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“I wonder if we should time them,” Trip mused, leaning back in the hard wooden chair of the library.
“Nah.” Skye shook her head. “It’s too dark out for a sundial and nothing else would be able to keep pace with them.” She looked away from where Fitz and Jemma were eating each other’s faces and back to her Ancient Runes book, making a few additions to the notes that Trip had helped her organize better. Yeah, Professor Odinson was way hot—like waaaay hot—but Trip was so much better at explaining what the hell was going on in that class. And not altogether bad to look at himself. Glancing back at her friends, where Jemma had her hands buried in Fitz’s already completely wayward curls, she said, “Can you guys even breathe?”
Pulling away, Jemma smiled at her triumphantly. “I’ll have you know I have an excellent lung capacity from when my mother tried to make me a dancer before she realized that I had no grace.”
“No grace, but good lungs?”
“Yes, excellent lungs.”
“You know, I love you, but there are some things I just don’t need to know about you and your life,” Skye said. She raised an eyebrow at Trip as Fitz guided Jemma’s mouth back to his. “Sorry to have ruined your chances with Good Lungs.”
He laughed and shook his head. “You know, I’m good. What about you, you good for the night?”
“If you mean am I good with not making out with Jemma, yeah, I’m fine.” He laughed again and she grinned at him. “I also think I will survive Ancient Runes tomorrow, thanks to you. I appreciate the help.”
Closing his book and putting it in his bag, he said, “It’s no problem. I like Ancient Runes. It’s generally useless, but I think it’s fun. Plus, Good Lungs over here always makes sure to give me tips in Potions and Mr. Good Lungs is probably going to be the reason I pass my Transfiguration O.W.L. and there’s nothing I can do for either of them so might as well pass it on where I can.”
“Yeah, I’m the one who always needs all the help,” Skye grumbled, capping her inkpot.
“C’mon, now, nothing wrong with needing a little help,” Trip said. He reached over and put his hand on her shoulder. “You’re certainly smart enough to acknowledge when you need it and go out and find it, and that’s rare in people, let me tell you. There’s so many Ravenclaws who struggle in one subject or another and won’t even deal with that until Foster has to tell them they’re about to fail. I respect you a hell of a lot more for working on what you gotta work on.”
Skye blushed and fiddled with the end of her ponytail as she finished packing up her books. “Thanks. That means a lot.”
He winked at her, then glanced over at his housemate. “So, you know we have to go do prefect rounds, right, Jemma?”
“Mmm?” Jemma leaned back from Fitz’s embrace, her face flushed and a new bruise starting to bloom on her neck. “Oh, right, we do have that tonight, don’t we?”
She pouted in disappointment as Fitz nuzzled her jawline. “No, don’t leave,” he said, kissing behind her ear until she made soft cooing noises.
“You have to do rounds too, buddy,” Skye said with a roll of her eyes. “Sharon told me to make sure you go. In fact, you’re supposed to meet her in your common room in—” she reached over the table to grab Trip’s wrist, checking his watch “—three minutes. And she did tell me to remind you that she can get into your bedroom and you cannot get into hers and she will do bad things to you if you stand her up.”
Groaning against the soft skin of Jemma’s throat, Fitz said, “Alright, alright.” After kissing her shoulder tenderly, he made to move Jemma off his lap, but she made a high-pitched noise of protest.
“Two more minutes,” Jemma begged, light brown eyes wide and doe-like and really, Skye had literally never seen Fitz say no to Jemma ever before, it wasn’t like the kid was going to start now. And then they were kissing again.
Trip was chuckling as he stood up. “Well, I’m going to drop my things off in the Tower and start my rounds. You want me to take your bag too so you can just meet me up there?” Jemma’s only response was to snog Fitz harder. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He shouldered both bags, then grinned at Skye. “I’ll see you later, alright?”
Skye nodded. “Have a good night.” Her eyes lingered on him as he exited the library and she didn’t even realize she was sighing until the noise came out louder than even the sound of Fitzsimmons kissing.
“I saw that!” Jemma said suddenly, startling Skye out of her reverie.
Skye watched her warily and Fitz seemed equally perturbed that they were no longer locked at the mouth. “How could you possibly see anything that was not Fitz’s face?”
“You were staring at his butt!” she said, bouncing a little on Fitz’s leg.
“I was not,” Skye protested, avoiding her gaze. “You can’t even see it under the robes.”
“But you were trying to see his butt.” Jemma grinned widely. “Do you like Trip?”
Fitz pawed at Jemma’s shoulder, pouting. “Jemma. Kissing.”
Feeling her cheeks continuing to burn red, Skye focused on her stacks of parchment and quills littered across the table, packing up her stuff so she wouldn’t have to look at her friends. “Yeah, Jem, Fitz’s face is getting lonely.”
Jemma rolled her eyes and gave her boyfriend one last, lingering kiss. “Go meet up with Sharon before she starts getting creative in a bad way. I’ll meet you in the usual place after rounds.”
Skye had a feeling she did not want to know what the “usual place” was or what they did there. Fitz grumbled under his breath, but gave Jemma a kiss on the cheek before he left the library. Skye tried to hurry after him, but Jemma was right on her heels. “I should really finish the rest of my homework,” Skye was saying, attempting to turn towards where the stairs would lead her down to the Hufflepuff dorms, but Jemma grabbed fast to her upper arm. The girl was surprisingly strong.
“So?” Jemma was saying, practically dragging her up towards the Ravenclaw Tower. “Do you like Trip?”
Biting her lip hard, she wanted to refuse, wanted to insist on going to her dorm. “He has nice arms,” she finally said, letting herself be carried along. She had maybe given them undue attention during the last Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match. Trip was really good at throwing the ball and his sleeves were really good at not staying down.
Jemma relinquished her grip with a nod. “It’s true, they’re very nicely toned.” She hesitated for a minute. “Don’t tell Fitz I said that, you know how he can be.”
“Please,” she said with a snort. “I’ve heard how he can be way more than you’ve heard how he can be. I’m not going to start all that messiness up again.”
Rolling her eyes, Jemma nodded understandingly. “But what do you think about Trip? About him, not just his admittedly very nice physique.”
“I like all of my friends. I have very good taste in people,” Skye said. Jemma elbowed her in the side, clearly unamused. “Okay, okay! Trip is…he’s great. He’s nice and funny. He’s a good tutor, he’s really been able to help me with Ancient Runes. In fact, he’s a better tutor than you and Fitz are because he’s not a super genius, he gets me on my level. And I like that he provides me with someone to talk to when you and Fitz are being all…you and Fitz and then Sharon and Steve get all married-like. Sometimes I feel like those two are gonna talk about taxes and mortgages and daycares any minute. That is what I have to listen to when you and Fitz get all makeout-y.”
Making a small noise of discontent, Jemma reached for Skye’s hand. She squeezed it hard before saying, “I’m sorry. Are we completely awful all the time?”
Skye bumped into her shoulder. “No. You’re not. Honestly, it’s really not all that different from before you guys got together, except that you’re actually making out this time instead of staring longingly at each other. Frankly, I think I like the kissing more than the pining, it means I have to listen to you guys cry less. Not that I don’t have to listen to things that are a lot worse…” She smirked as Jemma hung her head. “If I wanted to hang out with other people, I totally could. I have a lot of other options for friends, I just like you guys best.”
“Good,” Jemma said, leaning her head against Skye’s affectionately.
“Not that it makes it any easier to be your third wheel sometimes. But Trip gets that too. There’s a lot of understanding between me and Trip.” Skye scuffed her foot against the floor. “What does it matter if I like him anyway?” It’s not like she got weird tingles all over her skin when he put his hand on her back or that she sometimes purposefully took shitty notes in Ancient Runes so that he would have to spend extra time with her. And she did not really, really like it when he would put his hand over hers to correct her drawings of the runes because she had kind of crap writing, boy that did not make her go warm deep in the pit of her stomach.
“Why on earth wouldn’t it matter?”
Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Skye shrugged nonchalantly. “Trip was sort of your guy, right? I thought there were, like, girl laws against that.”
