We were running late. That was why I was practically running through the platform and hopping onto the train before it left the station. As soon as I was on the train, its doors started to close and I waved a quick goodbye to my parents through the window before heading to the carriage that we, my friends and I, had claimed when we started Hogwarts.
I had barely stepped through the carriage door when I was almost knocked off my feet as Rose threw herself at me. Stumbling from the force of her hug I couldn't help but laugh.
"I missed you," She whined as I wrapped my arms around her to return her hug.
"I missed you too Rosie."
Pulling back from the hug, Rose sat down and waited for me to put my trunk away. When I had stored my trunk, she gave me a prodding look, silently urging me to sit down. Crossing her arms over her chest, Rose raised an eyebrow suggestively.
"Spill, now. I want all the details."
"Details about what?" I asked innocently, tracing the pattern of the seat beneath me.
"The boy you met over summer - the one you wrote to me about."
Settling further into my seat, I started the story from the beginning. "He's the son of someone dad knows. I guess it started when we went on holiday to Spain together."
"That's so romantic," Rose had gushed quietly, the moment I had finished the story. "Are you going to see him again?"
"I'm not sure," I admitted, "But it did seem like our dads are close, so we might."
"Oh you should!" She exclaimed, grinning at me. "Besides it sounds like he was completely besotted with you."
"As if it's possible for someone to be 'besotted' with that." An extremely unwelcome voice called from the doorway.
I scrunched my nose in disgust, recognising the voice straight away and turned to look at the carriage doorway. Sure enough, Potter was leaning against the carriage door with his eyes fixed onto me. His eyes were challenging me to react but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
"Potter," I greeted coolly.
"Myers." He returned, pushing away from the carriage door to walk in and sit beside Rose. "So what were you talking about before?"
"Do you really need to be so nosy?" The question was out before I could stop it.
Potter turned his eyes from Rosie to me and there it was, the smug look that I hated seeing. "I didn't realise that I had asked you Myers." He looked back at Rose. "So?"
"We were talking about her summer fling." Rose shot me a teasing look and I groaned at her choice of words.
"It wasn't a fling, Rosie," I muttered.
"A summer fling?" Potter repeated, giving me a look. "Oh please. Myers what did you do to the poor bloke? Slip him a love potion?"
I glared at him. "Just because you need a love potion to get someone to like you Potter, doesn't mean that everyone else needs one."
Potter went to reply but was cut off by Rosie. "The sexual tension between the two of you is suffocating."
I felt my jaw drop at her statement and Potter spluttered from his seat beside her. Sexual tension - between me and Potter? Merlin, she'd finally gone batshit.
"I told you reading all the time would somehow harm your brain Rosie," Potter said to his cousin, "I mean just listen to the nonsense you're spouting."
"Don't try and deny it." She looked between the two of us, "Seriously the two of you need to either get together already or at least snog."
I snorted at her statement and shifted in my seat. "There's something fundamentally wrong with you believing that there's sexual tension between the two of us Rosie."
She raised an eyebrow challengingly. "Oh yeah and what's that?"
"There's no sexual tension between us." She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply. I continued talking before she could interrupt. "Sexual tension implies that there's an attraction there. In fact, it's not possible for sexual tension to exist without attractive and I don't know about Potter but I certainly don't find him attractive."
"Exactly," Potter chimed in, "Neither of us are attracted to the other - I'd never find her attractive in any way, shape or form."
I nodded, scanning my eyes over his form. "And I certainly don't have a thing for Gryfindork seekers."
"Prissy Ravenclaws aren't exactly my type either."
**********
Potter liked to annoy me and that was the understatement of the century. It was as if he was incapable of being civil in my presence and he'd go out of his way to rile me up. And I knew what he was doing but yet I'd still rise to the bait. Even when I tried not to.
This was one of those times. Potter was sitting in front of me, clearly trying to rile me up and I'd patiently tried to let it all go. But one look into his eyes and seeing that infuriating look in his eyes and my restraint snapped.
