the kiss list, adrian pucey
𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐

chapter twenty-five, PUBLICATIONS AND PLANE TICKETS

✧ ━━━ · ✦ · ━━━ ✧

DESPITE IT BEING BUT A DAY LATER, THE BUZZ in the air had sky-rocketed, now December had rolled around. Christmas was now officially in view.

The castle was decorated with a light settle of snow, that would surely escalate as the twelfth month unfolded. Professor Lockhart had gotten carried away and the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was already flourishing with over-the-top decorations, that almost distracted the students from paying attention to their self-absorbed teacher. The Professor had shot himself in the foot, almost, with dancing over-head fairies and animated tinsel that ran along the ceiling and wall.

Bianca wasn't too sure how long the chocolate would stay good, and whether four months had been too long, but being the Muggleborn she is, she made sure to eat the first window from her Advent Calender the morning of December first where she was met with a single bitesize chocolate snowman, hidden behind a cardboard window.

Angelina Johnson and Katie bell were intrigued by the 24-doored picture-type object, despite not seeing the point behind it. Bianca had told them that it just gave her a reason to wake up in the morning, and that was enough to understand completely the purpose of a Muggle Advent calendar.

In spite of the momentous opening of door number one, the chocolate still very much in-date despite it being in her trunk for four good months, Bianca's Saturday detention, had abolished any gleeful Christmas-is-coming feels that she had gotten from the melt-in-your-mouth milk chocolate snowman she had eaten before breakfast. At least she had Malcolm to keep her company.

But then that posed its own problem. That was the problem. What to do about Malcolm Preece. Bianca couldn't come up with anything at ten in the morning and concluded that a second opinion was necessary once again. She had yet to tell Leo that she had called the bet with Adrian off and then on again, so before detention was probably the only chance she would get before it all went to shits.

After letting Marty out of his cage, and out into the open air to fulfill his day with his friends over at the Owlery, Bianca followed Angelina and Katie down to the Gryffindor Common room, which was at the highest capacity, Bianca had ever seen it at.

More or less the entire house was bundled into the room. Friends were sat on friends' laps, first years pushed up to sixth years, and Professor McGonagall waiting patiently at the entrance.

The three girls joined Leo, Alicia, and Oliver over by the fireplace, where there was just about enough space for all six of them, and turned their attention to the Professor.

Bianca gave Leo a look that read "I desperately need to talk to you later" and he nodded understandingly.

After a few more students shuffled down from their dormitories, some still with a messy bird's nest of bedhead, and the room had settled to a silence, Professor McGonagall cleared her voice.

"Professor Dumbledore would like all students from years five and above, to collect in the Great Hall at two o'clock this afternoon, for a special announcement. That is for years four and above. That will be all, thank you."

The Transfiguration teacher left through the portrait hole, and various students followed her out, en route for breakfast.

With the recommencement of chatter and the clearing of students in different directions, the group of six slumped into a set of crimson sofas.

Oliver clicked his fingers and pointed to Bianca, breaking the comfortable absence of sound that had fallen between the group, "You owe me a very overdue poker lesson." the boy said in his Scottish lilt.

Bianca nodded her head once, "That I do. How about tonight?" she turned her attention to the rest of the Gryffindors, "Everyone?"

"Alicia and I are sneaking out for a roof-top picnic." Leo shrugged, as he threw his arm over onto her shoulder. He smiled and pecked her on the forehead.

Bianca grimaced as she watched Alicia snuggle further into the crook of Leo's neck. She really ought to pay more attention sometimes, seen as she had yet to remember when any of this happened. "You make me sick." she narrowed her eyes at the boy who sat opposite. He smiled appreciatively.

"What's got you all 'I-hate-relationships-and-love' ?" Katie chuckled.

Bianca inclined her head. The answer was a variety of things, none of which she was going to disclose to the entire Gryffindor common room. "What I wanna know is if the PDAs are completely necessary?" she turned her attention to the couple.

Leo shook his head with a roll of his eyes, "You'll understand when you're in a relationship, Bi."

Angelina smirked, "With Adrian." she spoke fast, before covering up her words with a false cough.

Bianca raised her eyebrows, and glared at the girl with her mouth agape, "I'm sorry what was that Miss Johnson? Whatever you said was concealed by your throat hacking." she smiled sarcastically.

