fifteen divine hand

✨

       IT TOOK UNTIL DECEMBER FOR MIA to realise how well and truly awful Umbridge was.

       Thing is, Mia doesn't do Defence anymore. Firstly, she hates the subject with a passion — until recently, she thought she'd be safe with her magic protecting her — and secondly, do you realise how difficult it is, following a curriculum that changes every single year? Not even that, but Mia finds it boring. Unless a war happens, Mia isn't going to have to defend herself. And she can now, anyway, or at least she's working towards it, so it's fine. But, the fact of the matter is, since she doesn't do Defence, she only met Umbridge that one time for that detention. Since then, it's been nothing.

       But now that Umbridge is the High Inquisitor of the school — a title that she made up — she's going to every single class, criticising the teacher. Mia would like to add, dear reader, that Umbridge herself was not a teacher until three months ago, but apparently Umbridge has forgotten this detail.

       Mia was rather enjoying the blissful ignorance she was living in, not knowing a single thing about Umbridge's doing, too.

       "You should've seen her in Potions," says George, at lunch. He's sitting next to Mia, like he normally does. She feels his thigh brush against hers as he fidgets; both of them freeze. She feels awfully conscious of how her skirt's ridden up since sitting down, and even though she's got tights on, she can see the amount of her skin brushing against George's leg.

       Maybe she should pull her skirt down a little, or cross her leg so their thighs aren't completely pressed into the others. The hairs on the back of her neck are standing up. She held his hand, sure, after the Quidditch match but that was different. This isn't a private moment. This is completely public, completely casual. Like there's an outward declaration: they both froze, sure, but this says, this 'thing' is going somewhere.

       Thing is, if she moves to pull her skirt down, it'll bring attention to it. Archie's brows already rose when he saw George immediately sit next to Mia, imagine if he realised the two of them are sitting so close together her whole thigh is touching his.

       And like, Mia knows what she feels. She knows it took that moment of clarity after the Quidditch match for her to truly realise it — Cedric will be fine with this, she knows that, so now this is where she stands. Aware of her feelings and most likely his, too. They're moving towards something...

       Do you think something might happen soon? She tries to imagine it: maybe it'll happen after a DA lesson, where he finds an excuse to walk back to her common room, and when they're alone they start talking and he leans in. Or maybe it'll happen completely out of the blue, either in Hogsmeade or maybe there's a party when a Quidditch team wins. Maybe it'll happen at Christmas, if they're alone in one of their rooms (because they will have more time together in the holidays) and he looks down at her, and she tilts her head slightly as she looks up... She wonders what he'd be like, to kiss. Would he just lean in? Or would he hold her face with his hands, or do that thing where you tuck a piece of hair behind the other's ear. She glances across at him. He does have nice hands. Slightly big with long fingers... She wouldn't mind if he held her face with them... Or, like, if he took those hands and—

       "Mia," says someone, and she snaps out of it.

       Archie gives her an odd look, before she shrugs.

       "Sorry, I wasn't listening," says Mia. She looks down at her plate of food, the crusts of a sandwich leftover, and takes one of the Christmas-themed gingerbread men from the middle of the table. "What...?"

       "Are you going to the meeting tonight?" says Fred, lowering his voice for meeting.

       Mia nods her head.

       "We thought so," says George. Ever since she said that thing, about the twins acting like a collective, she can't help but notice whenever they do it. George doesn't do it much, or at least not as much as he used to, and Mia doesn't know whether or not she should feel guilty about it. Is it a good thing, that he addresses things as an individual, not a twin? She doesn't know.

       "Briar wishes she could join in," says Fred.

       Archie gives him an odd look. "Well, we could ship Umbridge off to her."

       "She doesn't mean it like that," says George.

       Mia knows that Briar didn't mean it like that, but definitely feels left out that all of this is going on and she isn't here to experience it. If Mia was Briar, she'd feel that way. Everyone's sneaking out to defy the new teacher, and she's missing out? Mia, too, would be bitter.

