Revelio

The Task

While Greg and Vince had had their disagreements in the past, they had never physically fought like that before. The experience had left Greg feeling rattled, uncertain how something as simple as a dance had escalated into a punch-up.

Detention had been largely uneventful – Snape had instructed them to clean dirty cauldrons by hand and they were only free to leave when they had finished their gruelling task. It had been both a boring and an uncomfortable evening, neither friend willing to talk to one another as they cleaned in silence. Even during the walk back to the Slytherin dungeons neither one spoke, avoiding looking each other in the eye. It was past midnight by the time they slipped into the boy's dormitory and everyone else was already asleep.

Good, thought Greg. He was in no mood to be quizzed by Draco or the others as to why he and Vince had fought. He wasn't entirely sure why that had happened himself. Both boys stripped and slipped into their beds, the gentle snores of the other boys the only sound punctuating the heavy silence.

Greg sighed and stared at the closed curtains of Vince's bed. He could barely make it out in the dark, but he could tell by his breathing that Vince wasn't sleeping either.

"You still awake?" Vince whispered.

"Yeah," he replied quietly. There was a pause.

"C'mere," asked Vince roughly. Greg quickly and quietly slipped out from under the covers of his own bed and peeled back the curtains of Vince's bedside and slipped inside. The curtains drew closed behind him and he slid under the warm covers next to his best friend. This wasn't the first time they'd done this; they had spent many a night staying up into the wee hours of the morning talking.

Unfortunately, over the years their beds had not grown in size with them, so they were forced to press against one another in order to share what little space there was on the small bed. Not that it bothered Greg, he liked the feel of Vince's long body pressed against his own. It felt comforting, made him feel secure. Not that he would say that to Vince of course, a comment like that could easily be misconstrued and would likely get him a punch in the face. But he supposed it didn't bother Vince too much either, because he still called Greg over to his bed every few nights.

Vince cast a silencing charm then tossed his wand carelessly onto the quilt, staring up at the velvet drapes of the four-poster bed, looking forlorn. Greg tucked an arm under his head and glanced at Vince. Even in the dim light, the tension was written all over his face and body, his eyebrows knitted into a scowl, his shoulders squared and stiff.

"This is stupid," Vince grumbled.

"Is that your way of saying sorry?" asked Greg.

"Yes," mumbled Vince.

"Okay," he nodded. "I'm sorry too."

Vince gave a small grunt of laughter and Greg felt the tension in his body relax against his own.

"I don't even know why we need to go to this stupid Ball," he complained. "It's a waste of bloody time."

Greg shrugged, "We could always go home for Christmas instead?"

"We can't," frowned Vince. "My parents are going away this Christmas."

"Oh," Greg's shoulders sagged. "Guess we're stuck here then."

Greg knew better than to suggest going home to his parents' house over Christmas, and Vince knew better than to ask. Vince had chosen to spend the previous three Christmases at Hogwarts to keep Greg company, and during the summer holidays Greg stayed at Vince's house – the less time he spent in his father's company, the better.

"It won't be so bad," Greg assured him. "The Christmas feast is usually good."

"It's not the feast I'm worried about," Vince rubbed his face and sighed. "How are we supposed to find dates for this thing?"

Greg said nothing. If he were perfectly honest with himself, he wasn't all that bothered about asking a girl to the Ball. In fact, he was more than happy to spend his evening with Vince instead. At least he could relax and enjoy himself with Vince there instead of spending the whole night being nervous and awkward around some girl he barely knew. He thought it better to keep this to himself than to voice it, in case Vince took it the wrong way. What way had he meant it, exactly?

"Did you have anyone in mind?" asked Vince, interrupting Greg's train of thought.

"What?" he asked confused. Vince rolled his eyes.

"Girls, Greg. Do you have one in mind you're going to ask to the Ball?"

Greg shrugged, "Um, I'm not sure. What about you?"

Vince thought for a moment before answering, "Yurika Haneda is alright. She's got a nice pair of tits."

"Yeah," agreed Greg awkwardly, realising he'd never noticed that about her. "She's alright."

"Well, who are you going to ask?" Vince implored.

"Um...maybe Zoe Accrington. She seems nice," then added for more convincing effect. "And she's got nice tits too."

Vince pulled a face, "She barely has any."

"Well, that's how I like them," said Greg defensively, thinking he didn't know one way or another how he liked them, he was just desperate to end this conversation. "You asking Yurika tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll ask her after breakfast," sighed Vince. "What about you? When are you asking Zoe?"

"Just whenever I see her I guess," replied Greg uncertainly. Desperate to change the subject he asked, "Have you thought about what you want for Christmas this year?"

Vince smiled broadly and rhymed off everything that he'd hoped to get this year, Greg taking a mental note to grab something on the next Hogsmeade visit. They kept chatting for a while until Vince finally dozed off into a deep slumber mid-sentence, recounting the last Quidditch match he and Greg had attended. Greg watched Vince sleep for a while before slipping back into his own bed, his nerves rattling at the thought of the task ahead tomorrow.