Jemma stared at her as if her genius brain could not process what Skye had just said. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“I mean, I know you and Fitz aren’t looking to ménage-a-Trip or whatever, but—”
“Skye!” she said sharply. “Did I ever tell you about my date with Trip?”
She shook her head slowly. “I thought we had agreed never to talk about the Dark Ages. Except when we’re making fun of Fitz.”
Letting out a long breath, Jemma ducked her head to watch the floor as they continued to walk through the halls of the castle. “I mean, it wasn’t the worst date…initially. He’s very polite and charming, you know that. I thought that we would still have an enjoyable time even though he wasn’t who I wanted to be there with, since—”
“Your boyfriend is sometimes a disaster of a human being.”
“That is where I have chosen to lay my affections and I regret nothing.”
Skye winced. “I have had to listen to you ‘lay your affections,’ there’s no need to remind me.”
“Anyway,” Jemma said, rolling her eyes. “We were having a nice time at first. It was a beautiful day out, and we were talking about classes and people and some books we had both read, it was just like hanging out. He wasn’t trying to be overly romantic or anything, which I respected. I don’t know if he was just trying to be a gentleman or he just somehow sensed that I wouldn’t be appreciative of the gestures. Honestly, I thought I would get through everything remarkably unscathed until we went to go get a drink.”
Groaning under her breath, Skye said, “And then you saw us.”
Jemma nodded. “And then I saw you and I basically felt like my entire world was ending because my best friend was on a date with the guy I was in love with.”
“Okay, we were not on a date!”
“I didn’t know that!” she insisted. “I thought you had lied to me and it looked like you were cuddling and I was so heartbroken. And I knew you saw me and then you pretended you didn’t and then I was offended on top of it—”
“Fitz was the one avoiding you,” Skye said quickly. Grinning, she added, “I was just gonna throw dungbombs at you two to cheer him up.”
Elbowing her hard in the side, Jemma laughed. “Oh, thanks, that really would have made everything better!” Scoffing, she said, “I tried so hard to ignore you back, but all I could think of was you two there and why you wouldn’t just tell me and what you would be doing later. And we were just sitting with a bunch of other people from the House trying to have fun and I was so miserable.”
Skye wrapped her arm around Jemma’s shoulders, hugging her tight. “For the record, right after that I had to take Fitz back from the castle because he couldn’t enjoy life anymore after seeing you on your date. And then I had to go study. Actually, that was the day I met Grant Ward. And well, we know how that turned out.”
“We weren’t that far behind you.” Jemma sighed. “I think Trip realized that I had pretty much checked out at that point and he suggested we go back and…” She shook her head, scrunching up her nose. “I cried.”
“You cried?”
“I cried the entire way back to the castle. Just right up sobbing.” Jemma pressed a hand against her face at the memory. “Poor Trip, he had just wanted to treat me to a nice day and here I was crying over another boy! He tried to be so nice about it too. He patted my back and gave me his handkerchief. I would have been very grateful if I hadn’t been so devastated.” She tried smiled at Skye despite the memories. “So really, there is no need for you to think of him as my guy of any sort. Even if I wasn’t wholeheartedly with Fitz, well, honestly, after that absolute disaster, frankly I’m surprised that Trip is still my friend.” Reaching out to squeeze Skye’s shoulder, she said, “I do think that he is possibly the only guy worthy of you though, if you have an interest.”
She smiled lightly to herself. “Maybe. There could be an interest.”
Nudging her gently, Jemma raised her eyebrows. “Are you planning on doing something about said interest?”
That was the question, wasn’t it? The nervous part of Skye wondered if Trip wouldn’t have already asked her out if her interest was at all reciprocated—obviously he had asked Jemma out and Skye wasn’t married like Jemma was. But the whole sitting around and pining thing wasn’t Skye’s style—waiting and hoping for Trip to maybe get the hint would make her…well, it would make her Fitzsimmons and she had seen firsthand how that had worked out. Never let it be said that she repeated the mistakes of others. “It’s under consideration.”
Jemma smirked. “Well. It’s something.”
Suddenly seeing Trip at the end of the hall, Skye felt about 1000% less certain and more Fitz-like as her heart started beating double time. “But I think I’m gonna go down to Hufflepuff because I’m not done considering yet so I will see you later.” Ignoring Jemma’s look of disappointment, she gave Trip a quick wave and turned back the other way. “Have a good night.”
As she headed back down the hallway, she tried to avoid what she was sure were Trip and Jemma’s eyes following her. The only decision Skye made was that making decisions was highly overrated.
-----
Spring was fully upon them because the sun was still shining even after classes were over for the day. Skye had found herself a nice shady spot under a tree outside to do her homework, glad for some time for herself in the fresh air. The few rays that broke through the branches of the trees felt nice on her skin and she couldn’t help but smile at every small whisper of breeze through her hair. Skye was considerably less glad that there was homework to do at all, but she knew there were battles to pick and choose.
She had only been working for about a half hour, which was only about fifteen minutes of Skye productivity, when Trip came and sat down next to her. “Hey, what’s up?” he said, leaning against the trunk of her tree.
Swallowing hard, she shrugged, trying not to think about how good he looked in full natural light. “Just homework.”
“No Fitzsimmons?”
“Not right now. Gryffindor has Quidditch practice in preparation for the Cup and Sharon begged them not to do Astronomy without her—”
“Yeah, she hates Astronomy.”
“—so they took that as an excuse to go make out instead of doing work. As they often do now. Hell, they’re probably up in the Astronomy Tower, defiling it for the rest of us.”
He chuckled. “Still better than when they were fighting all the time. It felt like the entire castle was under a dark cloud. Curse of the Depressed Fitzsimmons.”
She readily agreed, shivering just at the memory of being in the middle of it; being next to continuously amorous Fitzsimmons was a significant improvement. “I’m glad that they’re happy.”
Smiling at her, Trip nodded at her parchment. “What are you working on?”
Skye groaned under her breath. “Freaking Divination.”
“Sorry, I can’t be of any help with that. I don’t take it.”
“Smart people tend not to.”
“You’re smart, Skye.” When she just rolled her eyes at him, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “You are.”
Letting out a long breath, she said, “May I remind you that you tutor me in Ancient Runes and everyone else tutors me in everything else?” Before he could respond, she said, “Whatever, you don’t have to be smart to take Divination. You just have to know how to game the system, the system being Blake. Like, for instance, I did really great on the term exam because I wrote all about how Fitzsimmons are astrologically perfect for each other—and I mean, they are, it’s not a lie. Those two are perfect for each other in literally every way. But I did it because all the teachers love Fitzsimmons. Blake even loves Fitzsimmons and he’s not even their professor.”
He laughed at that, shaking his head. “Hey, as long as it helps you out, girl. What are you doing now, still astrology?”
Groaning, she reluctantly pulled out from under his arm to grab her tarot cards, holding up the box. “Oh no, now we’re doing advanced tarot.” She cursed under her breath, not exactly sure how tarot got more advanced, if her Pikachu was going to evolve or something. “We had to do a reading on someone in class and now it’s all about analysis. Which sucks because this isn’t something that Fitz can fake for me.” At his confused expression, she said, “Usually when I have to predict something, Fitz and I just make it something that Fitz can make come true. Gaming the system.”
“Okay, I see your play.” He smirked as he stretched his arms over his head and boy was that super not fair the way his chest and biceps pressed against his robes. “You know, my granddad is actually really into tarot.”
“Your Department of Magical Law Enforcement granddad likes to get tarot readings?”
Trip nodded, chuckling under his breath. “’Course, Gran thinks they’re bull.”
“That’s because they are.”
“Well, apparently way back when he got a reading for kicks, he was out drinking with the boys or whatever, and the woman said he would meet his true love and he met Gran the next day. Believed in it ever since. Still goes to see that same tarot reader’s granddaughter every few months.”
Skye smiled despite herself. “Okay, that’s kind of sweet.”
Nudging her gently in the side, Trip said, “You know, if you ever need me to help make things come true, you can always ask.”
