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booksmarts and broomsticks
act iii , turning tables
chapter forty-one ,  what goes around

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➖NATE SQUIRE ➖
october 1993

"DO I LOOK SLUTTY ENOUGH?"

Tess turned to face Dria — who was sprawled across her bed — with her hands on her hips, as she waited for the blonde to give her opinion on the tight black dress that clung to the Robbins girl's body.

Dria squeezed her eyes shut momentarily as she forced herself to re-enter the present.

The blonde had caught herself zoning out many a time in their first term back at Hogwarts, and was doing every thing in her power to shake the habit before they got around to their examinations.

September had been and gone in the blink of a eye — or at least Dria thought so. The summer was long behind them, as the leaves on the trees transitioned from green into the bright array of red and orange and scattered themselves across the vast grounds as late October began looming.

        Following on from the night of the Quidditch tryouts, Alita Byrnes had in fact made it onto the Gryffindor team in place of Katie Bell which was met by huge celebration — Tess had made a point of telling Dria just how happy Percy Weasley in particular had looked upon hearing the announcement.

        It seemed Dria's in with the team's Captain had benefited the Byrnes girl.

       However, in the month that had elapsed, the blonde had been doing everything in her power to pretend that in didn't exist. Being around him brought on such a frenzy of confusion and guilt that she had decided that best course of action would be to not-so-accidentally avoid him.

        And just like that, Dria was back in the same place she started two years prior — throwing herself out of sight at the mere mention of Oliver Wood.

         "Dria!"

          Tess shot the blonde an expectant look, as she came out of her daze and began surveying her friend's outfit.

"Why are you trying to look slutty again?" She asked, after a moment of contemplation. "You have a girlfriend."

"Who do think I'm slutting it up for?"

"Wait, Una's coming?" Dria asked, a broad smile stretching across her face at the sight of the large grin across her friend's face.

"Yep." Tess squealed excitedly, turning back around to face the mirror and taking a hand through her hair.

        "How exactly is she coming?" Dria chuckled, quirking an eyebrow as she sat up on the bed.

        "I have no idea." Tess shrugged, turning around and walking towards her friend. "I gave five galleons to the Weasley twins and they said they'd sort it, as long as I didn't ask any questions."

        "That sounds extremely sketchy."

        Tess merely offered another shrug before throwing herself down on the bed beside Dria.

        "Hey, if I end up seeing my girlfriend tonight, I don't care."

        Dria couldn't help but smile at the sheer excitement of her friend, but her smile soon faded into a grimace as her brain worked over the logistics of Una coming to the party.

         "Oh Merlin, I do not want to sleep in here tonight."

         "No, you don't." Tess agreed, a shit-eating grin creeping onto her lips. "Though I'm sure, Nate will happily let you—"

        "Shut it."

        "Hello!"

         The two girl whipped their heads around to face the door upon hearing the greeting of a familiar Irish accent.

        The door swung open imminently to reveal Jackie and Penny making their way into the Gryffindor dorm room.

        "How did you get in?" Dria's eyebrows furrowed as she rose to her feet — their original plan was to meet in ten minutes time so either her of Tess could let them into the Common Room.

        "Magic." Jackie smirked, victoriously.

        "Amir let us in." Penny quickly explained with a light chuckle as she manoeuvred around the dorm and threw herself onto the bed beside Tess.

        "Way to ruin the illusion!"

        "Did you bring your eyeliner?" Dria quickly changed the subject, bringing Jackie's attention back at which she gave a quick nod before fumbling around in her pockets. 

       "Here."

        "Thank you!" The blonde cried as she took the eyeliner pen from Jackie and walked over to the mirror.

        "Have you got the drinks?" Jackie retorted, at which Dria gave a quick nod and gestured wildly behind her.

        "Under Tess' bed."

        Jackie gave a giddy chuckle before all but diving to the floor and pulling out the array of drinks that Dria had acquired and stored under Tess' bed.