"How can you say that?" I demanded suddenly, glaring at the boy across from me.
Potter met my gaze head on, his eyes sparkling with mischief. And they all said James was the trouble maker.
He leaned closer to me, across the table, "I can say it because it's true."
"Take it back," I hissed, one small remark away from grabbing his tie to strangle him with it.
"Why should I take it back?" He asked innocently, tilting his head to the side.
Right, I thought, time to teach this little -
"That is it!" Rose shouted, simultaneously reminding us both of her presence as we jumped apart at her sudden outburst. "I have had enough of the two of you fighting constantly! Albus Severus Potter, she is my best friend, and that means that you shouldn't irritate her constantly by trying to rile her up. Merlin, leave her alone." She turned to look at me. "You know he's my favourite cousin, and whilst he might he an annoying little shit, you shouldn't pick on him so much either. So ease up a bit, please."
When we made no move to answer her, Rose pulled her wand out of her pocket. Muttering something under her breath as she waved her wand between Albus and me, and gave us both a smug look. Something cold encased my wrist and I glanced down to see a pair of handcuffs tying Albus and me together.
My eyes widened and Potter spoke quickly, his voice rough, "You just handcuffed us together Rosie."
"I'm aware," she said, casually pocketing her wand as if she hadn't just physically joined me to the most annoying person in the entire school. "Don't worry, the spell only lasts for two days. I tried to get it to last longer but I couldn't. And don't moan about having to be so close to each other - the charm makes the chain between them stretch to at most 1 metre."
"Rose, when I get out of these handcuffs I'm going to kill you," I muttered darkly.
"No you won't." She said knowingly, "You'll thank me for opening your eyes. Now come along, we've got Defence next."
Potter and I shot identically murderous glares at her back as she went to lead us out of the great hall. It was difficult to try and move with the handcuffs linking us together and the Gryffindor table in the way.
"Myers," Potter said in irritation, "Climb over the table and to this side."
"No," I said instantly, "You do it."
"Myers, this isn't the time to be annoying me. I'm already dreading having to put up with you for the next 48 hours. Don't make it harder than it needs to be."
"Listen to me you drama queen, I'm wearing a skirt and I'd rather not flash anyone. You're wearing trousers so it makes sense for you to climb over, you flobberworm."
Ignoring the insult, he climbed over the Gryffindor table and stood by my side. We both turned to face Rosie who was waiting for us. We followed her to DADA in an awkward silence, hyper aware of the close presence that we were forced to keep. The closer we came to the classroom the more anxious Potter became at my side.
Walking into the classroom I became instantly aware of the eyes that focused onto the two of us and our close proximity. Lowering my head to avoid meeting everyone's eyes, I moved towards my seat only to be stopped by a dead weight. Looking over my shoulder at Potter, I raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not going to be surrounded by a bunch of Ravenclaw bookworms."
I let out a sharp breath, tugging on our connected arms to try to pull him with me. It didn't work. "And I am not being surrounded by a bunch of arrogant Gryffindors."
There was a tense silence where we both glared at each other, neither willing to budge. We both turned to sit in our normal seats and must've reached the 1 metre maximum because we were flung back towards each other by force. I gasped, stumbling in my step, trying to steady myself. My hands moved to Potter's chest and I gripped his shirt between my hands, his hands moving to my waist. Realising the position we were in, I glanced up at him from under my eyelashes and registered the surprise in his eyes. But he hadn't let go of me yet.
The air around us was shattered by a single cough.
"Mr Potter." We both faced Mr Zabini and saw the smirk on his face. "Could you please let Miss Myers go? Oh, and Miss Myers, it's only fair that you release the hold you have on Mr Potter's shirt as well."
Letting go of Potter's shirt instantly, I pushed myself away from him, my cheeks stained red. Merlin, how was I going to live this down? I was so embarrassed that I made no fuss when Potter steered me away from my seat and towards his. The lesson started and we made no move to talk to each other. It had never been so awkward between the two of us and that just set the tone for the rest of the day.