        She wishes she could go back to thinking about George's hands but Archie realises the time, so the two of them decide to leave for first period. They've got Charms all afternoon, and since they haven't had it this week, she guesses Umbridge will be there. Apparently, she wants to sit in a class with every year, in hopes of slip ups or whatever, because George said yesterday that they had Umbridge in their Charms lesson. She forgets he's the year above sometimes. Anyway.

       When Mia and Archie get to the classroom, everyone's deadly quiet. Umbridge is already sitting at the back of the room, next to Flitwick's silver Christmas tree. But, when Mia walks past, Umbridge breaks her pleasant silence, making a comment about Mia's skirt length. She stops Mia in her tracks and makes her unroll it, and the top of her skirt, too wide to fit her waist properly, awkwardly hangs on her hips as she sits down. Mia sees the flames in the fireplace grow unpredictable, and she has to make herself calm down before she accidentally burns the room down.

       The lesson's fine, Mia supposes. Flitwick goes through everything like he normally does and halfway through, Umbridge starts making her rounds, going from desk to desk, to talk to the students. She gets to Mia and Archie and immediately looks annoyed.

       "Black, Potter," she says.

       Archie and Mia exchange a look, and grin.

       "Yes, High Inquisitor?" says Archie. Mia, at the other side of the classroom, can see Flitwick smiling to himself.

       She doesn't talk to them for that long. Quite frankly Mia thinks they annoyed her so she didn't want to spend any more time talking to them. But neither of them mind — and when the lesson ends, Mia's quick to leave the classroom, rolling her skirt to the length it felt more comfortable at.

       George, standing on the other side of the corridor, raises an eyebrow. "Uh...?"

       Mia rolls her eyes, pulling her shirt back down. "Never seen someone pull their skirt up before?" she says.

       Archie starts to laugh at the two. Mia gives him a look.

       George normally shows up at the end of Mia's lessons. Most days, it's the only time they can talk to each other without someone else being there — Archie is here this time, sure, but most days it's just them two, talking to each other. Mia finds it endearing as fuck, but also, it alarms her a little. She's weirded out by it all. She gets carried away by all of the what ifs, the various imagine scenarios of them kissing for the first time, and then she suddenly remembers his repulsion, after the Quidditch match. "It's not the same, though, is it?"

       Obviously it's not the same as Fred and Briar, but then, Fred and Briar seem to have been together since the world started. Mia remembers, before they were going out, it was just... presumed. Sure, Briar had that minor fling with Cedric, but even then, even Cedric, said, "Realistically, Briar's going to marry Fred one day."

       Mia and George (she finds it weird, saying their names together, like a package deal) are not the same. Mia and George are not Briar and Fred. Briar is all about prophecies and fate, Mia's... Mia's realistic. Mia doesn't like the idea of fate. She likes thinking about possible things in the future, but she knows it might not happen that way. She doesn't like the idea of living life, being dictated by a future you think will happen. Mia likes to look at what she's thinking, the ways things might turn out if she does something specific, and make a decision accordingly. She doesn't think she's harsher, but, maybe she is.

       But she guesses that's the major difference between her and Briar. Briar and Mia both have special powers — Briar's focuses on the future, and Mia's amplifies her emotions, as she feels them. Briar's the future and Mia's the present.

       And the same goes for the twins. Mia cannot emphasise enough, George and Fred are different to each other. Fred is more... in your face, whereas George isn't. Mia supposes there's a reason people say Fred's name first.

       But that shows her point! Mia is not Briar, and George is not Fred. "It's not the same" is absolutely true, because the people involved are not the same, so the development of the relationships are going to be different. But when George said that, after the Quidditch match, it almost makes Mia wonder... When he says it's not the same, does he mean there's nothing romantic there?

