Harry was brought to Madam Pomfrey right after Lockhart, well, removed the bones from his arms. The remaining members of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team packed up as quickly as they could at the field, following their injured teammate to the hospital wing afterwards (although, they did make a quick stop at the kitchens where Fred and George requested the house elves for some food and drinks). When they got there, the boy was already surrounded by Ron and Hermione, as well as a few other Gryffindors like Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, and Neville Longbottom.
Madam Pomfrey was nowhere in sight when they arrived, so Hermione explained anxiously that matron was furious when she saw Harry and headed straight to the store room to retrieve some potions. While they waited, Jessica noticed Draco Malfoy also lying on one of the beds, groaning in pain — or, what was a futile attempt at sounding like he was in pain. It seemed highly exaggerated, and even the Slytherin boys standing next to him didn't look convinced.
"Oh, Mr. Malfoy, stop making such a fuss! You can go," Madam Pomfrey waved him off as she reentered the hospital wing and made a beeline for Harry. "Out of my way, out of my way!"
The group crowding around Harry's bed parted to give way to the woman. She placed a bottle and glass on the bedside table.
"Should've been brought straight to me. I can mend bones in a heartbeat, but growing them back..."
"Oh, Merlin, Harry's going to have to drink Skele-Gro," Jessica muttered, already feeling disgusted in his place. She had read about it in one of her Potions books, and one of its main characteristics was that it tasted awful.
"You will be able to, won't you?" Hermione said worriedly to Madam Pomfrey.
"Oh, I'll be able to, certainly," she reassured. She poured the liquid from inside the bottle of Skele-Gro into the glass before handing it to Harry. "But it'll be painful. You're in for a rough night, Potter. Regrowing bones is a nasty business."
Harry downed the drink, only to spit it all out a millisecond later. Fred and George jumped away just in time to evade it.
"Well, what do you expect? Pumpkin juice?" Madam Pomfrey tutted, walking back to her office.
"Ugh!" was all Harry could say in response.
"Unbelievable flying, Harry," George said, lowering his voice. "I've just seen Marcus Flint ranting to his team about Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing."
In unison, they all discretely looked over their shoulders at the platinum blonde haired git, whose cover had been blown after Madam Pomfrey said he was completely fine. He was getting up from his bed and talking to Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, a scowl on his face as he did so.
"Never mind that for now. We've got to celebrate!" said Fred. He and his twin revealed the food and drinks they were hiding behind their robes and showed them off.
"It's going to be a great party!" George promised. But Madam Pomfrey came storming out once again, pointing her finger at the Gryffindors accusingly.
"This boy needs rest, he's got thirty-three bones to regrow!" she shouted. "Out! OUT!"
And so, the Gryffindors were all forced out of the hospital wing. Fred and George were talking about moving the party to the common room instead, and though it was unfortunate that Harry couldn't even join them, they decided that it would be a waste not to consume all the goods they got. Oliver was in the middle of teasing Jessica after she warned everyone to not be too chaotic later since she was a prefect, when a boy clad in Slytherin robes approached her.
"Oh, Higgs," she said, slightly surprised, coming to a halt. The others didn't notice that she had stopped and continued on their way back to the Gryffindor tower, but Oliver did. He slowed down to a stop, too, turning around to see what was going on. "Are you here to see your housemates?"
"No. You, actually," Terence replied. "Can we talk?"
Jessica glanced at Oliver, who got the message right away. He still didn't particularly like Terence Higgs and did not want to leave him alone with Jessica. Was he going to ask her out on another date? Were they going to make things official? Oliver had no idea what was going on between those two since Jessica always said that there was 'nothing' even when it was obvious that Terence was into her. He badly wanted to know what they would talk about, but of course, he couldn't be rude and listen in on them.
"I'll head to the common room first, lass," Oliver finally said.
"Yeah. I'll catch up with you later," Jessica told him. Oliver nodded before reluctantly leaving, quickening his pace to reach the rest of his teammates farther down the hall.
