Empathy is Hot
The two of them spent the rest of the night practically shoving crumpets down their throats and giggling like lunatics. For some reason he always had the ability to make her laugh, no matter how bad she felt before stepping into his presence. Then again, there was a reason he and his brother were running a successful joke shop; laughter was their forte.
After her realisation that she might've looked at Fred...more than she should've, she started noticing herself doing it. She blushed more than she should, giggled at his stupid words, was drawn towards him where they both sat on the couch. She caught herself looking at him for too long. And while this wasn't that much of a problem when they both sat there, laughing at 11pm in the evening, that was not the case when she woke up the next day.
She swore that the second she opened her eyes she could feel her face flush red in embarrassment, and she shoved her comforter up over her face with a groan.
It was strange; in the moment things could feel completely fine and effortless, yet looking back at it she felt so incredibly awkward.
She had really gone over there, cried mercilessly on his couch, eaten all the crumpets within a 13 mile radius, proceeded to slightly check him out, then left in the middle of the night. What in the world.
She pushed the comforter even more onto her face. God. She wished she could wipe her own memory.
"What are you huffing for?"
Nova's voice appeared through Leigh's thick fog of embarrassment. Lowering the comforter, Leigh peeked out only to see her friend standing in front of the mirror, applying what looked like some kind of blush on her face.
Strange. Nova was never the first to get out of bed. Leigh looked over at the clock at her bedside table, cursing to herself once she realised it was way too much. She shot out of bed. "Why didn't you wake me up?" She asked brashly as she was struggling to put on a sock.
Nova, unfazed, looked at her through the reflection in the mirror. "You slept so peacefully, I didn't have the heart to," she admitted with a pout, and Leigh rolled her eyes. "Besides, you got back so late yesterday, I figured you needed the sleep."
Leigh went bright red again and desperately attempted to shield her face behind her hair. Nova, however, seemed to catch on and stifled a laugh at the view.
"I'm not gonna ask...yet, but you bet I'll torture it out of you later if I have to."
Leigh huffed, detangling herself from her pyjamas and slipping into normal clothes. It was a Friday, she wasn't going to walk around in robes.
"There's literally nothing to tell," she claimed, rushing into the bathroom to quickly brush her teeth and get ready.
"Your face says otherwise!" Nova sing-songed from outside the bathroom. "But I'll drop iiiiit." A pause. "For noooow."
Leigh grimaced at the false notes but admitted that Nova's good mood was appreciated.
"Why are you still in here if you're ready?" Leigh asked as she quickly collected what she needed for her first class. "Class starts in..," Leigh glanced at the watch, eyes widening at the sight, "5 minutes ago! Shit!" By the time she had navigated her way to the classroom she would be an additional 5 minutes late.
Nova shrugged at her question, applying a thin layer of lipgloss before smacking her lips in the mirror. "Couldn't let my bestie get to class late alone, could I?" She gave Leigh a smile. "Let's go."
The two proceeded to practically run down the stairs, much to Nova's amusement. Once they reached the classroom, both gasping for breath, McGonagall's gaze was set on them. She eyed them calmly, raised eyebrows. Leigh couldn't remember the last time she was late.
"I'm so terribly sorry, Professor," Leigh uttered, still breathing heavily from her speedy walk. Nova mumbled a quiet 'sorry' beside her. "It won't happen again, ever." Leigh forced out, following McGonagall's guidance as she pointed towards some empty desks in the back.
"Way to oversell it," Nova mumbled as the two of them shuffled down into a desk, earning a shush from Leigh.
The day went on, and once lunch came up Nova was quick to drag Leigh with her towards the great hall, and the two of them plopped down by an empty table. They were seemingly the first ones of the group to arrive after class. Hermione soon arrived, alone, and Leigh welcomed her with furrowed brows.
"Where's the rest?" She asked while absentmindedly surveying the people making their way through the doors.
"Studying," Hermione huffed as she sat down beside Nova.
"Studying?" Nova and Leigh spoke in unison, confusion clear in their voices.
"During lunch?" Leigh added. Something like this had never happened in all the years she's known them. Skipping lunch studying? Neville, sure. But the other two? No chance.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Forgot they had a divination test after lunch. How can you forget that? Scratch that, how can they choose to study divination of all subjects?"
"Probably thought it was an easy pass," Nova shrugged.
"Probably. And it probably is. If you're delusional." Hermione muttered, starting to shove some lunch onto her plate. The other girls did the same.