Angelina laughed, "Nothing to worry your pretty little head. And about tonight, we can ask the twins, I'm sure they'll play."

Oliver scoffed loud enough to make sure everyone hear, "I'm not playing with a pair of cheats."

"It's not "cheating" just because they are beating you, Oliver." Katie tried to stifle her laugh.

Angelina pursed her lips into a pout, "Ooh ouch. Right, well I'm hungry, so breakfast anybody?"

➼

"PLEASE. I WILL LITERALLY TAKE ANY SUGGESTIONS. ANYTHING." Bianca begged Leo, with emphasis on her desperation. Two o'clock had rolled around, and the pair were strolling back to the Great Hall for the announcement.

Breakfast had been made up of poker talk, possible outcomes of today's publication, and Professor Flitwick's new haircut ("Personally, I think it makes him look shorter.").

Bianca had missed her chance at grabbing Leo in a dying need of help for what she was going to tell Malcolm. Detention was creeping closer, and it's not like she could just miss it.

"Gosh, I dunno." the Gryffindor shrugged, with a sigh, as the two slumped into seats across from each other. The hall had been embellished overnight with a touch of December twinkle, and an atmosphere of delightful cheer.

Bianca looked him dead in the eye and read his face. "Don't give me that, this-is-your-problem-not-mine look!"

Leo slouched forward, his neck stretching forward, "I mean that's technically not wrong."

"Oh for fu - "

"Okay, okay." he stopped her mid-huff. Leo pondered on what to say, which could be anything to just shut her up. "Uh ... change your name and jet off to Barbados?"

She stared at him, "Okay by "anything" I meant, legal action. And that's a little extreme regarding my problem."

Leo glanced around, considering whether she would actually listen to anything he suggested. Barbados is a lovely country after all. "You know, you could just tell him the truth?" he offered tentatively.

"That I'm trying to win a childish bet with the guy I hate, and that I sorta used him because I would do anything to abolish Pucey's major ego issues?" Bianca spoke, rather fast and bluntly.

Leo sucked in some air, "Barbados works."

Bianca's shoulder drooped, having lost any last hope that she once had.

Leo snapped his fingers, "Tell him you're gay."

"That might work." she rested her hand behind her neck and used her elbow for support. "Maybe that can be Plan C. Or D."

"Well, what exactly is your aim here?" he asked, seeing how forlorn her expression had become.

"To simultaneously not break the poor guy's heart, or lie to him, whilst going forward with the bet and kissing eleven more people?"

Bianca truly felt horrible, and the saddest part is, is that she liked Malcolm. She really did. But from the beginning, Adrian's relationship with Bianca would always come down to a competition, of which, had to have a winner. As much as she pained to look at Malcolm, she wasn't going to lose. Especially after calling it off, once before.

"So tell him you're gay," Leo shrugged. "It might hurt a little, but he'll understand. And it's not like it's a complete lie. It's like half the truth."

"Okay you're totally useless and I hate you and hereby unfriend you." Bianca clapped her hands together with a huff.

"I gave you two solid suggestions." Leo defended. "And okay so maybe Barbados is a little far-fetched, but we could always change it to Mikanos. That's a little closer." He inclined his head.

Bianca sighed, very close to booking tickets to Greece or the Caribbean ─ she had yet to decide on the location as well ─ when Fred and George Weasley moved towards them from down the table, sliding along the bench.

"We have no idea what you two are on about," Fred began, inching closer.

"But, if you're interested in holiday resorts," George continued, inching closer.

"Might we suggest Egypt?"

"It's very exotic." George bobbed his head.

"We've heard all about it."

"Barbados sounds nice too, though, for the record," George said, the pair of them, almost on top of Leo.

Bianca smiled politely. "Thanks, boys." she nodded her head slowly as if pretending that she was going to take their holiday destination suggestion seriously.

"And for what it's worth," Fred started again.

George leaned in a little closer, Bianca doing the same. "We can help with the 'changing the name' thing," he whispered.