There were quite a few things she wanted to come true with Trip. “Well, one of our last assignments is to pick one of the advanced spreads and do a reading for someone outside of class. I was gonna do one of Fitzsimmons for the obvious bonus points, but…”
“No, do me,” he insisted, grinning broadly. “It’ll be fun.”
Skye couldn’t help but agree with that, and wondered if he knew how suggestive it was. “Okay, cool.” She didn’t even mind giving up the inherent Fitzsimmons bonus.
As she wondered vaguely how she could work “making out with your hot Hufflepuff friend” into his spread, Trip pulled a small paperback book out of his robes. “I’ll stop distracting you now, but do you mind if I hang out here with you and read?”
She was kind of taken aback that he just wanted to…hang with her and read, but she nodded quickly. “Yeah, that’s no problem. This is everyone’s tree.”
“Hopefully it can just be our tree,” he said, putting his arm behind his head to use as a pillow as he opened his book. “I don’t want to share with anyone else.”
Skye hoped he wouldn’t see her blush or just think it was a reaction to the heat of the afternoon, but she picked up her notes to hide her face anyway. “Yeah. That’s good too.”
-----
It had occurred to her—and by ‘occurred to her,’ really she had been obsessing about it nonstop—that this weekend was the last Hogsmeade trip of the year. If she was going to display an interest in anyone, like a particularly fine fifth year Ravenclaw, this was the last good opportunity to do so. She supposed that they would probably be going together anyway; the previous outing had been her, Trip, Sharon, Steve, Sam, and Jemma for most of the day because Fitz was having a meeting with his new best friend Tony Stark, and really, that was pretty much the gang. (The time before that had been Valentine’s Day so she had mostly just avoided the whole scene and gone with a group of similarly single Hufflepuffs. Fitzsimmons were disgustingly into each other on a normal day, let alone a day that encouraged them to be romantic.)
The idea of going to Hogsmeade with Trip was a positive one, if the way she zoned out daydreaming about it in every class was a sign. Every class except Divination, where she had maybe done her own tarot spread a few times to ask about her future romantic potential with him. And then borrowed one of Blake’s crystal balls to see what that outcome was because it had worked out so well for Fitzsimmons. The general future actually seemed bright, but she was always skeptical about readings one did for themselves, not to mention, you know, Divination as an actual subject.
All of her obsessing was only a good thing if he actually wanted to go with her, which she couldn’t be sure about. This could all easily turn super awkward, and she was generally the least awkward of her friends. Except maybe Sam. Sam was ridiculously smooth. Maybe she could get Sam to ask Trip out for her.
That evening she found Fitzsimmons at the back round table that used to be the spot for the two, then three of them. Usually it was where they sat when they wanted to be alone but couldn’t get space in either of their common rooms, but Skye didn’t feel all that bad when she sat in her old chair and luckily, neither of them looked particularly annoyed. Or at least Jemma didn’t and Fitz always looked at least a little grumpy. “So, you know that thing we were talking about the other day?”
Fitz raised an eyebrow at her. “Transfiguration?”
“Shockingly enough, not everything is about Transfiguration,” Skye said. This was so not a Fitz conversation. Turning more towards Jemma, she said, “The thing about if I had an interest in a thing and if maybe I wanted to do something about it?”
“Oh!” Jemma closed her textbook, focusing all of her attention on Skye. “And did you come to a decision? Or did you need to talk about it more?”
Skye drummed her fingers nervously against the table. “I was thinking about…possibilities? Entertaining them. As people do. In situations.”
“Okay,” Fitz said, looking back and forth between them with irritation clear on his face. “What the hell are we even talking about?”
“Trip’s butt,” Jemma said quickly, smiling at her boyfriend.
Fitz immediately picked up his book, hiding his face behind him. “And I’m out.”
Once she was sure that Fitz was very seriously looking at the text in front of him, Jemma rolled her eyes at Skye. “So? Trip?”
“Well, we’re allowed to go to Hogsmeade this weekend—”
Jemma reached out to squeeze her arm. “That’s a fantastic idea.”
“I mean, yeah, I figure it can’t go worse than his last date.”
Wincing, Jemma nodded. “Okay, deserved. I think you two will have a great time! Have you asked him yet? You should ask him!”
Skye licked her lip, sighing to herself. “What if he says no?”
“Then he’s incredibly stupid and we’ll stop being his friend.” She elbowed her boyfriend in the side. “Right, Fitz?”
“Hm?” Fitz jerked his head up, looked at each of them over the top of his book. “Yeah, whatever you say, Jem.”
Unable stop smiling affectionately at them, Skye shook her head. “I kinda don’t want to not be friends with Trip under any circumstances. As far as friends go, Trip’s pretty great. Easily Top 5. Could possibly make it to Top 3 depending on what grade I get in Ancient Runes by the end of the year. I’ve got an entire ranking scale worked out.” Kissing had not factored into the scale yet, but that could also easily bump him up.
Folding her hands on the table, Jemma smiled softly. “I guess you’ll just have to decide that if you want to do anything, you’ll have to be mature and acknowledge that while you may be upset at a rejection, there won’t be any hard feelings that could affect your friendship.”
“So, like the exact opposite of you and Fitz.”
“Learn from our mistakes,” Fitz said, not looking up from his book even as he reached out to rub Jemma’s back. Skye wondered how much he had actually been listening.
Even with their encouragement, Skye couldn’t help feeling nervous. “I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t ask him. It’ll just be weird, you know? Last time was fun, when it was a group thing. Maybe I can bring one of the Hufflepuffs along with me, you guys never hang out with anyone from my House.”
Jemma blew out a long breath of annoyance. “Why would you go with someone else when you really like Trip?”
“I dunno,” Skye said, frustrated. “Maybe Fitz told me to go with them.”
Rolling his eyes, Fitz said, “I am not even part of this conversation! Why do we have to bring that up? How long are we going to keep bringing that up for?”
“Forever. I am never going to stop bringing that up.” When he glared at her, Skye just shrugged. “It’s something that I think you need constant reminders of so you never do something that stupid again. It’s going to be part of my best man speech at your wedding—I’ve decided I’m going to be your best man.”
“You’re not even invited to the wedding,” he grumbled, leaning back in his chair.
Jemma laughed and winked at her. “If Fitz won’t let you be his best man, you can be my maid of honor.”
“Thank you, Jemma,” Skye said triumphantly while Fitz looked betrayed.
“Is this how we’re going to begin our lives together, you working against me?”
She laughed again and leaned over to kiss her boyfriend. “You did tell me to go out with Trip.”
“Yes, I know,” he said, sighing as he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “Sometimes I make bad decisions.”
“Which you need to be reminded of!” Skye insisted. “But we’re trying to focus on my problems and whether or not I’m making a bad decision.”
“Have you considered asking the fates?” Fitz asked drily.
Skye considered ignoring that completely, but instead just gave him the finger. There was a lump in her throat as she looked at Jemma. “I don’t want to screw this up. I’ve seen what happens when things get screwed up, I can’t handle that amount of crying. I get puffy quickly.”
Jemma’s expression held a fair amount of sympathy as she seemed to consider what to say, but before she found her words, she was interrupted by the whirlwind entrance of Sharon. Her blonde hair was completely mussed and her tie was not so much tied as hanging in a loose knot somewhere below her collarbones. “Jemma,” she said, panting as she stopped at their table. “Steve and I were studying and he looked at the Potions essay I wrote that we’re supposed to turn in tomorrow and he said it was basically all wrong.”
Fitz raised an eyebrow at his housemate, corner of his lips quirking up in a smirk. “Yeah, you look like you were getting a lot of studying done.”
“You can shut up or I can tell Coulson about how you put a spell on the stairs up to your dormitory to alert you about any interruptions for whatever you and Jemma are doing up there,” Sharon said and Fitz immediately closed his mouth and looked back at his book. She set her textbook on the table and pulled out the essay that was pressed between the pages, thrusting it in front of Jemma.