       She knows that isn't the case. She knows that his multiple advances over the past couple months have meant something. But she can't help but felt a little nervous, like she's managed to get the wrong message completely.

       She says this, when he's here, walking to dinner with her, like he always does.

       Before she walks over to him, though, Archie puts his hand on her arm, to get her attention. "Erm, I said I would meet Hermione at the library," he tells her.

       Mia's eyes widen. "As in, like, a date?"

       "Oh, no," he says. "I'm helping her revise."

       Thing is, Archie is smart. He gets close to full marks in every test they do. (Mia cannot relate.) It isn't shocking that Hermione would want help from someone as clever as her, when she knows they passed their O.W.L.s last year with flying colours.

        "I'll see you later, then?" says Mia, and Archie nods.

        She walks over to George, just as Archie walks in the other direction, towards the library. Part of Mia does wonder if Archie will ever get the courage to ask Hermione out, considering every opportunity he has to see her, he takes it.

       "Archie's going to the library," says Mia, when she reaches George.

       George pulls a face. "We have one of those?"

       She laughs. "Apparently."

       "Oh," says George. "Fred said Briar's excited to see you again, in the holidays."

       He had his hands in his pockets whilst he waited for Mia to walk over to him, and now as he walked, Mia felt excruciatingly aware of how close his hand was to hers, as they walked next to each other. Merlin, Mia, she thinks, get yourself together!

       But the idea that Briar Crouch was excited to see her took her mind off of George's hands. (She doesn't know why she keeps on fixating on his hands today, but whatever.)

       "Really?" says Mia.

       George nods. "She thinks you're cool."

       "Really?" says Mia, with more surprise.

       "Erm... yeah?" says George. "I mean, I think the same."

       Mia tries her very hardest not to smile.

       "I forgot how people see Briar," says George, with a small frown.

       Mia frowns. "What do you mean?"

       "Everyone thinks she's perfect," he says. "Obviously I think she's all right, she's my best friend, but I dunno... I forget how people see her."

       "Um," says Mia, frowning still. Is she meant to be sorry? Is it a bad thing, that she thinks Briar's perfect, like everyone else? She doesn't know what to say, so she doesn't say anything.

       "It's not a bad thing," he says. "I didn't mean to sound like a prat about it... But, erm, she thinks you're cool... And y'know, I do, too."

       "You said that," says Mia, smiling softly.

       George starts to smile. "I wanted to make sure you heard."

       He's cute. Mia thinks he's awfully cute. When he smiled, just then, he blushed ever so slightly, too. She feels her heart skip a beat, butterflies swarming in her stomach, and all Mia can think is, oof.

✨

        MIA REALLY DOESN'T FEEL THAT CHRISTMASSY, as she spends yet another evening in the Great Hall, surrounded by the school's array of festive decorations. Normally she loves Christmas — her mum, at their old house, would go all out with making the day magical — but right now, Mia doesn't feel in the mood. She wants to be. But when classes are getting more and more difficult as she settles into N.E.W.T.s, and Umbridge keeps on popping up in her life, it's tricky to feel Christmassy.

       She does appreciate the things that come with Christmas at Hogwarts, though. For example, the assortment of puddings introduced for December, alongside the tinsel in classrooms. It makes living in an ancient castle in the dead of the Scottish winter seem a lot less... cold. Metaphorically, anyway.

       She had been invited to go to Gryffindor tower before the meeting started, but Mia's realised, if she has the D.A. at eight o'clock, if she doesn't shower beforehand, she'll have to rush in the morning, which she hates. Mia's a night-time shower person. Morning showers feel wrong.

       So she has a quick shower before changing back into her uniform, to go to the meeting. She would change into her normal clothes, but no one else does that, so she doesn't want to be the odd one out. So, she changes back into her school uniform, tying her yellow tie quickly as she leaves her dorm room, to go to the Room of Requirement.

       As she walks in, George is talking to Fred, and Archie walks up to Mia straightaway. "I have exciting news," he tells her.

