TEACHER'S PET ━ 𝓡. Lupin

15. Cheek to cheek

—"CHECKMATE"
Natalia had quietly observed, with a subtle tiny smile on her face

"Very nice Lia, I have to admit, you're a perfect example of a student surpassing her teacher"
Jj had chuckled as he playfully shook her hand

"Yeah let's not exaggerate... Besides, I must compliment you Mr. Dell'Alba, just a few years ago you would've sulked for two weeks straight after loosing a stupid game of chess"

There were an awful bunch of things Jonah couldn't bear, loosing was definitely one of them. Being extremely competitive and stubborn, during his second year the Griffyndor boy had spent quite a few hours in detention as he had often arrogantly questioned Madam Hooch's decisions during some Quidditch matches, in which he played as a chaser. The following year he had well learned to bite his tongue, in those situations at the very least.

"Well, let's just say that frequently playing with Thea has hardened me... I taught her a muggle board game called Ludo. That one really messes with my mental stability, let me tell you... Loosing a game of chess without getting mad pissed it's a breeze in comparison"

Natalia briefly scratched her chin, she couldn't help but think once again how strange it was for Jonah to be spending, just out of the blue, that much time in Thea's company. However, no one else but her seemed to be getting that weird feeling about that whole situation. At that point she thought it best to ask him, the interested party, about it directly.

"You two seem to be getting along quite well these past few months, am I right?"

Jonah absentmindedly nodded as he bit into a piece of toast.
"Yeah, we're attending Care of Magical Creatures together, considering that no one else of you bastards has taken the subject this year. Despite what people think, Hagrid is pretty awesome"

As he spoke, Natalia immediately quirked her brows "I thought Kenny took Care of  Magical Creatures as well this year... I could've sworn Hagrid was his personal tutor, in fact"

Jonah raised his gaze onto her with a subtle mischievous grin on his lips "Exactly. You are perfectly aware of the fact that me and Kenneth can't be left alone with one another for more than ten minutes, we'll end up hexing each other"

The Ravenclaw girl chuckled, nodding slightly even though Jonah's words had gotten her stomach into knots. Since the beginning Jj and Kenny had obviously gotten off on the wrong foot.

During their first two years it had just been the three of them: Delilah, Natalia and Jonah.
However, in their third year the Slytherin girl had befriended Kenneth as they had been potion partners for quite a while, oddly enough it had been Delilah to persuade Kenny into joining their once trio. Even though Natalia and Kenneth were actually in the same house, the two of them hadn't really payed that much attention to one another.

Has he had started to hang out with them ever so often, something had definitely shifted in Jonah. Initially, Natalia perfectly knew it was only due to Jj's strong jealousy. It wasn't a malicious emotions, nor he would've ever done anything to oppress Delilah with possessive behaviors, quite the contrary. Jonah's jealousy was always well hidden by his common tendency of keeping everything inside, he occasionally shared his concerns with Natalia, and with her only, as she sometimes managed to get him to talk, usually helped by a fair amount of fire whiskey. Alcohol surely was one of Jonah's biggest weaknesses, as he had never learned how to make a responsible use of it.
Nevertheless, Jonah's jealousy was far more detrimental for himself than it was for his relationship, he would spend days eating himself from the inside out, terrified by a potential abandonment by that one girl he most deeply adored, his dear Delilah.
Natalia's rationalizing words had always been useless, she had often found herself trying to convince him of the fact that the Slytherin girl only had eyes for him, she would've never dreamed of hurting him in any way shape or form.