The Ravenclaw girl took it carefully, wincing as she skimmed its contents. “Well, this is…okay, I can’t lie to you, this is completely wrong. Like, not even a little bit right.”
Moaning in horror, Sharon put her head down on the table. “Save me? I already screwed up the potion, I can’t fail the written too. I have to convince Garrett to let me into his N.E.W.T. class, I have to do good on these O.W.L.s.”
“Give me a moment to see where you might have gone wrong, we’ll fix this, don’t worry,” Jemma said comfortingly.
With the slightest bit of relief on her face, Sharon pulled up a chair between Jemma and Skye, watching over Jemma’s shoulder as the other girl made notes and revisions on her paper. After a moment, Sharon looked around the table and said, “I interrupted something, didn’t I?”
“Yes,” Fitz said, frustration clear in his tone as he flipped a page in his book with a bit more force than necessary.
“No,” Skye said. She kicked him under the table, matching him glare for glare when he looked up at her.
Shaking her head half-heartedly, most of her attention still on the essay, Jemma said, “We were just trying to figure out if Skye should ask Trip out.”
Skye choked on her own breath. “Jemma!”
“What?” Jemma said, tearing her eyes from the parchment. “Was I not supposed to say that? Was it a secret? We were talking about it in front of Fitz!”
“It’s Fitz!” Skye said, as if that was the only appropriate reaction to such ridiculousness. “Who is he going to tell?” Even Fitz shrugged, as if to agree with her.
Before Jemma could apologize, Sharon elbowed Skye, a playful grin on her face. “You should totally ask Trip out!”
Skye hesitated, licking her lips. “I should?”
“Absolutely!” Sharon’s entire demeanor had changed from desperation to excitement. “I mean, I don’t have any insider knowledge for you because Trip and I don’t really talk about that stuff—let’s be real, I never would have let him ask out Jemma—but I think you two would be great together! You’re awesome, he comes from a long line of awesome, and I may be wrong, but I think he’s into you? If I had to bet, I’d put money on you. Also you’re not married to Fitz, so it’s clearly better than the choices he’s been making in the past. Cousin stamp of approval.”
The smile Jemma gave her at that moment was so smug that Skye could practically feel the self-righteousness coming off of her in waves. “Hm, how interesting you should say that, Sharon, because I’ve been telling her the exact same thing.”
If Skye knew a spell for rolling her eyes so hard they fell out of her head, she would use it now just to get them to shut up. “Yeah, yeah, yuck it up. The issue isn’t whether or not we’d be good together because I’m great with everyone and Trip would look awesome next to me, the issue is what happens if he says no.”
Sharon frowned. “I thought you were supposed to be the positive one. There’s no reason for him not to say yes.”
“She was considering asking him to Hogsmeade this weekend,” Jemma said, dipping her quill in an inkpot.
“I think that’s perfect. Erase all the bad memories and replace them with awesome memories of Skye.”
Twisting her lips together uncomfortably, she said, “Yeah. I guess.” Inhaling deeply, she nodded at Sharon’s essay, “So, you’re really sucking at Potions lately, huh?”
Whimpering, Sharon put her head in her hands. “Please tell me there’s something you can do to fix it, Jemma. Garrett’s gonna murder me.”
“It’s not unsalvageable,” Jemma said, patting her back encouragingly. “I just think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of one of the key elements of this section.” Jemma flipped back a few pages in the textbook and started explaining something as Skye leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes as she tuned them out. Really, she loved her friends, she appreciated them endlessly, but sometimes they were a bit much. Like now. Like everything about now.
When she felt a gentle touch on her back, she opened her eyes to see Fitz’s blue eyes staring at her. She hadn’t realized he had been paying attention again. “Hey,” he whispered, licking his lips. “How long did you tell me to ask Jemma out?”
“Just short of like a billion years.”
“And what happened when I didn’t?”
“The entire world blew up.” Skye didn’t feel like she was being particularly hyperbolic. It had certainly felt like an apocalyptic time. “I don’t think the world is going to end again if I don’t ask Trip out because we aren’t drama queens like you two.”
Fitz scoffed, but shook his head. “Yeah, but you had been right the whole time about just getting up the courage to do what I wanted to do and go for it. I’m not saying that I know Trip as well as you know Jemma, but I do think he’d be crazy to turn you down. He’s certainly not gonna get a better offer.”
He seemed committed to his logic, but Skye wasn’t sure if she agreed. “What if he says no? Then what?”
“I think you’re underestimating how much Jemma and I could collectively ruin him,” Fitz said, smirking. When Skye giggled, Fitz’s expression softened. “And I think I owe you quite a bit of shoulder crying time anyway.” He held his hand out and Skye instantly placed hers in his, letting his long fingers wrap over hers. “If you still want to hang out with him, I will grudgingly try to do so. If not, well, that’s fine with me, I’m not here for anyone who isn’t here for you. Last one in, last one out.” He squeezed her hand warmly and she actually felt for a second that someone else was considering the consequences of her actions, even if Fitz wasn’t giving it all the weight that she was. “Plus, I seem to remember someone convincing me that a visit to Hogsmeade with best friends was a good start to mending a broken heart.”
Grinning, Skye said, “That person sounds super smart and you should listen to her literally all the time because she’s never wrong.”
He smiled back. “We can get dungbombs and throw them at him.” Skye laughed loudly as Jemma looked up from the Potions homework, glaring at him and seeming distinctly unamused. “But,” Fitz said, shooting an apologetic look at his girlfriend, “I don’t think you should go into it expecting the worst. Know you’re great and that he wants to spend time with you because he clearly does, even if it might not be in a romantic way. If you just think that everything awful is going to happen, things get screwed up and you won’t know what you’re doing and then you’ll probably end up convincing Trip to go to Hogsmeade with Trip and people will never let you live it down for the rest of your life.”
She laughed again, tension leaking out of her body with the sensation. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she said, “Makes sense to me.” Suddenly overwhelmed with affection, Skye threw her arms around his neck. “Thanks, Fitz.”
Patting her back a few times, he said, “D’ya feel any better?”
“Yeah,” she said, squeezing him tight. She hesitated before whispering in his ear, “Love you.”
“Love you too,” he murmured back, resting his hand on the back of her head.
Standing up with a groan, Skye said, “I don’t feel like doing homework and I’ve gotta go figure out how to ask a guy out on a date so I’m gonna go do that.”
Jemma beamed up at her, brown eyes dancing with excitement. “Good luck!”
“If it helps at all, I totally thought Steve was going to pass out when he asked me out the first time and we’ve been dating for over a year,” Sharon said.
“Aww, I thought Fitz was going to pass out too,” Jemma said, taking Fitz’s hand in her own and bringing it up to her mouth for a kiss.
Fitz scoffed loudly. “I was not!”
Raising an eyebrow in disbelief, Sharon tutted under her breath. “I saw you not long before you went up there, passing out wouldn’t have been my last guess for how that night went.”
As Fitz grumbled under his breath, Skye gave him a hug from behind. “I’ll see you guys later. And thanks for the support.”
“Always,” Jemma said, voice coated in layers of sincerity and earnestness.
Skye went to leave the library, but paused at the end of the aisle to look back at her friends. Jemma had scooted her chair closer to Fitz and had wrapped her arms around him to kiss him deeply. “What did you say to her?” Jemma insisted, though Skye wasn’t sure Fitz could talk, he was breathing so hard.
“I just…I dunno. Just said the same kind of things she said to me when she wanted me to tell you that I was in love with you but was scared you would never love me back.”
Pushing Fitz’s curls away from his face, Jemma stared at him with so much fondness, Skye was sure her heart couldn’t take it. “You are perfect, Leo Fitz. I can’t even tell you how much I love you.”
Their moment only reinforced Skye’s determination, even as she walked away from it. She wasn’t sure she would ever have what they had—she wasn’t sure anyone in the world could have what they had—but she was willing to fight for her own version of it.
-----
She didn’t see Trip until after classes the next day, which was more than fine with her because in all that time she had come up with exactly nothing to say to him. She wasn’t a planner, she reminded herself as she spotted him in the hallway, broom over his shoulder. She was a doer. She could do this. There were a lot of Trip-related things she wanted to do and if she wanted to do them, she would have to do this.
