Due to the dramatic change in weather, the Slytherin Hufflepuff match had been moved several times already. Until that bright, sunny day when the weather was obviously suitable enough for the match. Hufflepuff games meant Jillian games, which resulted to Alexander dragging both of his friends out from their tranquility and to the stadium to watch.

Fred and George were there as well, 'spying' on the Slytherin game strategies for Oliver Wood. The two were ridiculously dressed in black from head to toe among a sea of yellow cladded people which made them very easy to spot. Florence had pointed this out to the two, who still firmly insisted that dressing as black cladded ninjas was the way to go.

"Real life ninjas don't actually wear black, you two. They wear normal clothes to blend in with the surroundings." Florence told the two, George pocketing the black gloves that he wore the previous minute.

"George and I were going for stealth." Fred muttered bitterly, "Why do you always try to find ways to ruin our roll, Florence?"

"I'm not trying to ruin anyone's roll!" she said exasperatedly, "All I'm saying is the two of you look absolutely ridiculous in those."

"Ridiculous, how? I mean, black is one of Hufflepuff's house colors." countered Fred.

"Yes it is, but everyone prefers wearing yellow, as you can see." Florence gestured to the neighboring people who were indeed dressed in yellow shirts and normal colored jeans, "If they all wore black, it would look like someone's funeral rather than a bloody quidditch game."

"Well that's just ridiculous," Fred said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest like a little child, "If we had black as our second house color then I would most definitely make that the dominant color."

"Yeah, so that you'd look like a goth child, or a vampire, with how pale you are."

"A vampire with ginger hair?" Nicolai butted in, "Unheard of!" she gasped.

"George, make Clearwater shut up."

"Oh quit your squabbling." Alexander chastised instead, silencing the three, "The game's about to start." he informed them, and soon enough, the Hufflepuff team dressed in canary yellow robes came hiking to the middle of the Quidditch pitch, to be followed by the Slytherins.

"And so we have game five of six for this year's Quidditch season. Last game for Hufflepuff, second game for Slytherins. Diggory and Flint are stepping forward..."

The team captain from both sides shook hands, and Madame Hooch released the balls, fourteen players shooting up to the sky. Nicolai's eyes trailed Jillian intently without the others noticing. Alexander as usual, was giddy the entire time, shouting and cheering along with the crowd as if he was a Quidditch enthusiast.

He was never that fond of Quidditch, never interacted that much — even at Adrianna's games. All he wanted to do was show Jillian how much he supported her, and it gave Nicolai an odd pang in her chest knowing Jillian's intentions weren't fair and that she didn't tell her best mate about it.

"And Slytherin scores first goal," Jordan's commentary rang throughout the whole stadium, causing the Slytherins to cheer loudly. A couple of benches down was Cho Chang — who obviously came to support Cedric, as he did the same with her last game.

"Montague in possession of the Quaffle, narrowly missing a Bludger sent by O'Flaherty, jets past the Bludger zone — and it's nothing! Attempted goal blocked by Herbert Fleet! Olivia Banks now in possession of the Quaffle. . ."

Olivia looked very much like her older brother, Oliver. The two had eerily similar jet black hair, brown eyes and face structure, and could easily be mistaken for as twins. They both shared the same resilience and determination, which Olivia often showed during Quidditch games. The Hufflepuffs went wild with cheers as she outflew Marcus Flint, scoring the first goal for Hufflepuff.

". . . Quaffle to Preece, passed to Devereux, Devereux attempts a goal — drops the quaffle! Slytherin now in possession, Warrington lead by Flint, passes to Montague,  Montague enters the scoring area —and it's a goal. Twenty to ten with Slytherin on the lead."

"Adrianna usually calls that a Bermuda triangle." said Alexander to Florence, "You know, when the three chasers huddle together in a triangle to try to score a goal."

"What's a Bermudo traingle?" Fred butted in, looking quite interested.

"It's Bermuda," Alexander corrected in haste, "Haven't you heard of that? It's also known as the Devil's Triangle— a loosely defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean, where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances."

