the kiss list, adrian pucey
𝒔𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐

chapter eight, THE HOSPITAL WING

✧ ━━━ · ✦ · ━━━ ✧

BIANCA NEVER PARTICULARLY TOOK AN INTEREST TO quidditch but seen as everyone else on the kiss list did, she thought it was almost smart that she started now. She didn't hate the sport, but she never grew up around it, like someone like Oliver Wood or Marcus Flint. It's not that it was boring, because Bianca was sure that a game like Quidditch would be thrilling to play, but she was never any good at flying a broom in the first place. So whenever a match took place, she would most likely be in the library studying, or reading in a little nook in the common room. But today was Gryffindor v Slytherin, and Bianca felt like this would be a game she should be at.

The cold crisp air blew through her, rustling her hair and chilling her bones slightly, as she followed Leo up into the scarlet stands. Leo was still trying to comprehend what Bianca had told him about the night before and how the same girl that he knew so well, did something he couldn't even fathom her doing.

"I can't believe you did it," he said shaking his head and the two of them perched onto the bench, high up in the stands, towering over the pitch below.

Bianca was by no means proud of what she had done with Jeremy during her patrol hours the previous night, but she had still kissed him none the less. Sure that same kiss was sloppy, gross and Bianca couldn't look at the boy the same, but it one less person on the list.

"Neither can I," she said, taking a sip of her tea from the flask that her hands were clutched onto, providing her a bit more of much-needed warmth.

"How long did it last?"

"I don't know, like five minutes," she shrugged. "I wasn't really counting. The whole time I was trying to go to my happy place, but it was kind of difficult with his tongue halfway down my throat," she said grimacing at the memory.

Bianca's happy place was in fact, the library. She tried to imagine herself drowning in a fortress of books. She tried to visualize the words on the pages and the fresh scent that she would have smelt had she actually been there. But the kiss was bedraggled and messy and all she could smell was the overwhelming scent of Jeremy's aftershave wafting into her. It wasn't a very pleasant visual for her to be constantly reminded of.

"Oh, lovely," Leo now frowned at the image that he was trying to ignore, "Have you told Pucey yet? I'm sure he'd love to hear all about your patrol with Stretton."

Bianca pulled her scarf tighter around her neck. She hadn't had the chance to boast about it to Adrian yet, nor did she feel like it. She didn't see it as something to boast about, "nope. I'm sure Jeremy's told enough of his mates for the word to get back to Adrian. He's been staring at me since." she referred to the Ravenclaw boy's behavior, that Bianca found very uncomfortable and slightly disturbing. Not to mention annoying. She was just glad that she had very few classes with him, wouldn't have to spend late-night curfew checks with him again and the fact Ravenclaws weren't welcome in the Gryffindor stands.

The bleachers surrounding the pitch were more or less full and the players had now flown out onto it, taking their starting positions in the air. Bianca could spot Adrian's chocolate brown hair from where she was sitting and it almost looked jet black from the distance. Madam Hooch blew her whistle, the balls were released, and dots of crimson red and emerald green swarmed the center of the pitch, like a shoal of fish.

Bianca had at least hoped that her own house would surpass her expectations of Quidditch by winning, but the score was currently 30, 80, to Slytherin, so that seemed almost unlikely unless Harry was as good as everyone said. She hated seeing the sea of green and silver from the other end of the pitch, roar in celebration when they scored when Gryffindor had only gotten the chance to do it three times. Adrian had scored at least that many times; Bianca hated seeing him do well that she stopped counting. She had hoped that Harry Potter could pull through and catch the snitch, but from what Leo had told her, his Nimbus two thousand didn't compete with Draco Malfoy's two thousand and one. That and the whole team had a shiny, new Nimbus two thousand and one, making them fly at ten times the speed the lions could.

Bianca's hands were cold. Numb almost. She had long finished her tea and it was no longer serving its purpose of preventing her hands from freezing up.

She continued to watch as the players whizzed around in the bitter September breeze. Whilst everyone else was intently watching the pursuit for the coveted golden snitch, where Harry and Malfoy were battling it out to catch it, Bianca's eyes were glued to Adrian's figure, effortlessly speeding and catching and throwing. She admitted do herself that he was incredibly talented.

As the two seekers continued their strive to retrieve the snitch first, diving under and over the stands' foundations, the rest of the Slytherin team flew in perfect formation. Bianca watched as the quaffle was passed to Warrington, then to Flint, and finally to Adrian, where he launched the ball into the hoop. Wood was unable to stop it in time, causing the ball to soar right through the metal ring.

