Chapter Text
It’s just her luck really.
Her absolutely, rotten luck that’s led her to this point.
Vi, the oaf, is cheering her on. She cheers everyone on. You could point a wand directly at her face and blast her with a tickling charm, and she’ll still think you’re in it for fun.
Jinx swings her legs around, planting her feet firmly onto the ground as she walks up the long stretch of ancient stone that is the Great Hall. Kayn’s sniggering just behind her, having been roped into this mess too.
She arrives at the podium, where Professor Janna warmly presses the Prefect badge into her hands, and then Kayn’s. The weight of the badge sinks into her clammy palms, the green snake mocking her as it glints against the lights.
It figures that she’d get assigned Prefect duty by the one person who seems completely blind to her antics: her dad.
Well, her other dad. The one that’s Head of her house. The one who’s sipping at his wine with a smug satisfaction. The other one can’t help but beam at her proudly from the staff table. She looks away, scowling, before she takes her place - absentmindedly - to the right of the podium.
It’s a mistake.
She realises it all too late when she’s met with the disgruntled face of the only person who can get a rise out of her: Ekko.
He takes his place beside her, gripping the Gryffindor Prefect badge between his fingers, his knuckles white as a storm brews over his face.
Oh?
She smirks. “Don’t tell me you’ll be joining our ranks, too,” she drawls out, relishing the way his eyes narrow at her, deeply annoyed.
A little pointer: her favourite past-time is annoying the bezoars out of him. He makes it so easy, the way he huffs and pointedly mocks her whenever she calls him out. And, to be fair, he barely holds back from returning the favour.
Jinx is suddenly very, very happy about her newly-appointed role.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he retorts, rolling his eyes, “I wouldn’t have accepted if I knew I had to waste my nights patrolling with you.”
“Oh, yeah. And your three o’clock definitely had nothing to do with that.” She points a thumb to her right, to where Seraphine - pretty in pink, her rosette cheeks flushed with happiness - stands on the other end of the podium. It makes her sick, how lovestruck he suddenly looks when she perks up and waves at him. He shyly waves back.
Jinx scoffs. “Such a loser.”
Ekko’s waving hand freezes. He glares at her, with heat. “You’re one to talk.”
“Guys, please.” On Ekko’s other side, Lux’s voice cuts through their exchange. Jinx tears her eyes away from him and sends Lux an upwards nod.
“‘Sup?”
She sends her a withering glare, though there’s a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “We’re not even ten minutes into the year. Can we just get through this dinner without another fight?”
Her plea makes sense. Jinx narrows her eyes at Ekko. He returns the gesture, their silent discontent lingering in the air, then lets out a sharp exhale.
“Fine,” they respond simultaneously.
“Jinx,” Kayn mutters beside her. She shoots him a sarcastic, “ha-ha”, and promptly returns her attention to Professor Janna’s speech. Something about responsibility, trusting in the Prefects to not lead the new students astray, the Yule Ball being held this year, ya-da, ya-da, ya-da.
She huffs, crossing her arms as she blows a wispy strand of hair out of her eyes.
Just her damn luck.
Breakfast is a sordid affair. The monthly Prefect rosters are released as soon as the bread baskets appear on the tables, revealing a dreadfully morbid rotation of Jinx and Ekko, Jinx and Ekko, Jinx and Ekko.
Why.
Is the universe punishing her for something?
...Probably, she thinks.
There’s a small, merciful break in between, where it’s just her and Kayn. They get along well enough, even if their only talking point is Quidditch.
She can talk about Quidditch for as long as the moon still rises in the evening. It comes as easy to her as breathing.
What she can’t do, is spend most of her nights bickering with Ekko about everything. As fun as it is when she makes his locs puff up like an aggravated chicken, it’s usually only done in small doses.
Jinx groans, earning a curious look from the younger students munching at their toast. She stalks out of the Great Hall, bread in hand.
She gnaws, violently, at it as she makes her way to Potions.
Per tradition, it’s their first class of the year - and, her favourite. It’s held deep in the dungeons and the classroom is always very dimly-lit.