But the most awkward time of the day by far was going to be the night and we both knew that. We'd gone out of our way to not bring it up but now we were both stuck with deciding what to do. Potter, having taken it upon himself to make a decision, had forcefully pulled me towards the Gryffindor common room and now we were involved in a stalemate outside the common room.
"You're being so stubborn!" He insisted, pulling me towards the Fat Lady.
"I'm telling you one last time Potter," I warned, digging my heels into the ground, conscious of the way the Fat Lady glanced between the two of us in exasperation. "This is not going to happen - we'll think of another solution."
"Why don't you two just hurry inside to resolve this lover's tiff?" She suggested only you trail off when she noticed the twin glares she was receiving.
"Honestly!" I exclaimed looking up at the portrait. "You're supposed to be in charge of guarding the Gryffindor common room, I'm clearly a Ravenclaw, so how can you just let me in?"
Potter shot me a glare, "The only other solution is staying awake all night."
"And that sounds pretty good to me."
"Well it doesn't sound good to me."
Without giving me a chance to say anything Potter ducked down to sweep an arm around my legs and used his free arm to hoist me over his shoulder. Potter's shoulder dug painfully into my stomach and I hit his back repeatedly.
"Put me down!"
Ignoring my protests, he walked up to the portrait and uttered the password, walking straight into the common room. A hush fell over the common room as people looked over at me and potter, realising the position we were in. Suggestive smirks appeared on the boy's faces, particularly James and Fred's, and blushed. The blush grew as someone wolf whistled and people started to murmur.
"Well that's one way to resolve all that sexual tension -"
"Who knew Potter had it in him to -"
"They better remember the silencing charm -"
Oh Merlin, they thought -
My blush worsened and I buried my face into the back of Potter's shirt to hide. Only when the voices became distant and faded into the background did I look up. Potter pushed the door to his dorm open and set me gently on the bed. I swung my feet awkwardly as I sat on the edge of the bed, all too aware of the amused smirk on his face as he looked down at me.
"Stop being so weird," he admonished, nudging me to move to the other side of the bed. He settled in besides me.
"This entire situation is weird," I pointed out, watching as he lied down on the bed, draping an arm over his eyes.
"Go to sleep." He ordered.
"No." I looked around the dorm room; were all boy's dorms this messy? "You cannot be serious - I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you."
Lifting the arm from his face he gave me a look before reaching across the mattress to take my hand in his. Linking our fingers, he used it to pull me down beside him. Settling down with my back to him, I stiffened when he wrapped our connected hands around my waist and pulled me back against him.
"Go to sleep Myers," He muttered, his voice already drowsy with sleep.
Letting out a sigh, I made myself relax, knowing that there was no way for me to get out of this. Inching my arm towards my wand, I closed the curtains around the bed. I did not need his dorm mates to find us like this.
Closing my eyes, I settled down to sleep.
**********
I woke the next morning at the feeling of the mattress moving as Potter got up from the bed. At the sound of some rustling, I glanced over my shoulder only to be greeted by the sight of a bare back. Merlin, I thought, blood rushing to my cheeks as I turned back and closed my eyes. Feigning sleep I waited for him to finishing changing. The mattress dipped once again and I held my breath, waiting to see what he would do next.
Gentle fingers pushed some of the hair away from my face before Potter shook my arm. Pretending to wake up slowly I turned to look at Potter. He was sat on the side of the bed, watching me expectantly.
"Good morning," He said, clearly not feeling the awkwardness that I was feeling.
"Good morning," I said quietly, sitting up. Reaching for my wand I cast a quick scourgify over myself.
"I've got quidditch practice in an hour," He announced, rising to his feet. My eyes scanned over him, he'd gotten changed into his quidditch uniform.
"So what if you've got quidditch practice?" I hopped off the bed and straightened out my uniform. "Just miss it."
"And have James murder me for it? No thanks." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Besides we've got a match next week."
