caught my attention (open)

Wes had come back from his run early today in order to get more studying in. Captain Miles claimed all he had to do was graduate. It was a good thing grades didn’t matter because Weston was flunking charms and potions. He couldn’t count how many different potions exploded in his face. He was a pretty good sport about it now. After seven years of things exploding and Professors disproving he could only be used to it by now. But he was trying to at least make an improvement these days. Maybe if he forced himself to spend a little more time in the library then maybe just maybe he would be able to just explode a portion of the potion and not the whole thing. BIG DREAMS, he knew just exploding a potion would get him better than what he had been. It was all he needed. Dani and Jess were going to give up on him before long but he could at least try. He stared at the library doors before inhaling, his left foot twitching for a moment as he realized he was committing Weston suicide by going in the doors. He exhaled before pushing himself through the doors. He found a random desk in the back of the hall before flopping down at it. He could see a lot of the library but he was rather hidden. It was the last thing he wanted someone to see him staring at the books and still failing. He still had a little bit of dignity left. It was a good thing he was decent at Quidditch otherwise his self-esteem would be lower then the grass they played on.

Wes had only spent ten minutes before he was wadding up and tossing an entire piece of parchment over his shoulder. If he didn’t even understand the text how was he meant to brew it tomorrow in class? He quickly attempted to re-write a small portion before realizing the dyslexia kicked up and ½ was now 2/1 and 2/3 were 3/2. He groaned letting his head flop on his book just catching sight of Charlie a few tables ahead. His cheeks flushed pink as he attempted to stay hidden. That was the last thing he wanted. Someone else to realize just exactly how frustrated he got with school; especially Charlie. She was a gorgeous sixth year who was also put into the house of ‘Hey I’m really nice, be my friend?,’ she was also rare because she was one of the few girls Weston could talk too without stuttering his way right out the door. He grabbed a piece of ton tongue toffee from the wrapper out of his bag before carefully breaking off a piece and biting down on it staring down to the pages in front of him. ‘Brodlems bon’t’ wha? Wes stared at the book again as the B then turned to a P and the D turned into a b and the B turned into a d. He groaned slouching back in his chair looking to the ceiling. The same moment he heard scratching. Wes turned his head just in time to see Charlie scribbling out something herself. He felt a small smile cross over his lips as he realized maybe he wasn’t the only one having trouble.

Wes pushed his chair out pulling his book bag over shoulder picking up the piece of parchment with fifty scribbles on it and his potions book; he then held the bag of ton tongue toffee in his mouth by the string before making his way over to Charlie. Misery did usually like company. ”Mind if I join? We can scratch things out in unison?” Wes chuckled before setting his books down. He then pulled the small bag from his mouth holding it in the palm of his hand towards Charlie. ”Looks like you could use some toffee too,” Wes smiled before sitting down across from her. His eyes gazed over the parchment she had been working on. If he recalled Runes wasn’t even required. That was embarrassing. Charlie had taken on an extra class and here Wes was just trying to graduate. ”Taking on an extra class Charlie? Isn’t that like Hufflepuff suicide,” Wes teased sticking his tongue out before opening his potions book again.

Weston sighed giving Charlie a nod. ”Yeah, if you were in my year you would see things explode and just know it was me at that station,”Wes gave another nod as she took his offer on the candy spectrum. ”No problem,” Wes sat down next to her tilting his head as the red head ranted about how she was meant to take another class and picked Runes because she thought it was easy. Wes felt a small brain twitch and couldn’t help but let it reflect on his face. He shook his head before giving a soft nod in her direction. ”Are you sure you weren’t meant for Gryffindor because that was brave and impulsive,” Wes teased giving her elbow a gentle nudge. He noticed the grabby hands and the mouthful of toffee before nodding and turning his potions book towards her. ”Honestly if you understand this as a sixth year, I’m just going to throw in the towel and call it quits. I mean—I don’t technically need to pass for my future career,” Wes sighed quietly under his breath. He heard footsteps and turned looking over his shoulder. He spotted Kendrick and tensed up. Kendrick was known for making Weston’s life a living hell on the Quidditch pitch and was also the definition of a snake when it came to women. He had been caught slipping two girls a love potion. Weston considered him lower then dirt.