Professor Singed says he prefers it that way to preserve his ingredients. Jinx thinks it’s because the man is as bald as a naked mole rat and has milky white pupils for eyes, and probably can’t see too well regardless of the lighting so it doesn’t make a difference to him anyway.
She just wishes he’d place a lamp somewhere - give them something to work with, at least.
Jinx slams her book bag onto her usual work bench, making Lux jump up from her seat in shock. Her cauldron magically appears in front of her as she whips out her crumpled notebook. It lands on the table, half-open. Her quill rolls out, creating a thick, black line across her notes. Jinx closes her eyes, counts to three, then opens them again.
“Rough morning?” Lux asks, her hand still clutching her chest.
“You could say that.”
Lux smiles at her sympathetically. “It’s not as bad as you make it out to be. He’s actually a really good guy.”
“Wow,” Jinx looks at her flatly, “I’ll remember that when he dyes my hair white again.”
Lux giggles. “It suited you!”
It did. It really did.
She had to cut her hair into a bob and live through the indignity of bangs for a solid half-year, but it did look good.
“And besides,” Lux adds, clearly enjoying Jinx’s torment way too much, “You still have a shift with me!”
Jinx pulls out the roster again, her eyes skimming down the sheet. It lands on her and Lux’s names, and she rejoices.
Sweet mercy - the universe has forgiven her.
She allows a small smile to grace her features before Singed enters the classroom. His black cloak billows behind him, shadow-like in its movements. He flicks his hand, and a piece of chalk rises to scratch out a new recipe on the chalkboard. The sound is grating, like listening to a cat scraping its claws against a hard surface. There’s a series of winces from most of the class.
Not that Singed can see it.
“The Wiggenweld Potion. Particularly useful for healing injuries,” his raspy voice projects throughout the room as he explains the ingredients and its properties. He reveals a pre-made vial from his pocket. Drawing out a large knife, he slices through his hand - shallow, barely bleeding, but shocking enough to make a few of them gasp. Jinx stares at the blood trickling down his hand, a stark red against his pale skin.
Unfazed, he pops open the cork and drinks the green liquid. His skin knit back together, the only evidence of injury the trail of blood still making its way down his wrist.
Most of the class flip through the text book to the Wiggenweld recipe. Jinx quickly copies down Singed’s recipe, word by word, her mandated textbook long since stuffed in the depths of her trunk in the common room. There’s just something different about his recipes, the way his edits prove more accurate than the Ministry-standard ones supplied in their texts. They're more refined, more clearly honed by a potions master.
At his cue, the fires turn alight. She gets to work, chopping up the herbs per his instruction and trying to time it just right. The cauldron bubbles, and she plops the ingredients in, one by one. She grins when it turns the same bright green.
“How are you doing that?” Lux looks at her own cauldron, a simmering yellow colour, frustrated.
Jinx shrugs. “Just followed the recipe.”
Singed makes his way over. He peers over her cauldron, nodding in approval, and passes her a pin. Not the knife he’d used to maim himself earlier, but enough to not bother her too much throughout the day should it not work. She takes it unquestioningly, pricking her index finger enough for a bubble of blood to ooze out. She takes a sip of her potion.
Her skin knots back together, the injury long gone.
“Perfect, as always, Jinx.”
She beams at his praise, bottles up the remaining contents of her potion and seals it with a cork. She leans down to grab her satchel and stashes the bottle safely inside it for a rainy day.
By the time she looks up again, Ekko is staring at her from the desk in front, his expression unreadable.
She pokes out her tongue.
He scowls, then turns away.
The Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch is always a sight for sore eyes.
It’s still the early afternoon by the time they’re dismissed from their final class. Jinx hurries back to her room to throw off her robes, discarding them onto the bed before changing into something more comfortable - her favourite black tank top, paired with her striped purple and black pants. She fastens her braids more tightly, grabs a large pair of goggles, and dashes out of the common room, her broom in hand.
