12.1
Just To Sell It-
I get dressed, knowing precisely what I will be doing today. Adelaide and I planned out this Sunday during the school week. We will be spending the entire day together, from breakfast to dinner. We planned our hours in the library or on the grass field near the castle. I don't have to think about what I will wear since we agreed on what we would wear a few days prior. Black jumper with a white dress shirt underneath, beige trousers, my silver wristwatch, which compliments my family ring, and my typical black loafers.
The first note is for me to pick her up. I exit the Slytherin common room at around 7:45. My pace is slow as I observe the castle en route to the Ravenclaw tower. This entire plan only happens because people start getting ideas about us. Whether it be because of my "cheating" or the fact that no one really sees us together on a typical day. I pass by a group of what seems to be third-years who point and whisper. I can hear their soft words explaining how they like my outfit, but I think it is a bit basic. I ignore this and walk further down the corridor.
I check the time, settling on standing further down from the entrance of the Ravenclaw common room. I wait a few minutes for her to exit. She looks up and down the hall before making eye contact with me. Adelaide separates from her friends and approach me. I observe her outfits as she walks my way. Her sweater vest is beige with a white button-up, a black school skirt, and Doc Martens Mary Janes to pull it together. As she gets closer, she smiles at me while I take notice of her pearl jewelry that matches her pearly smile. She has a black shoulder bag as well. I reach out my hand and twirl her around before wrapping my arm around her waist. I kiss the side of her head with a small smile. Not quite matching her bright, toothy grin towards her in-coming friends.
We walk with the other three girls down to the Great Hall, passing by even more students who either care all too much or not at all about our little group with Adelaide in the center. I make a few comments to add to the conversation. I can't relate to the girls discussing their fascination with Proff. Royale. I failed to add that I work privately with him every other weekend. I nod to the girls as we grow closer to the Great Hall. I let Adelaide go and hold the door open for the four girls, who all thank me briefly before returning to their conversation.
They lead me down the Ravenclaw table and to their favorite spot. The tables are mostly empty at this time in the morning. However, I still make eye contact with my girls from the table beside us. Elle seems more focused on a book, while Jo stares me down like a hawk. She knew about this in advance, so she was only staring since Elle was distracted, and I was not there for her to talk to. I break eye contact with the girl to make my coffee.
I sit silently next to Adelaide as a type of trophy husband as the tables fill with more and more students. My ears pick up on a few conversations about us and quite a few more that aren't related to us. I tune them out when Adelaide turns to me and starts speaking.
"Are you not going to eat?" I furrow my brow and shake my head, saying that I never usually eat much at breakfast. This seems to not go over well with her, so I sigh before she slides her plate towards me. It has fruit, toast, and pancakes. I pick up a few mango pieces before looking back at her for approval. She rolls her eyes before sliding her plate back in front of her. I reach over, place my right arm on her shoulders, and rock her once, getting her attention. I give her a sip of my coffee, which she says is too sweet for her before she switches back to talking with her friends with me on her shoulders. I lazily eat my fruit while listening to Heather go on about how she hates attending her Astronomy class as it messes with her nightly routine. I finish another cup of coffee by the time breakfast is over.
Adelaide drags me out of the Great Hall and straight to the library. I place my hand on the small of her back as she leads me through the castle. We move with the flow of the crowd until we break off from the group of students.
Irma welcomes us with a smile. During our few hours here, I lead the brunette through the sea of bookcases, waiting for her to decide what she wishes to read. She stops at the Muggle classical literature. I let her go so she could read each spine that caught her eye. My eyes go to a familiar copy of Dracula that I have read many times. I step forward and slide it out from the shelf while Adelaide is bent over, looking at more books. She tells me how she usually never reads Muggle-written books since her family never allowed it. I tell her that most of the books I read in my spare time are written by Muggles. This gets a small laugh and smiles from her as she grabs a book I can't see the cover of.
"Is this one any good?" She straightens her back and turns to me. She is holding a copy of Jane Eyre.