“Hey,” she started as she fell in step with him. “Quidditch practice?”
“Never gonna beat Gryffindor in the Cup if we don’t get some practice in,” he said, shooting her a relaxed grin. “I assume you are rooting for Ravenclaw, right?”
She let out an overdramatic sigh. “I don’t know, it’s just you and Jemma vs. Fitz, Sharon, Steve, and Sam for my affections. What are you gonna do to win me over?”
“I don’t know,” he said after a minute, voice heavier than she expected. “I’ll think of something.”
Deciding to take that as an encouraging, albeit confusing, response, she cleared her throat. “So.” She took a deep breath and reminded herself that if Fitz could transfigure like a billion candles and tell Jemma he loved her, she could ask a cute guy out on a date. “Were you gonna go to Hogsmeade? This weekend?”
Trip rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated puff of air. “I’m supposed to go with one of the other fifth year Ravenclaw girls, Callie.”
“Oh.” Skye suddenly felt betrayed by everything she held near: by all the people who usually told her all the important Hogwarts gossip; by the fates, who had never let her down before; by Jemma and Sharon, who really should have fucking told her this.
“She’s on the Quidditch team with me and she asked me if I wanted to go with her and the other guys thought it would be cool if we did. You know, at least try it out. Maybe have a date that doesn’t go horribly, horribly wrong.” He smiled wryly at her. “Please tell me I don’t have to tell you about my date with Jemma.”
“I’ve heard it,” she said quickly, swallowing hard. She tried to fight down every ounce of bitterness in her system but she couldn’t help hating Jemma, just for a moment, for getting to have the worst date ever with Trip and still get the guy she loved. Apparently it was one more date than Skye was going to get.
Trip was saying something to her and she tried to focus her attention on him. “Is something special happening this weekend?” he was saying, eyes bright with interest.
She shook her head. “Uh, no. I was just…just wondering if you were gonna come along with us. Keep me from being third wheel. Or fifth wheel, I guess, if Steve and Sharon are gonna be there.”
“Sorry,” he said, and it was so sincere that she both loved and hated him all at once. “Maybe Callie and I can meet up with you guys.”
“No,” Skye said quickly—it was bad enough that Trip was going on a date, she didn’t need to be on the freaking date with him. When he raised his eyebrows at her, she just attempted to smirk. “I mean, c’mon, ease the girl into it. You really want to throw her into the craziness right away? I love Fitzsimmons, but they’re not really a first date kind of deal. If anything, you’re just going to look bad next to them because they’re perfectly in love in the worst way.”
He laughed. “Fair enough, fair enough. Gotta look good, I guess.” Adjusting his broom on his shoulder, he said, “I’m gonna head out to the pitch. Hey, if you need any help with Ancient Runes before the weekend, you let me know, okay? Or that Divination project. I’m really looking forward to that.”
“Yeah, sure,” she said around the lump in her throat. “I’ll see you later, Trip.” Giving him a short wave, she turned around and hurried back into the depths of the castle, hoping he hadn’t seen the few tears run down her cheeks. Why did he have to be so nice? She suddenly wished she had asked him so he could have actually turned her down, a clean break to her heart. If only he had been mean, Skye was great with mean. She could have Grant Warded him right out of her system.
The right thing to do would be to go down to the common room, amass a small Hufflepuff army, and raid the kitchens for saltiest, chocolatiest snacks she could find. Skye generally wasn’t an eat her feelings type of girl, but this was the right time for an exception. But she didn’t do that. She went straight for the library, then straight to the large, rectangular table where Fitz, Jemma, Sharon, and Sam were working on what looked to be Transfiguration by the way they were paying rapt attention to Fitz’s Scottish ramblings.
To get their attention, she dropped her bag loudly on the end of the wooden table. The four of them looked up sharply, but it was Jemma who seemed to read her expression the fastest. “What’s wrong, Skye?” she said.
“Why did you…” Skye wiped at her eyes, choking on the lump in her throat. “How could you tell me to ask Trip out?”
Sam looked wildly at the fifth years at the table while Jemma stood up, her large brown eyes wide with concern. “What on earth happened?” she said. She tried to put her hand on Skye’s shoulder, but Skye jerked away before she could reach.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Skye glared at her. “He already has a date.”
“What?” Sharon said loudly as Jemma gasped.
“Oh, no, who?” Jemma wondered. She seemed desperate to physically comfort Skye, but didn’t dare risk the rejection again.
Skye shook her head, focusing her gaze on the ceiling to ward off tears. “Some Ravenclaw named Callie.”
“Callie?” Jemma spat, scoffing in disgust.
Raising his eyebrow at his girlfriend, Fitz said, “I thought Callie was your friend? She’s one of your roommates, isn’t she?”
Jemma whirled around to roll her eyes at Fitz. “Oh, Callie’s just fine! She’s perfectly okay, but she’s not Skye! Why on earth would he choose to date her over Skye?”
Leaning back in his chair, Sam shrugged. “Callie’s the seeker for your Quidditch team, right? Heard she’s been into him for a while. She’s pretty cute.”
Sharon punched him hard in the top of the arm. “Shut up.”
“She could be the bloody Minister of Magic and it wouldn’t make her a better choice than Skye,” Jemma snapped.
“Well, it’s not like I asked him out after he told me about cute Quidditch girl,” Skye grumbled. “I wasn’t going to do that.”
Chewing her bottom lip anxiously, Jemma said, “But maybe he would have preferred to go with you!”
“Or maybe it would have just been really, really awkward.”
“I had no idea, Skye,” Sharon said. Her regret was clear on her face. “Trip never mentioned any of this to me. I mean, I totally would have told him not to do it, god, this is the Jemma thing all over again.” Shrugging one shoulder, she said, “Maybe he never said anything because he’s not really that into her?”
“I didn’t hear anything about it and I live with both of them!” Jemma sighed loudly. “I don’t think you should give up, Skye. I really don’t think Trip likes Callie, clearly this is something I would know—”
Skye snorted. “You didn’t even realize when he was into you until he asked you out! And I knew that was going to happen before you did!”
Swallowing hard, Jemma wrapped her hands behind her neck, twisting her hair around one of her index fingers. “Well, yes, but this is completely different. I think if you just took the chance and talked to him—”
“Don’t you get it, I already did that!” Skye ran her hands through her hair, squeezing her eyes shut. “God, why do you even care so much about this? He likes someone else, it’s over!”
Jemma shrank back against the harshness of her tone. “I just want you to be happy, Skye.”
“I don’t think that’s it at all. I think you just don’t want to feel guilty anymore because you treated Trip like crap,” Skye said, bile rising in her throat. “And you treated me even worse even though I was only trying to be your friend because you can be such a bitch when you don’t get exactly what you want!” Grabbing her bag off the table, she turned and stalked away, but didn’t make it as far as the library doors before her guilt overwhelmed her.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before walking back to the table. Jemma was still standing in the same spot, but she was trembling and tears were running down her face. “I’m sorry,” Skye said immediately. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It was mean and it wasn’t true and you didn’t deserve that. If anyone’s a bitch, it’s me.”
Jemma just nodded, seeming unable to speak. After shifting awkwardly from foot to foot, Skye cleared her throat and said, “I’m just…I’m gonna go.” This time when she walked away she didn’t stop until she was outside the library and all the way down the corridor. She didn’t stop until she found a bench tucked into one of the alcoves next to a suit of armor. Dropping her bag on the ground she tucked herself away, putting her face in her hands to stave off the tears. This was exactly what she didn’t want to happen. She didn’t want to get overly invested and freak out on people and ruin things. Her friendship with Fitzsimmons was literally the greatest thing in her life and now both of them probably hated her and rightfully so.
She felt the sudden pressure and warmth of someone sitting next to her and was afraid to look up at what she would find. Slowly, she peeled her hands away from her face only to have her breath get caught in her throat when she saw Fitz. He was the last person she had expected to find her but the person she had wanted to see most, and Skye didn’t want to move for fear of startling him away.