"A match against the Ravenclaw team - the team that I'm on." Scanning the room, I found a spare pencil lying on the floor and picked it up to transfigure it into a hair tie. Tying my hair into a ponytail I turned my eyes back to Potter. "It makes sense for you to miss the practice, it'll be better for your team if I'm not there during the practice."
"Look Myers." He rolled his eyes. "We're going to go to that practice, whether I have to drag you there or not. And I think last tonight proved that I'm perfectly capable of dragging you along. Now you've got two options here; either you agree and we have time to grab some breakfast, or you don't and we have to skip breakfast all together. It's your decision."
He waited for me to come to a decision and the answer was obvious to me; I was starving. But before I could voice my decision, my stomach decided to rumble. Potter let out a chuckle.
"Well it looks like we're going to breakfast."
After a breakfast where I tried to ignore the stares that were targeted on us, I was filled with energy. Enough energy to put up a fight on the way down to the quidditch pitch. Potter gave me an annoyed look when he realised that I wasn't going to go quietly. He dragged me towards the quidditch pitch even as I tried to set my feet firmly into the ground.
"Potter," I said once we were at the pitch. The entire team turned to look at us once they'd heard the commotion. "I am not going to take part in this training session. This is like committing treason."
He raised an eyebrow. "That's a load of bullshit."
"Potter -"
"Look Myers," he said with a sigh, "You are getting on that bloody broom even if I have to force you onto it."
Our staring competition was interrupted at the sound of an amused chuckle. We turned to look at James.
"What?" Potter said irritably.
"Do you really want her to ride your broom that badly Al?"
Potter turned a shocking shade of red at his brother's teasing words. Tugging on our connected hands he stalked towards his broom.
"You didn't exactly deny it!" James called out from behind us but Potter ignored his words.
"Get on the broom," Potter said, avoiding my eyes.
By now I knew better than to argue with him and clambered onto the broom. Potter settled behind me, his arms coming around me to cage me in.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I couldn't resist asking one more time. "I mean, let's remember that I am the seeker you're going to be playing against next week. Are you sure you want me to know all of your team secrets?"
"I'm sure we'll be fine by the time the match comes about," he said dismissively, kicking off the ground.
"You sound confident in your abilities," I muttered when we were hovering in the air.
"I am unbeaten."
"Almost unbeaten," I scoffed, glancing over my shoulder at him. "I've beaten you before."
"Yeah but that was only because -"
He cut himself off, swerving suddenly to narrowly miss a bludger that had been coming our way. Swearing underneath his breath, he turned to look at Fred who was grinning good naturedly at us.
"Pay attention Albus!" Fred chided as James took to the sky and the practice officially started.
I was determined to be a hindrance throughout the entire practice and I wouldn't have been proud to call myself a Ravenclaw if I had peacefully sat through the practice. So naturally Potter was stewing behind me, arguing with me. But somehow, he'd manage to figure out that if he invaded my personal space then I would shut up. It was a fact that he was exploiting. Another one of our spats had started just as the practice drew to a close.
"Oi!" James shouted from the ground. "The practice is already over! Albus if you're done flirting with my future sister-in-law then go and get changed!"
Ignoring the jibe, Potter manoeuvred us to the ground. Once he had put his broom away, he headed for the changing room. We drew closer to the changing room and I stared at the door to the boys changing room in horror. I blanched, taking a hold of Potter's hand to stop him.
"Albus," I said quietly, "I can't go in there."
"Why not?" He actually sounded concerned. Maybe it was because of my use of his first name?
"Take a look at the sign on the door."
Understanding dawned on him and he glanced down at me, "Wait here."
Pushing open the door to the changing room, he walked in and the chain on the handcuffs extending to allow him to walk in. The door swung shut behind him and I glanced around the hallway before Albus walked back out of the changing room.
"A few of the guys are in there, so close your eyes." He said gently.