"Sure. It's something I think you would like." This gets another smile from the girl, who then turns to exit the bookcases. I follow her like with my book in hand. She leads me to the tables in the back of the library; I pull out a seat for her that is facing away from the door. I sit across from her and place my bag on the seat next to me. I reach into it and grab two water bottles for each of us. We will be here for a while, so we might as well be hydrated. Adelaide accepts my offer with a grin before sitting it on the chair next to her so that hopefully Irma won't see it. I don't worry about that very thing, as the librarian knows how much I respect books and would never damage them without reason. We read next to each other for hours until the sun is high in the sky when Adelaide places her book on the table and leans towards me.
"Is it almost time?" She whispers. "I'm at a good stopping point." I don't look at her before racing over and showing her my wrist. I see her nod out of my eye before getting up. She has her bag on her shoulder when I stand and memorize my page number. We walk back to the same bookcase that we stopped at a few hours ago and place the books where we think they should go.
There isn't a cloud in the sky when we exit the castle. We walk until we are halfway to the Quidditch pitch. There are other students out in the open as well. We decide to be a distance away from everyone else. I reach into my bag and pull out a blanket. This gets a confused look from Adelaide while I stretch the grey cotton on the grass before motioning her to sit down. We sit together silently, simply watching the clouds pass us by until she starts up a conversation. We talk about anything that comes to our minds. Adelaide tells me about what she read in the library while I tell her about my chosen book. I tell her about the many Muggle-written books I have come to love over the years. She tells me that even with her freedom while at school, she has never branched out into books written by Muggles. She told me that she thinks there are hidden passageways in the castle.
"Why do you think that?"
"Think about it. The castle is huge, right?" I nod. "So there has to be some hidden secrets in the walls." I could tell her about my exploration of the castle, but I ultimately decided not to. I don't have the energy to show her around every secret I have uncovered in the castle. She continues to tell me how she wants to explore the castle more but doesn't know how or where to start. I let her rant while I continue to watch the sky change. The warm air blows over us as I lay back and cross my arms over my stomach. Adelaide looks over her shoulder before reaching over and grabbing my arm. I let her weave our hands together without a question.
I open my ears and start to hear a few voices talking close to us. They are the voices of young girls. The girls are whispering amongst themselves about what they want to post. I tune them back out until I hear one of them speak my name. Now intrigued, I focus on eavesdropping. "Which ones do you think are good enough to post? I think the ones where they are holding hands are the best ones." Weirdly, some young girls are taking pictures of me and Adelaide, but I know they're harmless. If anything, it just helps us sell the whole relationship to the entire school. I hear the three girls whisper to each other about how many likes they think their posts will get. I roll my eyes before tuning them out once again.
Adelaide joins me in lying down, and we just let the world pass us by; we sit together in comfortable silence as the sun moves in the sky. We hold hands as we cloud watch. It's lunch when we are ready to leave the sun behind. I noticed all the students around us were leaving, so I checked my watch. I let her hand go before getting to my feet; she followed suit and started to fold the blanket for me. I stuff it into my bag before holding out my arm. She intertwines our arms before we head into the castle for lunch.
—
My walk to The Room is quiet. Most students are in their common rooms or dorms, as curfew is in a few minutes. I pass by no one on my walk. I think about how my girls will react to me not talking to them all day. Anything from nothing to yelling at me—you never know with them. So, I'm bracing for the worst.
I hear the telltale click of the mechanism before I open the painting. I see that the girls are on the couch next to each other. Both heads turn to me when they hear me enter. Their faces are blankly staring at me as I sit down in the armchair closest to the door. I set my bag on the floor beside me before Jo speaks up.
"When you told us about your plan, we didn't know you would ignore us all day." This is the first thing Jo says. I start to explain myself until Elle cuts me off.
"You never even texted us all day, Eon." Her tone is flat, and her arms are crossed.
Oh, I fucked up.
-1,940 Words-