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booksmarts and broomsticks
act iii , turning tables
chapter forty-five ,  for she's a jolly good fellow

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➖ TESS ROBBINS ➖
december 1993

         DRIA ALMOST ASSUMED THAT when her bad mood went away the stormy weather go with it, however Penny had been all too quick to remind her that she wasn't that good a witch and would have to suffer through the rest of the miserable November weather with the rest of them.

The lifted mood that Dria was experiencing as the days crept closer and closer to December — which may or may not have had something to do with the reappearance of a certain Gryffindor Keeper in her life — was especially not shared by Jackie O'Hare.

Despite being on a high following Hufflpuff's technical defeat of Gryffindor, due to the last minute arrangement of the game, it meant that the team had less than a week to prepare for their next game against Ravenclaw.

The weather had not yet improved and they had a beater still recovering from a rotator cuff previously sustained in their last match. Their loss was extremely predictable but that didn't make anyone feel any better, especially when the results gave Gryffindor another chance at the Quidditch Cup. A fact which was brought to light at dinner by Oliver Wood that same evening, at which Jackie threw a spoonful of mash at him and promptly declared;

"If you don't wipe that smug look of your face, I will stab you with this fork."

Needless to say, pieces of potato in his eye did the trick to shut him up.

With that certain Gryffindor Keeper in mind, as the days of November progressed into early December, the relationship between Dria and Oliver had healed from their fall out but had yet to progress beyond polite smiles in corridors and small blushes over the dinner table.

Despite their relationship being somewhat rectified following their chat in the changing rooms, a silent agreement had passed between them agreeing to give one another some space.

At least that was what Dria had told herself, when in reality Tess, Jackie and Penny were firmly enforcing time apart for respective self discovery, before they both quote unquote dived in head first and promptly fucked it up.

Dria did agree that her friends were better judges than herself and she would probably benefit from the three of them managing her life for her, but couldn't deny the thought at the back of her mind which wanted to tell them all to piss off and let her make the very many mistakes she would definitely make without their guidance.

Oliver seemed to respect those wishes enough but Dria suspected he was too afraid of Jackie to even try and edge his way around them.

"What is that supposed to be?"

Dria was pulled away from her reflective thoughts at Jackie's puzzled question, and brought her attention towards the small chocolate in her friend's hand that she had retrieve from a thin cardboard box that set in front of her.

"I think it's Rudolph?" Penny queried, as she pulled a similar looking chocolate from her own respective box.

Penny's mum had sent the four girls advent calendars from the festive season, which they had made a habit of opening together in the Great Hall every morning. Dria quickly picked at the small door that read 12 on her own calendar and retrieved the similar obscurely-shaped chocolate.

"He looks like he's been trampled by all the other reindeer." The blonde squinted, making out a rather melted looking antler.

"Wow. I mean I knew they used to laugh and call him names, but trampling seems excessive." Tess tutted as she threw the small chocolate in her mouth and crunched down on it with quiet crack.

Jackie made an indifferent noise before following suit and eating her own.

"Welcome to the real world."

         Dria stifled a soft chuckle before her attention was snatched away by the feeling of another's presence, slipping onto the bench beside her.

        She turned her head and couldn't suppress the small grin that emerged of her lips at the sight. Still, she simply quirked an eyebrow.

        "Yes?"

        "You know normal people say hello." Oliver quipped, with a soft smirk as he settled himself in the seat beside the blonde.

        "Hello." She conceded with a small roll of her eyes.

        "Hi." He replied, before nodding at the calendar before her. "What are you doing?"

       "Advent calendars." She explained, pushing it in his direction and offering him her chocolate with he took with a grateful smile.

        "I'm familiar with their work."

        "Well, I'm not and it seems an awfully disappointing notion." Tess butted into their conversation as she began stacking their calendars together. "I feel very sorry for Muggles sometimes."

       "Oi, don't patronise the Muggles." Jackie argued with furrowed eyebrows.

         Dria gave a light hearted sigh and turned to Oliver who quirked an eyebrows in intrigue, as the blonde nodded in the direction of her Irish friend.

        "Jackie's decided that in order to gain a deeper perspective for her Muggle Studies dissertation, she's going to live like a Muggle for a week." The blonde informed the Keeper, who furrowed his eyebrows.

        "At a Wizarding school?"

