The coming weeks passed quietly. It was now late November and significantly cooler. The trees had lost almost all their leaves.
Every now and then I ran into Sebastian in the crypt, who was still busy deciphering texts from Slytherin's book, so I was his pressure valve from time to time to vent some frustration. We harmonized quite well, even if we weren't as close emotionally as we were that night in Feldcroft. Sebastian was currently rather distant. I didn't know if it was me or because he was very stressed. After all, we almost always saw each other during class, and couldn't really interact with each other without arousing suspicion.
I spent most of my time with Garreth, as usual. Since we didn't see each other very often during class, we spent almost all of our free time in the Room of Requirement. It was wonderful. We cooked together, sometimes just lay around and listened to the music, bathed together and loved each other intensely.
However, during the school week we had to sleep in our dormitories, which frustrated us every night.
It was a late, rainy Sunday evening. We were laying on our couch in the Gryffindor common room. Garreth had been looking a bit sad all day, but he couldn't tell me what was bothering him."Oh man. I don't feel like sleeping alone anymore," Garreth said annoyed as the other sixth years went to their dormitories. "Neither do I, but what choice do we have?" I asked morosely.
"Let's just sleep here," Garreth said casually, "what's supposed to happen? Two students are sleeping together on a sofa in the common room. It's not as if we're fucking here," he said, becoming quieter towards the end. "Yes, but what if a teacher walks in here? Doesn't that cause a lot of trouble?" I asked. "I don't know. I really have no idea, but I wouldn't really care," Garreth said.
I took his hand and looked at it while saying, "Then we should sleep in our beds. I really don't want you to get expelled from school. How am I supposed to go on without you for more than a year and a half?". He hesitated a little before answering, "Then you would have enough time to catch up on what I denied you by keeping the others away from you. You could really live your life at Hogwarts freely for the first time and after the two years you would know whether you really want me by your side at all, or whether you just thought you did." Garreth answered coolly, his eyes on the fire in the fireplace.
I looked at him in surprise and flicked his forehead. "Ouch, why are you-" Garreth wanted to complain when I cut him off: "Garreth, I know that I want you. Even though you didn't give me any real choice, my feelings for you are real. You didn't forced me to love you, you were just there, and you were better for me than anyone else. And even if I can't turn off my feelings for Sebastian, he will never be to me what you are to me. When I picture my wedding I see you as the groom by my side, when I think about what my first child looks like, it has red hair and freckles, and when I picture old and graying on a bench sitting by a lake and watching the ducks, I see you next to me. Yes, I have feelings for Sebastian, but that doesn't change the way I feel about you in any way."
He continued to look into the fire, but his facial expression was a little more relaxed again.
"Garreth, why are you doubting me so much?" I asked, confused. He turned to me and stroked my cheek with his thumb. "I'm not doubting you, Caelie, I'm doubting myself. I've always been so insecure, and I've done so much to make you feel the same way about me as I do about you. And now I'm just afraid that someone will come along, even if it's Sallow, who can make you happier. Someone who can offer you more. Someone who is smarter, better looking or more charming than me. Someone to show you that your feelings for me aren't as deep as you might think, someone who-"
I put my fingers to his lips. His eyes were teary-eyed. "Everything will be fine Garreth, don't let your self-doubt get you down. I would give you the unbreakable vow right here and now, unfortunately I don't know how to do it, but I won't leave you. Not for Sebastian, not for, I don't know why you saw THEM as a risk, Leander or anyone else. I want to spend my life with you. I don't know where Sebastian will be. Maybe I want him near me too, but first and foremost I remain your friend."
"I'm so sorry Caelie. Now I'm already whining in front of you like a complete idiot.", he threw his head back and looked at the ceiling, "I just always felt like I wasn't good enough for I'm you.", he said quietly, "And your feelings for Sallow agree with me a little bit. If I were perfect for you, you wouldn't have any feelings for this... sadistic snake." "I don't even know where that comes from myself. But Sebastian isn't what it appears to be either. He's a big mystery to me, which I really want to solve, but that's not comparable to the deep feelings I have I have for you. But don't let that unsettle you. No matter what I feel for Sebastian, it will never overshadow my feelings for you.", I said, laying my head on his shoulder.