"Well, on a lighter topic..," Nova started, eyeing Leigh in the corner of her eye with a smirk. Leigh felt what was coming, and immediately attempted to kick her under the table. "Leigh was over by the twins yesterday."
Hermione seemed oblivious to the events that transpired beside her. She shovelled some food onto her fork. "Right, how was that?" She asked, unaware, still looking down onto her plate.
Before Leigh had time to answer, Nova spoke up again. "She got back at 1am."
Leigh shot daggers towards her friend, which she simply giggled at.
Hermione finally looked up from her plate, gaze moving between the two other people at the table. "She what?"
"She got back at 1am. Was gone since like 5pm."
"Alright!" Leigh snapped, reaching forward to push some asparagus onto her plate to avoid looking at any of them.
"What happened?" Hermione asked after a moment.
"Nothing happened," Leigh whined, hating the attention. She was already embarrassed as it is, and she was glad there was no one else there to witness this mess. Once both girls continued to look at her expectantly Leigh knew she had no option but to say something.
"George had to leave for Diagon Alley."
Hermione tilted her head to the side. "So it was just you and Fred?"
Leigh reluctantly answered before she was cut off by Nova. "Yes–"
"Oh, so that's why you were moaning in your sleep!"
Leigh's eyes shot up at her friend. "I did not!" She replied abruptly, louder than expected, and a few people further down the table turned to look their way. Leigh blushed, lowering her voice as she spoke again. "I did not!"
Nova laughed, seemingly thinking this was the best thing ever. "Okay, fine, fine! You didn't. But it would've been funny if you did."
"No it wouldn't! I feel stupid!
With furrowed brows, Hermione spoke again. "For what? Nothing happened."
"For– for, I don't know!" Leigh struggled to find words.
"Yeah what did actually happen?" Nova asked, having calmed down from her previous laughing fit.
Leigh sighed, scratching her neck. "I don't know. I mean, we talked, he showed me around the shop. It was quite nice actually I'll give them that." She gulped. "I–," God, she thought to herself, embarrassed, she shut her eyes momentarily, "I might have had....emotions."
Nova raised her eyebrows. "Emotions? Is that a codeword for something?"
"No." Leigh rolled her eyes.
"Horny?" Nova pushed while wiggling her eyebrows.
"No! Oh my god, I can't take you anywhere," Leigh exclaimed with a huff, glaring at Nova who giggled in front of her.
Hermione took no notice of her as she spoke up. "You cried?"
Leigh threw her head into the palms of her hands with a huff. "Yes," she dragged out sheepishly, embarrassment whirling inside her.
"Well that's not so bad," Hermione's voice was heard, and Leigh peeked through her fingers to look at the girl.
"It's so bad!" Leigh groaned. "We don't even know each other that well!"
"Oh," Hermione thought for a second, taking a forkful of food from her plate. "He didn't respond well, then?" She looked at Leigh warily, a wrinkle appearing between her furrowed brows. She had known the twins since the first year at Hogwarts, and had spent countless weeks in their company at the Burrow and Grimmauld place.
"No, no, he was...great," Leigh replied, and Hermione let out a breath she had been holding in, relieved she didn't have to slap any Weasleys tonight.
A moment of silence passed as both Nova and Hermione quietly studied the girl in front of them, who seemed to try to decide whether or not to take a bite out of the asparagus on her plate.
"So what's the issue, then?" Hermione finally asked.
Leigh didn't answer right away, and the more the silence ticked on, the larger the smirk on Nova's face became. "Oh, I know what it is," she said, and Leigh already knew that she didn't want to hear this. Nova met her gaze, smirk still present on her lips. "Empathy is hot."
With a groan Leigh's head fell into her hands again. "I did not say that," she defended, her words muffled against the palms of her hands.
Nova continued, placing a hand on Leigh's shoulder. "Leigh here realised she has a bit of a thing for him."
Leigh rolled her eyes behind her hands, huffing at Nova's words. More like Leigh here realised she is severely touch starved and attention deprived and is pathetic enough to think too long about the first guy who smiles her way, she thought to herself.
"I really don't," Leigh responded agitatedly, finally removing her hands from in front of her face and resuming her attention to her plate. She grasped her fork and speared through the helpless asparagus in front of her.
"I'll believe that when I see it!" Nova chuckled. Hermione could do nothing but deliver a small supportive smile.