Chapter Forty Three
Pierce couldn't sleep, he couldn't focus in class, and he wouldn't even bring himself to eat as the friendship between him and Julius had suddenly become non-existent. Everyone had taken note as the two boys had always been seen together and were suddenly seen always apart. Nancy tried to cheer the boy up and spend some time with him to keep him company but Pierce didn't crave her company. He wanted Julius to talk to him, or even just listen for a few seconds, while he tried to explain himself. He was becoming an emotional wreck and with the Third and final task coming upon him, Pierce couldn't afford to be mentally unstable.
He had to be focused.
There was no hint as to what the Third Task was but at that point, Pierce didn't even care. He was just overwhelmed with everything that had happened, that all he was focused on was the pain.
He thought about approaching Hermione and just being upfront about everything he had been feeling from his feelings towards her, to the new feelings that had developed out of nowhere since Julius' kiss. But there were two things stopping him from confiding in her. One, he was sure if he mentioned his kiss with Julius it would harm his chances of ever getting Hermione to like him back, and two, his mother had written another lovely article about Hermione.
The poor girl was being shown as a floozy who jumped back and forth between Krum and Harry, when in reality it was just Pierce's mother being the manipulated nut that she was. Anything to keep her articles circulating, no matter who it hurt. There was even a nice quote from Pansy Parkinson about how Hermione was using love potions to keep the boys after her.
That made Pierce even angrier as Pansy seemed to channel her inner Rita with making up false lies. Pierce swore if his mother so much as mentioned his name in one of her articles, he would personally seek to tying her to a tree in the Forbidden Forest so far away from people that no one would be able to hear her scream and thus not come to her aid.
The stress was getting to the boy, and still there were no answers as to why he had been thrown into the tournament to begin with. Moriarty had disappeared, leaving Sherlock and John to leave in search of him, before the Third Task took place. They knew he was up to something.
One afternoon, Pierce decided to hide himself away, not wanting to talk with anyone for the entire rest of the day. Leaning against part of the castle wall, outside in the cold grass, Pierce stared blankly ahead.
Soon enough he would learn of the Third Task as the competitors were informed that they would learn of it, a month beforehand.
Banging his head lightly against the stone, Pierce just wanted to disappear altogether from the world and be at peace with his mind.
"Pierce?"
His eyes shot open as he saw Hermione standing before him with a look of concern.
"Hermione?'
"What are you doing?" She asked him.
"I'm either trying to knock some sense into myself, or knock myself unconscious. I've forgotten at this point, but I'm hoping on the latter."
Hermione walked over and placed her hand between the wall and his head.
"Don't do that to yourself." she said. "Rather than hurting yourself, can't you just explain what's wrong?"
"If I sat here and tried to explain everything that was wrong, Hermione, we would be here until the end of time."
"Luckily, I tend to have time on my side." Hermione said before sitting beside him. "Now what's going on with you? I haven't spoken to you in ages, it seems. Is the stress of the tournament getting to you? I now it's taken it's toll on Harry."
"Right now, the Tournament is the least of my worries."
"Does it have to do with your friend Julius?" she pondered out loud.
Pierce glanced over at her and nodded. "I suppose it's not secret that something has happened between us."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"It's extremely complicated, Hermione. Or perhaps it isn't and I'm just making it complicated in my head."
"Sounds....complicated." She said with a small smile.
Pierce turned to her with a curious look.
"What would you do if Ron or Harry kissed you out of the blue?"
Hermione's eyes widened. "W-what?"
"It's a simple question really, what would you do if Harry kissed you?"
"I don't see Harry in that way." Hermione told him.
"And Ron?"
"...I feel the same way about ...that."
Pierce raised a brow with the hesitation in her answer. Suddenly, everything started falling into place in Pierce's mind and he bursted into laughter.
"What's so funny?" Hermione was beginning to think the boy had finally lost his mind.
"Oh what a mess this all is. It's terrible!" He continued to laugh as he pushed himself up. "Absolutely terrible. You like...and I like..but she likes...and he...oh goodness! IT'S ONE BIG MESS!"
"Pierce?"
Hermione watched as his laughter transitioned into hyperventilating, as the tears just began rolling down his face.
"Pierce? What's wrong?"
His body began to sway. "I don't feel so good." He said lifting his hand to the side of his head.
The Gryffindor girl was up on her feet in a matter of seconds as Pierce collapsed to the ground.
Julius was sitting in the common room trying to work on the Astronomy assignment before him, but he couldn't even begin to remember anything that had happened during the last class. He stared at the star map with a blank expression when someone entered the common room. Glancing up from his work, he saw Nancy making her way towards him.
"Look, if you're here to talk about Pierce again, I don't want to he-"
"Just shut up and listen for a minute." Nancy told him sternly. "Your best friend is in the Hospital Wing if that means anything to you."
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