        "Have to say, Dria, you turning eighteen has got to be the greatest thing that's ever happened to us."

        "How did your interview go?" Tess asked the O'Hare girl as she sat up from the bed.

         A wide grin appeared on Jackie's lips at her friend's question, after weekend on weekend of the girls visited Osh's Bookstore and Bakery and Jackie tormenting the poor owner on his coffee-making abilities, he had finally levelled the playing field and offered her a job there. 

         "Oh, it was terrible." Jackie replied as she began piling bottles on top of the bed. "But I think Osh finds me endearing."

"Endearing?" Dria repeated with a scoff, turning around from lining her eye. "He used those words."

"Well, I think actually said something about reminding him of porcupines on crack." Jackie quickly corrected, as she sat on the bed beside the alcohol. "But I got it."

"Wonders never cease."

"How far off are you guys, do you reckon?" Penny asked, not so subtly glancing at her watch.

"What's the rush?" Tess queried, from where she still laid on Dria's bed.

"We'll be late."

"Penny, no one is ever in time for these things." Jackie informed her as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It'll be dead for the first hour."

"And Tess is at least forty minutes behind." Dria turned around again, to look at Tess who — while dressed — still had hair and makeup to do.

"At least." She confirmed.

"Well, what are we going to do for the next hour?" Penny asked, as she began taking her shoes off to settle in.

No one uttered a word, but simply looked at the pile of bottles beside Jackie with a shared look of agreement.

***

       "ARE WE SURE PRE-DRINKING was such a good idea?"

        "Of course, it was. It takes the edge off."

       No sooner had those words been said did Tess ungraciously stumble down the moving staircase onto Dria who let out a strangled giggle, while the other two shushed them.

"I still don't like the fact we're late." Penny whispered as they turned the corner and the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room came into view.

"There is no early or late, there is simply arriving." Jackie retorted, with a grin as she led the way through the small doorway.

        Only when Dria passed through the entrance did she note how quiet the corridor must have been as the sound of loud music filled her ears — no doubt a silencing charm had been cast so as not to arouse suspicion of teachers.

        "Has word got round to any of the prefects about this?" The blonde asked once all four of them had entered and were huddled by the door.

         "Dria, I don't think you need to stress about the prefects shutting the party down when the Head Boy and Girl are both going to be there."

        Penny gave a sheepish smile as Jackie stated her point with a wicked grin.

        "Oh shit, yeah." Dria chuckled, turning to look at the Head Girl. "Cheers, Pen."

         "My moral compass is switched off for the night." Penny dismissed her concerns, as they began making their way through the crowd of people in search of familiar faces. "You're lucky I love you."

Dria took her friend's hand in her own and gave her an excited grin, as she pulled her through the masses towards the fireplace.

"You made it!"

       A very merry sounding voice echoed upon seeing them arrive, Dria grin got even wider as her eyes landed on Nate Squire who was leaning against the mantelpiece with a bottle of fire whiskey in hand, and Alita Byrnes who was stood just to his right.

       The blonde dropped her friend's hand and excitedly skipped over to the Hufflepuff Chaser, who welcomed her with wide arms.

       "Happy Birthday." She smiled as he wrapped his arms around her and planted a quick kiss on her cheek.

       "Sorry, we're late!" Penny said with an apologetic smile as Dria pulled out of the hug, and Nate moved to greet the Ravenclaw.

        "We're not late!" The simultaneous cries of Tess and Jackie cried out as they emerged behind their friends, their hands already occupied with drinks.

       "Have we missed much?" Tess asked with a quirked brow, at which Nate and Alita shook their heads.

"Aside from Vix arguing with the first years, not really." The Hufflepuff Chaser shrugged, nodding his head in the direction of where Vix was stood arguing with the younger students at the entrance to their dormitories.

"This is an almost-adults only zone, folks! Back to your bedtime stories!" The Heron girl exclaimed as she held out her wand in attempt to fend them off.

"She'd make a good bouncer." Jackie gave an impressed chuckle.

