up in appreciation to Lin before focusing again. From across the pitch, she spotted Sirius defending Marcus from a Bludger just as Slytherin were attempting to score. Marcus was able to block the Quaffel from entering the goal effortlessly, provoking an enraged boo from the Slytherin crowd.
Genevieve's green eyes became drawn to a Bludger quickly approaching James. Zooming towards the metal ball, she readied her bat and hit the Bludger away with just as much ease as she did the first time. From the stands, she heard Lily whoop loudly in support. Whether that support was for James or her, she wasn't exactly sure. Next to Lily stood Peter, waving at Genevieve as he caught sight of her looking at them. Genevieve waved back in response with a smile before returning her head back into the game. Usually, Remus would have been stood next to them in the stands, but the full moon the next day prevented him from attending the event.
All of Gryffindor house cried out in happiness as Imogen scored, a wide smile on her face as she did so. Her delight was put to an end almost as quickly as Rosier shoved her harshly in the side, causing her to lose her balance and topple off the edge of her broom. With a sharp gasp, Genevieve watched as Sirius swooped down to catch the girl, doing so just before she hit the hard ground. Imogen was quickly rushed from the pitch by Madame Hooch, her face as white as paper.
With Gryffindor preoccupied, Slytherin had managed to score within this time. Genevieve looked up at the score board, reading the numbers 60-80 in Slytherins favour. She scowled, knowing that half of those points were through dirty tricks and shameless cheating.
"Lin!" shouted Genevieve to the boy not too far from her, "Give me some good news before I start crying!"'
Lin quickly made his way over to her, flying side by side with her. "I know where the snitch is!" he announced, "But it's right behind Regulus Black's head, and he hasn't spotted it yet. If I randomly go over there, he's going to know I've seen it and tail me!" Spotting Genevieve's grip on her bat tighten, Lin shook his head. "You can't throw a Bludger at him, you'll risk hitting Jessie."
And what made her mad was that Lin was right. Right next to Regulus was Jessie, their backs turned, and the Golden Snitch hovered slightly between them. That wasn't what concerned her most, though - the Bludger quickly headed towards them was. More specifically, towards Jessie.
Before she could even comprehend what was happening, Genevieve was flying through the air faster than she had ever done before. As the wind painfully howled through Genevieve's ears, she found herself raising her wooden bat with all her might, but because she was too far away from the ball, her hit only skimmed the Bludger. Instead of being directed away from Jessie, it carried on straight towards the unaware boy as he prepared to catch the Quaffel.
"Jessie!" Genevieve screamed in horror, her eyes wide with panic as the Bludger smashed straight into the back of his head.
The unmistakeable noise of Jessie's painful cry rang through the atmosphere chillingly, a blood-curdling noise that would plague the minds of those who surrounded them for the rest of the year. It was a sound that belonged in the Psycho, the one Remus had gotten her on tape. Just as Jessie began to fall, Genevieve rushed to him and quickly swept him up, balancing him against her hip.
Not even a second later, Madam Hooch's whistle sounded, and the whole of Gryffindor erupted into cheers of joy. Genevieve presumed Lin had caught the snitch, but she was too busy battling to keep Jessie on his broom to look.
"I'm so sorry," she blurted out an apology, slinging one of his arms over her shoulder and wrapping her arm around his waist, "If I had just gotten there quicker-"
"Hush with the apologies, Genevieve," Jessie grinned up at her drowsily, his blue eyes focused on her as they tried to stay open, "I still think you're my dame in shining armour."
Fighting their way through the crowd of applauding and whooping Gryffindors, the rest of the Quidditch team quickly found the pair and began to help a now-unconscious Jessie in any way they could.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Jessie Hawthorne had been out like a light for two hours straight before he woke up in a hospital bed surrounded by most of Gryffindor Team. By that he meant Marcus, Genevieve, James, Sirius and somehow Lily and Peter had joined them.
"Uhm... hi," Jessie murmured groggily, looking between them all with a confused smile. "Everything alright?"
"I think it should be us asking you that," snickered Marcus, gesturing to the Hospital Wing. "Are you alright?"
"I think so," Jessie replied, but his face contorted as he shuffled a little. "Other than this headache and this really uncomfortable bed, I'm right as rain."