Fitz had one leg crossed over the other and he was shaking his foot anxiously. “You know that I’m on your side 99% of the time, right? More than almost anyone on the planet, really.”
“Yeah,” Skye said quietly, voice cracking. “I know.”
“Good. Okay. Well, the other 1% of the time is when you yell at Jemma,” he said, looking at her with hard eyes. “Don’t do that again. You understand me? I don’t care what it’s about.”
“Okay.” She stared straight ahead as tears gathered in her eyes again, watching nymphs frolic in a painting of a woodland. She wondered if this was the part where he told her they weren’t going to be friends anymore. Then Fitz’s arm came around her shoulders and she jumped, eyes flying to his face. “What are you doing?”
Rubbing the top of her arm gently, he said, “I believe I promised you a shoulder to cry on.”
Skye wasn’t sure she’d be able to breathe around the lump in her throat, let alone speak. “But…you’re not mad at me?”
“Nah. You just said you wouldn’t do it again, that’s enough for me.” His arm wrapped more securely around her, and he pulled her into his side. “Come on.”
Feeling her body go limp, Skye tucked her legs up under her and pressed her face to Fitz’s neck, crying silently against him as he rubbed her back. “Thank you,” she muttered breathlessly as he stroked her hair.
Fitz just shook his head. “You did the same for me and I remember being a much bigger, extended timeline of a disaster.” That startled a laugh out of her and she could feel him smile against her forehead. “I’ll write my mum and have her send us a cake. How ‘bout that?”
Just the idea of Moira’s cake improved her mood. “Yes, cake please.”
“Jemma could probably poison Trip’s piece and no one would ever be able to put the blame on us, she’s far too good to get caught.”
Skye sighed against Fitz’s cheek. “Nah. I still like the guy. I was just too late, is all. It’s no one’s fault, really, he probably doesn’t deserve whatever slow, painful death Jemma would cook up.”
Fitz seemed a bit too disappointed in her answer as he stroked the back of her neck. “Okay, well, the offer stands.”
Curling up closer to him, Skye said, “Thanks, Fitz.”
“And you know Jemma’s really sorry about the whole thing, right? She cares about you, Skye, she’d never want you to be in a position where you’d get hurt, especially not purposefully. She wants you to be as happy as we are, especially because you’re the main reason we’re happy.”
Skye nodded. She knew that. Jemma didn’t really have an actively malicious bone in her body. “I’ll apologize to her again tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” Fitz said, hugging her tighter. “She loves you and she’s really upset that she made you sad.”
“So why are you out here with me?”
“You were sad first. And she’s got Sharon for now. I’ll get her later, she knows that. She told me to go after you.”
As she sat there cocooned in his warmth, she knew that the bitter feeling of rejection couldn’t last forever; there was not enough room in her heart both for disappointment and all the love she felt for her friends.
-----
Though it may have been personally satisfying to avoid Trip for the next two years until he graduated, she didn’t actually want to do that. Unfortunately, she felt like she would have kind of missed him. Feelings were the worst.
The next morning when she went to go eat breakfast, she waved to him as she passed the Ravenclaw table. The way her stomach flip-fopped at his smile—and then instantly filled with lead at the sight of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Seeker she now recognized as Callie sitting across from him—only put her a little bit off her breakfast.
She was peeling an orange for herself at her own table when she felt a small tap on her shoulder. Jemma stood behind her, wringing her hands awkwardly. “May I sit down?”
“That’s sort of against the rules,” Skye said, even as she scooted over to give Jemma space.
“I don’t care,” she said forcefully. “I don’t want to sit with them anyway.” She cleared her throat. “I wanted to apologize again. I hope you know that I didn’t want to do anything to upset you, honest. I’m very sorry that it turned out the way it did and I wish I could so something to make it better.”
Skye offered her an orange wedge, which Jemma accepted with a small smile. “I know you didn’t do it on purpose. You would never try to make me sad, you’re not that kind of person. You’re not mean, you don’t do mean things to people for the sake of it.”
“That’s not always true,” Jemma said softly. “Don’t you remember all those awful things I said to Sharon?”
Shaking her head, Skye insisted, “That was different. Bad place, bad time. Plus, I know you went after Sharon because she was such a poor target for your jealousy. There was literally no way she was after Fitz. Unless she’s trying to collect a small harem of Gryffrindor boys, in which case I’d like to know her secrets.” That got Jemma to giggle and Skye popped a piece of orange into her mouth. “And it’s not like she couldn’t take it. Sharon’s a beast. And you apologized.” She smiled wryly. “Besides, Sharon’s not your favorite, I am.”
Jemma laughed, leaning her head against Skye’s. “Well, that’s true.”
Threading her fingers through Jemma’s, Skye pulled her hand to her chest. “You’re not that kind of person and I shouldn’t have said you were. I was just upset with circumstances and I didn’t want to be upset with Trip so I got upset with you because…”
Rubbing her thumb against the back of Skye’s hand, Jemma prompted, “Because?”
“This is gonna sound weird but…I guess because I had a feeling you would still love me anyway.” Skye watched Jemma’s face carefully. “I didn’t realize it at first, I mean, I thought Fitz was gonna totally ream me, but then he didn’t and I figure…you two are the only ones I can trust to still love me even when I’m totally awful.”
“You’re not awful, Skye.” She extracted her hand from Skye’s to hug her tightly around the shoulders. “But I will always love you. Nothing in the entire world could ever change that. And I’m truly sorry about this mess and again about how I was before Fitz and I got together. It was inexcusable.”
“Let’s just agree not to bring any of that up ever again,” Skye said, grabbing a few pieces of toast from the plate in front of her. She was suddenly starving, but she offered one to Jemma anyway. “Unless we’re making fun of Fitz, of course.”
Jemma giggled, but nodded. “Speaking of Fitz, he said that you should join us in Hogsmeade this weekend. We’ll have fun like we used to.”
Narrowing her eyes, Skye said, “It sounds like you two were planning on being alone. Like last night when you were planning on being alone and I ruined it.”
“No, no, we were just—”
“A terrible liar?”
Jemma took a large bite of toast and took a long time to chew and swallow. “Maybe we were hoping to have some time together last night, but it’s fine, honest. And, okay, I was going to try and convince him to go to Madame Puddifoot’s with me. Just to try out their coffee, of course. You know, bit of a change of pace.”
“Uh huh.” Skye bumped her shoulder playfully. “I don’t want to get in the way of anything. There’s no rule saying I have to go to Hogsmeade. I’ll just stay back. Maybe get ready for exams. Probably not, but maybe.”
“Skye—”
“Okay, compromise?” she suggested and Jemma perked up, ready to listen. “You and Fitz go and do your romantic thing and I’ll meet you at the Three Broomsticks around lunchtime. You guys can have the morning to yourself and spend the rest of the afternoon cheering me up.” She sighed. “Less of a chance for me to run into Trip and the date that way.”
Jemma rubbed her back in slow, soothing circles. “That sounds fair. Alright, we’ll do it that way.” She leaned her forehead against Skye’s with a smile. “We’ll have fun, I promise.”
“Lots of Fitz buying us Chocolate Frogs?”
Laughing, Jemma reached for the orange marmalade. “If that’s what will make you happy, so be it.”
As Jemma spread the marmalade on both of their toast, Skye couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder at Trip. She knew what would make her happy. She wished he knew too.
-----
True to her word, Skye did not avoid Trip for the rest of the week. In fact, she encouraged Fitzsimmons to continue to include him in the study sessions even though Jemma had been trying to frost him out and Fitz wanted to do much worse. “He doesn’t know he did anything wrong,” Skye had said, even as Fitz muttered under his breath. She didn’t want anything to change because of this, especially between Jemma and Trip, who still had to work together as prefects, but she could tell Trip noticed something was a bit off when he joined them for the first of many pre-exam study sessions on Friday night to help Skye with her weekend work for Ancient Runes.
