the kiss list, adrian pucey
𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐

chapter fourteen
number 2: CASSIUS WARRINGTON

✧ ━━━ · ✦ · ━━━ ✧

     CASSIUS WARRINGTON WAS A GIT. THAT'S ALL that's to it. He was by no means not the only boy on the kiss list that was a snob and saw a girl as no more than a rough makeout between classes or even a quick shag if he was lucky, but there was no way Bianca could misjudge him. As Bianca saw it, he and Draco Malfoy were siblings and similar in every way, apart from the platinum blonde hair and Bianca was pretty sure he would never refer to her as a "Mudblood" but he definitely thought higher of himself than he did her; he had two wizard parents and had more than enough money, he could wipe his arse with it.

     He was an entitled prick.

     But Bianca knew what she had to do, and maybe in her head she was overthinking it too much or delving too far into details and traits of the person in front of her, but it was a game; it's not like he would follow her around after this. And just as the card between them fell, almost immediately after, Bianca found her lips smashed up against Cassius Warrington's, connected in a kiss. It seemed Cassius had the same plan as her and wanted to kiss her just as much as he thought she wanted to kiss him.

     It lasted all of three seconds, yet she could taste the subtle apple flavour on his lips that she assumed was from some sort of chapstick, which Bianca questioned for a moment: it never occurred to her that men would apply lip balm until she realized he was a snob and must have felt that women don't kiss men with chapped lips.

     She pulled away, just as Cassius had smirked into the kiss, and as she looked up at his face, glowing in the green tint of the Slytherin common room, it hadn't left his face. He definitely did not want to stop. But with the rest of the group, that had been following the card up until its fall and had obviously ended up watching the pair kissing, it would be weird to continue.

     "Guess that means we are out, Bi," the boy said, constantly smirking, as he sunk into the back of the couch, throwing his arms along the top, stretching his chest out, revealing more skin from underneath his unbuttoned shirt.

     She followed his lead almost by leaning further back into the sofa, throwing some of her hair out of her face and over her shoulder.

     Adrian on the other hand wasn't so relaxed. His body was tense and he was now leaning over his legs; his foot continuously tapping against the floor. Bianca had kissed four on the list so far, but he had never seen any of them happen. Now witnessing the fifth, somehow made his blood boil. The thought of Miles and Bianca kissing made him angry, but he didn't see that, and although that kiss probably lasted longer, watching her and Cassius right in front of his eyes, made him want to beat the crap out of the boy. He didn't know whether it was because she was one kiss closer to his resignation off of the team he cared so much about, or the fact he was suddenly becoming overprotective over her.

     But as the card was passed on again, he pushed those feelings aside, knowing it was over. Over for now at least. He made the list. He put himself in this position and he knew he now had to live with it. So he shook it off.

     The game continued and eventually finished, as the group became progressively drunk and a very awkward, very unexpected, and very unwanted peck was shared between Lucian and Marcus disrupted the flow of the game.

     Katie had disappeared with Graham somewhere and Bianca was unsure whether the two of them would remember any of this 'relationship' and 'playing around' when they woke up with a painful headache in the morning. Angelina, Esme, Terrence, and Lucian had all fled to the dance floor and were now riding out their intoxication by grinding to TLC and Nirvana, leaving Bianca chatting to Cassius, slightly against her will, but as no one else was there, bar Adrian, she agreed to suffer in silence, just to anger him.

     The two were halfway through small talk (mainly just Cassius rambling on about something or rather, and Bianca nodding along), when Adrian, from across the room had finally decided to stand up after watching them 'flirt' for long enough.

     "Could I have word with you for a second Bianca?" he asked, having just walked over to the two of them.

     She didn't immediately break away from her conversation, but rather slowly turned her head towards the boy, who was currently standing like a lofty statue.

     "Sure," she lifted her head off of her hand, which was resting on her thigh, before uncrossing her legs and standing up until she was not even five inches away from him; his face still looking down to her.

     She followed him to the same slim corridor they had been not too long ago that was just out of earshot, where she leaned against the wall and he stood standing over her. "What the hell was that?"

     "A kiss," she said casually. She knew he was annoyed and the more innocent she played it, the more pissed he would become.

     "Yeah, a kiss that doesn't count," he said.

     "I think you'll find, it very much does, Pucey," she replied and his expression dropped at the sound of his last name.

     Bianca may hate him, but she always called him Adrian. He called her Larsson when it was just the two of them, but that was the way it was; her on a first-name basis, him on a last. He was almost hurt that now she decided against it.

