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Merula didn’t even know why she agreed to this, a party with all the sixth-years, including Jay Rosewood, the boy that had been driving her mad since her first year? Only having realized that Jay’s smuggler friend would be providing alcoholic butterbeer gave Merula any reason to appear, in addition to most of Slytherin already being there.
Scanning the crowd inside this secret room that Haywood had guided her to, Merula quickly spotted Jay standing across the room from her with Chiara Lobosca, a Hufflepuff in their year. Chiara seemed nervous, and the comforting expression on Jay’s face appeared to be the only thing keeping her here.
“What do you think they’re discussing?” Ismelda’s icy voice pulled Merula away from her staring, and she quickly feigned looking around the room.
“What, who? Who’s talking?” Merula attempted to recover, and Ismelda raised an eyebrow at Merula, obviously not fooled, “Jay and the Lobosca girl. You’ve been staring at them for a few minutes, so I figured you would know…”.
“What!? Staring?” Merula’s face reddened, though it could have been attributed to the drink in her hand rather than embarrassment, “I haven’t been staring at anyone!” She denied, possibly too loudly. Out of the corner of her eye, Merula spotted Jay glance over to the corner that she and Ismelda had placed themselves.
“Maybe they’re flirting…” Ismelda offered, “They have been talking quite a bit these past few days…”.
“They’re not flirting,” Merula’s tone was more akin to a desperate demand than any attempt to correct Ismelda, who gave a rare half-smile, “Why? Because he fancies you?”. The question brought Merula’s mind to a screeching halt, and as she struggled to come up with an answer, Ismelda downed the rest of the bottle in her hand, went to retrieve another, and even after several minutes of attempting to open it by hand, Merula was still silent, trying to come up with a retort.
“You should go talk to him,” Ismelda suggested, “At the rate he’s been drinking, this early in, he’s not going to remember any of tonight anyway. He’s some three bottles in and the sun’s not even down.”.
“Is that a good thing, though?” Merula asked, “What if… what if I say something important, and he forgets?”.
“Then say it again,” Ismelda dryly stated, before she realized what Merula had said, curling her face into a sneer, “...You’re going to confess to him?”.
“I’m not confessing anything to anyone!” Merula defended, “And there’s nothing to confess!” She added, crossing her arms over her chest, “Anything we needed to say to each other, we’ve already said.”.
“I don’t even need to comment on that one…” Ismelda muttered, and Merula huffed, absentmindedly looking back over to where Jay and Chiara were standing.
In the middle of something Jay had been saying, Chiara looked down at her watch, a panicked expression quickly spreading across her face.
“Merula, you’re staring again-” Ismelda was cut off by Chiara suddenly bolting away from Jay, shoving past several party attendees, and throwing open the door to the room, and dashing through them. Not far behind, Merula saw Jay take off into a sprint after her, reaching for the wand Merula knew was tucked into his black bomber jacket.
The door swung shut behind Jay, and though the buzz of conversation eventually returned to the room, Merula couldn’t take her eyes off the door, an instinctive feeling of dread slowly forcing her stomach down into her shoes.
“Lover’s quarrel?” Ismelda laughed, not noticing the darkening expression on Merula’s face as she muttered, “I’m going after him.”.
“Ohh… this is going to be fun,” Ismelda drunkenly grinned as Merula walked off towards the door, turning to follow behind.
“No,” Merula coldly stated, the pit in her stomach falling deeper, “I’m going alone.”.
“Don’t want me in your way?” Ismelda snarked, “Worried I’ll take away from the dramatic tension of it all?”.
“You’re. Staying. Here,” Merula’s voice had lost any warmth it may have had left, the feeling in Merula’s chest now screaming for her to get moving.
“Go talk to Barnaby, I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you,” Merula pointed over to where Barnaby was standing, talking to a small circle of people and laughing.
“...Fine,” Ismelda rolled her eyes and strode away as Merula shoved the door to the room open.
Stepping out into the dark Hogwarts hallway, Merula looked up and down the corridor, trying to find any clue of where Jay and Chiara had gone.
Merula heard the howl of a wolf come from the field that flying classes were held in, and she turned to look up at the moon through a window of the corridor. When she saw the pale circle of light hanging just above the horizon, her heartbeat increased fivefold.
A full moon.
Immediately taking off into a sprint towards the training grounds, Merula fumbled to get her wand out from its pocket in her robes, mumbling to herself, “You better not be dead when I get there, Rosewood…”.
The sound wasn’t difficult to follow as Merula got close, even if it only worsened the fear boiling in Merula’s chest, a mix of Jay’s voice, and a series of growls and snarls that confirmed what Jay was up against.
Eventually, Merula made it to the training grounds, pressing up against a wall, not even daring at first to sneak a look onto the field.
“-Don’t want to fight you-” Merula heard Jay’s normally smug, cocky tone replaced with desperation, almost begging, before it was quickly cut off by a vicious snarl.