"Congratulations on winning," Terence said once Oliver was gone. "You did really well, especially for your first match."
"Thank you," Jessica smiled. "It was a tough game, honestly."
"It was. Can I ask you something?"
His sudden change in tone made Jessica furrow her eyebrows curiously.
"Sure," she said slowly. "What is it?"
"How do you feel about me, Hawthorne?"
Jessica blinked a few times, clearly caught off guard by that strange question.
"Excuse me?"
"You know how I feel about you, right?" Terence said unashamedly. Jessica couldn't even answer because yes, she did. He had made it obvious many times, even when she never really addressed it. "I've been interested in you for months. I even asked you out on a date. I don't think it's a secret that I like you."
"Why — why are you asking me this?" Jessica replied dumbly, wanting to know the direction of this conversation that she wasn't expecting at all.
Terence paused. There were so many ways he could answer that: that he could already sense that she wasn't interested in him the way he was to her, and that maybe her attention was taken up by someone else. He could mention how easily distracted she got by a certain sixth-year boy she saw in Honeydukes during their date at Hogsmeade. Or maybe he could say that he noticed how happy and comfortable she was around around that same person at the Gryffindor table that morning. He could even bring up the fact that he didn't miss seeing the hug they shared after their win today, and that they held hands even if it was for a brief moment. Sure, friends could do the same things once in a while, but Terence knew better than to ignore a hunch. Jessica may not have known it, but he could see that perhaps the boy who had taken her interest was there the whole time, and it unfortunately wasn't Terence.
Terence just didn't like how things were panning out at that point. As much as he liked her, it just felt like he was dragging out something that wasn't going to progress in the long run.
"I'm asking you how you feel about me — if you like me or not," was what he chose to say instead. "I'm not forcing you to say one thing or another, I just... want an answer."
Jessica never imagined she'd be confronted like this, and yet, here she was. As scary as it felt, maybe this was what she needed. She had been feeling conflicted for a while now, appreciating Terence as a friend but not particularly sure about how she felt for him romantically — if there was any of that at all.
But the truth was, there wasn't anything romantic there. Every time she was with Terence, she only held platonic feelings towards him. Whether it was on that date or when he followed her to the library, she didn't feel anything different; no sparks, fireworks, butterflies, or whatever romance novels claimed she should have felt when spending time with someone you like.
"I..." she hesitated. "Well, I don't think I like you in that way, Higgs. Not that I never had fun talking to you or going on that date — I did, I swear. I just... "
Terence knew this was coming, but it still hit him.
"I kind of figured you'd say that," he admitted.
"You did?" Jessica's eyes widened, feeling bad. "I'm sorry if I seemed uninterested or anything. I really didn't mean to, I just —"
"It's fine," Terence cut her rambling off with a small chuckle. "It wasn't exactly that you ignored me, Hawthorne. It's more like... your attention was just somewhere else."
★ ★ ★
The moment Jessica returned to the common room, she told Bethany everything she and Terence talked about. The redhead was shocked, thinking that that relationship — for lack of a better word — would have lasted longer. She and Alista also thought that Jessica could have liked him back eventually since he was a nice guy at least, but clearly, it didn't turn out that way and ended quicker than they expected.
After agreeing to tell Alista all of that first thing in the following morning, Jessica showered and freshened up. It felt refreshing after being all sweaty and dirty from her first Quidditch match. She took her sweet time resting in the girls dormitory once she was clean, basking in her own thoughts. She kept on replaying her conversation with Terence in her mind. Even though she didn't like him romantically, it still stung a bit that whatever they had was over just like that. Was she just hungry for attention? Perhaps. She couldn't deny that it was flattering to have someone be interested in her that way, and he wasn't a bad person at all. She had never been in any romantic relationship, so it was nice to experience a part of it even if it wasn't wholeheartedly. At the same time, she wondered if maybe he actually lost interest in her and was waiting for her to end it first to make things easier... it wouldn't be that surprising — Jessica wasn't anything special, so perhaps Terence got bored and wanted a way out by turning it on her.