       "What?" she says.

       "Marlene says we can visit you over the holidays," says Archie, grinning.

       A huge smile spreads across her face. Marlene McKinnon is Archie's guardian — once upon a time, when Lily and James Potter were killed, someone decided it was safer for Archie to be away from Harry, and so, he was left in the guardianship of his godmother. Marlene's presumed dead, which kept him safe. Everyone assumes Archie lives with a long-lost relative on the Potter side of the family, meaning when he's at home, he's completely unbothered by the world.

       But, because of Marlene's position, he isn't allowed to be around Grimmauld Place much — namely because she can't be seen by anyone. If everyone in the Order knows Marlene's alive, what's the point in her staying dead?

        "That's amazing!" says Mia, gushing almost, and she bounces on the heels of her feet as she holds Archie's hands. "Maybe you can sleep over, or something, so you can stay for a little longer..."

       "I'll have to see," says Archie. "But that would be fun!"

       "We can have, like, a proper little sleepover," says Mia, smiling so brightly her cheeks were round. "We can rent a muggle movie and get face masks and eat popcorn and—"

       "We can make massive ice cream sundaes," says Archie. His smile always looks a little mischievous, like he's up to something. Mia supposes it's what happens, when your dad's James Potter. "And we'll get a fuck-ton of sweets and it'll be sick—!"

       "Yes!" says Mia, and she lets out a little, "Ahh!" Cedric never divulged in sleepovers like that. She loves him, of course she does, but she feels like Archie gets her a lot better, sometimes. Or maybe she feels more willing to admit she wants the best little sleepover imaginable, popcorn and all.

       George looks across at Mia, surprised by how happy she looks. The meeting's about to start, so he leaves Fred's side to see her, instead, just as Hermione motions for Archie to join her.

       "You seem... happy?" says George.

       "Archie's gonna visit over Christmas," says Mia, with a smile.

       George goes quiet for a minute. "Oh," he says. "... OK."

       There's silence. Mia frowns.

       "You're being weird," says Mia.

       "No, I'm not," says George, but he is being weird.

        Mia doesn't get it. She opens her mouth, to ask him why he's being strange, but Harry starts talking to the group.

       "I thought this evening, we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break—"

       "We're not doing anything new?" says Zacharias Smith. He likes to disrupt the meeting, every single time.

       Mia takes the chance to whisper to George, "You are being weird."

       "We'll start with the Impediment Jinx," Harry starts talking again, "Just for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."

       The group of students disperses across the room, two by two. Mia, again, glances across at George. He was already looking at her, though, which startles her. George sighs.

       "I'm fine," he says. "Think I just read this whole thing wrong."

       Mia's brows furrow. She told him that Archie was visiting over Christmas, and that's why she was so happy... What does he mean, he "read this whole thing wrong?"

       "What do you—?"

       "Can we just practice the spells?" he says.

       The next hour is painfully long. Mia was half tempted to ask Archie if she could join him and Hermione for the time being. She knows they'd say that was fine. They'd understand... Not that there's anything to understand. George is acting weird, because Mia said Archie was visiting at Christmas.

       She gets to the end of the meeting. Harry's saying how they'll hopefully be able to practice Patronuses after Christmas, but Mia isn't listening properly. Instead, she's looking across at George.

       It's so bizarre. She doesn't understand why George is here, sulking, almost, because of Archie? Mia's going to see George every other waking minute of the school holidays, why is it such an issue to him that Archie's visiting...?

       And then it clicks.

       Mia leaves the same time as George, and as soon as they step out of the door, she takes hold of his hand, pulling him down the corridor, away from everyone else. It's dark, where they're standing, the moonlight shining in being the only light. She can make him out, still; she can make out his frown, his sulky expression, the ginger of his hair.

      She looks up at him. "Are you jealous?"