"That is interesting." said Fred, before he frowned, "But your sister has very unusual Quidditch terms."

"That's my sister for you." he chuckled. Slytherin had gained another ten points as soon as they averted their attention back onto the game. Malcolm Preece was currently in possession of the leather ball, with Warrington tailing him sharply. Instead of grabbing the Quaffle that was within his reaching range, he yanked the tail of the Hufflepuff's broom, almost knocking him off.

The sound of Madame Hooch's whistle pierced the air, "Blagging, Warrington! Hufflepuff penalty!"

Malcolm made use of the penalty, scoring for Hufflepuff. Cedric gave him an encouraging pat on the back, before resuming his search for the golden snitch, whereas Malfoy was standing around, making Cedric do all the searching.

Slytherin managed to score a bunch of consecutive goals (With a fair amount of cheating, as Lee Jordan put it, earning him s good scolding from Professor McGonagall). Jillian had been lagging behind the entire time, looking obviously distracted, her head not a hundred percent focused.

This was proven when she was so easily  knocked off of her broom by a bludger, flying with a concussion for the rest of the match, worrying Alexander (and Nicolai, secretly) to huge extents. 

"How did Devereux even make the team?" Fred asked Florence ever so silently, the two watching with a grimace as the Quaffle slipped from her grip yet again, her broom almost crashing in to one of the stands. "I have no idea." she breathed out, hands flying up to clamp over her eyes as she did crash into another stand.

Eventually Cedric got ahold of the snitch, however the hundred fifty points awarded to them was not enough to surpass Slytherin's 250 points. 

Everyone was still happy nonetheless, most of the Hufflepuff house descending from the stands to cheer for their Quidditch team, despite the fact that they lost. Alexander was quick in making himself over towards Jillian, who was now barely conscious, escorting her to the changing rooms.

Nicolai and George had somehow managed to disappear, leaving Florence with Fred yet again. He was going through his notepad, a hand running through his hair subconsciously. Florence took a peek, her brows furrowing together, "What's Wood going to do with a notepad filled with 'slytherin cheats'? He does kind of already knows that, right?"

Fred huffed, "Yeah. Going to this match was pretty useless, as it turned out. I mean, Hufflepuff played terribly today, I can't believe that they're the same team that beat us during our first game—"

"Easy with the criticism." Florence chuckled.

"But you do agree with me, right? That was the shittiest game of all the shitty games."

"I guess..." she muttered, "Although Cedric really needs to fix his team... His judgement is pretty loose."

Fred nodded, "Have you noticed how divided he was when he got together with Cho? Is that a thing now, like, does having a love interest slow down your mental capacity?" he inquired, Florence raising a brow at him.

"Well, you should have ssked your twin brother about it, not me. But I hardly think it's like that. I mean, George and Nicolai—they're just dandy." She pointed out.

"True. But they've never really seemed like a real couple to me. They seem so casual, you know? But nevertheless, I'm in competition with your best mate for my brother's affections." he replied sadly, Florence patting his back in mock comforting.

"Some people have it worse, you know. I'm in competition with my mum's cat for her affections."

Fred pursed his lips, momentarily silence as he tried not to look as shocked as he was supposed to be. He had convinced himself that the first two incidents were pure coincidences, eerily coincidental— but coincidental nonetheless. It took quite a few moments to compose himself, before he replied, "Your mum owns a cat?"

"Yeah..." Florence laughed lightly, unaware of the growing suspicion that was occurring, "She bought herself one during Christmas break. It's small, white and completely evil."

He snorted, "What did the cat do to earn the title?"

"She nibbled holes into my socks... And for letting mum name her Miss Mimsy. I mean seriously, who would want to be named Mimsy? It just reminds me of Nearly Headless Nick."

"It's Sir Nicolas de Mimsy-Porpington to you." said Fred in a terrible accent that wasn't even relatively similar to Sir Nick's.