Bianca was unsure what illegal things the Weasley twins got up to and she most definitely had not planned on changing her name and fucking off to the Caribbean, but for now, a tropical island in North America sounded like paradise. She edged closer, "Got any hookups for plane tickets-"

She was cut off, by a body pushing up to her left side, and clapping her fingers onto the table, "Malcolm can't stop talking about you, Bi. I think he's in love." Maxine O'Flaherty drooled, with an expression of "isn't that sweet?".

Bianca turned startled to look at the Hufflepuff, now budged up to her left. Her heart sank a little, all the while trying to keep a "wow thank merlin he feels the same way" look on her face, as Maxine beamed up at her.

She was going to kill Adrian Pucey.

Bianca pulled her eye line away from the girl and rotated her head to look at a"good luck getting out of this one" Leo, and the two "Bianca has a boyfriend?" redheads staring back at her. She sucked in some air, grinding her teeth before letting it all out, "Barbados it is."

"Thank you all for joining me students," a voice boomed from the front of the hall, saving Bianca from explaining the significance of Barbados to a slightly confused Maxine, who had now scurried back to the Hufflepuff table - Malcolm Preece waiting on that other end for what Maxine had to say about her talk with Bianca.

"Now December has rolled around, I am thrilled to tell you the exciting news for this upcoming month, that I hope you will all be able to look forward to," Dumbledore continued, radiating his grin to the half-empty hall. "On the twenty-fourth of December this year, we will be hosting a ball to commemorate one thousand years since the founding of Hogwarts school!" the Headmaster clasped his hands together, smiling animatedly to the students.

The murmurs of fuss surrounding the news broke out within seconds before Dumbledore dismissed the room and informed all that more details would be disclosed in the run-up to Christmas, eliminating it momentarily. But the minute everyone was on the move again, discussions started up, as groups left the room - their conversation topics not straying from the ball.

Bianca didn't know what she thought about a ball. It's not like she would be going home for the break anyway, but when there's a ball, there's a partner. And when there's a partner, or date, or dance buddy, there is the chance that Malcolm Preece is at risk of rejection. And a bet, however determined she was to win it, was not worth the expense of that.

Bianca and Leo, along with the twins had remained seated, just like a few other Gryffindors around them.

"Bet Lockhart's beside himself," she said, lacking the emotion that the rest of the hall had towards the news.

"Thought you'd be a bit more enthusiastic," Leo mentioned.

Bianca shrugged as if unbothered, "I'm sure you are though, Mr loverboy?" she taunted.

"Well it's not like you won't have any date candidates," Fred teased, earning a snort from George, as he motioned to the Hufflepuff table, and a certain blonde.

"Oh, she'll have date candidates, alright," Leo grinned.

Bianca kicked him under the table, still rather annoyed she didn't have any game plan as to not break Malcolm Preece's heart and still win this bet. Now with another problem on her trail, Bianca felt hopeless with a touch of pissed. "Bugger off." she spat.

"Well, why don't you? Barbados is lovely," Leo continued to tease.

Bianca stood up abruptly, "I prefer Mikanos." she said, her composure still intact, but hanging by a thread, before walking off.

Jetting off to a tropical island, with a different alias seemed like her only plan. Let's just hope the plane tickets are cheap - the Larssons aren't made of money.

➼

ADRIAN PUCEY HAD MADE IT HIS MISSION to repair whatever mess of a relationship he once had with Bianca. Even if that was just speaking terms. And even if he was the one who put himself in this position to need to restore it.

And the award for the shortest and most pointless argument goes to ...

"Do you know how I can get a detention on purpose?" Adrian watched Bianca walk out the hall, with large strides and a sense of intent.

"And you want a deliberate detention, because?" Graham questioned, as the small group of Slytherins collected their things and got up from their seats, ambling to the exit.

"No reason. Bored?" Adrian offered as a reply. It's not like he was going to tell them the truth, now was it?

"You're bored and you think the best solution is to torture yourself with a detention?" Miles questioned.

"Let the man cope how he wants to," Terrence said. "Ask the Weasleys - I'm sure they've got what you need."

Adrian spotted the two redheads, still sitting at their table, which Bianca had just left. They were lost in conversation with the third Gryffindor beside them. "Yeah, alright. I'll see you guys later." Adrian let the group of boys wander forward without him, as he stopped beside the lion's table.

Miles glanced back to the boy who was now seated opposite the ginger twins, "And we think this is normal?"

