Pompous | A Percy Weasley Fanfiction

e l e v e n

"You owe me a galleon." Terrence laughed as he chased a wildly laughing Lily through the corridor.

"In my defense, no one thought the Beauxbatons Champion would come out first." she smirked, turning a corner as she looked back and pulled a face at him.

Her hair was a mess from all the climbing up and down from the willow tree, and her robes were slightly dirty from the short trek through the woods, but Lillian Ariana Smith had never felt more alive.

Apparently, that fun was short lived because she bumped into somebody right that moment. Terrence however, had rushed to her aid and she got back to her feet, her head paining slightly.

"Lil?" she froze at Percy's voice. Sure enough, when she looked up, she saw Penny and Oliver standing next to the boy. "Where were you? We'd been looking all over." he said, his forehead creasing in worry.

"I-uh,-" she struggled to come up with words to explain.

"We went to Hogsmeade, bought some snacks, climbed a willow tree, and watched the entire task from there." Terrence answered with an innocent smile. Lily shot him a look.

"As if." Percy scoffed. "The exits were being guarded. There's no way you could've gone out."

"You're right. He's just pulling your leg." Lily prodded, before squeezing Terrence's arm in warning. "Hi Penny. Is something wrong?" she smiled at the girl, who stood there, watching her with an amused smile on her face.

"No." she shook her head with a light giggle. "I just didn't know you and Higgs were a thing." she gestured at them. And that's when Lily noticed his arm was wrapped around her protectively from when he'd helped her up, and her arm was still holding his from when she'd squeezed it in warning.

Terrence let go of her just as quickly as she did him. "I- we're not a thing." the boy said, his face going red.

"Oh." Penelope Clearwater said, surprised. "I'm sorry. You would look really good as one though." she shrugged nonchalantly.

Percy cleared his throat. "I'll see you at dinner then Penny?" he asked, looking at the girl.

"Of course." she smiled, kissing him, at which Lily looked away. "Bye Oliver, bye Lily, bye Terrence." she smiled dreamily at them all before slipping away happily.

Lily opened her mouth to speak but was abruptly dragged away by Oliver, who hadn't said a word since she'd run into them all. She glanced behind at Terrence and Percy who were left together.

"Okay," Oliver breathed, looking slightly angry. "You better explain what you were doing. You look like a mess." he looked at her robes with a small frown.

"Always good to hear stuff like that Livvie." she smiled sarcastically. "I was doing exactly what Higgs said we were doing. He knows a secret exit through the Forbidden Forest."

"Oh." the boy let out a relieved sigh. "But still, couldn't you have brought me along as well? I was stuck third wheeling them for the entirety of the second task. It wasn't pretty." he shuddered, probably recalling memories. "Those two don't fit well together."

"Sorry." she pouted. "Terrence just dragged me away without a word. But good news, I've made up my mind." she showed him a smile of victory.

"About what?" Oliver asked suspiciously.

"I am not going to tell Percy about anything. In fact, I'm going to focus on moving on."

"With Higgs?" he asked, blinking furiously.

"Of course not." Lily scoffed, slapping his arm. "We're just acquaintances, maybe friends by this point, but nothing more. I made that very clear ever since the start." she assured. "I mean that I'm going to focus on next year's Quidditch and studying for OWLs."