                                                                                                        -------

The showers in the locker room gave out nothing but cold water, but it didn't seem to bother Jillian as she continued to douse herself from under the shower head. With her eyes closed, she felt the water cascade down her bare skin, wanting nothing more than for it to build up, and hopefully drown herself if she stayed a tad bit longer.

Cedric didn't need to tell her how awfully she had been playing that afternoon—her captain wouldn't say it, as he was very kind. But Cedric wasn't everyone, and she felt the disappointment radiating from most of her teammates. After all, she was the main reason as to why the Slytherins got ahold of the Quaffle many times. She was a shit player.

With a heavy heart, she reached for the knob, slowly turning off the running water as she dried herself off with her towel. Fresh clothes were waiting for her from outside the cubicle, and she changed into them in haste. She was contemplating about spending the night in the locker room, but she knew that she'd have to embrace the shame eventually.

A gasp left her lips as soon as she looked up, her towel hat slipping from her head as she stared at the brunette infront of her, standing by the doorway "Nicolai. W-What are you doing here?" she asked, fixing her towel hat before shoving her Quidditch uniform into a bag.

"I-I just got here, I swear. I-ah, I didn't watch you change."she stammered out, red tinting her pale cheeks. Jillian gave her a small smile, "Don't worry about it, I'm not accusing you of doing such thing. It's just, what brings you here? Alexander left moments ago to the great hall."

"I know." she said sheepishly, "I actually came here to see you."

"Me?" Jillian asked quizzically, flustering Nicolai further.

"Yeah. Um, I was going to go and congratulate you on the game at the Great Hall but you weren't there. Olivia Banks said that you still might be in the shower room so I tried my luck. So... congratulations on the game, even if, you know, you guys didn't win. But it was a very interesting match."

"You shouldn't of have watched. I was shit." she laughed hollowly, shoving her gear into the duffel bag as well, her eyes refusing to meet Nicolai's.

"No, you weren't shit—" Jillian gave her a look, "Fine, maybe you were, but I don't blame you. You sort of seemed like you were distracted. And I may know why, I guess?"

"I've thought about it, Nic, and I think you're right. I'm being unfair to Alexander. I want to tell him, I really do, but I just felt so guilty, watching him being so supportive from the stands. He's a really great guy, you know? He doesn't deserve to get hurt." Jillian exhaled, "I honestly do not know what I should tell him—or how."

"You'll get it. But you have to do it as soon as possible. Xander's already invested very much on this budding relationship . Don't wait too long or it's going to hurt him even more."

"I'm sorry." she said solemnly, Nicolai hugging her, to her surprise. It wasn't like a familiar friend's hug, Nicolai's arms were shaking a tad bit as she put them around her, but it was warm and comforting. She pulled away hastily, thankful for the dim lighting, as it covered up her blushing face greatly.
.
"You know it's not your fault." And with that, she exited the changing room, her heart slamming wildly against her ribcage.

//////

a.n: Yo guys. So, if you have read my previous IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT that I had taken down, you would know that I'm in a bit of a crisis. So I started my rewrite and it just felt so...out of place. Because I was basically changing Florence's personality and to be honest, I am quite content with how she is right now and kind of proud with how I depicted her character to be. Sooooo, I will no longer be doing my rewrite, and thank god for that. Imagine having to write down another 30+ chapters. Yikes. Although I do have the luxury of time, I don't think a rewrite will go too well.

And since you guys have expressed that you rather keep this, I was really really happy to hear that. And yes, in this moment, we are currently hearing more of Nicolai's story, and although I would love to make a spinoff, I haven't exactly made enough of a foundation for Jillian and Nicolai for it to be an individual book.

My writer's block will pass, I guess, and I also think that it is due to this new environment I'm in at the moment. I am currently living with my cousins and they are noisy as hell, it clashes with my thinking. So anyways, thank you guys for the support. I love you guys :))))

PS: Your thoughts on Nillian (Jillian & Nicolai)? And does any one have a suggestion for Florence & Fred's shipname?

-Denise