hogsmeade
It was finally October and the leaves were bright orange and red. It had been two weeks since the trip to Feldcroft. The air was cool and everything felt more cozy. My feet crunched leaves on the path to Hogsmeade as I walked in time with Juniper and Everett.
"You PROMISED me that we could get some sweets at Honeydukes this time," Juniper reminded us.
"And I plan on keeping my promise," Everett said. Apparently, when Juniper was faced with detentions and being told that she could not go to Honeydukes, she cried into Everett's chest about it, and Everett being Everett, wanted to promise her something she could look forward to.
"How do you feel now that you are done with all of your detentions, Juniper?" I asked.
"Great! It is so nice to be outside. I feel like all I have seen lately is the inside of the hospital."
"It was a fitting punishment considering what you did to Zenobia," I said while raising my eyebrow at her.
"Cleaning up the very slugs she was throwing up definitely taught me something. I could never be a nurse." Juniper laughed.
"Juniper!" called one of Juniper's friends from behind us.
"Oh, that's Kate. I promised her I would go with her to look at new brooms. She says the shop owner creeps her out and always tries to upsell some 'upgrades' to her."
"What are you going to do about that?" I said while Juniper shrugged.
"Ever since I made Zenobia throw up slugs, people have been treating me like a badass." Just like that, Juniper was running behind us to her friends. We walked quietly along the path as the breeze blew crisp autumn air. My mind wandered to Sebastian. Things seemed relatively normal between us again, but things were different now. We had not blown up at each other since before the flight to Feldcroft. We were back to being friends at last.
"So," Everett sighed while scratching his head. "I was wondering if I could treat you to a butterbeer while we are in town."
"Absolutely, Three Broomsticks might be a bit stuffy tonight with it being Friday night, but I don't mind." I smiled at him and as I was, I lost my balance and ended up walking into him. Before I could fall, Everett stopped and grabbed hold of me. I heard a roar of giggles come from the fifth years following closely behind. I raised my middle finger at my sister as I gained my balance back and kept walking towards Hogsmeade.
"Thanks for the save, Everett."
"Always," Everett said with a smile.
As we made our way into the village, I stopped to pet one of the cats roaming the street.
"You really do love animals. Maybe what Professor Howin said has some merit," said Everett.
"Yeah, maybe." I gave the kitten one more scratch on the head before standing back up. Just then, Juniper came walking up to us with her friends.
"Don't think I have forgotten about Honeydukes!"
"Yeah, Everett, you owe Juniper candy," Kate giggled.
"Shall we?" Everett said, offering his elbow to Juniper and me. We walked through Honeydukes with Juniper grabbing every treat that she possibly could as I shook my head. Everett did not cease to encourage her to grab more. The fact became more apparent that he had come from money. I saw Ominis pass by the front window just as we went to check out.
"I am going to go catch up with Ominis for a moment," I said, excusing myself from watching Juniper rack up her candy bill. I moved quickly through the door and towards Ominis.
"Hey, you." I heard a voice come from my left and turned to see Sebastian with Garreth Weasley.
"Oh, hey. I just saw Ominis out here and wanted to catch up with him." My cheeks got red from the boys staring at me.
"I am right here, darling," Ominis spoke while walking up behind me. I turned to him and gave him a hug.
"I just wanted to say hi, and escape from my sister taking all of Everett's money." I shrugged and chuckled.
"Ah. So, your date with Everett is going well, then?" questioned Ominis with a mischievous look in his eye.
"Ominis, come on, you know it isn't a date," I said. Sebastian walked over to the two of us.
"I mean, who would blame you if it was a date, Starling." Sebastian winked at me as if nothing happened between us and I suddenly felt a twinge in my stomach. He leaned on my shoulder, and I could smell firewhisky on his breath.
"Been out drinking, boys?" I said, shrugging Sebastian off of my shoulder.
"Not me, I have been looking after these two idiots. When you came out, I had just been recovering Sebastian's wand because he decided to throw it." I giggled at Ominis' frustration with the two of them.
"Maybe you should take them back to the castle now," I said.
"NO! I want to stay with you. Maybe we can revisit what happened in the Undercroft." My heart fell into the pit of my stomach.
"OOOHHOOHOOO" Garrett called stupidly from behind us. My cheeks turned bright red.
"What went on in the Undercroft?" Ominis said on the verge of pure rage.
"Nothing. He just told me about some things and-" I said before I was interrupted.
"AND we kissed. That's right, Omi. I kissed her." I shook my head at Sebastian and wanted to throw him through the Honeydukes' display window.
"You what?" Everett said from behind us. I had not heard the door open.
"I KISSED HER. OKAY EVERYONE?" Sebastian mumbled loudly and raised both hands as if he were protecting himself from someone. Maybe he thought I would throw him through the display window.
