Chapter Six: Bucky

  “Enough! I’ve had enough!” Bucky screamed, storming down the stairs from the Slytherin boys’ dormitories. Her “boyfriend”, of which she’d only had for a few weeks, ran down after her.

  “Baby, come on...”

  “No, Antonin! No,” she seethed, turning around and holding her hand in front of his face.

  “Please, I’m sorry. I’ll never do it again,” he pleaded.

  “No,” she said more firmly, “That’s what you said last time.”

  This argument had collected quite a crowd of Slytherins. Yet again, Bucky was in the middle.

  Why did I do this? Why was I so stupid?” She screamed, “I should have known never to trust you! Esme sincerely warned me against you. I’m such an idiot!”

  “Maybe the reason why I cheated on you so many times was because you’re always going on about Esmeralda Potter and Jake Smitty!” Anotonin yelled back.

  “They are my best friends, Antonin! I talk about them all the time because they’re my best friends!”

  “You act like the world revolves around them!”

  “That is because, Antonin, my world does revolve around them,” she replied sharply. The two stood glaring at each other, chests rising and falling quickly from their heavy breathing.

  “Once upon a time,” Bucky started, looking at the ground, ‘I believe it was a Tuesday-right-when I caught your eye. We started something. I hold onto that night, you looked into my eyes, Antonin and told me you cared for me. Were you just kidding? Because it seems to me, this thing we had is breaking down. We almost never speak, I don’t feel welcome with you anymore. Anotnin, what happened? Because one second we were perfect and now, look at you, you’re almost gone.” She took a second to breath, “Was I out of line? Did I say something way too honestly that made you run and hide, like a scared little boy. I looked into you eyes, like you did, and I thought I knew you for a minute, but now I know I don’t anymore.”

  Her pain turned to anger. Her glare returned. He stepped closer to her.

  “So, here’s to everything, coming down to nothing,” she pressed her hands onto his chest and pushed him away from her, “Here’s to silence which cuts me to the core. Where are we going? What is going to happen now?” She spat.

  Antonin stood up, putting his hand out to her.

  “Baby-”

  “Back off,” she growled. He took another step closer.

  “Baby,” he tried again. She stared into his eyes, trying to keep her glare steady.

  “Did you forget everything?” She snapped. He reached his hand out further. She felt a tear sting her eye.

  ‘No, she thought. You’re staying in there.”

  “Back. Off,” she repeated.

  “Baby-”

  “Back off!” Then it fell. The single tear that she tried so hard to keep in. She gasped as it rolled down her cheek, as did a few of the other Slytherins.

  “What’s this? A Slytherin, caught off her guard?” Antonin sneered. He walked over to her and wiped the tear off with his finger.

  “That’s it, I won the bet!”

  “What?” She breathed.

  “Oh, you didn’t actually believe that I cared for you, did you? I mean, you’re a mudblood,” he seethed. Bucky had been called that many times in her life here at Hogwarts, but never did it hurt so much.

  “There was a bet, see, that if I could make you cry before the end of the year, I would get fifty galleons. So, guess what, I’m rich! Thanks so much doll,” He said and stalked off, the tear still wet on his finger.

  The other kids’ laughing rang in her ears. There were few who didn’t. They held looks of pity. Bucky didn’t want pity. She wanted blood. Antonin’s blood, to be exact. She ran out of the Common Room, trying to hold the tears in, just until she was out of the way of all the other Slytherins. She ran around one of the corridors, and the tears started coming out from her eyes. She marched up the stairs. She didn’t see the person in front of her.

  “I’m so so sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going...hey, are you alright?” It was the Hufflepuff boy, Charlie Wood, that Bucky was so often assigned projects with. She quickly and frantically tried to wipe away her tears.

  “No...No, it’s alright. I wasn’t paying attention either-”

  “Bucky? That’s you, isn’t it?” He asked. Bucky looked up into the green eyes of this kind boy. Tears welled up in her eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” she hissed. She pushed past him and started climbing the stairs again. They started moving. Charlie grabbed her wrist. She looked down at him.

  “Bucky, please, tell me what’s wrong. Let me help,” he pleaded.

  She stared at him. She couldn’t speak. No words were able to escape her lips. She didn’t know what to say. How could she tell him that she was oh so terribly played? How could she tell this stranger she knew so much about that her heart was torn in two, and that she wasn’t even surprised at all.

  Charlie noticed her mouth open and close without anything coming out, so he took matters into his own hands. He pulled her down the steps and hugged her.

  “Charlie, what are you doing?” She asked.

  “It’s called a hug,” he said. She chuckled.

  “Not very many people get the chance to see me cry,” she said. He laughed, resting his chin on her head.

  “It isn’t pleasant.” For a few seconds, the only sound you could hear was the sound of the stairs settling and Bucky’s muffled sobs.

  “Why are you so kind to me. You hardly know me,” She sobbed.

  “I guess it’s just a Hufflepuff thing,” he teased. She pulled away from him.

  “I’m serious, Charlie. Why?”

  “I take it not many strangers have showed you kindness.”

  “No one ever has. Esme and Jake have been my friends since I was 3, and all my other friends became my friends through Esme and Jake,” she explained. Charlie frowned.

  “Well that’s stupid. You’re a perfectly wonderful person,” he said as-a-matter-of-factly. She scoffed. Her tears still fell down her face, but they were silent, and no longer sobs.

  “Bucky?”

  Bucky let go of Charlie completely and stared down at her friends, Jake and Andromeda