"That's what I keep saying." Nate agreed with an excited grin.

"She's been trying to ward them off for half an hour." Alita chuckled, taking a sip from the cup in her hand.

"Well, Vix is determined, I'm sure she'll succeed one way or another." Dria grinned as she looked on at the scene, throughly amused.

"What the fuck?"

         However, Dria's smile fell into an expression of confusion at the sound of Jackie's unimpressed exclamation. Turning on her heel, the blonde saw her friend's gaze fixated on the doorway that they'd just passed through and the figures that stood there.

        Dria could see her friend's jaw visibly clench at the sight of Lorcan McLaggen as he walked through the door with his arm around the shoulders of Florence Russell, a light smirk on his features as he walked.

       The blonde's first reaction was to turn and question her friend, but found herself still transfixed on the door as two more figures emerged from behind the former pair.

          Dria did everything in her power to keep a smile on her features and fought every urge that told her to scream across the common room at the sight of Isolde and Oliver walking through the door.

       With somewhat success she found herself tearing her gaze away and looking at her friend, whose nostrils were still flaring.

        "Jack? You alright?"

        "Fan-fucking-tastic." Jackie almost spat, before diverting her gaze towards the drinks table and storming off.

         With eyebrows furrowed, Dria looked between Penny and Tess who shot her expressions of shared confusion before turning their own attentions away and leaving the blonde in the company of Nate.

         "You want a drink?" The Hufflepuff asked, gesturing at his own cup.

         "Go on, then."

         "Alita and I also did a food raid of the kitchens." Nate went on, as his arm found its away around Dria's shoulders and they walked towards the drinks table. "Figured people might get snacky."

         "What did you get?"

         "Cupcakes."

         Dria stopped in her tracks at the word that left his lips and scowled at the cocky smirk that had appeared on his features.

          "Oh, you are the devil." Dria grimaced, giving the boy a light shove as they continued on their way.

         "What? It's my birthday!"

         "I hope you choke."

***

"BYE, BABIES!"

A cacophony of unimpressed groans were met in response to Tess' cheerful goodbye as Dria watched more intruders — namely fifth years, including Heidi and the twins — be escorted out of the Common Room.

The blonde couldn't help but smile as her eyes caught those of the Wood girl who stuck her tongue out at Dria as her brother unceremoniously pushed her out of the doorway.

         "How the hell did they get in, in the first place?" The blonde turned to Tess, who was stood beside with her arm around the shoulders of Una, who had arrived maybe ten minutes prior.

         "Apparently, by paying for the delivery of my girlfriend—"

        "Tess, I'm not shipped goods." Una cut her off with an amused smile.

        "No, you are the goods." Tess replied, before turning her attention back to Dria. "Turns out they thought they were getting an invite."

         "Bless them."

        "So how did you get in?" Dria asked, turning to face Una with a quirked eyebrow.

         "Not a clue." The red head shrugged. "They put a bag over my head. One second I'm in Hogsmeade, the next I'm outside the Common room."

         "Interesting." The blonde mused.

         "Anyway, you can leave now."

          "Tess!" Una cried in objection at Tess' request of her friend.

          "What?" The Robbins girl objected, as Dria laughed along with her antics. "I've missed my girlfriend! And, anyway, I think the birthday boy wants a bit more attention."

        Tess had pointed across the room where a small table had been set up and a game of — what Dria had been told was called — beer pong. Although, shots of firewhiskey had been used in substitute.

       At one end of the table stood Nate with a very defeated smile as he rose one of the cups near him to his lips and grimaced at his opponent.

         "You know, for a Chaser, I'd really have anticipated you'd be a better shot." Dria called once she'd walked into ear shot, as spotted his missed shot.

       Nate turned around at the sound of her voice and shot her a broad smile.

         "In my defence, beer pong is a very different game to Quidditch."

"Not in the fundamentals." Dria disagreed, with a smirk. "You're just a bad shot."

