LIFELINE | 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙮 𝙒𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙮

▪︎ 15.

"One hundred and fifty points!" Percy said, his voice hollow. "What were they thinking!?" He hissed.

Everyone from Gryffindor was fuming at Harry, Neville, and Hermione. One morning, everyone woke up to find Gryffindor in the last place. Upon finding more story, the entire school knew that the three first years were caught sneaking out of beds at one o'clock in the morning.

The Gryffindor Prefects rounded on them. Everyone were yelling at the top of their lungs in the common room, and nobody pitied them. It was after all one hundred and fifty points they had lost.

"Calm down, Percy. You can't do much about it now." Eliza coaxed.

"But how could they!?" Percy said.

Eliza sighed. She didn't know what to do to take Percy's mind off of it, and he was fuming.

Percy kept on rambling. Eliza listened monotonously for five minutes before turning towards him sharply and keeping a hand on his mouth to shut him up.

"Stop it, you're driving me crazy." Eliza said.

Percy looked at her through his glasses. He turned bright pink as he did, very aware of Eliza's hand on him. In fact, as he thought, it was the other way around. She was driving him crazy.

Quickly realizing, Eliza removed her hand.

The corridor between the Fat Lady and the Great Hall was empty. Except for the photos on the wall, nothing else moved. It had again come to the moment where they simply looked at each other, at a loss of words.

Percy turned forward and continued walking, climbing the stairs near to the Fat Lady. He wasn't very smooth at all this, hell, he didn't even know what to do. It was his internal crisis that he couldn't ask anybody about. All he knew was he wanted Eliza to be with him, he liked her but he didn't know if she liked him.

"Ouch!" A sharp yell came from behind Percy. Upon turning back, he saw Eliza's leg stuck in the step where they had to skip.

Rushing back to where she was, Percy helped her up.

"Ow, ow, ow. How could I forget to miss the step?" Eliza cursed herself. Her ankle was throbbing with pain as she held onto Percy's shoulder for support.

"Is it hurting really bad?" Percy asked concerningly. "We could go to Madam Pomfrey. It's not that far..."

"I don't think my leg can walk that far it really hurts." Eliza said, balancing on her right foot.

"At least come up to the common room, I'll have a look at it once." Percy said, taking in a huge breath before wrapping his hand around Eliza's waist and leading her upstairs.

With one hand on the brick railing and one around Percy's shoulder, Eliza hopped on her foot uncomfortably, her ankle's pain the only thing she could focus on.

"Pig snout." Percy said the password and climbed into the portrait, carefully guiding Eliza into the empty common room.

"Come on, to the table," Percy said, taking a few more steps.

Upon reaching the table, Eliza hoisted herself on the table, hissing as a fresh jab of pain hit her.

Percy looked at her, his eyes full of concern. "Let me take a look at it. I might be able to heal it."

"If you heal it, Percy, I'll literally kiss you." Eliza joked through the searing pain.

Percy's cheeks turned red. Sitting on one knee, he carefully removed Eliza's shoe and placed it behind him, holding her ankle gently as if it might break any second.

"Tell me if it's hurts too much, alright?" Percy asked, slowly rotating her ankle.

Bracing herself, Eliza shut her eyes hard. For a few seconds or so, she didn't complain about the pain, but when Percy turned the direction of rotation, she groaned.

"Stop! It hurts!" Eliza cried loudly.

Percy stopped moving her ankle. "You sprained it." He said, finally coming to a conclusion.

"Can you heal it?" Eliza asked desperately.

Percy nodded his head, not meeting his eyes with Eliza's. "I know the incantation."

Giving out a sigh of relief, Eliza let Percy do his work. She bent forward to examine his spell as Percy closed his eyes, took his wand, and murmured the words.

At once, the numbing pain washed away. Eliza's ankle felt free, and like before, if not just a little sore that she was sure would go away with a few steps.

Standing up, Percy asked, "Alright?"

"Yeah." Eliza said gleefully, "It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Are you sure? Roll you ankle once." Percy instructed.

Eliza did as he asked. She rolled her ankle as she looked at it, and it was indeed healed. It felt great not to have a sprained ankle.

Eliza nodded her head and looked up at Percy, "It's healed. How did you do it?"

Percy shrugged in modesty. "If you have seen your mother do it countless times to your brothers, you'd know it as well." He said.

"Thank you, Percy, really." Eliza said earnestly.

"No, no, it's fine-" Percy said, turning towards Eliza. Oh Merlin, I shouldn't have. Was his first thought.

At that moment, Percy felt like his face couldn't never heat up that much. It was like two sides of his heart and mind, both telling the opposite things and him not knowing what to do. He was frozen in place. For the first time, he had no idea what to say, what to do, it was like all thoughts had vanished and his brain stopped functioning.

Eliza was inches away, looking up at him. Her lips were hanging, and she was staring at him as if not believing what was happening.

They were the only people in the common room. The fire trickled in its place, and the pictures gazed at them interestingly.

Through his lenses, Percy could clearly make out Eliza's hazel eyes. He got a slight surprise when he noticed that Eliza had very light freckles on her face compared to his.

If Percy's heart was beating, Eliza's heart was thumping. She looked at Percy's eye, then his lips and back to his eye. It was possible, Eliza didn't know, Percy turned more red.

Turning her face upwards, Eliza closed her eyes just as her lips brushed Percy's. She was really kissing him.

Forgetting everything in the moment, Percy leaned in. Suddenly, it was so important to him to kiss Eliza. He himself couldn't believe that he was kissing someone, someone he knew since eleven years old.

The people in the pictures that were hung on the walls looked away. Their kiss deepened as their hands - which was resting on the table - intertwined.

Eliza was now only focused on two things, the heartbeat that was slowly becoming steady and Percy's lips that was pressed against hers.

The latter consumed her thoughts and feelings more.

"Alexandera..." Percy whispered against Eliza once they broke their kiss.

For the first time in Eliza's entire life, she loved hearing her first name. She wanted to hear it again but only from Percy. She hated the well-used name and forbidden anyone from using it.

"Kiss me again, please." Percy begged, his ears and his face red. Eliza was astonished at the fact that a pompous guy like Percy was pleading for another kiss.

Adhering to his request, Eliza connected their lips again. She sat up straighter and circled his shoulders, bringing him closer. She felt a little satisfaction with the power she had over him.

Percy was a rule follower. Prim, proper and perfect, he hated it when things went out of line. His pride was his rule. He was ambitious, not a lover, but at that moment, he felt like throwing away all his ambition to be kissing the girl in front of him for longer, without interruption and without eyes on them.