The field is a quick walk away from Hogwarts Castle, but Jinx is practically sprinting to it, the cool air rushing past her face as she enters the Pitch, leaping onto the broom and soaring up to the sky. She points her handle upwards, feeling her arms grip harder onto it as she crouches as close as possible, her body perpendicular to the horizon.
The air starts to thin. She welcomes it, flying high enough to just feel the beginnings of suffocation, before she loops back down. She accelerates, feels the rush of adrenaline as she rapidly approaches the ground, and curves her broom up at the last minute. She swoops in the air, an exhilarated scream escaping her as she flies around the pitch, twisting and turning against the viewing platforms and towers.
By the time Jinx slows down to a halt, Vi’s arrived, her arms crossed as she waits for Jinx to land.
“That was dangerous.”
Jinx smirks. “And yet, I’m still alive.”
Vi lets out a deep sigh. “I supposed I can’t really tell you what to do.”
“The day you learn that lesson is the day mermaids appear in the Black Lake.”
Vi looks at her, confused. “There are mermaids in the Black Lake.”
She blinks. “Really?”
Vi nods.
Jinx is delighted at this new discovery. She’ll have to find Singed’s ever-elusive apothecary stash again. He seems adamant on hiding his storage unit from her at all times, like he’s anticipating the inevitable heist she’s planning for her next, unsanctioned potions experiment.
Now, how to find that gillyweed jar.
Vi, sensing her line of thinking, scowls. “Powder. Please tell me you’re not thinking of finding those mermaids. They’re dangerous!”
Jinx perks up, fascinated. “How so?”
“No.” Vi fishes a quaffle out of her Gryffindor team trunk, “Absolutely not. I’m not enabling this.”
“Enabling what?” Jinx feigns innocence, smirking as Vi’s scowl deepens.
The rest of their teams arrive on the pitch. Vi greets them, one by one, her fist bumping with Mylo and Claggor’s, her arms wrapping Ekko into a big hug. He notices her over Vi’s shoulder, and sends her an annoyed look. She reciprocates it, then startles when Kayn places a hand on her shoulder.
“Jinx. You’re early?”
She ducks away from his hand, letting it hover awkwardly in the air between them before he drops it back to his side. “I’m always early, chum.”
“Name one time.”
Her mind draws to a blank. Right. She glares at him playfully. “Well, I’m early to practice.”
“Thank Merlin for that.”
“You got any new moves? Any more genius manoeuvres you developed over the break?”
Kayn is the veritable genius of the team, one of the youngest Quidditch Captains in Hogwarts history. He’s talented - enough to get scouted by professional teams and train with them over the breaks.
Where he points, they follow, and they almost always win every match. It’s only by sheer luck, with the opposing Seeker catching the Golden Snitch before Jinx spots it with her eagle eye, or before they have a chance to gain a lead on the scoreboard, that it doesn’t work in their favour.
Though, usually, that only happens when they’re pitted against Gryffindor. Ekko is like an owl, the way his vision seems to eclipse the entire field, his eyes barely needing to track its slight movements.
Kayn nods, gathering the team and huddling them together as he runs through a new formation. Jinx is told to do what she always does - disarm and mislead, catch the Snitch. They do a quick team cheer, then separate.
Vi calls them over, her arms crossed as Kayn meets her at the centre of the Pitch.
“You’re going down, pretty boy.”
Kayn smirks back. “Not on your life.”
They all sit on their brooms and kick off the ground, slowly rising until the balls all launch into the air. Then, it’s mayhem.
She immediately spots the Snitch flying due West. Jinx lets out a cackle, immediately zooming in the opposite direction as she feigns chasing it. Ekko follows, hot on her trail. She manoeuvres herself down, to the turrets below the stadium, weaving in and out of the wooden beams, grinning when she hears Ekko cursing under his breath.
She suddenly pulls herself up, launching herself back into the field as she spots the Snitch again, hovering closer to the Slytherin goal post before zipping away. Her eyes trace it languidly. She watches the rest of the team get some practice in - letting them work out the mechanics of their new formation while they can practice it against the other team.