The Slytherin side cheered once again and the Gryffindor stands collectively groaned, Bianca included. She watched as he celebrated his goal, whilst flying back around the pitch. He seemed to be in a state of complete bliss. And although her own team was losing by 60 points, she liked to see him smile. But no, she hated him. 'merlin, just shake it, Bianca.' she kept telling herself.

That bliss was suddenly destroyed as a bludger out of nowhere, zoomed towards the brunette, and as it hit his side, his broom span out of control and soon, the boy was plummeting to the ground. Bianca's eyes widened as she watched him hit the floor and she could see the pain in his eyes. Two nurses walked out onto the pitch and carried him out on a stretcher.

"GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Lee Jordan yelled into the microphone and the Gryffindor stands erupted into a blast of applaud and cheers. Bianca had been too busy watching Adrian, that the next time she looked up, the Slytherin stands were complaining, very agitated and her own stands were celebrating the win she wasn't even watching.

She started clapping herself and looked over to see the platinum blonde boy, sat on the green grass with spread legs, clutching his stomach. Harry, however, was cheering with his team, the golden snitch in hand.

The hospital wing was located on the first floor. It had one of the tallest ceilings in the castle and was equipped with a few dozen beds, privacy screens, and Madam Pomfrey busing herself along with a few other nurses after the match. There hadn't been many players that were badly injured, instead, there were a few younger years that had suffered after a potion had gone badly wrong.

Bianca spotted Adrian, lying on a bed on the far left, and she walked over towards him. She didn't know why she was here and neither did he. Bianca had a few reasons for visiting Adrian, none of which she actually wanted to say. She wanted to gloat about kissing another person on the list, but she didn't want to explain how she did it and she knew Adrian would simply tease her about it forever. She wanted to tease him about falling off of his broom, except it looked pretty painful and Bianca didn't want to come off that rude. She knew she couldn't have played as well as he did today, despite the fall and loss. And maybe she just wanted to see how he was? And she knew she was never going to admit that.

When he noticed her striding towards him, he shifted in his bed and tried to ignore whatever she was going to say, because he knew she would just taunt him over the fact he fell off of his broom. He pretended he didn't even notice her walk in, despite his initial feelings of pleasantness after seeing her.

"Hey, congratulations on your win . . ." she stopped, pretending to think for a second, "Oh wait." She had decided on the teasing part.

"Har har," he remarked sarcastically, wincing slightly in pain, "Hey, congrats on Stretton by the way. I didn't know you had it in you," he smirked.

Bianca's face flushed pinkish and she shifted uncomfortably, "How did you know?"

"I told you, I have my sources," he said dismissively.

She stared at him, her arms now crossed, "Your sources being?"

"A second-year that thought we were dating . . . " he let out a little snicker.

Bianca gasped slightly and not at the thought that a twelve-year-old thought she was dating Adrian Pucey, but the fact that same twelve-year-old saw her and Jeremy Stretton making out in the dungeons whilst they were supposed to be checking for anyone out of bed. Which there apparently was.

"Yeah, I know. What a horrible thought," he said, nodding his head and imagining what she was thinking about. "But seriously, you made out with a douchebag like Stretton?" he scoffed.

"Oh shut up, you're just pissed I actually kissed him and the fact I can prove it," she said confidently and he rolled his eyes, causing Bianca to want to tease him further. "At least he can stay on his broom."

Adrian's mouth fell open slightly, "At least I'm good enough to make my team." he gloated, further taunting her about how she could never play Quidditch as well as he could and how that was the one competition between the two of them, that she couldn't win.

"Hey. I'm on the chess team," she stammered slightly, but still satisfied with her reply.

     Bianca had always loved chess. Her father had taught her from the age of five and Professor McGonagall was always amazed by her ability to play so skillfully. Obviously, her father had taught her muggle chess and she had to teach herself how to order the pieces around the board when she started Hogwarts. But there was no such thing as the Chess Team at Hogwarts ─ that was just something Bianca made up on the spot that she believed could have defended her ego.

"That's your defense?" he asked in a tone that said 'really?'.

She scoffed and would have tried to save herself when she was interrupted by a yell coming from behind her,  "Wait, there's a chess team?"

The two of them glanced over to see a stout, redhead grinning enthusiastically at her, stood outside the Hospital wing's entrance, merely passing by. Ron Weasley. He too loved the game and she would have replied had Adrian not continued to belittle her because to him, chess was no were near as an impressive skill as flying a broom and chucking a ball into a hoop.

"Oh look," Adrian pouted, "Weasley number six wants to be apart of your lame excuse for a club!" he faked a pleasant smile and she rolled her eyes.

"You know, it requires a lot more skills to win a chess game than it does a Quidditch match," she stated confidently.

