Alicia Belrose's Secret (P1)

Lately, you'd been struggling to pay attention in your classes. It had gotten to a point where Snape had genuinely growled as you destroyed another potion. After your third trip to the hospital wing because you fell off your broom in flying class, you finally admitted to yourself that you had a problem.

A messy-haired, violet-eyed problem.

Every lesson you shared with the forceful Slytherin girl, you struggled to stay focused in. You would find yourself staring at her out of the corner of your eye. Whenever she spoke you'd forget what you were doing to listen to the sound of her voice. When you could get away with it, you would find yourself staring at her lips, her cute nose, her bushy eyebrows and that patch of orange hair that you just wanted to run your hands through.

It didn't help that she'd grown over the years, while you had stayed the same height. She was now able to stand a full head taller than you, and she used it to great effect to pester and bully you using her superior height advantage.

Today, you were in flying class, mounting your brooms and taking off for a short flying exercise. It didn't take long for Madame Hooch's words to fade from your ears as you found your gaze wandering toward Merula once more. She had a look of concentration on her face, and you admired the way it caused her forehead to crease slightly, and a gleam to appear in her eyes. You watched her hands grip her broom tighter, and found yourself leaning forward slightly, trying to take in more of the enchanting girl's features. Her lips were slightly parted, and as you gazed, almost entranced, she licked her lips.

Your mouth suddenly felt a lot drier than it did a minute ago.

And then she looked up, right into your eyes, and you felt your face go red.

Immediately, you looked away, attempting to ignore the burning sensation in your cheeks. You tried to pay attention as Madame Hooch instructed everyone on how to perform an emergency landing, but you couldn't stop yourself from looking at Merula out of the corner of your eye.

There was a wicked smirk on her face and a look in her eyes that filled you with dread. The next time she caught your eyes flicking over to her, she winked, and you only became more flustered.

Your life was over. There was no way Merula wouldn't tell everyone that not only were you the 'cursed student', you were a lesbian to boot. You already endured some bullying because of what your brother had done, but that would be nothing compared to this.

You were so preoccupied with thoughts and scenarios that you didn't notice your broom tipping to the side, and by the time you realized, it was too late to correct your balance. Before you knew it, you had slipped off the side of the broom and slammed into the soft ground below. A jolt of pain shot through your body, but thankfully, you seemed to have avoided any real injuries, save for some bruises and a cut from where you'd hit a rock.

"Miss Belrose, are you alright?" Madame Hooch's voice brought you back to your senses, and you realized the whole class was staring at you lying on the ground. You scrambled to your feet, wincing as a dull ache emanated from your new cut.

"I-I'm fine, sorry, Madame Hooch." You tried to look away, but caught sight of Merula, who was staring at you with a contemplating look on her face. Your face began to heat up all over again.

"Are you sure? Either way, you should go to the hospital wing and get that cut looked at." Madame Hooch nodded and turned to face the rest of the class.

"Would anyone be willing to accompany Miss Belrose to the Hospital Wing?" You were expecting to hear your best friend, Rowan, to offer but before she could, another voice rang out, one that sent ice shooting through your heart.

"I'll take her, Ma'am!" Merula said it gleefully, clearly relishing the discomfort she was putting you through. Madame Hooch paused for a second, and you hoped she might be able to spare you the awkwardness of having to walk with Merula, but she proceeded to dash your hopes.

"Hmm...alright. Merula, Alicia, you two are excused." Madama Hooch turned back to the class, clearly expecting you to leave. while you were very uncomfortable with the idea of the very object of your thoughts taking you alone to the hospital wing, you clearly weren't meant to stay here.

"Hurry up, Belrose. Wouldn't want you to get any more injured, would we?" Merula grabbed you by the arm and started to drag you out of the training grounds. She quickly found an empty corridor, and ignoring your complaints, roughly shoved you against the wall and slammed her hand into it right next to your head, denying you any chance of escape. "What the hell were you doing back there?"

You could barely process your thoughts. The only thing going through your mind was the knowledge that she was very close to you, and all you could smell was the faint scent of cloves and nail polish.

"Wh-what are yo-" You tried to stutter out a response, attempting to keep yourself under control and failing as your face grew even redder.

"Why the hell were you staring at me like that? Are you some kind of freak? You looked like you were practically salivating." She leaned in, closer to your face than before, seemingly unaware of the effect her presence was having on you.

"I-I didn-" You just wanted to hide in a hole until the sun burnt out.

"And now you've turned into a fucking mess! Have you got a crush on me or something?" She smiled that wicked smile of hers again.

"H-huh? D-do I have a..." Your voice trailed off, and Merula paused, looking you up and down. Her eyes widened as she took in your incredibly flushed face, your parted lips as you breathed in and out heavily and your eyes, which were darting in every direction in an attempt to not look at the dominant girl who was currently inches away from your face.

"Oh. OH." Merula leaned back, and you braced yourself, expecting to be let down in the worst way possible. Instead, she let out an almost musical laugh, before leaning in, even closer than before, ignoring your attempts to shrink against the wall she had you pinned against. "Oh my god. You actually do!" She breathed out, and you could feel her hot breath on your face as she put her height advantage to use and almost towered over you. "Oh, this is too good to be true!" She laughed again. "The big, bad Cursed Student is actually into girls!" She finally pulled her face back from yours, clearly enjoying seeing just how bright she could make the shade of red on your face. "Just wait until I tell people about this..."

Hearing her say that finally rebooted your thought processes, and you stammered out a plea. "M-Merula, please don't tell anyone!" You hadn't even told Rowan yet. You had been so terrified of what she might say.

"Don't tell anyone? Hmm..." Merula rubbed her chin, deep in thought. "Alright, I won't tell anyone about your deviancy." You breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Merula's arms shot out, and with an 'Eep!' you found yourself pressed against her warm body. Immediately, your thoughts went blank again as you found yourself enveloped in her scent and feeling her arms wrapped around your body. It took all you had to even hear what she whispered in your ear.

"But...you're going to need to do something for me." You didn't respond, currently struggling to even think coherent thoughts. Eventually you were brought back to your senses as Merula lightly hit your face.

"Wh-what do you want?" You were uncomfortably aware of how warm her body was, along with how secure you felt in her arms.

"Oh...nothing much. You'll see." Without warning, she shoved you back against the wall and you felt the breath get forced out of your body. Before you could recover, she stepped closer, pressing her body against your and cupping your face with her hands.

"God, you're pathetic." Without warning, a shiver ran through your body and you fell to your knees. If Merula was surprised by this, she didn't show it, and she squatted down to be at face level with you again. Your eyes were unfocused, and she smirked, clearly enjoying this new power she had over you. "Just remember..." She put her hand on your hair and ruffled it. "It'll never be over between us..." Another shiver coursed through your body and you let out a slight moan.

The smirk on Merula's face grew even wider and she stood, turning around with a spin. "I'll see you soon, Belrose!" With a final laugh, she walked away, leaving you collapsed on your knees, struggling to hold your thoughts together as Merula's scent lingered in your nostrils and her words echoed in your brain.

You didn't know how much later it was when you finally pulled yourself together, stood on shaky legs and staggered to the hospital wing, a myriad of thoughts swirling through your head.