The Hufflepuff merely rolled his eyes at her comment, before linking his hand with hers as they made their way through the mass of people gathered around the common room.

        Dria gave polite smiles to fellow classmates as she passed by them in their varying stupors, however her smile faltered as her gaze landed on a very familiar face.

        "Is it just me or does Jackie seem very angry to you?" The blonde said in a hushed voice, as she and Nate settled themselves not too far from the Irish girl.

          "It's not just you, I'm scared if I touch her, she'll bite me." Nate replied with a vague look of concern in his gaze.

        Jackie was stood with her back up against the wall, her hand tightly gripping a bottle of something Dria didn't recognise. Her jaw was clenched as she looked off into the centre of the party, as Dria followed her gaze she wasn't too surprised to see it fixed on Lorcan and Florence.

        "Dria!"

        The blonde recognised her name being called Tess, and could her friend move to stand beside her out of the corner of her eye, but didn't tear her gaze from the scene in front of her.

       "What the hell is going on with those two?" Dria asked incredulously, looking at Tess for answers about Jackie and Lorcan, but the Robbins girl only shook her head and gave a nervous chuckle.

        "I'm more concerned about those two."

         Tess had lifted her arm and was pointed to the other side of common room where, if Dria listened carefully, the sounds of arguing could be heard below the loud music.

        Her eyes followed Tess' arm, and widened upon seeing the red face of Percy Weasley as he engaged in a heated argument with Alita Byrnes.

         "Oh, Merlin, not another conflict."

         "I didn't know it wasn't true, Perce!" Alita cried at her best friend, with an exasperated look on her face.

"Are you serious? You can't just go around talking about things you don't know anything about!" The Weasley boy retorted, gesturing wildly.

"I've just said—"

"I heard what you said, Alita!"

"Fine!" The Byrnes girl snapped. "You want to be an arsehole about this? Go right ahead, but I'm not doing this here. Get over yourself and find Penelope—"

"Alita!"

         "What the hell?" Una muttered from where she stood by Tess, averting her gaze from the argument which had now progressed to Alita storming away with Percy in pursuit of her.

         "Has someone spiked the drinks and made everyone confrontational or some shit?" Tess looked to Nate, after sparing a grin look at her own drink.

        "Percy and Alita never fight." The Hufflepuff told the three girls with a very confused look across her features. "Like ever."

         "Should we do something?" Dria asked helplessly, pressing her lips together.

         "What? What could we possibly do that would help?" Tess retorted, as the group continued to watch on with pained looks.

        "I don't know! Turn up the music? Do a fire drill?" The blonde grappled for a solution, as she began to chew the inside of her cheek.

        However, it appeared the argument between Alita and Percy was the least of their worries.

        "RUSSELL, PISS OFF!"

        The great shout all but silenced the rest of the party, as the blonde's gaze whipped away from Percy and Alita and now found itself fixated on Jackie, who had made her way over to Florence and Lorcan and looked as if she was ready to kill.

         "Oh, fuck fuck fuck."

         "What the hell is your problem?" The Slytherin girl retorted, beginning to raise her own voice. "He's my date."

         "Well, he's my—!"

          "Your what?" Florence cut her off.

          "Yeah, Jackie, what am I?" Lorcan cut in, with a hard look as he inserted himself into the argument.

         "Oh, pipe down, Lorcan."

          "No, tell me." He persisted, folding his arm and arching an eyebrow. "What am I to you?!"

          "I'm not doing this now!" Jackie cried, as she squared up to the boy.

         Dria could feel her own jaw start to clench, as she tugged at Tess' arm and spoke in a hushed voice.

         "We need to do something, Tess."

         "Yeah, get some popcorn."

         Dria made a slight noise of exasperation but was soon shushed by Tess, who was fixated on the unfolding argument.

        "You show up to a party with her and expect me to say nothing?" Jackie went on, as the room began to grow quieter and quieter as more people began listening to their argument.

         "Excuse me?"

         "Butt out, Russell!"

         "So what?" Lorcan shrugged, his jaw still clenched. "Are you jealous?"

