Ghost Whisperer || T. Lupin ✔

{15)

( BRETT )

HOGWARTS
NOVEMBER, 2015

    Brett wanted to be angry at Emery so badly, but he couldn't. He couldn't force himself to feel fire burning in his veins in hate, couldn't make himself go into a blind rage; the only thing he felt was sympathy. Not for himself, even though he felt eyes follow him around for the past few days, not even for the other people around him, only for Emery.

     He didn't know why, because it seemed at the moment almost everyone hated her, Brett only felt sympathy. All he could imagine was her keeping all those secrets building inside her, like a pot of boiling water about to go over; and it did, and it burnt her. Even while feeling sympathy for her, he couldn't force himself to go over to her and say something. Instead, he still drank in the confines of his dorm. Nobody ever really talked to him  about it, not until Teddy sat next to him in the library.

    "You could've told me."

    "That would mean I would have to admit it to myself." Brett looked away, he didn't want to look in Teddy's eyes. He didn't want to see the emotion written over his face. "I didn't want to do that." Teddy hooked an arm around Brett and pulled him in close.

    "I'm gonna help, okay? You don't have to do this alone anymore. You know Hayden, Ashley, and Maverick will help too, if you want them to. It's up to you. We'll help, but you have to want us to." Brett nodded once, and that was enough for Teddy to hug him tightly. "I'll talk to them."

    The first quidditch match of the season was between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Instead of sitting by their houses in the stands, Brett, Hayden, and Teddy sat by each other. When Brett saw Olivia and Emery close by, he nodded towards them and sent the two a small smile which was returned. Brett could spot Maverick immediately, then saw Conner close by. Brett looks back towards Emery and Olivia and sees that they saw him too.

    When looking back to Conner, he saw him looking straight at them, or more so straight at Olivia. Once the quaffle was released, he focused in on the game.

    "Immediately, Gryffindor takes the quaffle. Lawson flies past McClean--" a few people shout up to Ashley, correcting her. "I know what his name is, I just don't care. Lawson passes it to Brewer, taking it up all the way, and through the Slytherin goal post with Travers just barely missing it." It continues like that for awhile, nobody on Slytherin focused. The only time Conner got the quaffle was if he took it and if the bludger might have soared from Maverick's bat right into Conner, nobody said a word. 

    The game didn't last long. Slytherin was so behind that it would've taken a miracle for them to pull ahead. With two of their best players heads being up in the sky, they were out of luck. Gryffindor caught the snitch before Slytherin could even get thirty points. Even when the game was over, Conner flew to where they sat.

    "Livvy, I'm so so--" he couldn't even say sorry before Emery hit him with a hex. She sent him a death glare before pulling Olivia away with her.

    "Just leave her alone, Conner. There's no use in going after her. You fucked up big time." Hayden tucked her hair behind her ear before leaving the stands with the other two boys following her. After games, no matter who won or lost, the five always met up in the kitchens.

    The whole time there, an awkward tension laid between Maverick and Ashley. Before even one of them said a word, the kitchens opened and in came Emery and Olivia. Teddy welcomed them and passed the two of them a mug of hot chocolate each with a cookie soon to follow.

    "Thanks for inviting us." Teddy nods and the silence continued.

    "Okay, this is ridiculous. We are all friends, more or less, so it should not be this awkward. So what do you guys want to talk about." Brett waited for someone to say something, but nothing came up. "Fine. Twenty questions it is. I'm going to ask a question, and each person is going to answer it. What is something everyone looks stupid doing? Teddy, you start?"

    "Sure, ummm, I think it would be... chasing a piece of paper or plastic bag in the wind. I once saw someone try to catch their Transfiguration notes while outside and somehow they found their way falling into the lake."

    "I'll go next." Olivia had a spark in her eyes. "Let me demonstrate." Olivia conjures up a trash can then takes out a piece of parchment from her pocket. Brett didn't see what it said, be he saw the initials C.M. at the bottom of it. Olivia crumples up the piece of paper, throws it towards the garbage, then misses, having to walk up to the trash can to pick it up and throw it away. Immediately after, everyone starts clapping and Olivia bows. She sets the piece of paper on fire. "Burn in hell bitch." After most of it was burned, she put out the fire right away. "Who's next?"

    It continued like that, the questions being light and funny, until one certain question. "What's the thing you regret the most?"

    This time, Emery went first. "I've regretted a lot of things, but the thing I regret most is not looking for my brother. He said he was just going to go for a walk, then he was gone for hours. I was tempted to go out and look for him, but I stayed in my room reading. Maybe if I had just looked for him, I would've found him, and he wouldn't have died. Then maybe I wouldn't feel crazy for seeing him now."

    "Did you not see him before?" Hayden presses the question carefully, watching as Emery becomes more and more tense.

    "I was never able to see him. He was the one person I could almost never see. Now, I see him everywhere. He never says anything, just smiles at me or runs."

    "Is he here now?" Brett leans forward towards Emery, but she only looked past him, like he wasn't even there.

    "Yes."