        "We've already thrown every obstacle in her face, she still says she's doing it." Penny leaned over and told the Gryffindor Captain.

        "I mean it." Jackie nodded determinedly. "Magic's great and all but you don't need it to live. The Muggles have got it cracked, it can't be that hard."

       "I mean, on second thought, this could be awfully entertaining." Tess muttered, her eyes darting between Dria and Penny.

        "Alright, Jacks." Penny conceded, outstretching her hand. "Give us your wand."

        Jackie only smirked as she withdrew her wand from her pocket and handed it over to Penny with seemingly no qualms.

        "Goodbye wand." She declared, her smugness yet to leave her as she regarded her friends. "Okay, think of yourselves as my wizardry police. See my doing anything magical, tackle me the ground."

        "Okay, now I'm onboard." Tess spoke up with excitement, before launching into a heated discussion as to the conditions of their agreement.

Amidst this, Dria's attention shifted back to the Keeper on her left who was tugging at her cuff. She turned to him with an amused smirk.

"What are you up to today?" He asked, his voice lowering a little so as not to be overheard by her friends.

"Why do you ask?"

"Thought might fancy coming with me to Hogsmeade? I could use the company."

"Is that so?" She hummed, mirroring the light smirk that had emerged on his features.

"She can't!"

Despite Oliver's best efforts at keeping their conversation unheard and the fact that her friends had been a rather rowdy conversation their own, it seemed his plan had failed as Jackie shot them both a knowing look.

"Jackie."

"She's already made plans." The Irish girl told the Keeper, before turning back to her friend. "And I thought you were saying you needed your space to think, huh?"

"Well, I—"

"Precisely." Jackie cut the blonde off before she could finish her sentence. "Now, piss off, Wood."

         "Harsh." He replied, feigning a wounded look as he began to rise from his seat, but not placing a hand on Dria's shoulder and not so quietly muttering, "Let me know if you want to escape the cranky Muggle woman, yeah?"

       "Piss off, Wood!"

        Catching the piece of toast that had been thrown in his direction by the Hufflepuff, he smirked before taking a bite and making his way out of the Hall, sparing the blonde a wink as he went.

       Dria pressed her lips together in attempt to suppress her smile, looking down to hide the blush running up her cheeks before looking back to her friends with a helpless look.

       "Was that really necessary?"

        "Don't go like that with me!" Jackie retorted with a shrug, "It's my birthday, I can do what I want."

***

        "YOU GUYS HAVE PICKED the worst time to play the over protective friend card."

         Penny shot the blonde a knowing when the conversation arose some time later while the duo sat at the window table in Osh's.

       "You know deep down that we're right." The Ravenclaw replied, as she raised her cappuccino to her lips.

         "Ugh."

           The watch on Dria's wrist now read half past three. After breakfast, the group had parted various ways. Jackie and Tess had headed  down to Hogsmeade to respectively start her shift working in the cage and to meet her girlfriend at the post office. Meanwhile, Dria and Penny had left for the library to work on their Defence Against the Dark Arts essays.

       However, after a couple of hours in the library, the duo had tired of distinguishing the differences between Animagi and werewolves, and had elected to head down to the Wizarding village and begin their Christmas shopping.

         But not before stopping for coffee and, as it certainly seemed for Dria, a reality check.

         "You don't want to go rushing into this kind of thing." Penny continued, "Especially with his and your history, you need to get to know each other a bit more."

       "We know plenty about each other." The blonde retorted, absentmindedly picking up a teaspoon and pushing around the foam that topped her coffee. "Look, I'm a big girl I can make my own decisions."

        Penny put down her mug and raised an eyebrow, disbelievingly.

        "Dria, I love you, and as you friend, I'm allowed to say this and you can't hate me."

         "Oh God—"

        "You can't make decisions yourself. You're a prize idiot, and half the reason you are is down to Oliver Wood." The Ravenclaw rested her case, and shot her friend an expectant look. "Tell me I'm wrong."

       Dria opened her mouth to argue but found no words leaving her as she digested her what her friend had said. She gave a gentle groan, setting down her teaspoon and raising her mug to her lips with a wince.

       "You might have a point. "

        "I think your brain cells actually die when he walks in a room."

       "Point made!"

        The two girl descended light chuckles and the blonde set down her mug and buried her head in her hands with a light groan, as a giddy smile broke out across her face.