Doing as he said, I closed my eyes and let him lead me into the changing room. The sound of wolf whistles made me start slightly and stop in my step. Albus took my hand in his and pulled me further into the room.
"Oh sod off!" He yelled when another member of the team made a remark. A few moments later there was the sound of the door opening and the voices from the boys drew further away.
"Have they gone?" I asked quietly.
"They've gone," he assured me. "You can open your eyes now."
Opening my eyes I looked back at Albus who took his tie out from his kit bag. He held it out towards me.
"What are you going to do with that?"
"I'm going to blindfold you with it."
"You're going to blindfold me? Why?"
"Myers I need to get changed as well and frankly I don't trust you not to peek." He grinned when I rolled my eyes.
Closing my eyes, I felt him reach behind me to knot the tie at the back of my head.
"How exactly is this going to work?" I asked after a few minutes of silence. At the sound of rustling clothes I turned away from him slightly to hide the sudden rush of blood to my cheeks. I might not have been able to see him but he could certainly see me.
"I have no idea." Potter admitted and I briefly wondered how he had managed to get changed in the morning. "I guess I'm going to have to figure it out. Don't you dare peek."
"Like I'd ever be tempted to."
"Oh I wouldn't put it past you Myers."
I felt his shoulder brush against mine as he moved closer to me. Clearing my throat slightly I moved away from him. "Back away from me Potter."
"Is that a blush I see?" He asked in amusement. "You want me, don't you? All you have to do is admit it and we can do something about it."
My eyes opened in shock but I couldn't see anything besides the tie. A silence settled between us and I chose to break it.
"What I want Al - Potter is for you to have a shower." I let out a breath. "You stink."
Potter let out a low laugh and moved away from me. He continued to get changed. Once he had finished getting changed I heard him zip up his kit bag. The tie was removed from around my head and I blinked to adjust to the light.
"Hey Myers," he began quietly, his back to me as he adjusted his tie.
"Yeah?"
"The handcuffs are going to disappear sometime tonight."
I furrowed my eyebrows, not sure where he was going with this. "And?"
"It's just going to be strange not having to drag you everywhere I go," He admitted.
"Really?" I watched him as he turned back to face me. "I'd have thought that you'd be glad to get rid of me."
"Maybe I am or maybe I'm not."
The handcuffs did disappear that night whilst we were both asleep. The next morning Potter was adamant on walking me back to Ravenclaw Tower but the walk back to the common room seemed to take longer than normal.
**********
Rose's idea had worked; Albus and I were arguing less. Not that either of us would admit it to her. After being made to stay so close to each other it was weird to now be able to move without feeling Albus' dead weight beside me. As we weren't forced to be around each other, it wasn't possible for us to see each other often. But, as I'd been told embarrassingly by James in the middle of the great hall, I was always welcome to the Gryffindor common room.
The Christmas holiday came and I'd been invited to the Burrow. It was snowing as I entered the burrow, Rose appearing to take my coat and scarf. Lily walked towards the pair of us. The girls stood on either side of me and ushered me away. I looked suspiciously at the girls as we settled down into a secluded corner of the room.
"What's going on?" I asked, crossing my legs as they sat down across from me.
"I need some advice," Lily began quietly, "About a boy - and well I would ask Rose but she's absolutely clueless about boys. Not that you're much better that is. But I figured that out of all the girls I knew, you'd be best."
"Oh," I said, nudging her teasingly, "This is about a certain Hufflepuff chaser, isn't it?"
"It is." She nodded, blushing crimson and ducking her head to avoid my eyes.
"Alright, so spill."
Lily began to speak about the chaser who from the sounds of it liked her too but was very scared of the extended Weasley and Potter bunch. Not that I blamed him. Movement from behind Lily and Rose had me gesturing for Lily to be quiet. She luckily stopped talking just as her brothers were within earshot.
"We'll continue this later," Rose muttered, "When there aren't so many nosy ears around."
"And what conversation aren't we supposed to be hearing you talk about?" James asked as the two brothers sat down besides us.