Ekko suddenly flies out of the turrets, his hair knocked askew. He spots her grinning, and rolls his eyes as he finds another viewing point on the opposite end of the field. For a moment, it’s just them, surveying the air, sizing each other up.
They spot the Snitch at the same time, flying around just above Vi’s trunk. Jinx’s broom is ridiculously intuitive - of course, she tweaked it that way with a number of charms - as it launches forward at her slightest touch. She leans down again, pressing her chest firmly against the handle as she dips and sways away from the bludgers zooming past her head. One of them manages to whip past her braid, knocking her slightly off course.
She barely stumbles, catching herself in time to see Ekko zooming closer to the Snitch with a fierce determination. Shoot. Jinx motions at Finn, who quickly swings his bat at an incoming bludger. It heads straight towards Ekko, who just barely notices it before he veers off his path, scowling.
Jinx seizes the opportunity to chase after the Snitch, now flying to the other end - closer to her. She flies down, the wind whipping across her face, and stretches out her arm-
The golden ball is lodged in her grip, its wings fluttering to a halt.
The game is over.
When she makes landfall, Jinx is rapidly surrounded by her team, their whoops and cheers as she shows off the Snitch triumphantly. Kayn claps her in the back and she grins. Her cheeks hurt from smiling.
She spots Vi packing up the trunk in the distance, sending her a casual wave as she hauls it off.
A little further ahead, Ekko kicks at one of the stands, frustrated.
Well. Tough fucking luck.
The euphoria of their successful training session has her beaming throughout dinner, a shit-eating grin on her faces which she makes sure Ekko notices. It only gets wider as he glares at her and looks away.
It gets her to bed and wakes her up at a reasonable hour, leaving enough time for her to lazily eat breakfast without worrying about getting to class on time.
She even manages to ride on the high for long enough to make it through to the last class of the day, the lethargic drawl of Professor Tobias’ History of Magic lecture only just - just - neutralising her catharsis. From across the room, behind his turned back, Lux sticks a tongue out at her. Jinx pokes hers out in response, grinning when it goes unnoticed.
Kayn leans over, his lips close to her ear. “Who are you, and what have you done with Jinx?”
She glances at him and raises an eyebrow, not quite catching on. “Beg your pardon?”
“You haven’t been awake in this class since day one - five years ago,” he points out, bemused. There’s a playful glint in his eye.
A smile tugs at the corners of her lips as she sniggers. “Oh yeah. Quidditch, I guess.”
“Hm,” he nods in complete understanding, “I get it.”
Unsurprising that he does, given he practically breathes Quidditch training manuals. Jinx once caught him suspended mid-air on his broom in the common room one time, his copy of ‘Quidditch Through The Ages’ still magically bound to his hands as she’d enlisted Finn to help get him down.
No one lets him live it down.
“Doesn’t explain why Boy Wonder over there is giving you the evil eye, though.”
“What?” Jinx instinctively whips her head up to look at Ekko. True to Kayn’s words, he’s staring daggers at them, his quill gripped so tight in his hand she thinks it’ll snap. “Oh. Do you think it could be the fact I got Finn to launch a bludger straight at him?”
“And seriously maim him in the process?” Kayn raises an eyebrow. “Maybe.”
“What, are you defending him? That Gryffindor nerd?”
“Hey.” Kayn puts his hands in the air, in mock defence. “Just trying to make your night less miserable. You’re also equal on the academic leaderboard, so…by all accounts, you’re also a nerd.”
Her mood instantly drops.
She scowls. Right. Tonight. Patrol night. She groans, her head thumping onto the desk. The sound reverberates across the room, and Professor Tobias spins around, alarmed at the sudden noise.
“Miss Powder,” he points at her with a quill. Jinx instantly sits up and reels back, shocked. “Your thoughts on the Goblin Rebellion of 1342?”
“Uh,” she stammers out. “I believe Stinkmaw never had his great comeuppance.”