       George pauses. It takes him a minute, before he goes, "I didn't realise that you fancied Archie—"

       Suddenly Mia's brought back to when Cormac found out she used to fancy George. It's maddening, to her, that once upon a time, it was George that her boyfriend at the time was jealous of, whereas now it's George being jealous of Archie?

       "I don't fancy Archie!" she says.

       "Right," says George, unconvinced.

       "You're being ridiculous," says Mia.

       George shrugs. "Well, erm, I'm sorry for being in your way all the time," he says. "Obviously I read this the wrong way, but I'll stay out of your hair now, it's fine, it's not your fault anyway..."

       Mia's trying her absolute hardest to think of what to say, without exposing Archie's secret.

       So this is when Mia feels a little brave.

       "George," she says. "I know you fancy me."

        He goes quiet, unsure what to say.

        But then he looks up.

       "I used to fancy you, too, before we fell out," he tells her.

       Her eyes widened. "You did?"

       George nods. "Yeah."

       "Because I did... too?"

       Mia doesn't know how to describe this. She feels as though her emotions are all over the place. She feels as if everything with George feels full circle. Mia despises the idea of fate, she really does — if she catches feelings, she catches feelings, the stars have nothing to do with that — but fuck. With George, it feels like something divine had a hand in it all.

       "You did?" he says.

       Mia starts to laugh. "Yeah!" she says. "I think Ced was getting fed up, the amount I talked about you..."

       "Oh, really?" says George, a grin creeping across his face.

       She nods. "I didn't think you felt the same," she says. "You always ignored me."

       "Well, yeah, because I didn't want Fred and Lee to find out," says George, scratching the back of his neck. "I didn't think he'd appreciate that I was out there, fancying the fuck out of the competition's best friend..."

       "So you kept it a secret?" she says.

       George nods. "They know now, though."

       "OK, Romeo," says Mia, laughing.

       "I mean," says George, and he takes hold of her hand. She remembers all of her teenage daydreams about his hands, about him holding her with them; they all flash through her eyes, as she looks down at his hand, intertwined with her own. "I'm trying."

       Mia steps closer to him. They let go of each other's hand. Her heart is beating in her chest, so hard she can feel every single thump, and she looks up at him. She can see all the freckles on his face, even the faint ones. And, slowly, she feels one of his hands cupping the side of her face...

       "No, Hermione, I swear this way's a shortcut!"

       Ron's voice cuts through the silence. Mia hears the cluster of footsteps get louder and louder, and she breaks apart from George, leaning against the wall next to him.

       Archie's walking next to Hermione, as the three appear in the corridor. It is a narrower corridor, to be fair, and Mia does use it as a shortcut, because it normally isn't busy during the day. But still...

       "Oh," says Ron, frowning at his big brother.

       George gives Ron a nasty look. "You're such a prat."

       Mia snorts. She exchanges a look with Archie, who's seemed to have realised what almost happened. He starts smirking.

       Ron argues, "I didn't do anything—!"

       "You did enough," says George, shaking his head.

       Hermione looks confused; she looks across at Mia, who smiles softly back at her. She can't exactly mouth to her, we were going to kiss, because realistically, Mia isn't close to Hermione in the first place, she isn't going to run around spreading gossip about an almost kiss...

       "Aren't you supposed to be back at the common room, now, anyway?" says Ron, frowning at George.

       George rubs his eyes. "I'll catch up with you."

       The three walk away from Mia and George, who stand in silence until they're gone. Mia starts to laugh, and as soon as they're gone, George goes, "Now..."

       "Another time," says Mia.

        George juts his bottom lip out. "OK."

       She steps closer to him, and kisses his cheek. "I'll see you on the train tomorrow," she tells him.

        Mia walks away from George, and starts in the direction of her own common room. Her heart's still beating fast. She can't believe it. What was it, two years ago, when she first fancied him? And now, finally now, it looks like it might work out for the best...

       That damned divine hand.