All plans were continuing as scheduled for Saturday (she had pulled Fitz aside earlier to plead with him to indulge Jemma’s Madame Puddifoot’s desire—even if Skye didn’t like the whole heart latte thing, clearly his girlfriend did and that could only mean good things for Fitz). As everyone started heading out to the village, she lingered behind, eating a big breakfast and chatting with some of the first and second years who were too young to go. She understood their pain of being left behind.
When it was really just too late to stay for breakfast anymore, Skye went back to the common room and got the bag of dungbombs she hadn’t touched since last term when she had used them to help Fitz profess his undying love to Jemma. They had been romance dungbombs then, but perhaps Fitz had just professed so much epic love that he had leeched all the love out. Or maybe dungbombs didn’t have any inherent love at all and she was just projecting because she had a lot of feelings right now and nowhere to put them.
She wandered the halls until she found a dead end corridor that had a large window looking out over the grounds. The window was set several inches into the wall, giving her more than enough space to sit on. Perching on the ledge, she launched dungbombs off in pairs, pleased that she could at least inflict minor damage even if she couldn’t enjoy anything else today.
Skye wasn’t sure how long she had been there when she tossed a few off, only to have them almost hit Trip in the face. “Hey,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender. “I come in peace.”
For a moment, she just stared at him, then she quickly shuffled off the window ledge. “I’m…hey, I’m sorry, that was a total accident.”
“Luckily, I’ve got good Quidditch reflexes,” he said, smirking at her. He stopped just a few feet from her, hands resting casually on his hips. “I’ve been looking for you. You’re a good hider.”
She wouldn’t necessarily say she was hiding, but… “You were?”
“Yeah, I’ve been pretty much everywhere. Thought I’d have to check the Astronomy Tower next. Glad I knew Fitzsimmons had already gone to Hogsmeade, I’ve got suspicions about what usually goes on in there.”
Skye was quiet for a minute. “It’s not that I’m not happy to see you, but…I thought you had a date.”
Trip nodded. “I did.”
A small, unidentifiable tingle was settling in her chest. “Not trying to pick at any wounds, but from the looks of it, it kinda seems like it went even worse than the one with Jemma did.”
He laughed, not taking his eyes off of her. “I canceled on her this morning.”
Skye raised her eyebrows at him. Clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, she said, “More offense meant this time: sort of an asshole move.”
“I would have done it sooner, except I didn’t realize you were trying to ask me out.” When Skye just stared at him, he said, “I didn’t understand until Jemma told me last night. Correction: until Jemma yelled at me.”
She couldn’t help but grin slowly as she said, “Jemma yelled at you?”
He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “I could tell she’d had something on her mind for a few days because she was pretty short with me and basically just didn’t want to talk to me at all, but last night she finally just blew up at me and told me that choosing to date Callie over you was a poor decision and…you know, it essentially boiled down to me being a bad person, I think. And she’s actually friends with Callie.”
“She’s friends with me more.” Skye suddenly felt warm all over.
“Clearly. I was a little afraid to drink my pumpkin juice this morning, I know what that girl can do with potions.” He shook his head. “Apparently, any person would be lucky to date you and you would date me a lot better than she had dated me.”
“I think any person would date you better than Jemma dated you, though at this point the same could be said for how you dated Callie.”
“That’s a fair assessment, I think.” Trip smiled at her, then licked his lips. “Were you really gonna ask me out the other day?”
She looked away from him, shaking her head slowly. “Well, I was. Until you said you had another date already planned. It kinda ruins a girl’s confidence.”
Clearing his throat loudly, he said, “I didn’t actually want to go with her. I just thought maybe I’d give it a chance. Try out something and have my last date not be the girl who cried because everyone but me, I guess, knew she was in love with Fitz. I’m not into Callie. As evidenced, I think, by me not being on a date with her right now.” He stared at the floor for a minute before looking up to catch her eye. “I would be very lucky to date you,” he said softly.
“Yeah, you would be.” She tried to say it strongly, confidently, but it came out as little more than a whisper.
Pushing up the sleeve of his robe to look at his watch—and possibly just so she would be able to get a good look at his forearm, the cheater—Trip said, “There’s still quite a bit of time left to be spent at Hogsmeade, if two people were inclined to do so. Maybe.”
“No one’s busy with anyone else?” Skye asked, hesitantly, her heart thumping painfully in her chest. She was so used to disappointment.
“I’m completely free,” Trip said. He reached out and brushed his hand against her elbow, and she could feel goosebumps spring up as her skin tingled even through the fabric of her robe at the intimacy of even the small touch.
Swallowing hard, she said, “Do you really want to go out with me?”
Instead of answering her, Trip leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. His hands came up to cup her face as he kissed her. It wasn’t her first kiss, but it was the first kiss she’d ever had that made her chest feel like it was on fire and her gut twist with awareness of his presence. He was so much taller than her but he leaned down so she barely had to press up on her toes to kiss back, licking at his lips.
When he finally pulled away, leaving the lingering taste of him in her mouth and his hands still on her cheeks, he said, “I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to kiss you.”
“Huh?” She blinked up at him slowly, waiting for her brain to catch up to the rest of her.
“I mean, Jemma’s your friend and you were friends with Sharon first and I didn’t know if that was weird,” he said, biting his bottom lip and she wanted to bite his bottom lip. “And Sharon and I don’t talk about stuff like that and I thought it would be weird to bring up with Jemma so I just…didn’t kiss you or ask you out or anything like that. If you had asked me out the other day, I would have canceled on Callie instantly though.”
Skye should her head. “Being Fitz’s friend for so long should have prepared me for this. You boys are so stupid.” At Trip’s wide-eyed stare, she said, “Just because I’m Jemma and Sharon’s friend doesn’t mean I’m not your friend too. If it wasn’t okay to ask me out, that would have been very well communicated. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not usually a subtle person about those kind of things.”
Grinning sheepishly, he said, “I probably should have been aware of that, yeah. And you are my friend. My really great, hot friend. Maybe I also didn’t want to risk getting shot down again after my last fiasco.”
She patted his shoulder awkwardly. “I’m not Jemma. I don’t date people I don’t like for no good reason. I like to kiss guys I do like and I like it when they go with me to Hogsmeade. And I like it when they don’t get all caught up with unnecessary stuff that doesn’t even matter and just kiss me. So, uh, don’t make that mistake again.”
He stroked her cheek gently with his thumb in a way that made her heart want to just burst. “It’s a promise.”
“Good, glad we have that covered.” Then she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down so she could kiss him again. He groaned against her mouth, hand gripping her hip as she leant back against the wall of the castle. She didn’t even care about the stones digging into her shoulder blades as he gently pulled at her bottom lip with his teeth.
Trip was panting as he leaned back, which Skye took as an excellent sign, trying to ignore her own breathlessness. He nosed along her jawline and she absolutely did not whine in the back of her throat. “For the record,” he said, voice hoarse, “I like you a lot, Skye.”
She grinned at him, suddenly feeling a heavy weight off her shoulders. “Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?”
“Girl, you have no idea.” He held onto her hand with his larger, incredibly warm one and tried to walk down the hall past her dungbombs when she stopped him.
“Hey, give me a minute.” Skye boosted herself back up onto the windowsill, pleased to see that she was at a much better height to put her hands on his shoulders and kiss him again, deeper. He anchored himself with his hands on her thighs, pulling her close until she could wrap the rest of her legs around him. She was very, very happy that she hadn’t planned to meet Fitzsimmons until lunch.
It was all going very well for her (biting his lip? Just as great as she had imagined) until Trip froze and turned around. She had no idea how he knew that Professor Romanoff was behind them, but there she was. The Muggle Studies professor looked at them, then at the dungbomb remains on the floor, then back at them. Trying to keep any possible guilt off her face, Skye did her best to surreptitiously push her bag with the remaining dungbombs out the window—yeah, it was the last bit of her stash, but no need to piss off a professor whose class she might actually be able to pass right before exams were about to start.