        "Is it really so bad that I'm excited?" Dria asked, "I've liked him for years and now, he likes me back!"

        "I think he's always liked you back, Dria." Penny chuckled, "Both of you are just stupid."

         "Wow, you're really not sugarcoating this, are you?"

       "You try living with it for two years."

       "Okay, okay." The blonde dismissed, pulling her knees to her chest and curling up into the sofa upon which they sat. "I know I need to take some time for myself."

        "It's not a bad thing that you're excited." Penny assured with a small shrug. "We all are a little bit."

        "Even Jackie?"

        "Oh no, Jackie's furious."

         A small snort left Dria causing her friend to nearly spit out her mouthful of coffee as they defended into another bout of giggles, before quickly calming as other customers began to catch wind of their laughter.

       "Just take it steady, alright?" The Ravenclaw raised an eyebrow, placing a gentle hand on her friend's knee.

          "Yes, Mum." Dria light-hearted rolled her eyes as she placed her own hand on top of Penny's before quickly catching sight of Jackie darting out of the cafe's back room. "On another note, though. So much for a girls day. Jackie's working, Tess is meeting Una — it's just you and me."

        "Meaning?"

        "Meaning ... you know, I could have maybe—"

       "Dria, you can't ditch me!" Penny scoffed with a light laughter and she gave her friend a shove.

        "I'm not going to!" Dria laughed in response. "I'm just saying I maybe could have spent a bit of time with Oliver, this afternoon. I'm sure you'd love to hang out with Percy for a bit—"

        Before Dria could continue a derisive scoff left Penny's lips as her nostrils flared and she took another sip of her coffee. The blonde's brain faltered from the point she was making and quickly shot a concerned look at her friend.

       "Ooh. I've missed something."

       "Nope." Penny shook her head, her jaw beginning to clench. "No, you haven't, everything's fine."

        "Okay, there's no way in the world I believe that." Dria retorted, turning in her seat to face her friend better. "Is everything alright with you two?"

        "Yes." Penny replied, at which the blonde an eyebrow.  "No, honestly, we're good. I can't talk about it in here."

       Dria's eyebrows furrowed as she looked around at the cafe in which they sat with confusion.

         "Why not?" She asked at which Penny didn't respond, before she persisted. "Just whisper."

       Penny gave a light sigh as she scanned the room quickly and crossed her legs upon the sofa, before lowering her voice.

"Okay, you know that I've been going through all these forms for the Ministry apprenticeship?" She started, raising an eyebrow at her friend who replied with a fervent nod.

"Yep, there only taking a few of you, aren't they?"

"Well, Percy and I have been meeting up to help each other out with everything, you know. And recently, he's been—" The Ravenclaw faltered slightly, lowering her voice even still. "He's been bringing Alita."

"Is she going for the apprenticeship too?" Dria furrowed her eyebrows.

"Yep. And it's fine, really it is." Penny assured the blonde, although it sounded far more as though she was trying to convince herself. "Because it's great that we're all working together and they've helped me out a lot ..."

"But?"

"But it was something that the two of us talked about — you know, me and Percy — and now, suddenly she's right in the middle of it!" An exasperated sigh left the Clearwater girl's lips. "And I know it's nothing. But they're always giggling away and reminiscing over one thing or another and I'm just sat there, feeling like I'm imposing on some childhood friend reunion."

Dria pursed her lips together as her friend sank back into the sofa.

"I'm sure if you tell Percy—"

"I can't tell Percy." Penny muttered, immediately rebuffing the suggestion. "He thinks that Alita hung the bloody stars in the sky."

Another defeated sigh left her lips at which Dria could only offer a sympathetic smile, as she rested her arm on the back of the sofa.

"And it's neither of them, it's me." Penny said after a moment, looking ahead of her, resolutely. "It's my problem, I need to be less bothered by it. They're old friends, nothing more, right?"

"Right." Dria nodded sharply in agreement. "Still, and I'm know I'm the last person who you'd expect to hear this from but don't stick your head in the sand?"

"You're joking, right?" Penny let out a soft snort. "Dria, sticking your head in the sand is basically your life motto. It'll be written on your gravestone."

"Okay, please keep drinking your coffee." Dria retorted, reaching forward for her friend's mug and placing it in her hands. "You're becoming a little too mean."

