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Greta had realized she liked other girls in her third year, and yet in fifth she was having immense difficulty accepting that her best friend could like other boys.
No, the difficulty came with the idea that he didn't like girls. That would mean he didn't like her. He did like her, loved her, even, but not like that. Not in the way she was finding herself wanting lately.
She wasn't even certain he did like boys, but why else would he be such a target for bullying? Other classmates were small, or thin, or nerdy like Quirinus, but they didn't get tormented the way he did. On top of that, she'd never seen him pay any attention to the girls in school, even the most popular and beautiful ones.
Glancing up at him across the Ravenclaw common room, she noticed the way he curled up with a book in the corner of the sofa and pulled a slightly too-big cardigan tightly around his narrow shoulders. She wished for a moment that she was next to him, with her arms wrapped around him too, and felt her face turn red. It wouldn't even be that unusual if she did join him like that - the two of them had always been open and affectionate with each other - but something about it now made her feel different. She was almost ashamed for wanting to touch him. Or maybe the shame came from just how badly she wanted it.
She didn't dare dwell on the more frightening thoughts that had come to her lately, of his delicate fingers on her body, or the quiet sounds he might make if she put hers on him.
Her face burning, she slunk down in her chair and hid behind the large textbook she had been reading before she was so rudely derailed by her own traitorous mind.
She peeked up when she heard a familiar voice call, "There you are, Quirinus, what are you doing reading on a day like this?"
Quirinus shrunk down and made himself smaller as Gilderoy Lockhart plopped himself down on the other side of the sofa, wrapping an arm around him. Greta's eyes darted back down as she pulled her book back over her face and pretended not to listen.
"A d-day like this?" she heard Quirinus scoff, "The day b-before a t-- a test?" His stutter was less pronounced than it had been the first few school years, and hearing him confidently sass his friend despite it made something inside Greta's chest flutter with pride.
"As if you need to study. Come on, let's go ask about that potion we were working on," Gilderoy pressed. Greta glanced back up in time to see him placing a strong, forceful hand on the other boy's leg.
"Fine, but y-you have to help me f-find those flowers you were t-t-talking about later," Quirinus said, annoyed but smiling as he shut his book.
Unexpectedly, Gilderoy quietly said something that Greta couldn't make out, but made Quirinus blush intensely. He then brought his hand to the long hair that always hung in his face and tucked it behind his ear. Quirinus looked away, and Greta could tell by the way he fidgeted that he was resisting the urge to put it back.
"There you are. Very handsome," Gilderoy said with a bright smile, "Not quite like me, of course, but who is? Let's go then, come on."
Greta retreated behind her book again as they left. So the two of them were really dating - or at least close to it, if they hadn't established their relationship out loud yet. If there was another way to read the situation, she couldn't possibly conceive of it.
It was fine. She had nothing against them, of course - she would be a complete hypocrite not to support them, especially considering the two of them were her closest friends. And they would make a good couple. They balanced each other out in many ways.
It made sense. She was happy for them.
The repetition of these statements in her head did nothing to stop her quietly weeping into her book.