"That's complete bull."

"Just because you're too dense to understand the art of a chess game, doesn't mean you can belittle me because I can."

"I'd like to see you fly a broom like I do." he scoffed.

"Yeah, well, uh . . . you will." she stammered, "Oliver's actually agreed to help me improve. Isn't that sweet?" she blurted out, although she said it in a tone she knew would annoy him.

Oliver had not agreed to help her, nor had she asked him. Nor had she even planned on asking him. But when he put her on the spot, it seemed like a great idea. That way, if he thought about the two of them spending time together, it would surely piss him off.

And it did. Adrian's body tensed up slightly and he pushed himself up to sit straighter on the bed, fighting the pain it caused him.

"You could take notes from him, you know. He's pretty good at the game," she said, with a mischievous grin.

Adrian laughed in disbelief, "We play two very different positions, Larsson. I'd like to see him play as a chaser."

"I'm sure he'd do a better job than you do after today's shocking performance." she chuckled to herself but he glared at her, with daggers for eyes.

"I scored six goals!" he defended.

"You fell off your broom and your team lost," Bianca replied bluntly.

"You know, when you get hit by a bludger, you can't quite recover once you lose control of your broom," he argued.

"That's the point. Your teammates are supposed to prevent that from happening," she smirked, referring to the two Slytherin beaters: Graham Montague and Lucian Bole.

He scoffed, "Well you only won because of Potter!" he protested.

"Aw, don't worry. Everyone has their bad performances," she sarcastically sympathized with him and gently placed her hand on his arm, causing him to shudder slightly, not expecting her to do it.

He looked up at her and gazed into her eyes. His whole body became warm with her touch and although she was only being sarcastic, he thought it felt nice for her to be 'comforting him', even though she was doing practically the opposite.

"Obviously, I rarely ever lose a chess match, but-" she continued to tease him until a flirtatious clamor (more like bark, Bianca thought) saying Adrian's name echoed throughout the hospital wing.

At recognizing who the source was, Adrian groaned and sunk deeper into the mattress. Bianca curiously turned around to see Tamsin Applebee running down the aisle between the beds and skipping directly towards the bed Bianca was stood beside.

Bianca scoffed, just before the girl arrived and was in earshot, ignoring the slight feeling of jealousy she was experiencing, "What, are you two an item now?"

Adrian shook his head violently, almost offended by the question, "No, but she's obsessed with me. And seriously clingy. I think she has attachment issues."

Bianca laughed, "Serves you right, honestly."

"Hiya Ade," she sounded sweet until she noticed Bianca stood by her "boyfriend's" bed. She looked the Gryffindor up and down before glaring at her in the eyes, thinking she was intimidating the girl, before her head shot back towards Adrian, "What's she doing here?"

"I uh-" Adrian stammered.

"I was just leaving actually." Bianca smiled sweetly, "And don't worry, I have no intentions with your boyfriend, Tamsin."

Adrian's mouth fell slightly agape and he looked up at Bianca waiting for her to look back, "Don't reinforce the idea that we are dating." he whispered but the girl could hear the aggressiveness and severity of the tone in his voice and she put her hands up in defense.

"What was that?" The Hufflepuff asked sternly.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." she once again faked a smile.

"You played great today babe," she grinned, "You're definitely the best on the team."

Bianca scratched the back of her head and inclined it towards Adrian before mouthing, 'not true' because she knew he could see it, which he did. He gave her a look to say 'piss off' in return.

She actually did think he was the best on the Slytherin Quidditch team. He was about the only one that played by the rules and didn't play rough. Marcus Flint had thrown people of brooms before, Miles couldn't defend the hoops nearly as well as Oliver could, making him look practically awful (in his defense, the Gryffindor chasers were very skilled) and Draco Malfoy boasted too much that it made him look worse than he was. He wasn't a bad seeker but compared to Harry (who didn't gloat at all), he was nowhere near as skilled as he made himself out to be.

There was a moment's silence, until Bianca broke it, "Well I'll be off." she grabbed her bag off of the floor and her eyes locked with the Slytherin boy's when she lowered to his eye line. He shook his head as if to say 'don't leave me alone with this psycho' but she shrugged, acting as if she didn't understand what he was implying. "I hope you feel better soon Adrian," she casually patted him hard where she knew he was injured and he grimaced in pain.

As she strutted away, Adrian followed her figure as far as the very end of the hall until she was out of sight. He stared at the entranceway longingly, hoping for her to walk straight back in again, despite knowing she wouldn't before Tamsin plummeted onto the end of the bed, practically sitting on top of his feet and he groaned in pain.

Oh, how he hoped Bianca hadn't left.