“Afternoon, Professor,” Trip said, giving her his best charming smile, and, really, there were few smiles that were more charming. He pulled his prefect badge out of his pocket and held it out for her to see. “I didn’t see who made all of this mess, but I assure you as soon as I find out who did it, I will report them to their Head of House.”
Professor Romanoff did not look impressed. “Uh huh.” But, just when Skye thought they were totally busted, she turned around and headed down the hallway to her office.
Pillowing her forehead on Trip’s shoulder, Skye let out a sigh. “I thought we were totally busted. You do not wanna know the kind of detentions she gives out.”
“I wouldn’t let you get in trouble,” Trip said, lightly rubbing her knee.
“Oh, yeah?” She raised her eyebrows at him. “I feel like this is gonna work out for me.” As he laughed, she glanced behind her to where her dungbombs had taken a several story tumble. “Man, those were the only dungbombs I had left after using them all on Team Fitzsimmons.”
Taking her hands in his, he took a step back and eased her off the windowsill. “I’ll buy you more when we get to Hogsmeade.”
Pleased at the projected outlook of her day from this point on, Skye started out for Hogsmeade with Trip at her side, their shoulders brushing every so often. “You know, it’s a good thing you came to your senses because Fitzsimmons totally wanted to kill you.” Before he could think she meant it colloquially, she said, “Like, kill you, kill you.”
He laughed in disbelief. “They did not.”
Skye raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you doubting their ability to murder you or their desire to do so? Just to let you know, I did cry over you. Like a tiny bit. I mean, barely at all. But some. Enough that they saw.”
Having taken that information in, Trip was silent for a minute. Then he let out a low whistle. “Damn, I was a goner. How were they gonna do it?”
“I think Fitz wanted Jemma to poison you, but he hadn’t fully run that idea by her yet.”
“Clearly it would have been untraceable, girl’s a master.”
“Clearly.” Skye took his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together. “Luckily, you’re far too attractive to die.”
He gave an obviously exaggerated sigh. “That is what I keep telling myself.” Then he pulled her towards him and pressed a longing kiss on her temple. “I’m glad I came to my senses too, even if it took Jemma totally destroying me in front of the entire common room.” As tingling warmth pooled in her stomach from the feeling of him at her side, Skye had a feeling this visit to the Three Broomsticks was going to be an exercise in self-restraint. At least she’d probably be better at it than Fitzsimmons. It might be the only thing in the world she was better at than them.
After their stop in Zonko’s for more dungbombs, they made it to the Three Broomsticks to find that Fitzsimmons had already gotten a table and had been joined by Sharon, Sam, and Steve. Jemma was the first to see them and her eyes lit up. “Hi!” she called, waving them over. “This is a surprise.”
“Apparently, someone yelled at Trip until he saw the error of his ways,” Skye said, raising an eyebrow at her friend.
Jemma’s face turned bright red, though she tried to hide it behind her mug as she took a large gulp of butterbeer. “Dear me, don’t know what you’re talking about.”
There was only space at the table for one chair that had presumably been for Skye. Realizing that they were one short, Jemma just went, “Oh!” and climbed into Fitz’s lap. After being initially stunned, Fitz shrugged and wrapped his arms around Jemma’s waist, leaning his chin on her shoulder. Skye took Jemma’s vacated seat and left the open one for Trip as he went to get them drinks.
“Is everything good?” Jemma asked once Trip was out of earshot.
“Everything’s great,” Skye said. She squeezed Jemma’s hand. “Thank you for yelling.”
“Anytime.” Jemma’s grin lit up the room. “So what happened? Did he beg for forgiveness?”
Skye shook her head. “As I’ve told you, there wasn’t that much forgiveness to beg. He explained everything and I said my piece and then we just decided to come. It wasn’t that big of a deal.” Except for how big of a deal that it actually had been.
Holding up her mug of butterbeer in a toast, Sharon said, “Seems legit to me. Congrats.”
From underneath Jemma, Fitz winked at Skye and she beamed at him, kicking him affectionately under the table. When Trip returned with their drinks, he said, “So, Hufflepuffs are nice and welcoming, right?”
“It’s pretty much our House motto. ‘Hufflepuff: Why Do We Even Have A Password?’” Skye raised an eyebrow at him. “Why?”
“If the looks I was getting were any indication, I’m not sure how welcome I’m going to be in the common room anymore,” he said, drinking his butterbeer.
Sharon snorted. “Well, for a guy who doesn’t like drama, you do tend to cause a lot of it.”
“You are the worst cousin.”
“You need to stop asking people out before checking with me, you always do it wrong!”
“I’m not going to be asking any more people out,” Trip said, indicating Skye.
Impressed, Skye said, “Well done, I will agree to protect you from the dark forces of Ravenclaw now.”
He grinned at her and kissed her cheek. “Oh yeah? Should they be scared?”
“I have Fitzsimmons, they should be terrified.”
“It’s true,” Fitz said as Jemma nodded. “You should have heard what we were planning on doing to you if it became necessary.”
Trip drank his butterbeer slowly, eyeing his friends with care. “I heard about the potential poisoning.” Across the table, Steve’s eyes widened in surprise while Sharon just shrugged and patted her boyfriend on the back.
Fitz and Jemma laughed as Jemma snuggled back against Fitz, resting her head against his. “That’s just the one we told Skye,” she said, smiling sweetly.
“But there’s no need for any murder death plans anymore, right?” Skye prompted, raising her eyebrows at them.
Jemma, who seemed particularly pleased by the outcome of today’s events, shook her head. “From what I can see, they’re completely unnecessary.”
“And they’d better stay that way,” Fitz grumbled.
Skye rolled her eyes and kicked him under the table. “Thanks, Dad.”
But when Fitz smiled at her, blue eyes soft with affection, Skye felt safe. Maybe going to Hogsmeade with who Fitz said to wasn’t always a bad thing. Not that she would ever tell him that.
-----
“I can’t see the cards.”
“Mmm,” Trip murmured against her neck, then ran his tongue along the shell of her ear. “Such a shame.”
The next day Skye was leaning against her favorite tree, ostensibly trying to give Trip his tarot reading. It was getting increasingly difficult as he pressed his body against hers, mouth roaming enthusiastically over her skin.
She pinned his hips between her thighs in an attempt to ease them back down to earth, but this only spurned him on as he held on to her waist to kiss her. Whimpering against his mouth, she leaned her head back into the bark of the tree, utterly overwhelmed by everything about him. Every part of her body was about to combust.
Eventually, she regained enough control over one of her senses to gently push him away. “I’ve gotta hand this in on Tuesday,” she said, panting. “Let me just draw the cards.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll be good,” he said, pulling back after pressing a soft kiss to her throat. “Let’s do this. Tarot me. Let’s make Granddad proud.”
She shuffled the cards and took a deep breath. “This is the bird spread, I chose it because birds are cool.”
“Of course, what other spread would you choose?”
“So, the first two cards are supposed to tell you where you are now,” Skye said, as she drew the first card from the top of the deck. Before she could even get a good look at it, Trip burst out laughing, throwing his head back, chest heaving as he fought to catch his breath.
Skye just stared in shock at the card in her hand: The Lovers.
When he could finally speak, gasping a bit and wiping at the tears in the corner of his eyes, Trip said, “So I’m…The Lovers, huh?”
She shoved his shoulder hard, though not hard enough to dislodge him from her lap. “Oh my god, shut up!” Dropping the deck into the grass, Skye said, “I give up. I just give up. I’m just gonna write down that your future is to do really great on your O.W.L.s and make out with me a lot.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said, pressing his lips together to keep from laughing again.
When she noticed his shoulders still shaking with amusement, she kneed him lightly in the abdomen. “You know that The Lovers could mean someone is gonna break up with you, right?”
Trip was grinning widely at her, dark brown eyes dancing with glee. “Yeah, but I don’t think that’s what it meant. I got a lot of ideas about what it could mean though.”
Wrapping his arms around her back, Trip pulled her close and Skye instantly slotted her mouth over his. As she tasted his moan over her lips, Skye had a lot of thoughts about what she wanted it to mean too.