Magic (5sos/l.h. Hogwarts AU)

Chapter 34

~A/N~ My laptop started on full battery and then died in 5 minutes but tbf I've had it for 9 years.
Enjoy the chapter!
Leila xx

The weekend finally rolled around and after an exhausting first week at school, all I wanted to do was sleep. Lucky for me, it didn't look like that was happening as Ginny dragged me out of bed before 11am and forced me to spend my free time with my friends. And with the inevitability of my Muggle Studies lesson I would be taking alone looming over me, it was quite a miserable morning.

"Have you noticed that Ashton and Hermione always meet up with each other after lessons?" Calum asked over breakfast. Only him, Ginny and I were there as Ashton was busy discussing the use of his time turner with Professor McGonagall, Luke had quidditch tryouts, and Michael had gone too for moral support.

"Hm?" I looked up from my toast, which I was trying to cut a smiley face into with my knife. "No, why?"

"Do you think they're together?" Calum wondered. "They have been spending a lot of time with each other recently."

"Hermione would've told us, wouldn't she?" Ginny said. "Last year we promised to tell each other everything, to be each other's diaries."

Of course, I knew why they would always meet up after lessons but if Ashton didn't feel it was safe to tell our friends, I wasn't going to go against that. After all, he was a much better judge of character than I, and far less reckless.

"That's touching, but I sure as hell wouldn't tell the boys if I liked one of you," Calum scoffed. "I wouldn't tell anyone, they would take the mickey out of me."

"And you wouldn't?" I raised one eyebrow before putting down the remains of my toast and standing up. "Come on, Ginny, we told Luke we would go to the Owlery to visit Kika and Salem. If we don't hurry up I'll be late for Muggle Studies."

(~A/N~ I'm actually internally shivering at the thought of having extra lessons at the weekend wondering how Leila can put up with it before realising she's a fictional character and I can fix that with just a few words)

I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle weekend lessons until the end of the year.

(~A/N~ There we go, sorted.)

Ginny and I quickly sped through the school, stopping only to wave at Neville and say a quick hello to Ashton and Hermione, who had just come out of McGonagall's office together.

"Maybe Calum's right," Ginny said, watching the two disappear around a corner. "They are spending a lot of time together."

"It doesn't mean they're automatically dating," I said. "I spend a lot of time with Calum, we're not together. I spend a lot of time with Luke, we're not together either and we never will be."

"If you had to date one of the boys, who would it be?" Ginny giggled.

"Um, probably Calum," I said without a lot of hesitation. "Ash is the nicest, and I can connect more emotionally with Luke and Michael, but I feel like I wouldn't get bored with Calum."

"And you've been arguing more with Luke," said Ginny knowingly. "Anything you want to tell me about that?"

"No," I sighed, "it's just- he'll start something for no reason and then it blows up a bit then he says he's sorry because neither of us can hold a grudge. It's tiring, but it's better than staying angry at each other."

"You shouldn't have to deal with his mood swings," said Ginny as we climbed the never-ending staircase to the Owlery. "He just wants to start a fight, and he knows you can handle it. Ashton is more easily startled, and he's afraid he could maybe trigger something in Michael, and he knows Calum or I would blow it massively out of proportion into a huge fight, but you don't really react. I don't think he realises how it's affecting you on the inside because you keep accepting his crap."