     "It wasn't natural," he said coldly.

     "Believe me, he didn't want to stop, and maybe I did let the card fall on purpose, but that doesn't mean it wasn't consensual," she said smugly, earning a scoff from the bewildered boy before her.

     "That's exactly what it means." he protested, folding his arms.

     She pushed off the wall and leaned closer to him, so their faces were inches away. She would normally feel uncomfortable or awkward in a situation like this, but Adrian was the one with a heavy chest and it was his hairs on his arms that were standing up.

     "The whole thrill of the game, Pucey, is that there is a risk that the card will fall and you'll end up kissing the person on the other end. Warrington quite happily volunteered to play, consenting to the possible chance that he might have to kiss me. You're just pissed I can cross another one of the list."

     He scoffed once more with a shake of his head and after a moment of heavy tension and the two of them staring directly in each other's eyes, he gave in to the beauty before him, "Fine. Well played, Bianca."

     "Five down, sixteen to go." she winked, turned on her heels, passing the small group of Slytherins that were sat down, and instead ventured into the crowds of people she didn't even know.

➼

     BIANCA WAS SO GLAD THAT SHE HADN'T DRUNK anything the night before. And even more grateful to wake up to the snores of Katie and the comfort of her own crimson sheets, enveloping her body. Her head wasn't pounding out of her skull, unlike the other two girls, who woke up not even seconds later.

     Bianca lifted her pillow and placed it behind her back, leaning against her headboard. Angelina squinted her eyes and with a yawn sat up, crossing her legs, her head in her hands from the pain.

     "We've got to stop doing this," Katie yawned, rubbing her forehead.

     "Doing what?" Angelina asked, her tone tired and bothered.

     "Getting drunk. Partying." the girl replied, running her hand through her hair. "At least Bianca's here and didn't lose an item of clothing," she chuckled slightly through the throbbing pain in her head.

     Bianca's mouth fell open slightly and turned to look at the girl with an offended tone to her look, before grabbing the closest pillow with the easiest access, before launching at the very hungover girl. It hit her directly in her face, and she grunted in pain.

     "Watch it. Just because you didn't drink and are totally fine right now, does not mean you can abuse the injured." she groaned.

     "You're not injured, you just need to learn your lesson that's all," Bianca replied, throwing her covers to the side and standing up before shuffling to the ensuite bathroom.

     "What lesson is that exactly?" Angelina questioned, throwing herself back onto her mattress and burying herself in the covers.

     "That you don't need alcohol to have a good time," Bianca said in response, whilst applying some minty paste to her toothbrush.

     "You didn't drink anything last night Bi, did you have a good time?" Katie asked with a smirk.

     Bianca shrugged, "Yeah, I guess I did. Just glad you two were there honestly."

     "I'm not." Angelina groaned, regretting the night before and how drunk she managed to get.

     "Oh come on, Ange. Yes, you are. You had a good time last night. You just regret it now because you feel like your head's gonna explode." she nodded understandingly.

     "Can we please reduce the shouting Bianca?" Angelina grunted at the volume Bianca was talking, despite her hangover exaggerating it, "Or my head will explode."

     Bianca chuckled as she began getting dressed, "You gonna talk to Graham later Kate?" she asked the girl that was now almost asleep, tangled in her sheets.

     "Hmm?" she sighed.

     "You and Montague seemed to enjoy yourselves last night. Are you going to talk to him?" Bianca repeated herself.

     "Oh, yeah . . . uh maybe." Katie dismissed and rolled over onto her other side.

     "Okay ladies, come on. Can't stay in bed all day." Bianca threw yet another pillow but at Angelina this time.

     "Five more minutes," the girl groaned at the contact of the pillow in her face.

     The Gryffindor, who was now fully dressed and ready, sighed, giving up, "I'll just leave you two to it."

     Leo was waiting at the lion's table on the far end, already buttering two slices of toast when Bianca came down.

     "Morning," he said, noticing her arrival.

     She sat down opposite him, "Morning Lee."

     "How you feeling?" he asked, taking a bite out of his now buttered bread.

     "Oh I'm fine." she shrugged, leaning over to the fruit bowl and picking off some grapes from the pile.

     "You didn't drink?" he furrowed his eyebrows and she shook her head, "Nothing?"

     "Not a drop."

     "Bianca has learned her lesson. Good for you, hun." he chuckled.

     She gave him a sarcastic smile, pulling the grapes from their stems, "How was your night?" she asked, changing the subject as quickly as she could.