"Sorry."

"All I'm saying is that if it continues to bother you, then say something." The blonde clarified her advice. "Or maybe just try and join the conversation, they're not the sort to deliberately leave you out."

"Yeah, I know."

Dria reached out and gave her friend's hand a comforting squeeze just as a tall figure approached their table with a welcoming smile, eyeing up their finished mugs.

"You guys about done?" Osh asked, cracking a smile at the two girls who sat up straighter at his presence.

"Yes." Penny muffled a small sound as she placed her finished mug on the table.

"Fantastic as always." Dria smiled, as she handed the man the two mugs.

"I'll get these out of your way." He nodded, beginning to turn away.

"How's little miss Muggle doing?" The blonde caught him in question before he could resume his work, the sound of which caused him to crack an amused smile.

"Surprisingly well."

"Not slowing you down at all?"

"Oh, massively." He assured them causing them to let out brief chuckles and they rose to their feet, beginning to shrug on their coats. "But I admire her commitment to the cause."

Osh's looked behind him quickly before bending down slightly and lowering his voice.

"What time did you want to pick up the cake?"

"Well, we're coming to get here after she finishes her shift, so if you can sneak it to us then?" The blonde asked, her own voice lowering as she pulled her bag into her shoulder.

"Will try my best." He cracked a final smile before turning away and headed back to their kitchen.

"See you later, Jack!" Penny called as the two girls began edging their way towards the door to the cafe, catching the attention of their friends stood at the register.

"Bye, bye now!"

The overhead door bell gave a little chime as Dria pulled it open and the two of them stepped out into the street, beginning to walk up the snowy pavement.

"Okay, where to?"

Penny wrapped her coat tightly around her and gave a nonchalant shrug in response to the blonde's question.

"We could have a general mooch, who do you need to buy for?" She replied, hoisting her bag upon her shoulder.

"Mum." Dria winced as Penny bared right towards a small charity shop on the corner of the high street. "It's the first time I'm getting her a Christmas present because I genuinely want to."

"Exciting." Penny looked back her to offer her friend a small smile as she reached for the charity shop door.

"Aside from the fact, I've not got the foggiest idea of what she'd like." The blonde groaned as they stepped over the threshold to the shop, shivering a little as they stepped into the heated building. "All I can think of is bath salts and hand cream."

"You can do better than bath salts."

"I know, but that's where we're setting the bar."

"How about a mug?" Penny raised an eyebrow as she passed Dria a mug from the window display and the blonde stifled a scoff.

"World's Best Mum."

"Okay, too soon, my apologies." Penny winced, taking the mug from her grasp and placing it back on the display as they moved on. "Why don't you make something?"

"Can't." The blonde groaned. "Maisie's already decided she's baking everyone's Christmas presents. She's taken the creative card."

"What about Michael?"

"He said he's sorting something out himself." Dria huffed, as her eyes scanned the shelves for some sort of inspiration. "I mean what's the point of having siblings if you can't take credit for their shit."

"Millie and I usually go in on something." Penny agreed, a soft hum in her voice as she absentmindedly let her eyes wander around the shop. "Mum likes gardening, Dad likes golf."

"Oh, to have a stable family." The blonde mused, "Why can't my mum like gardening?"

After a few minutes passed in which Dria promptly shut down the idea of getting her mother a self-pouring teapot and a set of binoculars, the blonde turned her focus to the her friend in attempt to distract herself from her own struggle.

"What about you? Who are you looking for?"

"Percy." Penny gave a light tut, her brows furrowing in thought. "I'm stumped though. I got him quills last year, and can't get it two years in a row."

"You could always ask Alita."

"Okay, you're hilarious." Penny retorted, earning a small chuckle from the blonde. "I'm going to browse plants. Worse case scenario, I get him a cactus."

"Can't go wrong with a cactus." Dria agreed with a forced smile as her friend walked away, leaving her to browse the 'Gifts for Her' display alone.

The blonde grimaced as she lifted up a scratchy looking teddy bear wearing an 'I Love My Mum' t-shirt.

"Fancy seeing you here."

Dria gave a light gasp in surprise at the sudden sound of a Scottish accent in her ear, before relaxing into a small chuckle as she kept her gaze firmly ahead of her, refusing to make eye contact with the Gryffindor Keeper.