"Nothing," Lily said innocently.
Albus narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me, "You weren't talking about that guy from Spain again, were you?"
I went to tell him otherwise when Rose cut in, "So what if she was?"
Albus gave his cousin a look and James decided to cut in. "We're having a quidditch match Myers - girls against boys. You can be the seeker that the girl's team has been waiting for."
"Alright, I'm in." I agreed, beginning to regret it when the two brother's shared a look.
"There's a catch," James warned.
"There always is," Rose muttered, glaring at her cousin who just grinned in response.
"Well everyone's playing for something - what are you going to play for?"
"I know," Albus cut in before I could say anything.
"What?" I asked suspiciously.
"If my team wins then you have to go on a date with me," He said, locking his eyes onto mine making my eyebrows rise in surprise. The three people around us started to murmur.
"And when I win?"
His lip twitched upwards as he tried to hide his amusement. "If you win then I'll be your personal slave for a week."
A silence followed his words and I found myself nodding, "Alright. It's a bet."
The two boys left, mumbling something about a team meeting and we found ourselves surrounded by the rest of the Weasley girls. We sorted out the team and the girls started to arrange strategic plays. The two teams were eventually called out onto the makeshift quidditch pitch to find that the adults had spit themselves between supporting the two teams. After casting a quick heating charm on all of the players we were in the air.
Mr Potter blew on the whistle and the game began.
**********
The Hogwarts express was heading back to school and I found myself sitting in an empty carriage. I was looking out the window when the door to the carriage slammed open to reveal a heavily panting Rose. She walked into the carriage, pulling her trunk behind her. Once she put her trunk away, she collapsed into the seat beside me.
"We almost missed the train because of your boyfriend," she complained, leaning her head onto my shoulder.
"He's not my boyfriend." I pushed her head off of my shoulder.
"You went on a date with him." She narrowed her eyes on me.
"That doesn't mean that he's my boyfriend Rosie."
"That's true," she muttered before straightening in her seat to give me a glare. "I still think you let him catch the snitch. I mean you were there before him. Thanks to that I had to do Hugo's chores for the rest of the holiday!"
I rolled my eyes, "Do I seem like the type of person to let someone win? Especially if that someone is Albus?"
"No." She agreed as the door to the carriage opened.
"Well I disagree," Albus announced walking into the carriage and sitting on my other side. He took my hand in his. "I know you let me in - we both know you wanted to go on a date with me."
"Keep telling yourself that," I muttered, seeing the way Rosie was looking between us. She was going to start something.
She called my name, making me look at her. Her eyes were silently telling me to play along.
"Did you hear anything from that guy again?" She asked. Rose didn't even need to specify who 'that guy' was referring to. I felt Albus stiffen beside me.
What answer did Rose want me to give her?
"He wants to meet up during the next holiday," I said tentatively. Rosie smiled. So that was the answer she wanted then.
"Like a date?" I nodded and Rose smiled. "You should go."
"She can't go," Albus cut in, glaring at his cousin.
"And why not?" I asked, turning to face him. "It's not like I have a boyfriend."
He looked down at me in silence before saying quietly, "You do."
"I do?" I raised an eyebrow, "You won't even ask?"
"No I won't." And with that he rose to his feet and left the carriage but not before I saw the blazing red bush that was rapidly making its way up his neck.
"Merlin it took him long enough," Rosie muttered, shutting the door behind him. I glanced at her in confusion. "I knew I'd need to push him into asking you to be his girlfriend."
"He didn't ask."
"Well would you have said no if he had asked?" She demanded with a raised eyebrow. Silence was her only answer. "Exactly."
**********
3 YEARS LATER
We had been out of Hogwarts for a year now and during that year, I had started to work at the ministry. Albus had supported me all the way and he continued to support me until he met some of my co-workers. After that, he had decided that it wasn't 'right' for me to work there and had brought the subject up whenever it popped into his mind. Rose, like some of our other friends, had believed that once we were together, we would stop arguing.
