IVY PARRY WAS STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF A MESS, one she believed she had caused, and she hated every second of it. Leo was practically clinging to her like a tired toddler and Luke was bringing her to question her own existence with the amount of philosophical questions he had asked her. With the amount of crying that had taken place within the span of a few days, Ivy could fill the Black Lake and she had to admit half of it was her own.

"Why did I do that Ivy? He's going to hate me now. Things will never be the same." Leo hugged her as tightly as possible in the library whilst the girl was studying transfiguration in preparation for their exams. "I'm a terrible person, Merlin help me."

"Leo, I love you but," Ivy moved his arms away from her and smiled fakely. "You are overreacting. It's not that bad."

Leo stared at her and opened his book, grumbling. "I guess you're right but I can't believe we kissed. I didn't even mean to. One second we were in the alley talking about how long it would take and then the next thing I knew we were kissing."

Supportively, Ivy patted his shoulder but then she proceeded to get her head down and study.

------

"Ivy am I crazy? I mean, I didn't think that I was gay but then Leo just looked so adorable and I couldn't help myself. I don't know why I kissed him but I really liked it." The pair were sat by the lake - Luke with his head in Ivy's lap - talking about that Hogsmeade trip. "Then he pushed me away. I don't know what would have happened if he didn't push away. Is it bad that I wanted to go further? We're both blokes for Merlin's sake. I like him; I've liked girls too. But I've never liked anyone as much as Leo. It started after Christmas you know when we came over and met all of your family on Boxing Day."

"Mhm." Ivy egged him on, wanting to hear it.

Luke sighed."I just sort of noticed that he looked good and he made me feel really nice, like the happiest I've ever been. I denied it of course because y'know and I tried to keep myself on you. That didn't work out for me did it? It just got worse and I didn't want to lie to you or Leo. But I couldn't keep lying to myself. Am I gay? I don't think I am. My parents would kill me Ivy and my mum would be so disappointed."

Taking in a sharp breath, Ivy's shoulders slumped and she played with Luke's hair. "Just continue telling your story Lukie."

"Okay, well, then I started noticing other things about him that I hadn't cared about before and then all of a sudden he was the only thing on my mind. I sound like a right sap telling you this. And I was so sure he liked me too, he was always in my company having fun and I swear I saw him blush. Remember on the train here, in September when I jokingly talked about me and Leo kissing? Well, I swear I saw him blush then. Wait, oh no, did I steal his first kiss?" Luke shot up. "I'm an arsehole. No wonder he ran away. His first kiss was from his best friend whose a guy. Well done Luke, you've screwed up now."

And then suddenly, Luke was gone, leaving Ivy alone for a while.

------

"I'm trying to help them out Percy, I really am but they're driving me insane." Ivy moaned, bashing her head on the table. "Why won't they just kiss and make up already?"

Percy mused, nodding. "Luke and Leo? They'll get over it in time, I'm sure."

"I'm trying so hard to be a peacemaker. This is my fault anyway so I have to try and fix this." Sighing, Ivy placed down her quill and pushed her arithmancy book to Percy. "Now, how the hell do I do this?"

Percy gently explained the question but Ivy wasn't paying attention to his answer. She was just too focused on his lips. Ivy squeezed her eyes shut and reminded herself that kissing just brought a whole bunch of problems and she didn't want to lose Percy just yet.

"I wasn't paying attention to a word you just said." she admitted sheepishly.

------

"He obviously wants to forget about the kiss so I'll approach him and tell him that it's okay to forget." Leo closed his eyes and a frown took over his features. "Everything will go back to normal and I'll just have to live with the fact that L-Luke will never want me back."

Ivy didn't miss Leo's voice cracking; she engulfed him in a warm hug. This truly was a mess and Ivy was stuck in the middle.

"D-Do you know where he is Ivy?" Leo looked up at her, eyes red from tears.

"He should be at the great hall. It is dinner after all." Ivy whispered. "Are you sure you're okay with this? Did you even talk to him about it?"

Leo bit his lip and nodded. "No but he's been avoiding me too! It's obvious he regrets it. It's for the best Ivy."

"Are you totally sure? You can always change your mind?" Ivy felt her heart break in two; she couldn't tell Leo about what Luke had said. She was truly stuck. This wasn't her decision, it was Leo's. And now Ivy was ready to cry. This was not turning out in anyone's favour. Being a bit too loyal really wasn't helping her out in this situation.

------

"Hey." Leo muttered, causing Luke to look up. "I-I just want to say it's okay to forget about what happened. It was a mistake."

Ivy winced, noting the hurt look in both of their eyes.

"Oh yeah totally!" Luke nervously chuckled. "A mistake, yeah. Yeah, let's, um, just forget about it."

"Yeah? Great, erm, I've got to go sit at my table now." Leo pointed to his table and awkwardly took a step back.

He tripped up and blushed a mighty red and without a second glance, he rushed off.

"Great, he wants to forget about it." said Luke dejectedly. "I guess I'll just have to accept it."

"Hey, it will get better." Ivy murmured, rubbing his back.

"How? I'll just have to accept that he doesn't like me back and he never will."

Oh how wrong both boys were.