"I'm not supposed to be talking to you." She replied, subconsciously straightening the teddy's t-shirt as she turned it over on hand.

"No?"

"Nope. I'm on a journey of self discovery." She assured him, her gaze not budging as she sensed him move around to her left side.

"Is that why you're browsing World's Best Mum gifts?"

His words caused Dria's playfulness to subside as she remembered the dilemma she was currently in and let out a groan as she threw the teddy into his grasp.

"No one said the journey was going well."

The blonde turned to fancy the boy, who had cleared just entered the shop judging by the melting snowflakes in his hair and the rosy tint of his cheeks. He flashed her a crooked smile as she realised she'd been staring a little too long, and quickly sought to raise a conversation between them.

"What do you get your Mum for Christmas?" She asked, moving onto the next display. "And please don't say bath salts."

"Well, Heidi and I normally go in on something."

Dria let out another frustrated huff at his words.

"Why is it that everyone else's siblings have good gift-giving skills? All mine have is trauma, it's terribly irritating."

Oliver let out a humoured scoff at her comparison but chose not to raise any questions on regard to it, and instead tried to focus her attention elsewhere.

"How about a scarf?"

"Okay, you are no help whatsoever." The blonde quickly dismissed his efforts with a small smile. "Who are you buying for?"

A small smirk crept onto his lips as he offered the girl a small shrug, the small twinkle in his eyes giving it all away.

"It's a surprise."

"Oh, I see."

"Don't you worry, I'm fantastic at gift giving."

         Dria gave a small hum in response, taking her gaze away as the two of them fell into a comfortable silence, ambling around the small shop.

        "So how long exactly am I going to have to wait to ask you out?"

        The blonde gave an initial chuckle in response to his forward question, and pursed her lips in thought.

         "Ooh, that's a tough one." She tutted, a knowing twinkle in her eye. "Jackie did say something about me only behind allowed to date when I'm thirty, so you might be in for a long one."

        "I mean I've waited this long." He shrugged at which Dria raised an eyebrow.

       "Okay, don't mind me asking this."

       "Sure."

        "How long exactly is 'this long'?" She turned to him, giving him her full attention, folding her arms across her chest. "Because I'm sure I have you beat."

        "Summer of fifth year." Oliver replied, simply at which Dria gave a humoured scoff.

        "Oh, you mean the summer you told me you'd write and you didn't even lift a quill?" She asked. "That summer?"

        "Yep. I spent my entire summer looking at an empty piece of parchment wondering what the hell I was going to write to you." He explained, a sheepish blush creeping up his cheeks. "Then came back to school and remembered how easy it was talking to you, and wanted to kick myself."

       "So I spent all of last year trying to get over you when you could you have just said something and put me out of my misery?"

        "Hey, you could have said something too." He retorted at which she quickly shook her head.

        "That's where you're wrong." She told him, a small smirk playing at her lips. "I wrote the handbook in hiding my emotions. Hell, I fancied you since third year and you didn't have the foggiest."

        "Fair point."

        "You didn't even know who I was until I started tutoring you." She quipped, her smirk growing bigger at which he quickly argued back.

        "That's not true." He replied, mirroring her smirk. "I knew who you were. I hit you in the face with a Quaffle."

        "I can't believe they let you on the Quidditch team after that."

       "I also happened to think you were quite pretty." He added quickly, causing Dria to roll her eyes.

       "Even with a broken nose?"

       "Oh, especially with a broken nose." He replied, his features softening, and his manner turning a little more serious. "How long though?"

         "Are you asking stupid me or sensible me?"

         "I prefer stupid you."

          "Stupid me would jump right in and say about fucking time." The blonde told him, at which he gave a short nod.

         "That's why I like her."

          "And as much as I want to, I have three very wonderful — if not maybe a bit too overprotective — friends who I trust a little more than myself."

        Oliver stifled a small sigh, and pressed his lips together in a look of understanding, as his gaze dropped to the floor and back up again.

       "Back to your journey of self discovery then?"

       "For now." She spared him a sympathetic smile as they began ambling around the shop once more. "You should do it too. Find out if there's more to life than Quidditch?"

          "Unlikely."

           "Yeah, that's what I thought."

***

        JACKIE O'HARE STIFLED a small sigh as she ambled around the empty coffee shop, moving towards the next table that needed wiping down.

