Stop Locking Us Out

Why the Fuck Did I Open the Chamber

It was fair to say that dinner was unusually silent that night as the three stared at everyone around them. The elephant in the room was rather large, but unspeakable when they were surrounded by everyone else. That wasn't the only unfortunate thing, though--Rachel had found first year friends, and was no longer sitting with all of them, so they had to deal with Elijah's insistent sex jokes.

That night, Elijah stayed in the nonbinary dorms with Randi so they would hang out. It had been a long Friday, and they needed to unwind and play cards for a while. When Charlie and Jackie left the room to go play truth or dare in the common room, Eli sighed and fell over in Randi's bunk.

"It's like. Totally not fair," Eli groaned. "It's hard to even flirt with other people now, all I can think about is them! Do you know how awful that is, deary?"

"I can't imagine," Randi rolled their eyes. "Look, Eli, just talk to them, it won't kill you."

"Of course it will, I've been joking about liking them for years and they've pushed me away for years."

"That's because you do that to everyone," Randi said. "If you pull back on doing it to everyone and focus on them, I'm sure they'll get the hint."

Eli sighed and watched as Jazzy made her way through the curtains and into the room. He frowned as he saw her, squinting to see better. Randi turned around, confused, to see where he was looking, and Elijah stood up and went down the ladder to get a better look.

"What's up?" Randi asked.

Elijah picked her up and pet her a bit, examining her fur. "She's shedding."

"It's still late summer, I'm sure it's nothing."

"She's never shed this time of year before," Elijah muttered, shaking his head. He frowned as he looked down at her, wondering where he could've went wrong. "I'll be back."

"Alright," Randi said, watching worriedly as Eli left the room. A bit after Eli left, he climbed down from his bunk and went out into the common room--where he found Charlie kissing another fourth year named Oliver. Randi coughed when they pulled apart, and when Charlie looked back at them they blushed and motioned for them to come over.

"What is it?" they asked, their face beat red.

"Okay, well, we need to talk later, because what the fuck was that," Randi started. "And Eli just went speeding out of here, you might want to hurry and follow him to see what's up. I don't think he should be alone right now."

"Thanks for telling me," Charlie said. They quickly went for the door, hoping to catch Eli before he made a turn. He was just barely in sight when they made it out, going down the stairs (already a few flights down) and Charlie quietly started to follow.

They almost lost him at a fork in the halls, but found him going left and continued to trail silently. When he ended up going into a disappearing door on the seventh floor, Charlie was stumped. The same door appeared, however, when they approached the wall looking for him.

Charlie opened it quietly and peaked in to see Eli crouched over a pot. Jazzy wasn't in view, so she must've been in his arms. They were going to go in before they heard him crying--at that, they figured he would want to be alone, and closed the door, watching it disappear. The sniffling sounds faded with it.

Charlie went back to the Ravenclaw common room after that, blushing when they met eyes with Oliver and scurrying off to the edge of the room and through the curtain. Randi looked up as they came in and raised their eyebrows, and Charlie sighed and went over to them.

"What was that in the common room?" they asked as Charlie climbed up the ladder.

"Um. A kiss?" 

"No shit. But why?"

"It was truth or dare," Charlie said, shifting onto the bunk until they were comfortable. "Is there a way for it to not involve kissing?"

"I thought you liked Eli."

"You thought wrong."

Randi sighed. "Look, kiddo, if you want to send him a hint, kissing other people is the wrong way to do it. Just saying."

"I don't want to send him a hint," Charlie assured them. "Besides, Elijah probably kisses people all the time."

"That's not true."

"What about the Katie rumors?" Charlie asked, referring to a Slytherin girl in Eli's grade.

"Those are bullshit, they've just been flirting, and like you said, Eli flirts with everyone."

"How many girls did he kiss this summer?" Charlie asked, watching as Randi's face turned to contemplation. "Exactly. This is all irrelevant, anyways, since the last thing I want to do is send him a hint. I don't like him."

"Alright, alright," Randi replied. "Just thought I'd pass along some advice."

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Please Read???? Kind of important author's note

Alright, alright, I think it's time we talk guys. Every time I come onto this account people are still reading this story. And like, damn, small me would be touched, but I haven't touched this shit in years and I'm not going to if we're being honest. The above is a draft I've had saved for forever.

I did reuse Eli and Charlie in an actual novel I wrote... at the beginning of last year? If you want to read that message me. They're probably some of the best characters I have ever crafted.

If you have any questions on where the story was going comment and I'll do my best to answer. If anyone wants to take over the story, please do, take the concept and go wherever you want to with it.