There was the unmistakable sound of tearing fabric from around the wall, followed by a cry of agony in Jay’s voice that made Merula’s stomach turn.
“...I don’t want… to do this...” Jay’s words became littered with heavy, labored breaths, and Merula just barely leaned past the wall to see Jay, lying in the grass, a massive, bleeding wound ripped across his torso, and his shirt and jacket almost completely shredded.
With his wand raised, Jay glanced over for just a half a second and spotted Merula hiding against the wall, his eyes widening.
“Me-” Jay was quickly cut off by another vicious growl, and Merula spun around the wall as a white-furred werewolf pounced on Jay, raising its head into a bloodthirsty howl.
“CONFRINGO!” Merula screeched as she thrust her wand at the werewolf standing above Jay. An explosion centered on the werewolf’s shoulder sent it flying off of Jay, and Merula dashed in between where it landed, and where Jay was lying.
“Depulso!” A pulse of blue light shot from Merula’s wand, flinging the werewolf further back, and Merula raised her wand for another spell before Jay’s weak voice came from behind her.
“Protego…” A translucent blue sphere bubbled out around Merula, who whipped around to see a pale, heavily-bleeding Jay, who weakly attempted to say, “It’s Chiara… get her... to run… Don’t… hurt…” Jay couldn’t finish before collapsing to the ground, and the shield surrounding the two of them vanished.
The werewolf Chiara snarled from behind Merula, who shot around again to face it, locking eyes with the beast. Chiara hesitated for a moment, and Merula fought back every alarm bell in her head that was blaring for her to run, scream, cast a spell, do anything other than standing there and staring.
A moment passed, before Chiara gave a low growl, dropping down and running off into the Forbidden Forest in the distance. As soon as the light grey werewolf was out of sight through the trees, Merula whirled around and knelt down next to Jay, lifting him up into her arms, and running back into the castle.
“What the hell did you think you were doing?” Merula demanded, “Where do you get off thinking you can take on a fucking werewolf on your own? You could’ve died!!”.
Jay managed a weak smirk, “Last bit, might still be on the table…” Jay coughed, a small line of blood trickling down along his cheek.
“Not happening,” Merula refused, and Jay wrapped his arms up around Merula’s neck, his words starting to slur together, “Might not be so bad… got a real pretty angel t’ carry me away ‘nd all…”.
“You’re not dying, Rosewood, not tonight,” Merula denied again, and Jay gave another weak smile, “did’n know y’ cared s’much ‘bout me, Emerald…”.
Merula debated how to answer as she turned another corner on her approach to the Hospital Wing, figuring that Jay wouldn’t remember tonight anyway, she opted for honesty, “Of course I care about you, Rosewood.”.
Jay gave a hoarse laugh, the blood from the slash across his chest now thoroughly soaking what was left of his jacket and shirt, “y’shoulda… said that sooner… woulda asked ya t’ come along… y're real... 'mportn't t' me too...”.
“I think- think I’m gonna rest m’ eyes a lil’ bit…” Jay mumbled as Merula spotted the door to the Hospital Wing.
“No, do not do that,” Merula demanded as she shoulder-checked the door, sending it flying open, “Stay awake, Rosewood, you’re going to be okay…”.
Madam Pince quickly stood from the child she had been standing near, directing Merula to place Jay in a bed near the back of the wing.
“Werewolf,” Merula explained, and, seeing Madam Pince’s horrified expression, quickly added, “He wasn’t bit, just the claws.”.
“Yeah,” Jay attempted his usual smug tone, failing miserably, “Just a scratch…”.
Jay’s head dropped back onto the pillow, his eyes drifting shut, and Madam Pince shooed Merula away, running over to several different supply closets in the Hospital Wing.
Merula slowly drifted near the front of the Hospital wing, never once taking her eyes off the bed Jay was lying in, the image of Chiara standing over him burned into her mind. If she had just been a second later…
Merula didn’t have a lot of time with her thoughts, however, as Penny Haywood threw open the door to the Hospital Wing flanked by a Slytherin student. Immediately, Penny spotted the bed Jay was lying in and turned to look at Merula, who only just now realized that her robes were covered in Jay’s blood. Despite how suspicious Merula looked, she quickly found herself locked in the Hufflepuff girl’s arms, and Merula noticed that Penny was crying into her shoulder.
“Thank Merlin for you, Merula,” Penny squeezed Merula hard enough that she was worried her ribs were about to break, “If you hadn’t been there…”.
“It was nothing, Haywood,” Merula attempted, trying to worm out of Penny’s grip, “Now get off me.”.
Releasing Merula, Penny drew her wand and flicked it, and the copious amounts of blood that had soaked into Merula’s robes evaporated. Finally, Merula looked past Penny to see that the other person that had entered the Hospital Wing was Rowan Khanna, who leaned against the wall, facing Merula.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve never had even the slightest bit of trust in you, Snyde…” Rowan bluntly remarked, “But… after this, maybe Jay really does see something in you…”.