     "Oh, it was great. Alicia and I hung out in the common room," his face tinted pinkish and he laughed. Bianca thought he looked like a child that finally held hands with a girl for the first time.

     "And did what?"

     "Played a few rounds of cards, a bit of chess-" he started.

     "Chess?" she asked incredulously and slightly offendedly, "You always refuse to play chess with me! What the fuck?"

     "That's because you're competitive, never lose, and are more or less a professional and I knew I wouldn't get any entertainment out of it if I played with you. Hence why I refuse and still will. Alicia is an amateur."

     "And you have a pathetic fourth-grade crush on her," she scoffed with laughter. He gave her a glare, that read: 'seriously?' and caused her to hold her hands up in a defensive purpose, dropping her grapes onto the plate in front of her. "Okay, okay, sorry. I'm happy for you. Really."

     Leo rolled his eyes, "Where are Katie and Angelina?"

     "Very hungover and I presume flat out asleep. I may not have drunk, but they certainly did. They won't be up for-"

     "Bianca. You need to come with me." she was interrupted by a voice that she looked over to identify where she saw Esmerelda Bulstrode who had just sat down beside Leo. Her tone was almost urgent and concerned.

     Bianca furrowed her eyebrows and the two Gryffindors stared at her, "What?"

     "It's Adrian. He attacked Malfoy and they're still fighting. No one can get them to stop." the Slytherin explained.

     "Esme, no offense, but I really don't care whatever fights Pucey gets himself into." Bianca let out a little chuckle and a huff. "And what could I do about it anyway?"

     "It's over you."

eleven minutes prior
the courtyard
8:17 am

     "So you boys have fun last night?" Draco Malfoy smirked, referring to the party in the Slytherin common room the night before, as the Quidditch team left the changing room following their practice session.

     "I think Graham had the most," Terrence nudged the boy walking beside him, broom in hand.

     "Nah, nah, nothing like that. She probably won't even remember any of it," Graham replied. He and Katie Bell had 'hit things off' at the Halloween party after spending seven minutes together in a closet during a game of seven minutes in heaven.

     "I wouldn't be so sure." Lucian laughed.

     "Forget me. Let's debate whether Adrian didn't actually make out with Bianca, or is just lying cause she told him to," Graham smirked.

     Adrian shook his head laughing slightly, "I wasn't lying. We just talked."

     The group of boys made their way towards the great hall, through the courtyard.

     "Are we talking about Bianca Larsson?" Malfoy asked, slightly disgusted.

     "Yeah, what's the problem?" Miles asked.

      "Trust me Pucey, you can do so much better than that Mudblood," Malfoy smirked, with a chuckle, except Marcus Flint was the only one to laugh back in response. Cassius didn't reply thinking that his opinions would be best kept to himself; Miles looked rather taken aback; Graham went silent and Adrian's face went from a grin to a deadly scowl, faster than his new broom: the Nimbus two thousand and one.

     "What did you just call her?" he asked incredulously, his fury building up at the look at Malfoy's smirk that was still evident. He saw no remorse at all, which made his blood boil.

     "What?" Draco huffed. "Calm down mate. I only said the truth." Malfoy was now exchanging glances of amusement with Flint.

     "Oh, so you think this is funny huh Malfoy?" Adrian was beginning to get angry and was edging closer and closer to the platinum blonde boy.

     "Hey, Ade, mate. Just leave it." Miles had stepped between the two and had placed his hand on his friend's chest.

     "Don't tell me to 'leave it' Bletchley. You heard what he called her. I thought you and Bianca were meant to be all close now, so why aren't you defending her?" Adrian was almost yelling.

     "I never said I agreed with what he said, mate-"

     "Don't call me mate!" Adrian shouted, not allowing the boy to finish his sentence.

     "Look, I just don't want to cause a scene alright? He's a second-year-"

     Miles started his sentence but was quickly interrupted again but a now fuming Adrian, "I DON'T CARE HOW OLD HE IS MILES!" His volume had disrupted the whole courtyard. It was early and no one wanted this, Miles especially. "He's old enough to know it's out of order!"

     "What? Stating she has dirty blood?" Malfoy was still smirking, "You and I both know it's true that Mudbloods don't have a place at this school. I don't know what your problem is."

     Adrian couldn't explain his fury. Every time Malfoy opened his mouth he got angrier. His knuckles had gone white from clenching her fist too hard, and he gritted his teeth with effort to remain as calm as possible or at least not to hex him in an instant. His face was red with suppressed rage.