From the bed next to his, Remus Lupin let out a small, tired laugh. "You get used to it eventually," he chided croakily, tilting his head to look at the crowd of people.
"That's good then," Jessie nodded and shuffled again, but his confused expression stayed unwavering. "Sorry, but why am I here exactly?"
"You don't remember, mate?" James said, helping prop the boy up once he noticed why he was shuffling, "You took a Bludger to the head, you daft thing! It hit you right from behind and had you knocked out within thirty seconds."
"If it wasn't for Genevieve you'd have fallen straight off your broom," Sirius added, nudging the said girl next to him and smiling proudly at her. "I reckon she saved your life. That's got to be worth at least a kiss of thanks."
"Well, two times the charm," Jessie joked, presuming that everybody there already knew about his and Genevieve's last shared encounter. He soon realised by the silence and shocked faces that they did not.
Sirius's face dropped. "What?"
"Two?!" James exclaimed. "Two times the charm?!"
"You two kissed?" Peter repeated, looking between Genevieve and Jessie in amazement. When all Genevieve could do was nod awkwardly, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "That's not actually that unexpected."
"My gracious, Genevieve!" Lily gasped, her green eyes staring at her in shock. "Why didn't you tell me you had your first kiss the moment after it happened?"
With slightly narrowed eyes, Remus took in Genevieve's expression. If it wasn't for the way she glanced at the ground, or bit her lip with a guilty conscience, then it was the way she was shrinking more and more into herself that told him what he needed to know. "Because this wasn't her first kiss," Remus revealed plainly for them all, his heart hurting a little more than it had already been at the very mention of the subject.
Everyone in the room wore matching expressions to react to the news. Eyes wide, eyebrows raised, jaws dropped— you get the idea. It was like something straight out of a playwright, watching them all gawk and gasp at the girl as if she was on trail. The only person who didn't seem remotely surprised by the news was Sirius— instead he looked remorsefully at the floor.
"Who was it, Silvy?" Peter asked for them all. "Don't be scared to tell us, I'm sure it wasn't that bad."
"Genevieve Lewis, you tell us right now!" James jabbered, practically fangirling over the news. He turned to Sirius and cried, "How are you not freaking out right now?!"
It appeared that the pieces had fit right into each other for everyone else except James and Peter. They hadn't caught sight of the two guilty expression wearers yet.
"Did— Did you two kiss?" Lily slowly queried, the words so strange to say that they felt weird rolling off her tongue. "Did you, Genevieve?"
With all eyes on her, Genevieve shrunk and shrunk even further until she felt positively minuscule. She shouldn't have to feel guilty about being kissed, right? That's all she kept thinking, over and over, until the silence finally became so unbearable that she had to say, "Yeah."
"But I kissed her," Sirius quickly testified, his steel gaze skimming between them all. They lingered a moment on Marcus. "Not the other way around."
James ran a hand down his face. "When?" he said, throwing himself down in the chair next to Remus's bedside so he didn't faint.
Figuring that Genevieve didn't like the spotlight on her, Sirius took over with the talking. "Fifth year," he answered, "Genny told me to go to her if I needed anything on the train ride home, and after getting kicked out on Christmas Eve I went to her house. I was bloodied up, and hurt, and after she helped me I kissed her."
Remus's eyes wandered to Genevieve, who was staring remorsefully at the ground. "Did you kiss him back?" he asked quietly, daring himself to make eye contact with her.
"No," Genevieve said immediately, shaking her head, "No, of course I didn't." To this, all Remus did was give her a curt nod before turning to stare out of the window, his eyes droopy with exhaustion and sad thoughts.
"Remus... it was really just a kiss," Genevieve started, but she soon stopped herself from talking. Not only did she realise that she didn't have to justify herself to him, no matter how right it felt to, but everyone else in the room was watching them almost like they were expecting something.
Marcus, who looked almost as wounded as Remus, wrapped his arm around Genevieve's shoulder and gave her a slight nudge. "C'mon Gen, let's go get something to eat," he insisted, realising that a fight was more than likely to break out between Sirius and Remus. He looked over at James to see if this was the right thing to do, and the bespectacled boy nodded back.