“How did you lot know what happened?” Merula asked, and Rowan shrugged, “Ismelda told Barnaby you ran off, Barnaby told everyone…”.
“...And then we heard the howl…” Penny shuddered, “Most of us are still in the room, but we got worried.”.
Merula dropped her voice low, “Chiara, the werewolf, do you know why she would attack him?”.
“Chiara attacked him?” Penny gasped, “I’ve talked to her too, I thought she was getting Wolfsbane potion from Snape?”.
“Maybe she got a bad batch?” Rowan offered, and Merula shook her head, “Not from Snape. Whatever happened, Jay wasn’t bit, luckily.”.
“Thank Merlin,” Rowan sighed, before looking up to lock eyes with Merula, “Listen, whatever you did, you saved Jay’s life. He’s told us a few times that we should start to trust you…”. For some reason, Merula’s heart fluttered a little when she heard Jay had been sticking up for her to his friends.
“...Maybe we should have been taking him seriously,” Rowan finished, and Penny looked down at the ground, “Either way, we owe you.”.
“I don’t want anything from either of you,” Merula declined, looking over to Jay’s bed as Madam Pince called over to them, telling them they were clear to approach, “The only person who owes me anything is Rosewood.”.
Sitting down next to Jay’s bed, Merula looked at Jay’s sleeping face, and, not that she’d say it, when his face wasn’t contorted into his stupid, smug grin, Jay was, admittedly, fairly handsome, in a weird, scruffy way. Merula reached out over Jay’s body, touching the shoulder that had taken an arrow in the Forbidden Forest two years ago.
“...We’re gonna go tell the others what happened,” Rowan mentioned from behind Merula, who responded, “Don’t tell them it was Chiara.”.
“Since when did you care about keeping someone’s secret safe?” Penny remarked, and when no answer came from Merula, she nodded, “We won’t tell anyone, Merula.”. The two left the Hospital Wing, and Merula leaned down to Jay’s ear, tears starting to well up in her eyes.
“You’re such a dumbass…” Merula whispered into Jay’s ear, “How did you manage to get to me like this?”. The sleeping Slytherin boy did not answer, and Merula sat down again, slowly falling asleep in the chair herself.
Before Merula could notice herself falling asleep, morning had come, and Merula slowly drifted awake in the chair she had been sitting in the previous night. Looking over at the bed across from her, Merula noticed that the previously shredded jacket and plain green shirt had been repaired, folded neatly on the table next to Jay’s bed.
Consequently, Merula saw the scar on Jay’s shoulder, a triangular mark where an arrow had pierced his shoulder when he had fought a centaur out in the Forbidden Forest, back in their fourth year. Tracing her finger around the scar, Merula muttered to herself, “When are you going to stop hurting yourself like this, Rosewood?”.
Again, the sleeping boy gave no answer, and Merula looked around to see if anyone was looking. Spotting no one, Merula leaned over, pressing her forehead against Jay’s.
“Listen here, Rosewood, the next time you do something stupid like that, you take me with you, because you’re clearly going to die without me.”.
“Just promise me, when you wake up, that you won’t go and get yourself killed playing the hero, okay? No more scars.”.
“No more scars…” Merula felt one of Jay’s hands close around Merula’s wrist, “I can’t make any guarantees, Merula…”.
“Well, you have to, Rosewood,” Merula answered as Jay’s eyes drifted open, “I said I cared about you, you can’t go dying on me now.”.
“Hm…” Jay faked debating Merula’s argument with himself, eventually saying, “You make a convincing argument, Snyde,” before quickly leaning up in his bed to press his lips against Merula’s.
Jay pulled back away, and Merula grinned, “Ismelda’s going to kill you when she finds out…”.
Jay laughed in response, cupping his free hand onto Merula’s cheek, and she may or may not have leaned slightly into it as a warm sensation spread across her face from his palm, “Rowan’s going to kill you when he finds out.”.
“So I’ve convinced you,” Merula smirked, “No more taking hits like this like some heroic moron.”.
“I swear, Songbird. No more scars,” Jay promised, putting a hand up to his heart.
“No more scars,” Merula echoed, leaning down to plant a kiss of her own on Jay’s lips.
"...I love you, Songbird," Jay whispered, his normal smirk replaced with a genuinely kind smile, and Merula felt her chest get feather-light for a moment before she wrapped her arms around Jay's neck, whispering her answer into the boy laying in her arms, "I... I love you too, Jay.".
After a few minutes, the rest of Jay’s friends arrived, and Merula slowly stepped to the back of the group, before eventually exiting the Hospital Wing entirely, locking eyes with Jay one more time as she left.
Weeks went by, and though Merula was sure of her feelings, she insisted Jay told no one yet, telling him they needed a less chaotic time to break the news. After everything this year has been, it couldn’t possibly get any more confusing, right?
Right?