         "Yeah, right."

         "I don't see how it's any of your business who I come to parties with." He continued, as Jackie let out a loud scoff.

         "Oh, get off your high horse."

         "No, if you're making out with random people, I think it's pretty clear where we stand!"

         Jackie opened her mouth to say something but no sound came out, instead a shaky breath left her lips as Lorcan's eyes bored into hers.

         "So we're done, then?" She said eventually, her lips pressing tightly together.

         "When did we even start?" Lorcan let out a derisive laugh, his frustration yet to leave him. "You've been messing me around for a year, Jackie!"

        "That's not—!"

        "No, that's exactly it." He cut her off with a sharp look. "And I'm done with it."

         "Well, that's great."

         "That's all you've got to say?"

         "What do you want me to say?" Jackie countered, regaining some ammunition, as her nostrils flared. "I'm thrilled for you, now you can go and helplessly pine after another girl! Do whatever, I don't care!"

          "Oh, is that it? You don't care?"

          "Couldn't care less!"

          "So you don't give a shit if I bring other people to parties?" Lorcan clarified, his eyes flashing dangerously as he took a step toward her.

          "You said it's none of my business!"

         Dria let out a shaky breath as her attention turned back to Tess, the conflict making her feel slightly nauseous.

         "We need to stop this."

         "You're done? You don't care?" Lorcan persisted, his voice getting louder.

          "Are you deaf or something?!" Jackie retorted, the volume of her voice only matching his. "No, I don't care!"

          "So you don't care that I brought Florence to the party? Or how about the fact that I made out with Dria at the beach party?" He snapped, his arm gestured to where the blonde stood at the side of the room. "Do you care about that?"

        The silence that followed was the most suffocating thing Dria had ever felt, her eyes widening as slowly every heard turned in her direction.

         "What?" Jackie let out a quiet murmur at his words.

        "What?"

        This time the sound came from Dria's left, where Tess was stood with wide eyes and her mouth open in shock.

        But Dria wasn't looking anywhere apart from the centre of the room, where her eyes were fixed on Jackie who had turned around with a look of great confusion on her features.

         "What's he on about?" She asked the blonde, with furrowed eyebrows.

        But Dria couldn't say a thing, her lips moved but no sound came out as Jackie let out a shaky breath before turning back to Lorcan.

         "You piece of shit."

        And with nothing more to say, Jackie pushed past him, shoving her empty bottle into his hands as she did and stormed towards the door of the common room.

        Dria's inertia only stopped when Jackie started moving, as the blonde started forward and let out a cry of her friend's name. 

         "Jackie!"

        The blonde watched her friend storm from the room, defeatedly, before her gaze turned angry as it landed on Lorcan. But before she could say a single thing to him, another voice entered their midst. 

        "Did you really?" Tess whispered, her hand grabbing the blonde's arm.

        "I was out of it, and he started it." The blonde hurried out as she looked around her, her voice breaking slightly as her gaze landed on the boy beside her. "And I— Nate."

        The boy's head had tilted down as his gaze settled firmly on the floor.

        "Why didn't you say anything?" He asked, his voice quiet as the sound of murmurs began to fill the common room.

       "Because it was a huge mistake and I didn't want to hurt you!" Dria hurried out, desperately, taking a hand through her hair. "I wanted to pretend it never happened. We agreed to never speak of it again and now—"

        "You should have told me." He cut her off as he brought his gaze to meet hers, that was slightly brimming with tears.

         "How? How could I?" She barely whispered.

"Because it's the merciful thing to do." He countered, his voice low. "Instead, I have to find it out in front of everyone in the year?"

Dria's breath hitched ever so slightly, as she became painfully aware of the piercing gazes around her, she squeezed her eyes together tightly, wishing for them all to disappear.

"Oh my God, Nate—"

"I think I'm gonna call it a night." He cut her off with a tired sigh, and forced smile at those around him.