The man’s eyebrows practically disappear into his hairline as he checks his notes. “To some effect, yes. Some even say…”
He continues his lecture in his customary drawl. Her eyes close, rolling back as her head droops again.
She takes a few deep breaths, then lifts her head back up.
When her eyes meet Ekko’s across the room, he’s stifling his laugh behind his fist.
“I want you to know that I would rather be risking asphyxiation by the giant squid in the Black Lake than here right now.”
Ekko’s leaning against the entrance to the Great Hall - their assigned meeting spot - when she arrives. His hands are in his pockets, his vest still tucked in even with the top two buttons of his undershirt undone. He pushes himself off the wall and joins her as she walks past.
“You’re a right charmer, aren’t you,” Jinx sneers back.
“Didn’t realise I’d have to charm a rabid goblin tonight.”
She shoots him an affronted look. “You couldn’t even charm your own socks off.”
Ekko exhales sharply. “And you couldn’t catch a Snitch without maiming someone in the process!”
Ah. The source of his ire, yet again. She almost brushes him off, almost stomps away just to avoid dealing with the emotional fallout that is their fractured friendship…but, she supposes, it was a dirty trick to throw in the field. She stops dead in her tracks and takes in a deep breath. She has to force herself to say the words, even if they come out quieter than anticipated. “I’m sorry.”
To his credit, Ekko looks completely taken aback. “Pardon?”
“I said,” she grinds out a bit louder, her fists clenched tight, “I am sorry.”
She doesn’t elaborate, doesn’t give him a chance to respond before she properly storms off in the direction of the library. He catches up to her, panting, and slows down to match her pace. They walk in silence, their footsteps echoing loudly across the corridor.
She’s usually okay with silence. Some degree of it is good for her - that serenity that comes with relying on her own breath, her own thoughts. However, combined with Ekko - the more turbulent part of her childhood - who isn’t going away any time soon, the silence is deafening.
Jinx is mere seconds away from imploding when he speaks up. “You’re pretty good at Quidditch.”
Jinx halts in her steps, for the second time tonight. She looks at him incredulously. “Ekko, we don’t need to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Play nice,” she clarifies. “I shouldn’t have gotten Finn to try beheading you with that bludger. It was a dirty move, and when we see each other on the Pitch again, I’ll be sure to just get it over and done with and grab that Snitch the moment I see it. But,” she steps closer, her finger pointing into his chest to accentuate each word. “Don’t. Pretend. To. Be. Nice.”
She stands back, huffing. “Not to me, anyway.”
Ekko stands there, frozen in place, his eyes trying to decipher her like a complicated puzzle. She crosses her arms as the silence stretches out uncomfortably. “Okay,” he nods, and keeps walking.
Jinx trails behind him, hesitantly at first. She isn’t used to his calm acceptance. He’s usually more explosive with his responses, more prone to biting back at her irrespective of the conversation. She half expects him to turn around and sneer at her, to do anything that’ll let her get under his skin again. To even the playing field.
But he doesn’t.
Their patrol finishes when they circle back to the Great Hall.
He plucks the quill of the wall, wordlessly passing it to her as she scribbles her name on the sign-off sheet.
There’s no further comment, no snide remark that passes between either of them when she passes it back. His eyes are trained doggedly on the quill when he accepts it from her hand. There’s a gulp.
Ekko signs the sheet, then looks at her with something hesitant in his eyes, as if he’s just as unsure of what to expect as she is. “Well, good night,” he says awkwardly.
She nods, her eyes looking anywhere but at him.
“Goodnight.”
Hogsmeade Village, founded by Hengist of Woodcroft in - as they claim - 914. The date is questionable, given the man wouldn’t be born for another seventy years. The foundation are questionable, figuratively, but according to Professor Tobias, it was a wizarding stronghold for several goblin rebellions and is still one of the only all-wizarding villages in all of Great Britain. It’s a veritable masterpiece of architecture, with strong stone walls well-insulated against the biting cold of the Highlands, its towering turrets a testament to its endurance through time.
Nowadays, Jinx skips into the village’s joke shop to find bizarre new candies to prank her sister and by extension her girlfriend, Caitlyn Kirraman.