"Gingerbread," Peter blurted. At the confused look on Marcus's face, he blushed a little and said, "She uh— she likes gingerbread."
Marcus smiled down at her. "Lucky I do too." He leaded her out the Hospital Wing, and to everyone's surprise, Genevieve left without so much as a fight. In all honesty, she had been thankful at Marcus's suggestion because then that meant nobody would be gawking at her anymore.
As soon as the door has closed behind them, Sirius was already talking again, "Moony, I didn't—"
"You didn't what?" Remus repeated exhaustedly, a crestfallen look in his eyes. "You didn't mean it?"
"Obviously I didn't mean it!" Sirius exasperated. "Genny was just there for me and I wasn't thinking straight."
"Guys let's not do this right now," Lily interjected, her eyes averting between them frantically incase anything happened. She couldn't help but keep glancing at poor Jessie as well, who was now beyond puzzlement. "Both Jessie and Remus need to rest."
James nodded in agreement. "Let's not go there, yeah?"
She placed a hand on James's arm comfortingly. "I'll go find Pomfrey," she said lowly before heading towards the nurse's office.
Remus, however, was barely listening to them. The full moon only heightened his emotions and fuelled him to keep talking. "You knew I liked her," he weakly spoke to Sirius. "I always have, you know this. I may not of ever said it but..." he trailed off.
"I know you like her," Sirius stressed, "Everyone does, Merlin's sake! And of course I love Genny, but only in the way that I love all of you. I've never liked her in that way Rem, c'mon you know this." He took in a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. "Look, I don't react well to being vulnerable and that sort of stuff. She was just there after I got beat to shit and I was really, really grateful, and I didn't know how to process it all."
"Well you don't do that," Remus criticised. "You do anything but that! You don't just go around kissing people whenever they show the slightest bit of affection to you, Sirius. It doesn't make you a 'playboy' or whatever the hell you classify yourself as, it just makes you an arse for toying with people's feelings."
Now, Remus and Sirius had argued before. When two very headstrong people disagreed on a matter, there were bound to be arguments. Never once had they brought each other's actions or the way they behaved into an argument though. They only argued over keeping the room tidy, or to stop hogging the bathroom, or to stop pestering each other.
Becoming annoyed with Remus's refusal to hear him out, Sirius ran a hand through his long hair in disbelief. "Well it's not like you were ever going to make a move on her anyway," he retorted sharply, "You've got too much self loathing for that."
"Can you two please stop it?" Peter interrupted nervously, his eyes flicking between all the boys including a very disturbed Jessie. They ignored him.
"At least I'm not an attention seeking prick!" Remus snapped. "You'll shag anything that breathes just for the validation you never got from Mummy and Daddy."
"You hear that everyone?" Sirius laughed mockingly, looking around at them all and pointing at Remus. "Looks like the goody-goody act is up now, Lupin! You're not acting as saintly as you usually do with your shiny prefect badge and your perfect grades. You're no golden boy, Lupin, you're a fucking try hard who does his best in school to make up for the fact that he's a—"
"I don't care how mad either of you are, stop talking about each other like that right now!" James demanded. "Y'know what— Sirius, go back to the common room." The silver-eyed boy was about to protest, but before he could James had already said firmly, "Now."
"Fine," Sirius seethed, his face contorted into a scowl, "I needed a cigarette anyway." He ran his hand through his long hair, glanced around them all once more, and then marched himself out of the Hospital Wing. He made sure to slam the door behind him, shaking some of the beds in his wake.
With a sigh, Remus rested his head back in his pillows and tried to stop his head from spinning. "Thanks," he murmured, but Peter closed the cubicle curtain around his bed with a roll of his eyes before he could continue. In his opinion, they both had a right to be upset as they said to each other equally as upsetting things, but they were both to blame as a whole for the argument.
As Jessie watched Madam Pomfrey hurry over to him with Lily following curtly behind her, he blinked to himself and tried to process what had just happened. "Why couldn't I have broken my neck instead?" he joked to James and Peter.
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a/n: HOLY FUCKING SHIT WE HIT 300K READS I STG NOT EVEN A YEAR AGO I WAS THANKING EVERYONE FOR 300 READS I LOVE YOU ALL MORE THAN I LOVE MYSELF NO JOKE ONM
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