But that wasn't the case. Especially because Al tended to speak without thinking. This time he had decided to create a scene during the weekly family meal that he dragged me along to. Once everyone had finished eating, a ministry owl had appeared with a letter for me. Albus had read the letter over my shoulder and threw a fit when he saw who the letter was from.
"You are not allowed to go," he announced, his words creating a still silence in the room.
The members of his family that were in the room, winced and tried to intervene. It looked like his dad was going to say something but James stopped him, reminding his father that Albus was old enough to clean up his own messes. Following Albus' statement, I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms.
"Excuse me?" I repeated coolly, waiting for him to retract his statement. "I'm not allowed to go to a one on one meeting? A meeting that I'm obliged to go to?"
He had the nerve to nod, "That's right."
"Since when have you been able to decide what I'm allowed and not allowed to do?"
He realised his blunder, colour rising to his cheeks. "Maybe allowed was the wrong word, but I still don't want you going."
I narrowed my eyes at him, "Why? It's a work meeting Albus! I'm supposed to be meeting up with my supervisor."
"The supervisor that wants to date you!" I scoffed; of all the ridiculous things he could say. "Don't make that face, you know it's true."
"Merlin, Potter, you're delusional." Slowly his family members started to leave the room, sensing that the argument was going to last a while. I glanced at the door in time to see Rose trying to leave the room, "Don't go Rosie, you're the only person that'll be able to stop me from hexing your cousin."
Rosie rolled her eyes but remained where she was. She eyed us both with disdain and settled down, ready to play the peacekeeper in yet another one of our arguments.
Albus sighed at my words. "I don't trust him."
"So what?" I demanded, "Even if you don't trust him, you can trust me."
"That's not the point," he insisted.
"Then what is the point?" I rolled my eyes. "I trust you and don't interfere when you have a meeting alone with your supervisor. Even though I've seen her try something with you!"
"That's completely different."
"Oh really?" I took a step closer to him, looking up into his face with a raised eyebrow. Sometimes he spouted the biggest load of bullshit I had ever heard. "How is that any different?"
"First of all, you misunderstood the situation." He crossed his arms over his chest. "And second of all, she has a boyfriend."
"So does my supervisor!"
Albus faltered, "What?"
"My male supervisor has a boyfriend," I explained slowly, "Therefore, he is gay and isn't interested in women."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh." I rolled my eyes.
"Can I just say something?" Rose piped up from the side-line. We both turned to look at her as she approached us, "I've been a witness to a lot of your fights since you've become a couple and one thing I've noticed is that they're caused by jealousy and a lack of communication."
"She's got a point Albus," I admitted, "We're both so quick to jump to conclusions without letting the other explain anything."
"I know," he agreed with a sigh, reaching out to take a hold of my arm. He pulled me into him and wrapped his arms around me, making Rose gag slightly. "I just freak out a little bit, I guess. I'm not exactly the best at talking about my feelings."
"You know," Rose wondered aloud, "If I didn't know any better then I'd say that the two of you argued as a way to maintain your sexual tension - which is so completely gross by the way."
"Hey," I protested, looking at her from where I was wrapped up in Albus' arms, "You and your magic handcuffs were the ones to set us up in the first place."
"Exactly Rosie." Albus dropped a kiss to the top of my head, laughing when Rosie squirmed at the sign of affection.
"And I regret it every day," she said with mock seriousness.
"Well, everyday I'm glad that you did," Albus stated with a smile. I looked up at him and rose onto my toes to press a kiss to his lips.
"Me too," I replied gently.
Rose shuddered. "We can't even talk about our boyfriends anymore like we used to - anything she tells me just freaks me out even more because you're my cousin."
Albus pulled back slightly to look down at me curiously, "Well, how do I compare to Rosie's boyfriend?"
I glanced at Rosie who made a face and left the room. Once she'd left the room, I glanced down at the hands wrapped around my waist.
"Well, you've got bigger hands."