She likes her, really.
Not at first - she’d been a bit stiff around the edges and could have really use a relaxation potion to loosen up when she and Vi first started dating.
But then Caitlyn had also vouched for her last year when she was on her first shift as a Prefect, catching her trying to sneak back into Hogwarts from an after-dark ingredients expedition, and saved her arse from disciplinary action.
So, she quite likes Caitlyn Kirraman.
Which is why she’s thinking of them as she fishes out a box of hiccough sweets from the shelves and sweeps several trick wands into her basket, happily purchasing them and skipping out of the store. Vi catches her a little further down the road, eyeing the branded shopping bag with unbridled suspicion.
“Do I want to know?”
Jinx tilts her head in thought. After a beat: “…No.”
Vi sighs, then tilts her head in the other direction. “Come on, I’m freezing.”
They’re spending the lunch hour in The Three Broomsticks, the pub already packed with patrons trying to escape the cold. They hurry inside, their hands rubbing against their sleeves as the door clicks shut behind them. Even with her uncanny immunity to the cold, it still bites at her enough to relish the warmth of the interior.
Vi grabs her arm and weaves them through the crowd. By the looks of it, from what she can make out over the swathes of people cramming the inn, Caitlyn’s managed to find them a table mercifully close to the fireplace.
Jinx jumps up and down trying to find their table, and then she freezes.
“Oh.” Ekko looks up, startled by her presence.
He’s buried under his large green coat, with its small colourful scribbles splattered along the hem, and a thick orange scarf wrapped firmly around his neck. His hair is covered by an equally orange beanie, shielding his fade against the cold. She must look insane by comparison, still in her normal pants and crop top, barely a coat covering her exposed abdomen. His eyes trail down, taking note of said skin. She crosses her arms over her stomach self-consciously. He meets her eyes again. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she swallows, weighing her options.
The pub is cramped today, so all the bigger tables that’ll give her plenty of space to avoid him are out of the question. Their table is cozy - too small. She doesn’t want to make it awkward sitting next to Caitlyn when it’s clearly what Vi wants to do, and Mylo and Claggor are already comfortable on the side closer to the fireplace…but she doesn’t want to sit next to him either.
Vi makes the decision for her, sliding into her seat and wrapping an arm around Caitlyn’s shoulders. They smile at each other warmly. Great. Jinx sinks into the seat beside him, very aware of the fact that there’s so little space their legs are almost touching.
“This is nice!” Vi exclaims, too enthusiastically. “I haven’t seen you guys in so long. Catch me up.”
That’s a bold-face lie if Jinx ever saw one. Vi and Caitlyn had spent the entire summer exchanging letters back and forth, so often that they’d just dropped all pretense and sent their Floo address for her to travel in. Vander was delighted, of course. She’s practically his third daughter now.
And Ekko, unfortunately, is a close family friend. Benzo lives just down the street, which means he’s over more often than she’d like, despite their ongoing feud. Most of the time he plays Quidditch with Vi, Mylo and Claggor, eating dinner with her family and pretending she doesn’t exist. She usually responds in kind, hiding away in her attic room until he leaves.
There’s always a disapproving frown from her fathers whenever they find her afterwards.
The point is, Vi is up to something, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what.
Caitlyn plays along. “Mother is in consideration to enter the Wizengamot. She’s absolutely thrilled.”
“That’s amazing, Caitlyn,” Claggor, ever the gentle giant, smiles at her, warm as usual. He’s her favourite brother - don’t tell Mylo - for that reason. Always warm, always there for a hug whenever she needs it. “The court needs someone more like her.”
“Scary and deadly with a wand?” Mylo quips.
“Firm and fair,” Vi responds, pointedly. “And, that is amazing! You must be so proud.”
They lapse into crooning praise over Cassandra Kirraman’s incoming position. To be fair, on the rare occasion she listens in on her dads’ heated debates over the state of the Wizengamot, and their frustrations over the twisted, corrupted system, it seems like a headache not worth pursuing. The fact that Caitlyn’s mother, a formidable, unwavering figure, is about to join their ranks fills her with a small sense of victory.