Jessica groaned and shook her head. She was overthinking now and was letting that short talk with him go way out of hand.
Soon enough, the afternoon faded into the evening. It was time for the party the Weasley twins and older students planned after winning that match. It wasn't anything grand, but it was fun nevertheless. Fred and George brought out the butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, pumpkin juice, some snacks, and even the Honeydukes sweets they snuck in. They insisted that it all came from the kitchens, but Jessica was sure that some of the older students tipped them with Sickles and Galleons to buy more goods from Hogsmeade. She was curious as to how they had done it, but she knew that asking them would lead to nowhere. The Weasley twins wouldn't reveal their secrets that easily.
About an hour into the celebration, Jessica was growing a bit restless. She had been by Bethany's side for most of the night, but the girl was busy having fun with some of their classmates as they challenged each other to dares. While Jessica wouldn't mind doing a dare or two, she just wasn't in the mood that night. Her introverted self just wanted to sleep in, and there was also the fact that her conversation with Terence was still bothering her a bit. She managed to escape Bethany and the enthusiastic Gryffindors there, quietly making her way to the side table full of drinks. As she contemplated on whether to drink a good old butterbeer or try some pumpkin fizz for a change, Oliver approached her.
"Hey," he greeted. He was now clad in a navy blue knitted sweater that surprisingly wasn't a turtle neck. "I didn't see you after we left the hospital wing."
"Oh, yeah," Jessica said distractedly, causing Oliver to frown.
"Er, did something happen? Did Higgs do anything?"
"Well, I kind of got dumped, but also kind of dumped him? It's complicated."
"Wait, you were dating Higgs?" Oliver said incredulously.
"No, no, I wasn't," Jessica said hurriedly. "That's why I emphasized the 'kind of' part..."
"Oh." He handed her a cup with pumpkin fizz, which Jessica had coincidentally wanted anyway. "Uh, I still don't understand."
"Well..." Jessica didn't think she'd have to retell everything to Oliver, but there was no backing out now. She did consider him one of her closest friends now, after all, but she wasn't quite sure how to phrase her story. Didn't boys think differently on subjects like this? And didn't boys also always complain that girls were hard to understand? Merlin, she couldn't even understand herself very well, but eventually, Jessica told him what happened.
She gave him the gist of her conversation with the Slytherin boy, and tried her best to explain her thoughts in the simplest way possible — how she realized she didn't like Terence as anything more than a friend, yet, at the same time, it was a little upsetting that there was nothing between them anymore because she couldn't deny that it was nice to experience something like that for a little while.
"That was confusing," Oliver confessed once she had finished her story.
"I know. I'm confused, too," Jessica let out a small laugh.
"I'm sure I don't quite get it yet, but either way, Higgs isn't worth it. I think if you truly like someone, there should be a good balance of the chemistry between them and not giving up on the other person. It seemed to me that you two just weren't on the same wavelength, and it didn't help that he gave up so easily as well."
Jessica was speechless. It was both impressive and amusing to her that he had spouted all those wise words as if he knew all about relationships.
Just when she was about to commend him for having such deep insights, he added, "It's just like Quidditch. Sure, talent will get you places, but if you don't pair that up with hard work and determination, it's no use."
Jessica smiled faintly, still amused but now comforted by that. It was funny how he always brought Quidditch into practically everything he spoke about, but it was also endearing.
"Lighten up, lassie," Oliver said after a moment, nudging her. "You look like you need firewhiskey."
"There's firewhiskey?" Jessica said in surprise.
"You're not going to rat us out, are you, miss Gryffindor prefect?" Oliver teased.
"As much as I'd love to keep up with my prefect duties, I also don't want us to lose points over having a few drinks, especially after that fantastic win."
"Come on, then. I know some seventh years who snuck them in."
Oliver held Jessica by the wrist to pull her along with him. As they weaved through the crowd, Jessica couldn't ignore how that small physical contact they shared gave her a tingling sensation in her stomach — butterflies.