"Okay, it is time for us to leave before you get yourself into any more trouble here," Ominis said and looked at me. "Don't think I won't bring this up again when I don't have the two idiots to look after."
Just like that, the three of them started their journey back to the castle, leaving me to clean up another mess that Sebastian had gotten me into. I turned around to see Juniper wide-eyed with her mouth agape.
"I knew it!" Juniper exclaimed.
"I thought..." Everett said, looking completely defeated.
"Let's talk about this over a drink. Juniper go back to the castle with your friends," I ordered.
"But I want to stay and-"
"No. Go back to the castle." Juniper went off to find her friends in Honeydukes.
The two of us walked slowly over to Three Broomsticks in silence. Sirona greeted us as we walked in.
"Oh, it looks like a night for a couple of real drinks for you two," Sirona said. She went about getting our drinks for us and I turned to Everett after plopping down on the stool.
"Before you say anything in your defense, I thought we both might be feeling the same way about each other. I thought that we... I don't know," Everett spoke with such sadness in his voice that it was hard to lie to him.
"What happened between us was a mistake. It was one kiss. We both regret it."
"He did not seem like he regretted it at all," Everett said, with an astonished chuckle.
"He was drunk. I don't think he feels anything for me." I shifted uncomfortably on my stool as Sirona slid our drinks to us. I took a sip from mine and felt the burning sensation ease its way down my throat.
"What happened when you both flew off anyway? I did not want to pry before, but now it seems like it is time to." I looked into his eyes as he spoke, and the shadows were hitting his face in just a way that made him look even more beautiful.
"We ended up in Feldcroft. We stayed the night with his neighbor because Sebastian had needed to go check up on her," I said and I could not tell if he believed me or not. I wasn't sure that I could really trust him yet.
"That was it? Nothing else happened?" he questioned. I took another sip of my drink as I shook my head.
"He had followed me from the castle because he knew that he had upset me. That part of the story we told to everyone was untrue. Seb was trying to keep me from getting into too much trouble."
"Something that I can finally respect him for." He scoffed. I could not help but look at him baffled. He did not know Sebastian and all the things that he had been through. It made me feel uneasy about my feelings for Everett when he spoke about him in that way.
"Sebastian has actually done a lot in his life that he deserves respect for. How dare you talk about him like that when you both have been acting like assholes toward each other. It isn't one-sided." I turned toward the bar and asked Sirona for another drink. Everett let out a sigh after a moment. He put his hand on my thigh, which took me by surprise.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I guess I just felt threatened by him. You both had passionate arguments in front of everyone from the day that I got here. I just knew that there had to be something there,"
"Well, there isn't," I lied.
"I know that I haven't been upfront about my feelings up until this point, so I have no reason to be upset with you. I just wish it was me instead."
"What?"
"I wish it was me that got to kiss you. I wish I had been the one who flew off the Feldcroft with you."
"Well, that just would have been awkward considering you don't have a neighbor in Feldcroft." I chuckled as I went to take another drink. My cheeks felt warm, and I could feel my muscles relaxing as the alcohol made its way through me.
"Come to think of it. I have no idea where your family lives," I said to him.
"Well, believe it or not, we have two homes. My dad wanted a place near the school where he could come visit me, but when I am not here, we live in Yorkshire."
"Oh, have you spoken to Ominis much? He is from Little Hagleton in Yorkshire!"
"You don't say. I did not know that," he said before taking a drink. He turned to face me in his seat. His cheeks were pink like mine, too. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as he looked at me.
"I want to spend more time with you," he said matter-of-factly.
"I would like that," I said with a smile. "What are you doing tomorrow?" He turned back to the bar uncomfortably.
"I can't tomorrow. I have a prior family engagement to go to."
"Oh, okay. Another time then?" I asked.
"Of course. Maybe we could do something next weekend, just the two of us," he said, looking over at me with a smile. We decided it was time to walk back to the castle. We walked through the now quiet Hogsmeade. I could not help but let a large smile spread across my face. As we left the small village, I looked up at the stars which were very clear without the intrusion of the lights from Hogsmeade.
"Wow. Look at those stars. What a beautiful night," I said while shivering from the cold air.
"Look at the moon. It looks like it is almost full," Everett said before shrugging off his coat and putting it over my shoulders.
"How do you know it wasn't already full?" I asked knowing I did not pay enough attention to realize when it was full.
"I am an astronomy nerd." He shrugged.
"I think you might be too talented," I said while laughing. At that, Everett took it as a cue to wrap my hand in his.
"Something tells me that you are the one who is too talented." He kissed my hand but didn't let go until we said goodnight in the castle.