"Marry me. Be my Mrs. Caelie Weasley," Garreth said in a whisper. I smiled lightly while blushing bright red, "When?" I asked just as quietly. "As soon as we graduate from school. That same summer," he replied. "Yeah, then we'll get married," I said, linking our pinky fingers, "I promise."Garreth looked significantly more relaxed again.
We said our goodbyes at the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories. The thought of his insecurity made me depressed. I never wanted to upset him.
I went to the bathroom, had a shower and prepared for the night. When I entered the dormitory, the other girls' lights were already out. I quietly sat down on my bed. It had a damp stain on it and stank horribly. I jumped up. What was that? Actually, I didn't want to know at all. Why did someone spill something on my bed? And who was it? Natty and Nellie I could rule out. What about Cressida? We weren't exactly good friends, but so far I've assumed that we respect each other appropriately. I looked in the direction of her bed and it was... empty?I left the girls dormitory and went to the boys dorms.
My gut told me that I had to go to Garreth quickly. Something was strange. I pulled out my wand, cast Lumos and walked into the sixth year dorm and saw Garreth lying in bed, however someone was sitting on top of him. It was a girl with dark, straight hair that was moving on top of my softly moaning garreth.
Of course. The horrid stench was Polyjuice Potion. Cressida. Apparently she spilled some on my bed while searching for one of my hairs.
Before they both even noticed me, I grabbed "me" by "my" hair and yanked "me" off Garreth. The fake cried out loudly as its head hit the ground. Garreth jumped up and pulled up his underpants, he was obviously in action with "me".
I lost my temper and escalated. I quickly pounded my fist in "my face" over and over again. I heard something crack loudly several times.
"Hey, stop touching Caelie, you bastard!" Garreth yelled, leaping onto me and knocking me backwards and was just about to smack me when Leander turned on the light. I tried to protect my face and put my hands in front of my face. The skin on the knuckles was split open and covered in blood from Cressida and me.
"What the hell?" Garreth asked, irritated. "Garreth, Cressida used Polyjuice Potion to impersonate me. You were right then, she really did have feelings for you, and seemed to want to get to you that way," I screamed, crying. The fake lay on the floor covered in blood and whimpered softly. Garreth's mouth dropped open.
"Caelie, I didn't know.... I thought you were just a bit horny..." his voice trailed off. He was deathly pale, helped me up and took me in his arms. I wept bitterly.
Leander stood rooted to the light switch before he began wiping the blood from the face of the fake. "Why are there two Caelies here and which one is the right one?" Leander asked confused. "I'm the right one!" We both exclaimed at the same time. Garreth released me.
Apparently he wasn't sure himself now.
I saw his gaze dart back and forth between us until the door swung open, and Prof. Weasley, Prof. Garlick, and Prof. Sharp. were standing in front of us.
"Mr. Weasley, what's going on here?" Prof. Sharp asked annoyed. Garreth blushed and said, "Sir, I honestly don't know either. Something to do with polyjuice potion. One of the two is Caelie and the other seems to be Cressida Blume. Unfortunately, I don't have a counter potion here. And I believe that this is" , he pointed at me, "the real Caelie, but without a counterpotion I can't know for sure.""Both claim to be Caelie." Leander said cautiously.
"And why is she bleeding?" Prof. Garlick asked worriedly, and knelt down to Leander and tended to the wound and helped the fake self to its feet.
"Garreth, what exactly happened?" Prof. Weasley asked. "I would really hate to say that out loud right now, Aunt Matilda." Garreth said, embarrassed. She grabbed his arm tightly and dragged him to the other side of the room. I looked after him, he seemed to describe everything to her in detail. I saw that Prof. Weasley's mouth was hanging open. I saw her angrily wagging her index finger in front of Garreth and chiding him. Then I saw her think something and then talk to Garreth again, whereupon he answered and she smiled at him. Both of them returned to the scene of the action.
