Call It Home - Prinxiety [COMPLETED]

Chapter Nine: A Hard Time At Hogsmeade

When the group arrived at the village, they found it bustling with students of all houses from years three through seven. The ground was already beginning to be covered in snow as winter rapidly approached.

Virgil shivered a bit, feeling the chill of the air even through his thick hoodie. Val chuckled a little beside him and unwrapped his scarf from around his neck. "Here, I'm used to this weather," he said as he handed it to him. "I'm from further north, so it's almost always colder than this. I won't be cold without it, you can borrow it until we get back to the castle."

"Oh, thanks," the house-less student murmured. He could feel his cheeks alight with a blush as he wrapped the still warm scarf around his neck. "Uh, Val? Could I ask you something?"

The muscular Gryffindor looked toward him and nodded, smiling. Swallowing his nerves, Virgil decided to address the electricity in the air. "Is there... Is there like a specific reason you're... you know... being so nice?" he said, looking at him with intent. Val seemed lost, furrowing his eyebrows as he titled his head. The darkly dressed boy sighed as his face grew redder. "Never mind..."

"Um... okay, if you say so?" Val replied. He smiled, but his eyes were showing how confused he was. 

Suddenly something cold and wet hit the beater's shoulder harshly. The two of them looked back to see Bay wiping their hands with a devious smirk on their face. Rachel was giggling a few steps behind them and took her hand from behind her back to reveal a poorly formed ball of the icy slush that covered the ground. She tossed it at Val and hit him square in the chest, making him look down in surprise. 

"Ha! That was such a good shot Ray!" the non-binary Ravenclaw said, giving her a high-five. They then turned back to the muscular Gryffindor with a challenge in their eye. "I believe we never had a rematch after that time you beat us last year."

"You really want to do this?" Val said, nodding with a grin crossing his own lips. The other two just cackled and began to roll more snowballs. "Alright! Luis! You and Remy are on my team!"

Rachel stopped briefly and huffed. "No fair! Then it's three on two!"

"I'll help you," Melissa offered, leaning down to roll her own snowballs. "Trust me, with the amount of times I've had to dodge fireballs from dragons, they won't be able to hit me."

Virgil just watched, mystified by the dynamic of this close group of friends. He'd never had a group of friends like this before. He'd never even seen a group of friends like this before, only having heard about them. He watched with an odd feeling in his chest as they giggled and tossed snowballs at each other. 

"Well, while those... children play in the snow, I say we go enjoy a nice butterbeer, don't you agree?" Logan suggested to his boyfriend. 

Patton gasped, clapping his hands together. "OR WE COULD GO TO HONEYDUKES!" he exclaimed rather loudly. The darkly dressed boy flinched a little as the Hufflepuff grabbed his arm, eyes wide with realization. "Oh my goodness! You've never been to Honeydukes, have you?!"

He shook his head nervously. "Well, we've got to fix that," Emile said with a smile his direction. 

Roman huffed a little under his breath as the group split; they headed in the direction of Honeydukes while the others continued their rematch snowball fight. The Gryffindor found himself grumpy despite the pleasantness of the trip.

Why's everyone so interested in this creepy cookie? he thought to himself bitterly, watching Emile and Patton chat with the house-less student. Val and I have a game this week and yet all anyone wants to do is talk to Virgil. Don't they see how weird he is? And where did he get a Gryffindor scarf?! Did Val seriously give him his scarf? Geez, what are they boyfriends now or something?"

He grumbled under his breath, trailing at the back of the back with crossed arms. Patton glanced over his shoulder at him. Upon seeing his expression, he frowned and dropped back to be in step with him.

"Hey, what's going on Roman?" he asked.

The princely boy was about to snap in response when he looked at the Hufflepuff's concerned expression. He knew it wasn't fair to take his frustrations out on him. Sure, Patton had invited Virgil, but he was the reason that Val, Melissa, Emile, and Bay were in their friend group. It was his friendliness that allowed for the group to be formed. He wasn't trying to do any harm by inviting someone new.

"I just don't like Virgil," he admitted, carefully keeping the resentment out of his voice. "He's just weird and he was really rude to me, Pat."

"Well, I think that you two had a misunderstanding," he replied. He touched his shoulder and smiled encouragingly. "I think you should give him another chance! He's willing to do the same for you. Why don't you invite him to the game this week?"

He snorted bitterly. "I'm sure Val has already asked him," Roman practically spat. "Did you see them while they were talking? They were like all over each other! And now Virgil has his scarf? It's so weird! Virgil has made it very clear he's not a big physical contact fan and he's not good in social situations but all of a sudden he's all buddy-buddy with Val like they're dating?! It's infuriating!"

Patton smiled sympathetically. "I think you might be a little bit jealous."

"Jealous?! Why on earth would I be jealous?! I don't even like Virgil!" he exclaimed, careful to keep his voice down even though he was fired up. 

"Roman, I think that you should put your bias against Virgil aside for a little while," the Hufflepuff instructed seriously. "I think you should look at him with a neutral eye, try to get to know him a little better before you judge. You're overreacting about him and Val. You know how friendly he is! He loves people and he's not shy about being affectionate toward them. That doesn't mean anything. Maybe they'll end up liking each other, but they may just end up as friends. Virgil's mentioned before that he's not the kind of person to jump into relationships with of any kind. It took a lot of convincing for him to join us."

The chaser frowned down at his feet and sighed. He really just wanted to stay mad at the home-schooled wizard; it was easier to just dislike him than it was to consider all the possible alternatives. However, Patton was right. 

"Fine," he sighed, uncrossing his arms in defeat. "I'll invite him to the Quidditch game, but only if you help me do it so he doesn't think I'm being weird or whatever."

He smiled at the princely boy and hugged him briefly. "Now there's the noble prince I know!" he exclaimed, giggling. "Now come on, can you believe that Virgil's never tried any of Honeydukes' candy before?! We've got to fix that!"

Roman allowed himself to be pulled toward the candy shop, watching the darkly dressed boy ahead of him with caution. He wasn't sure about him, but he wouldn't know unless he tried.