         With the evening getting darker as they neared the holidays, the coffee shop was beginning to close earlier and earlier. At least, that was the excuse Osh gave, Jackie was more inclined to believe that he wanted to let her off early because it was her birthday.

       Still, as nice as the unspoken gesture was, it didn't make their close down procedure any more exciting.

        Her watch read 17:41. Dria and Penny said they'd meet her at the shop at six once their shopping was done, before the group of them moved onto the Three Broomsticks for her birthday celebrations. Jackie swore time had never moved more slowly.

         The familiar ringing of the overhead doorbell suddenly rang out, causing Jackie to let out an audible groan.

       "The sign says closed, shithead." She called, her gaze not leaving her task and she hoped her aggression would scare off whatever senseless third year had presumably entered. "If you can't read one stupid sign—"

         "I can read."

          The familiar voice caused Jackie stop her task and straighten up a little, her jaw clenching in frustration and she turned on the spot, only to come face to face with Lorcan McLaggen. 

        "Well then you're clearly stupid." She retorted, folding her arm over her chest. "Because when a shop sign says closed, it's telling people to fuck right off and stop bothering them."

       "You're still mad?" He winced, closing the door behind him and taking a few more steps into the shop.

       "What do you want?" Jackie sneered at the boy, her nostrils flaring.

        "I don't know."

        "Great."

         "Look." Lorcan attempted again, trying to regain her attention as she turned back to her work. "I was just walking past and I saw you in here and I remembered it was your birthday—"

        "So? What? You thought you'd gift me this riveting conversation?"

         "Jackie—"

        "Why are you even here, Lorcan?" She snapped, turning sharply back around to face him, waving her cleaning cloth emphatically. "You were the one screaming about things being bullshit. You made it very clear where we stand—"

"Can't you just shut up for two seconds?!"

        Jackie's words ceased at his sudden outburst, watching closely with pursed lips and narrowed eyes, as his expression of frustration slowly softened into one of helplessness.

        "Stop pretending like you don't care." He told her, his voice low though the close proximity between them meant that even if he were to whisper so would most likely hear him.

        "Care about what?"

        "Me."

        "You?" She scoffed, keeping her guard up. "That is rich."

        "See? This is what I mean." He chuckled derisively, pressing his lips together in impatience. "You go all Jackie on people, you pretend you don't care because you don't want to get hurt. You cared about me and that scared you so you pushed it all away because that is what you do, Jackie."

          The Hufflepuff's arms had folded across her front once more, trying her best to maintain her composure as each word he said threatened to tear it to pieces.

       "And you're doing it right now, so you can stand there and say you don't care, but I know you do."

        A small silence passed between them; his piercing blue eyes boring into her deep brown ones.

         "Go all Jackie on people?" Jackie cracked a smile, her manner still defensive as she rebutted his statement. "You know that's quite a theory."

         "Oh, for the love of Merlin."

         "I don't know what weird crisis you've had that has caused you to come in here and think that you have any right to tell me how I feel." The girl told Lorcan, setting down her cloth and taking a bold step towards to him. "You want to know how I feel, really?"

         Lorcan quirked an eyebrows, his jaw clenching and unclenching as Jackie surveyed him with narrowed eyes.

        "I actually think you're the worst and I am thrilled that whatever the fuck went on between is over!" She began, as a small smirk began to creep onto the boy's face, causing her words and facade to falter. "I think you're so up your own arse— And that fucking smirk ..."

           Lorcan's smirk morphed into a small smile as he looked down at her from where they stood, inches apart, reaching forward and pulling her closer.

       "You really need to learn to shut up."

        Before Jackie could even fathom coming up with a witty retort, her objecting mind was silenced by the familiar feeling of his lips on her own.

       Any harboured negative emotion towards him seemed to dissipate as she found herself leaning into his touch and letting herself succumb, returning the kiss and latching her arms around his neck.

The kiss itself was very brief — as long as it needed to be for two confused teenagers who missed one another and didn't know how to explain it.

It was Lorcan who pulled away first, an air of smugness he previously wore gone as he surveyed the girl with a soft look and slowly began backing away towards the door.

"Happy Birthday." He spoke, his tone still soft, causing Jackie to look up from where her gaze had previously been on the floor, and stifle a disbelieving chuckle as he further backed away.