"Nate, please!" Dria begged, as he began to move away from her. "I just didn't want to hurt you."

"Dria, you were gonna hurt me either way." The boy shrugged before disappearing up the stairs of the dormitories.

The second he was out of view, the Common Room broke into a great wave of chatter. Dria could hardly form words as her eyes darted around the room furiously trying to find someone to help her.

        "Vix, please, you have to talk to him." The blonde pleaded as she caught sight of the Heron girl, grabbing her wrist as she merely shot her a sympathetic glance.

         "I'm sorry, Dria." Vix said with a small sigh, as she slowly removed Dria's hand from her arm. "I've already played enough of a part in this, you're gonna have to make amends on your own."

        Vix gave her a soft pat on the arm before moving in the direction of the dormitories, no doubt to follow Nate, all the whole Dria felt another presence beside her.

        "You didn't tell me?"

        The blonde let out an exasperated sigh at the sound of Tess' offended tone.

         "Tess, if you'd known it would have gone round the school quicker than an outbreak of flu!"

        "What the fuck are you playing at, Lockaby?!"

        Before Dria could so much as determine Tess' response to her reply, another voice entered her midst as Florence Russell pushed her way through the crowd with a face of fury.

          "Flo, no!"

          "He's a good guy, he doesn't need that kind of shit!" The Russell girl shouted, her face contorted in expression of anger from where she stood opposite Dria.

        "Florence, it wasn't her!" Ruby Otters tried to reason with her friend.

        "Are you joking?" Florence scoffed, her nostrils flared as she spared a grin glance at Dria. "She could have told him!"

         "It's not our business!"

         "His business is my business." Florence snapped before shooting a sharp glare at Dria. "You better make this up to him."

         Dria could hardly form a single cohesive thought as she tried to process Florence's words, her breathing heavy and her brain running a hundred miles an hour.

         "Sorry." The blonde said meekly, as the two girls stormed away and up the staircase to the dormitories.

         Dria let out a loud groan of desperation, burying her face in her hands, fighting every urge that told her to rip her hair from her head.

        After a moment, she brought her gaze up and scanned the room, her desperation immediately turning into frustration at the sight of the blonde boy still stood in the middle of the room.

       Before she could decide whether it was a good idea or not, Dria clenched her jaw and found herself storming towards him.

        "Are you happy?" She snapped, her nostrils flared as the boy scoffed at her words.

        "Yes, I'm clearly fucking elated."

        "What the hell is going on with you and Jack?" Dria asked, her tone still sharp as he derisively chuckled.

        "I'm only taking your advice!"

         "What?"

        "You told me that she wasn't worth my time?" Lorcan replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

        Dria faltered for a moment, as she cast her mind back to the beach party and the advice she offered Lorcan.

         "Jackie?" She muttered out loud, her eyebrows furrowing. "You— you and Jackie?"

        "Not anymore." He tutted, bitterly, his gaze falling to the floor. "Not there was ever really anything anyway."

         "I wouldn't say that judging by her reaction." The blonde replied, with a tired sigh although the boy seemed unfazed as he began fumbling in his pockets.

         "Whatever." He muttered as he withdrew a packet of cigarettes from his pockets, quickly putting one to his lips and withdraw a lighter from his other pocket.

        "You can't smoke inside." The blonde told him, her jaw hardening at which the boy only chuckled.

        "Try and stop me."

        Dria merely narrowed her eyes at him as he lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply, before breathing out a large cloud of smoke.

        No sooner did the smoke leave his lips did the piercing sound of an alarm enter their midst, and an immediate downpour begin to fall from the ceiling above them, drenching everyone below from head to foot.

        Dria pressed her lips together in a thin line, as she shot an expectant look at the boy opposite her who stood with an extinguished cigarette between his lips and he held out the packet towards her.

          "You want one?"

          "You're a dickhead."

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖆 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘!
paha three months
in the making this
was, how tragic

don't get a full time
job, kids. it sucks.

also cred to elyse
for all the perlita
drama x

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