"Well, the situation is tricky and I don't know how you feel about it, but I don't feel like waiting for the potion to wear off or running to the dungeons for a nullification potion. So I have I was talking to my nephew. Only the right Ms. Lewis can tell me what he and she were last talking about," said Prof. Weasley.
"Tell me what you discussed with Garreth Weasley before going to bed," she said to the fake. "We were sitting in our favorite spot in front of the fireplace, cuddling and talking, he told me he would like to sleep on the sofa. I advised him not to because I don't want him to be expelled from school. Then we talked just a little bit about our feelings for each other and Sebastian Sallow, because I also have feelings for him, which Garreth also knows and accepts, but sometimes it unsettles him, so we talked about it again."
Everyone involved, myself included, hung open. The door to the room was also open and many curious eyes observed what was happening."And now her." Prof. Weasley gestured at me. I breathed in deeply. Merlin's beard, that was awkward. Apparently she had really overheard us.
"She was telling the truth. That's exactly what we talked about. But she didn't seem to hear the last thing... Garreth and I promised each other that we'd get married right after we graduated." I said, blushing as well like Garreth. He nodded to his aunt and was about to hug me when I was suddenly thrown onto the bed by my neck.
I couldn't breathe anymore, all I could see was the fake kneeling on me and choking me while Garreth frantically tried to pull her hands from my neck as gently as possible. "What do you want when you graduate? You have no right. Take that Sallow but stay away from Weasley!" she screamed insanely while her blood dripped onto my face. I saw Garreth getting more and more desperate. He swung back and tried to smack her in the face with a solid fist.
She pressed harder and harder before I could hear a loud "Petrificus totalus!" heard. Professor Weasley had paralyzed Cressida. Cressida hit the ground like a sack of cement.
I coughed while Garreth gently rubbed my back. "I really didn't expect that from you, Ms. Blume. You can't help feelings, but that doesn't give you the right to do something like that," said Prof. Weasley, shocked and disappointed.
"Ms. Lewis, you didn't react appropriately either. Due to the understandable circumstances, you will be in detention for the coming week. The same applies to you, Garreth. Don't do that when there are other classmates in the room." Prof. Weasley saw us understanding. I don't think she was even mad at us, but her punishment was perfectly appropriate. We both nodded.
"Did you do it in here while I was sleeping? Seriously, Garreth? It really doesn't have to be like that." Leander said and fell back onto his bed.
Prof. Sharp raised an eyebrow and looked at Garreth and me. He shook his head and left the room. Garreth and I looked at each other and had to bite back a laugh at Sharp's reaction.
Prof. Garlick and Prof. Weasley supported Cressida, who was now looking like Cressida again, and led her out of the room. As we watched them go, we saw that countless Gryffindor students of all ages were gathered outside the door.
"Go to your fucking beds, this is none of your business. Now fuck off or I'll beat you all your ugly shitheads to fucking pulp!" Garreth yelled and slammed the door with full force. The smaller students seemed to quickly scoot away, while the older students let out some loud, mocking comments before leaving. Garreth was actually a little bit scary though, angry as he was.
Apparently that was exactly the side Sebastian had been talking about.
I took Garreth's hand to soothe him. I've never seen him so upset before. "It's fine, it's not your fault. I'm not mad at you." I said calmly and stroked his cheek. "But I'm mad at myself! I should have known! I noticed the strange smell. I hadn't even remotely thought it was Polyjuice Potion. I thought you used some weird soap. I'm so sorry." he screamed as he started to cry. I hugged him and we cried together while I tried to comfort him.
It really hurt to see her sitting on top of him. Even though my body was there, I knew it was Cressida. But Garreth could see no difference. It was dark and Cressida was well prepared. He simply wasn't to blame. "Garreth, actually you slept with my body. It wasn't your fault. Take a deep breath. Come on, let's go to our sofa," I said, taking his hand.
Withdrawing his hand, he went to his closet and grabbed some fresh clothes. "I'm sorry, Caelie, but I have to shower first. I feel really, really nasty. I'm trying to hurry. Wait for me," he said and disappeared into the bathroom.