She tells Caitlyn as much, and the girl beams.
“Thank you, Jinx. That really means a lot to me.”
Caitlyn starts on a rant about the system - how she wants to follow in her mother’s footsteps one day and fix it from the inside. Jinx is turning sixteen this year. She knows shit all about leading a governmental body, but she nods along and lends her support nonetheless.
Mylo reaches behind Ekko, who bends over to avoid his arm knocking him into the table, and tugs at Jinx’s sleeve. “Hey. Could you do me a favour?”
Jinx peers at him behind Ekko’s beanie, an eyebrow raised. “Yes?”
“Put in a good word with Gert for me? I’m thinking of asking her to the Yule Ball.”
At his words, the conversation shifts dramatically.
“Gert. Really?” Vi looks him incredulously.
Mylo scoffs. “In case you hadn’t noticed, she’s an insanely good Quidditch player. And she plays in The Chem Sisters! She’s super cool!”
“No, I’ve noticed,” Vi shakes her hand emphatically, “What I meant was - you?”
“What’s wrong with me?”
Vi freezes, unsure of how to proceed. As if on cue, the doors open behind them, and Gert walks into the bar, her locs swaying in the breeze. Jinx sees Mylo’s eyes shine, his legs pushing out his stool, and dreads what’s about to come.
“Gert!” She catches sight of him from across the bar and waves him over nonchalantly. “I’ll…be right back.”
Claggor cringes into his butter beer, motioning for Jinx to follow suit. “Go on, save him from himself.”
Jinx grins. She races over the catch up, immediately latching onto Mylo’s shoulders as his voice breaks greeting her. “Hey, Gert! Do you know when The Chem Sisters are playing next?” Mylo sends her a relieved look. “Mylo here is a big fan.”
“Cool,” she replies, “Rosmerta’s gonna let us play here tonight to practice for the Yule Ball. You should come along.”
“I-uh-“
“He’ll be there,” Jinx grins, tapping on Mylo’s shoulders as he stammers a confirmation. Gert smiles, then waves them off.
“Powder,” he whispers back as they return to the table. “We can’t go out at night.”
“Mylo,” she parrots back, winking at him mischievously, “You’re forgetting something - I’m a Prefect now.”
He gives her a quick hug, whispering gratitude into her hear, and they sit back down. The table gives her expectant looks, having witnessed their exchange from afar.
Vi’s the first to break the silence, her eyes wide. “Well?”
“He’s got a date!” She cheers triumphantly. There’s a chorus of cheers. Ekko gives her an odd look, which she ignores. “She’s playing here tonight to practice for the Ball.”
“Tonight?” Ekko frowns. “We’re not allowed off school grounds at night.”
Mylo sinks into his chair, deflating steadily by the second.
Jinx gives him a withering look. “We’re on patrol tonight.”
Ekko stares back, his eyes wide in disbelief. “Exactly!”
“Oh, lighten up, Ekko.” Caitlyn chimes in, her mug of butter beer halfway to her lips. He sputters.
“You’re a Prefect too!”
“Only on certain days.”
“What?”
“Yeah, Ekko, lighten up,” Jinx smirks, goading him into reacting. “You’re such a do-gooder.”
His nostrils flare as he switches his attention to her. Yes, she thinks. This is what she’s been missing.
“I am not a do-gooder.”
“Then prove it. Sneak this idiot out with me tonight,” Jinx points her thumb at Mylo, who shouts back a quick ‘Hey!’, “and I’ll change my mind.”
She watches the rise and fall of his chest, the livid expression settling into his face, the crease between his brows deepening as he struggles to form a response. “Fine,” he says, finally, “But I’m not doing this for the idiot, not you.”
“Hey!”
“Good,” she smirks, lifting her cup at him before downing the drink. “I wouldn’t have expected any less.”
There’s a quick exchange of smirks from the other end of the table - not that either of them notices.
The game is on.