     "You watch your mouth, Malfoy." he spat, edging closer, but he was pushed back by Miles' force on his chest.

     "Seriously Adrian. Don't. Just walk away. You could get into serious trouble." Miles was still attempting to stop him from doing whatever he was thinking of doing.

     "I don't care how much trouble I get in!" he shouted.

     "Seriously though. A Muggleborn? At least aim higher than a Mudblood, Pucey. I get she's your girlfriend and all, but I wouldn't expect someone of your status to stoop that low." Malfoy continued to fuel his rage.

     That was it. All that rage came out faster than magma and just as destructive. It consumed all that he was. Bianca wasn't his girlfriend, but that didn't make him any less furious than he was.

     He pushed past Miles and forced himself onto the boy, throwing a punch harder than any he has ever thrown, right in Malfoy's nose. He didn't want to use magic. Violence was enough. He thought Malfoy deserved some manners beaten into him. The muggle way.

current time
gryffindor table, great hall
8:28am

     Bianca's half-smile, half-smirk froze for a second, before her expression dropped to a confused sort of look. She titled her head at the girl, who had now started ushering her to leave the table.

     Leo and Bianca both stopped eating and stood up, slightly abruptly, and began following the girl out of the great hall and towards the outside courtyard; yells and even some cheers quickly becoming progressively louder. Bianca imagined the boys were currently suffering torture from the noise and chaos as their headaches must be thriving.

     They walked onto the grassy area where there was a large crowd, surrounding what they imagined was the fight. Some were cheering on the violence, some encouraging.

     Bianca pushed past two Ravenclaw boys to get to the center of the crowd of students, where she was met with Adrian practically on top of Malfoy. The two of them were still standing, but Adrian had the upper hand. They were both beaten up pretty bad; even Adrian had a few bruises brandished on his cheek.

     Miles Bletchley and Graham Montague were both trying to impose on the fight, both attempting to pull Adrian off of the thirteen-year-old. Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe on the other end, pathetically trying to intervene; their actions having no effect on the fight whatsoever, causing the two lower years Slytherins to edge away from the fight, giving up. Terrence Higgs took their place and grabbed onto Malfoy. Marcus Flint was looking too amused amongst the crowd.

     "DON'T YOU EVER REFER TO HER LIKE THAT AGAIN MALFOY, OR I SWEAR I'LL-" Adrian yelled, not noticing the same girl he was referring to, was now approaching him.

     "Adrian!" she yelled. "Get off him!" she forced herself between the two boys, obstructing any further fists that could be thrown.

     At the sound of her familiar voice, Adrian softened his actions and his rage died down enough for him to release his grip on the other boy. Terrence grabbed Malfoy's robes and threw him aside, a little too aggressively for Malfoy's liking.

     She stared at the boy and his black eye that was now forming. He avoided all eye contact with her, as this is not how he planned her finding out about his fight, seen as he knew she would at some point.

     "What the fuck Adrian?" she scowled.

     He straightened out his robes forcefully, before finally meeting her glaring eyes that were like daggers.

     "He called you a Mudblood Bianca." he gritted his teeth.

     "So you decided to jump him? I don't give a fuck what Draco Malfoy has to say about me! Let him. It's not your place to put him in his." There was severity in her voice, and Adrian couldn't quite help but feel taken aback.

     He didn't really think about how she would react to this ─ he didn't really want her to find out full stop ─ but this was the last of what he expected.

     "Larsson, you should have heard-"

     "I don't care! Draco Malfoy is just a stupid git that was brainwashed by his death eater parents Adrian! That was so unnecessary. I hope you enjoy your punishment." she spat slightly.

     The crowds had dispersed and now it was just Esmerelda and Leo waiting behind Bianca and the few remaining Quidditch players: Miles, Graham, and Terrence. The rest had wandered away, most likely to avoid trouble. Smart move.

     Bianca sighed before turning away having done what she was asked to.

     "What was I supposed to do? He-"

     "I don't need your protection, Pucey!" she shouted over him. "Just stay out of it next time alright?" she said gravely.

     He clenched his jaw and wiped the drop of blood resting just below his lip with his thumb and looked up at her, meeting her stern eyes. He nodded, running his tongue over his top row of teeth.

     "Good," she said bluntly, before finally walking away for her first lesson, her hair whipping at the rotation, leaving the slightly breathless boy alone.

