Chapter 19- It's Time to Duel

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The day of the highly anticipated first year duel finally arrived on a warm spring, almost-summer, afternoon in the beginning of June. The crowd of students arrived in the Great Hall and began to automatically sort themselves between spectators and competitors. Apart from a few teachers who were not chaperoning the event, most of the onlookers consisted of first years who hadn't joined the club and the prefects. The lack of an audience made Frankie feel somewhat better, but she still was not able to completely shake her sense of unease. Despite the successful conclusion of her training and the fact Rodger was currently bragging about her, like a proud dad in the stands to all the other prefects, she still felt horribly nauseous as she waited besides the rest of her fellow Gryffindors. She wanted more than anything to talk with Tom and have him assure her she was acting like an idiot. The nausea would've gone away instantaneously at such kind cruelty. However, he acted neither comfortingly cruel, nor cold mannered towards her. It was more as if they were distant strangers today. Frankie looked at him hopefully, for a short conversation based on glances, but he didn't dare look back at her. Tom was busy pretending to be hanging off their every word and taking in all their suggestions, as the Slytherin huddled together in an exclusive circle. Frankie was the only person who could tell he was so clearly somewhere else.

"Are you okay?"

Quin appeared at her side. Frankie hated that wretched question. Despite the fact the question was not ever meant to have an ill effect, it made her feel like she was going insane, and no one truly took her seriously. The last thing she wanted was everyone doting on her and feeling sorry for her, which she felt like everyone was already doing somewhat behind her back.

"Yes. I was only dreamy for a moment—I swear. I'm alright now." Frankie insisted, yet the hopeless feeling of impending failure was still threatening to overtake her. Even he could tell that she was lying.

"Listen—don't let those Slytherin get in your head, alright? You're the best in our year. Not Riddle." Quin stated, firmly.

"Do you honestly believe that?" she laughed, nervously. She cracked a small smile. His foolhardy attitude was helping to ease her nerves a little.

"You don't really need my assurance, now, do you?" he inquired, sounding completely puzzled. Her gaze wandered back over to Tom and Quin's naturally followed. He frowned a little, but not as bitterly as he would on any other day. "I'm sure you have his support too. He won't be able to get away with saying it, so I'll tell you..."

"Thank you." Frankie smiled. She knew it was difficult for him to acknowledge her and Tom's friendship when the two did not get along. "Alright, next time, we're challenging them to a game of Quidditch, or something else that is simple and fun. I'm at my wits end with this feud."

"Oh!—A Quidditch match would've been way better than this! We should've done that."

"You sound just like my father..." Frankie sighed. Although, she didn't know her father or remember anything he used to say, it simply sounded like something that boy in the picture would've said to her. She imagined he was a lot like Quin, but she wouldn't embarrass herself by saying it aloud. "Did you know he was a Quidditch legend?"

He could hear the implications and hidden maliciousness in her voice at once and clammed up a little. Frankie held herself back. Part of her wanted to be petty and bitter, like Tom always was. She desperately wished to rage against her "friends" who continued to deceive her. She desperately wished to rage against the Slytherin girls who saw her as worthless and tried to take her one true friend. This world was horribly unjust and all she ever did was smile it away. While her kindness was a great virtue to her character, it had some disadvantages.

"We meant to tell you..."

"It's alright. It doesn't really matter." Frankie concluded, simply. The only person she'd shared Ogg's stories with was Tom. Her other friends didn't get to be told things they probably knew already. She was slightly sour about the fact some of her friends knew her past and pretended she was someone new. However, she wasn't truly intent on holding a grudge. They didn't keep secrets from her because they had to. She couldn't blame her friends for following the word of the adults and she couldn't blame the adults for not thinking she's ready when she'd already displayed she was not mature enough to handle the information. She just wanted to make them somewhat aware. This was simply a grace period, and she would not be so kind to forgive them for lying in the future. "Let's be our best now, okay?"

𝕬 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖎𝖘 𝕭𝖔𝖗𝖓 | 𝑇𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 |Where stories live. Discover now