"Wanker."

And with that, he left leaving the girl confused and with the slightest feeling of butterflies in the stomach — the very thought of which made her skin crawl.

Jackie heaved a light sigh in attempt to shake off the encounter and turned on her heel in the direction, only to immediately halt in surprise at the sight of her boss, smirking into the doorway.

"I think you care about him." Osh told her with a knowing look at which she gave an audible groan.

"Who in the hell asked you?"

"You'd be cute." He persisted at which the girl rolled her eyes. "You guys have that spark."

Jackie gave a loud scoff at his choice of words as she moved around him, still heading in the direction of the kitchen with her dirty cloth.

"You've been serving too many fourth-years." She assured him with narrowed eyes and a tight lipped smile.

"What time are your friends coming?" The older man asked upon sensing the need for a change of subject.

"In five ish?" Jackie replied with a light shrug.

"Alright, you want to throw these in the back for me?" He asked, outstretching his hands which bore more dirty cloths to go in a laundry basket in the back.

"Honestly, no."

"Do it."

Jackie grimaced before sticking her tongue out at the man.

"Worst boss ever."

"Worst employee ever."

"You hired me!"

"And it's a decision I have regretted every day since!"

         Jackie left him with a small chuckle and pushed her way into the back room, sodden cloths in hand and a lazy smile on her face.

She threw the cloth into the sink and reached into her pocket, only to find it empty and the wand that usually resided there, missing.

"Oh for shit's sake." The girl sighed upon remembering the challenges she'd set herself.

Grimacing as she looked at the murky dishwater, Jackie gave a light groan before reaching for the washing up gloves that Osh stowed away towards the side of the sink.

However, before she could devote her attention to cleaning up, a subtle scratching sound caught her attention and caused her to look up just in time to catch the tip of a black tail slip out of side behind the counter.

The Hufflepuff gave a light chuckle upon recognising the sight, setting the gloves to the side and ambling around to the other side of the counter/

"Oh hey scrounger."

She smirked upon setting sights on the shaggy black dog that she had become acquainted with she working for Osh. The dog was seemingly a stray, she'd never seen any person with it apart from herself or her boss. Both of whom were quite fond of the mutt and offered him up selected scraps at the end of each day.

"Look, I know I keep sneaking you shit." Jackie muttered as she sank down to his level, and gave her fur a ruffle. "And don't get me wrong, there's definitely something special here but Osh will kill me if he sees you inside."

She rose to her feet, and made her way over to the back door of the kitchen, that went out onto the back alley of the street. She opened it with a bit of a struggle — Osh had been meaning to get it looked out — and nodded at the dog, and then the open door.

"Come on." She urged, at which dog didn't budge but instead started scratching again, seemingly trying to access something that sat on top of the counter. "What are you doing?"

Jackie furrowed her eyes and walking over to the counter edge where he kept scratching. Her features morphed into an expression of surprise as her gaze landed on one of her books.

"Oh, this?" She asked, picking up Wuthering Heights and showing it to the mutt, who gave a short bark at the sight. "Yeah, it's pretty cool. I've found three more just in the boxes in storage.
But this one—" She shot the dog a small smile, and she sank onto the floor next to him. "This one is my favourite."

The dog nuzzled closer to her, its gaze fixed adamantly on the book in her hands, as she turned to a page and read a passage aloud to him.

"She burned too bright for this world." The Hufflepuff read, before letting out a light scoff."Look I'm not a romantic. Half of the annotations in here make me feel ill. But I don't think Heathcliff and Cathy are that different from Mystery Girl and Padfoot."

The dog gave another loud bark causing Jackie to jump and look behind him, worried that it might have alerted Osh to its presence.

"Woah, calm down." She urged in him in a whisper shout.

However, the mutt was all to fixated on the book still in her hand and before she could do anything about it, the dog lunged forward and seized the book in its mouth, before turning on its heel and bounding out of the door into the winter evening.

"Hey! Give that back." Jackie scrambled to her feet in a feeble attempt to chase the dog.

However, upon arriving at the threshold of the door, Jackie saw that the dog was long gone, having disappeared down the street. She let out a scoff in disbelief.

"Oh, you piece of shit."

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖆 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘!
y'all aren't allowed to hate
me, i had a slump okay?

either way, hope this makes up
for the endless lack of updates!

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