     He was very quickly not alone, however, but soon found himself and Draco Malfoy, following Professor McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, and Professor Snape to an office awaiting punishment.

➼

     BIANCA MAY LOVE SCHOOL, BUT SHE HATES Gilderoy Lockhart. She thought he was a complete imbecile that was as dense as a rock, too foppish to care about his job and a terrible teacher that made her question how he even got an important position as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. What confused her most, was how and why the girls in her class found him as attractive as they did.

     She followed Leo and Alicia, and the two still very hungover Gryffindors into their first lesson of the day: Defence against the Dark Arts. The two girls hadn't stopped complaining about the pain in their heads and Bianca was still wondering why they didn't just take a remedy or something for it, distracting her thoughts momentarily from the fights that had happened not long before.

     'Why did he defend me?'

     'Since when did he care what Malfoy had to say?'

     'He knows I don't care that much. Why did he do it?'

     Her mind scrambled for answers. Answers she never got and probably never will as she was not prepared to talk to Adrian about it.

     "You alright Bianca?" she heard a sweet voice asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

     She looked up to see Alicia leaning over her desk slightly to face her; Leo stood in between the two girls.

     "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," she replied, taking her seat beside Leo.

     "If this is about the fight, Bi, just forget about it, yeah? Don't think too much into it." Leo advised her and she nodded, smiling and looking up at him.

     The class dragged on and twenty minutes felt like twenty hours with Lockhart. Bianca had taken not a single note about the actual subject but rather had to sit and listen to the blonde man drone on and on about how he apparently defeated the Bandon Banshee. Bianca herself thought he was bullshitting the entire lesson.

     Everyone seemed to be listening intently, causing intense silence to fall on the class. Silence including Lockhart's irritating voice. Bianca didn't think the reason as to why the class was so quiet was because they were so interested in what he had to say and were all anticipating the climax of the story, but because they were in fact asleep or at least falling asleep.

     Some were. Most were.

     Nonetheless, that quiet, still sense around the room was broken, when the door swung open and a boy wearing his green accented robes stood in front of the class.

     Bianca was on the verge of falling asleep, but her head shot up at the sound of the creaking rusty hinge and the door opening, where she saw Adrian Pucey standing alone.

     His robes dropped to his legs, as always, but the bright, red bloodstain on his shirt stood out like a sore thumb against the perfect white canvas that was his collar. He had a large, black-blue bruise evident as ever, surrounding his swollen eye, that looked painful to keep open. There was a deep slash below his lip, that was once bleeding but was now nothing but a scar. His lip was quivering, which made Bianca wonder how Malfoy was doing around about now. She didn't care but was just curious due to how angry Adrian was at the time. Adrian was three years older, had a bigger build due to how often he played Quidditch and had the potential to be very aggressive. Bianca was surprised that Mafloy even got one hit on him, let alone give him a black eye. Malfoy must be aching.

     "Sorry I'm late sir, I was uh . . . in the hospital wing," he murmured, looking down the entire time he spoke. Bianca imagined this was not because he was embarrassed in front of the rest of the class, but because he didn't want to look at her specifically.

     "That's alright. Why don't you take a seat? I was just telling the class here about how I single-handedly extinguished the Bandon Banshee." he grinned and gestured to the class and the few vacant chairs dotted around the room.

     Bianca glanced to the empty seat beside her own than back at the boy. Their eyes locked, but only for a second before he readjusted the bag resting on his shoulder and he began walking into the rows of desks; all the students staring at him and his black eye.

     Bianca tried to ignore the figure now approaching her by distracting herself with the teacher she hated the most, as he returned to rambling on about himself and his 'accomplishments' that he was so overly proud of and the ones he thought people enjoyed to hear about, most of which, didn't bar a few teenage girls currently fangirling.

     He was less than a couple meters away from her now and it was clear that he had opted to sit beside her.

     'He was just avoiding eye contact, so why is he coming to sit beside me?' she thought.

     She was not looking in his direction but she could sense his close proximity; her thoughts running laps over and over in her head, causing her to overthink about what could happen when he pulled out the chair beside her.

Well, this is going to be awkward.

𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔!

editing me here: why did i think that was a cliffhanger?

did old me really think that
4.5k words was too long to 
continue? pff

also, just a side note, a 16-year-old
and 12/3-year-old fighting isn't out
of the ordinary in the uk lol. maybe
at hogwarts it could be, but let's just
ignore the ages for now xx

i was going to edit it, but honestly? i cba
all i'm really editing is grammar and sheesh
it was bad