Human Design | Sirius Black

xv. Conundrum of the Human Condition: Gossip

LIKE REECE PREDICTED Hufflepuff had won the match. He could constantly repeat it, Opel Chamberlain was the best Seeker in the school and the problem was that if Hufflepuff won their match against Gryffindor in May.

 Ravenclaw would have to beat Gryffindor by several hundred points to win the Cup which wouldn't be easy. So the best course of action was just to ensure that they beat Slytherin with so many points that the outcome of the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff team would pose no threat to them. 

 The week following the match, Reece booked the Quidditch pitch every day to ensure they could perfect their strategy and with all the training on top of classes, the week passed in the blink of an eye and it was Saturday again even though to him it felt as if Monday had barely even passed.

As usual, he had woken up before any of the others and had already returned to the dormitory back from breakfast by the time they left it. "You going to Hogsmeade today then?" asked Josh as he tied his shoelaces. It was just the two of them because Josh had slept in longer than the others and because Alex and Connor had continuously complained about being hungry he had told them to just leave without him.

Reece, who had been trimming the loose twigs from his broomstick, looked up and for a moment became preoccupied with watching the muscles in his back slither under his skin as he bent over to dig a shirt out of his trunk before he cleared his throat. "Yeah." He wished his voice hadn't been so weak, but Josh didn't seem to notice anything unusual in it because he smiled a little when he turned back around and shrugged a shirt on.

"With your sister?" he asked, beginning to do the buttons bottom-up and some part of Reece cried out each time a new section of bare skin was shut out from his vision.

Reece diverted his attention to tying his broom. It had usually been something he did with Benjy and since he and Veronica had started dating, Reece hadn't been going to Hogsmeade that often. But he wasn't about to say that to Josh so he said, "I'll probably see her there yeah," with a shrug. "Mostly I just need to buy more stationery; don't know how long I'll stick around for cause there's studying I still want to get done."

"Cool," he said, reaching to collect a jumper that he could wear over the button-up, "well the rest of us are going to only head there in the evening for dinner at the Leaky Cauldron – probably around six or seven – and then hang around for a few drinks and stuff. If you're around then and want to join feel free," he smiled, "bring her with if you want." With that, Joshua left the dormitory and Reece was alone.

His eyes remained focused on the door for at least a minute after it had been shut, Sirius's words about Josh being queer echoing through his head nonstop like a broken record. But what did Sirius know? Reece wasn't sure if he had ever even talked to Josh, how the fuck would he know anything; his so-called gaydar was probably not all that powerful, after all, he thought that he, Reece, was gay, which he wasn't. He wasn't attracted to any of them, not really, it was Orla's fault for getting into his head about him being gay and now he was just paying more attention to things but that didn't mean he had any attraction to men really. He was probably just jealous of the way they looked if anything.

Snapping out of his trance (or daydreaming?), Reece packed his Transfigurations supplies into his bag and headed out of the dormitory and toward the library. Josh had just invited him to hang out as a group, it was nothing more than that.

Yrsa appeared beside him on the first floor, no doubt returning from breakfast. "Hey, you going to Hogsmeade?" He nodded. "Do you wanna get lunch together or something? I'm gonna head there with Ashley and Emilia but they've both got tests on Monday so they'll head back pretty early."