Cynthia
The day had finally come. On March 31, I came out to my friends. We were in the common room. Teddy, Fred, and James were discussing pranks for the next day, Vicky was reading, and Alice was playing with her hair.
I took a deep breath and cleared my throat, “Hey, guys?”
They all looked up, “Yeah?” Vicky asked.
“There’s something I need to tell you.” I glanced at Fred, who immediately knew what I was about to say. He smiled and nodded, encouraging me to go on.
“I…” I take another deep breath, “Oh, fuck it. I’m bi.”
They were silent for about two seconds before they started bombarding me with questions.
“Wait…really?” Alice asked.
“Yes.”
“How long have you known?” Vicky asked.
“Since January, I guess.”
“How did you find out?” Teddy asked.
“I met someone.”
“Are you dating a girl now, then?” James asked.
Fred looked at me, an eyebrow raised. I smiled, “Yeah. I am.”
Fred immediately jumped out of his seat, “I fucking called it!” he shouted joyfully, “That kiss was the beginning of my favourite couple, excluding myself and Petra of course.” I laughed. I’d never seen him so happy before.
“Holy shit, wait,” Teddy said, “Fred, you know who it is?”
Fred just nodded, still grinning ear-to-ear.
Teddy turned to me, “Who? Please, the suspense alone will kill me.”
“Fred seems like he’s about to explode. I’ll let him do the honours.” I said.
“Annalise Zabini!” he blurted out, almost before I’d finished my sentence, “She’s dating Annalise fucking Zabini!”
...
The next day was April first, and the boys were invested. They charmed the radios in the muggle study classrooms to insult anyone who called muggle inventions weird, they put fake spiders in the jelly, they sent all the Slytherins (except for Annalise) snakes in a can at breakfast and proceeded to set them off at the same time, they managed to convince the ghosts to all scream at the same exact time, they cut Hagrid’s bushy hair into a mohawk, and they organised a flashmob in the middle of Charms only to pretend it never happened.
During lunch, they placed a sticking charm on all of the benches that could only be lifted if you sang the chorus to Bang Bang by Nicki Minaj at the top of your lungs. They also caused an avalanche of water, flour, and glitter to rain down on Vincent Goyle as soon as he walked into the Great Hall. He stormed out of the room, furious.
After lunch, I had potions with the Slytherins. Vincent was off somewhere sulking, so I got to sit next to Annalise. About halfway through the lesson, she leaned next to me and whispered, “Why are all of your friends staring at us?”
I glanced back at them. They all quickly looked away, pretending that they were actually doing their work and not eavesdropping. I sighed and turned back to Annalise, “I came out to them yesterday.”
Annalise gaped at me, “Merlin’s ass, really?”
I smiled and nodded.
“How did it go?” She asked.
“Great. I actually feel a lot better out of the closet than I did in.”
“I think you deserve a reward.” Annalise suggested with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“I think you’re right.” I said. I raised my hand, “Excuse me, Professor Slughorn? May I go to the toilet?”
He nodded, “Yes, be quick.”
I stood up to leave and Annalise raised her hand, “Me too, sir?” She asked.
“Yes, after Miss Thomas-Finnigan comes back.” He said.
“But Professor,” Annalise looked him dead in the eyes, “I’m on my period. Are you really gonna deny a girl access to the bathroom if she’s on her period?”
Slughorn turned beet red, “Oh, um, yes, you may go.” He said, clearly flustered.
Annalise and I walked out of the room, both holding back a smile. Halfway down the corridor, we bursted out laughing, “Did you see his face?”
“It was priceless.” I said, catching my breath.
Once our laughter died down, Annalise took my hand in hers, “So, are we going to the bathroom? Or somewhere else? I really don’t want to deal with Myrtle right now, so…”
“Then how about the library?” I suggested. When we got there, we wasted no time. We started making out. And we would’ve kept it up forever if we hadn’t heard someone talking close by.
Two girls rounded the corner, a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff. I recognised them as Sequoia Simone and Kim Harris, president and vice president of the Hogwarts Drama Club.
“Oh, hey Simone.” Annalise said.
“Hey…” she glanced back and forth between me and Annalise before grabbing Harris’s hand and pulling her away, “Carry on.”
Harris whispered something to Simone. I caught the words, “Quidditch muscles,” followed by a fit of giggling. They hurried away to the other end of the library.
Annalise leaned in for another kiss, but we were interrupted once more, this time by Madam Pince walking by, “Miss Zabini, you have not returned the book you borrowed six months ago. Where is it?”
“I’m still reading it.” She explained.
“Uh-huh.” Madam Pince sounded unimpressed, “Detention.”
“What? No, Madam-” Annalise tried to protest, but Pince walked away. Annalise turned to me, “I’ll be right back.” she said before hurrying to follow her.
I waited patiently for her, browsing through the aisle of books to waste the time. At the end of the shelf were an assortment of magazines. One caught my eye and I pulled it off the shelf. It was titled Yes, Glitter! I flipped through the pages, skimming through the articles. Suddenly, I felt something cold and sharp pressed against my neck.
“You and your stupid Gryffindor pals need to stop meddling in things you don’t understand.” Someone whispered menacingly in my ear, “Of course, you’ll have a hard time telling them without your voice.” they slit my throat, not deep enough to kill me, although the blood loss definitely could have, but just deep enough that when I tried to scream, I couldn’t. My now damaged larynx wouldn’t allow it. The person ran off, leaving behind a sprinkle of flour and glitter.
Annalise walked back over, obviously pissed, “I can’t belive I got a fucking detention for—” she noticed the blood, “What the fuck happened?” She asked, panicking.
I almost started signing, but remembered that she didn’t know BSL. I moved my hand across my neck in an attempt at charades.
She seemed to get the message, “Who did this?” she asked.
I hesitated. He had been Annalise’s only friend since her second year. Was I really about to ruin that relationship?
I shrugged.
“Okay. Fuck.” She said, ripping off a piece of her robe, “Tie this around your neck. Not so tight that you can’t breathe, but tight enough to slow the bleeding.”
I did so, and we started running to the hospital wing. Time was running out.