Kendrick slouched down in between the two turning and looking at Weston. He gave his left cheek a hard patt/slap before smirking. ”’Ello Weston, how is my favorite person?” Weston bit down on his lip staring down at the table in front of him. ”Getting help from a younger year? This is precious, did you run out of suitable tutors? I mean finding one in your own house is kind of low—even for you,” Kendrick barked not really eyeing Charlie yet. Wes straightened up for a moment tilting his head to the side. ” Hey—Charlie is intelligent she’s even taking an extra class as a sixth year—what do you s-s-say to that?” Weston had a terrible stutter when he got nervous and Kendrick made him nervous ever since that summer. Kendrick smirked. ”I I I think you s s stutter,” Kendrick mocked before turning to glance at Charlie. He quirked an eyebrow in surprise, ”Weston, you have been hiding all the good ones from me!” Kendrick placed one arm on either side of Charlie leaning down next to her neck. ”So Charlie, how would you like to socialize with other intelligent people, you could do far better than Boot here,”Kendrick smirked. He turned eyeing Weston giving him a small scowl before leaning his head closer to Charlie’s. ”It could just be you and I, I’m okay with that too,” Kendrick muttered playing with a piece of Charlie’s red hair. Weston growled his hand on his quill tightening.

Weston couldn’t help but laugh to himself at the thought of him working for a company that sold fireworks. Maybe if they put him in a fireproof suit and a plastic bubble he wouldn’t catch anything or anyone on fire. It might just be a promising career for him. ”I’ll have a back up plan at least. In case Quidditch doesn’t go the way I want it too I always have a fall back in Firework making—Thanks Charlie,” Wes replied as he watched her go for another candy. He sighed as the conversation was turned back to the homework. He honestly didn’t know what to tell Charlie. Where did he go wrong? The moment he attempted a potion. Something was always going wrong. As he had just said something was always going wrong and the moment Kendrick stepped up to the table Weston should have just picked up Charlie and apologized later for the man handling. She wasn’t quite sure what was going on but Weston knew all too well. James and Wes had spent a fair amount of time trying to keep the slithery snake away from the other girls. He wouldn’t tolerate Kendrick starting to treat Charlie like one of those girls.

Wes bit down on his lip as Charlie attempted to protest Kendrick by claiming it wasn’t bad to ask for her help. ”D-d-don’t bother Charlie. He d-d-doesn’t listen.” Wes spat out. He wanted to be more confident he didn’t want for Kendrick to have another reason to torment him. At the same time he couldn’t control it. Weston stiffened the moment he watched Kendrick play with a bit of Charlie’s hair. It was now the end of the world as he knew it. He was starting to treat Charlie like one of those girls. Wes felt a half smirk come over his face as Charlie claimed to like him. However, the closer Kendrick got to her the more nervous he was getting. Weston knew that mean people weren’t exactly Charlie’s cup of tea. Wes didn’t want Kendrick anywhere near that cup of tea. Kendrick laughed still twirling a piece of Charlie’s hair before placing a hand on her shoulder. ”Innocent, it’s adorable,” He whispered quietly into her ear. He lingered for a moment with his chin on her shoulder. ”Maybe if you just lightened up a bit Charlie—we could go somewhere else, I could show you that mean people can be fun,”

Wes was steaming and he was about ready to yank Kendrick away. He caught Charlie’s glance and he couldn’t prevent it from coming out anymore. He might have a stutter but Wes trained long and hard so that he could become a Professional Quidditch Player. He wasn’t a little guy and in no means was he an idiot and would just let Kendrick torture poor Charlie. Without much thinking and no wand Wes grabbed Kendrick’s cloak that was tied around his neck and yanked back. Kendrick’s hands released Charlie in a rough manner as he was yanked. ”Y-y-you are making he-he-her uncomfortable,” Wes stated his hand still firmly gripped on the cloak. ”What are you doing? I didn’t say you could yank my cloak, release me,” Kendrick muttered swatting at Weston’s hand. Wes shook his head. ”D-do not talk to Charlie like that,” Wes finally got out. He swallowed hard realizing he had mustered up the most confidence he had ever experienced. Kendrick glared at him before launching his right jab into Wes jaw. Wes chucked the cloak and his fist as hard as he could the other way. Kendrick fell into the side desk with a loud thud. Wes cringed breathing heavy realizing he had just thrown the student against a desk. A little more brutal then he would have liked but it got the point across. ”You’re going to be sorry Weston Boot, so sorry,” Kendrick spat glaring at Charlie letting his gaze linger for a moment before turning and walking out. Wes shook his hands trying to release the tension. ”Was he terrible Charlie? Did he say anything? I’m so sorry,” Wes apologized quickly still keeping the corner of his eye on the door just in case.