"Don't question his methods." Cassius slapped a hand over the boy's chest. "There could be a bird involved," he smirked, earning a cackle from Terrence, as the boys continued to the Slytherin common room.

All whilst Adrian stayed behind.

"Yeah for a price," Fred smirked.

"So what will it be?" George grinned.

As Leo sat idly by, the two brothers, pulled out a collection of jokes, that they had on hand. "The Dungbomb?"

"Guaranteed to stink out an entire corridor, and earn you a detention." George nodded enthusiastically.

"They're McGonagall's least favourite to clear up," Fred said, sneering to his brother, reminiscing past experiments with said product.

"Or, Thor's Thunder Cracker," George pushed forward a cardboard box, decorated with lightning bolts, and explosions of colour.

Adrian peered over at the box, then back to the beaming faces, "Who's Thor?"

"Doesn't matter."

"What does is," George dragged out his vowel sounds.

Before Fred finished, "What are you going to choose?"

"I'll go with the Dungbomb," Adrian said cautiously, pointing to the box with the elephant on it.

"Smart move." George nodded.

"That'll get you a detention easy."

"Just clean your hands afterwards."

"Okay, great. So what do I owe you?" Adrian asked taking hold of the box with one hand and filing through his pockets with the other.

"One Sickle, twenty-one Knuts." the brothers said simultaneously.

Leo watched as the boy paid for his joke, thank the twins, and leave for his bombsight.

Leo's brows remained furrowed. Why on earth did Adrian Pucey want to deliberately get detention?

➼

"MR PUCEY!", Professor McGonagall yelled through coughs of smoke, and a pinched nose, as the students around her cried at the stench. Adrian stifled his laugh, fighting the pang in his nostrils. "What on earth do you think you are doing?!" she bellowed, as she approached the boy through the clouds of brown smoke. She grabbed onto his robe, and tugged him out of the "kill-zone".

"Just a bit of a laugh, really, Minnie," Adrian said, laying it on thick, by using a nickname.

"Detention! This afternoon! My office!" she listed things out of rage. The Professor cleared the air with a swish of her wand, and a fresh breeze was restored in the corridor once more. "Silly boy," she muttered, as she shook her head and blew her nose, before disappearing back into her office.

Adrian was pleasantly surprised at the bomb's ease of success, and all he had to do now, was kill some time before four o'clock arrived.

➼

FROM THE OUTSIDE, BIANCA'S CAUSE OF PANIC WAS PATHETIC, and not worth the trouble she was putting herself through, but to her, detention, alone with Malcolm was a nightmare that she wanted to wake from. He wasn't the nightmare, she sort of was.

         Bianca could only think of one possible place that could make her feel better, without stressing her out further: the Library. The source of peace at Hogwarts. Maybe playing herself in a game of chess would lower her levels of stress even just the slightest.

The Library was just as tranquil as it always was. And just how she needed it to be.

Settling in a nook amongst the bookshelves, Bianca found peace. What she could muster, in actual fact. She readied a board of black and white, and began pushing the pieces forward and back, diagonal and around, already feeling a tad more relaxed than before.

➼

PHASE TWO OF "GET BIANCA TO LIKE ME AGAIN" involved Adrian needing to get her alone, before the detention even happened. Malcolm Preece was a slight obstacle in his plan of joining her in detention. So was the fact that Adrian wouldn't be allowed to speak to anyone throughout the duration of the punishment. At least he could get a word in now.

Having watched her leave with pace in her step, meant to Adrian that there was only one possible place she could have ended up in because she was showing signs of stress. Technically, there were multiple, but he didn't have access to the Gryffindor tower, so, in actual fact, there was only one possible place Bianca could be, that Adrian could get to.

The Library had become rather familiar to Adrian of late. And he saw nothing wrong with that.

Finding Bianca, hidden between the rows of books, wasn't hard at all ─ her yellow hair could be seen between the cracks in the shelves.

She had a checkered board out in front of her and an empty seat opposite.

Adrian took that seat.

Bianca glanced up at the movement before her, meeting his eyes. She sighed with the essence of a groan, "Okay, all offence intended, but you are the last person I want to talk to right now. So unless you are here to apologize, please run along back to whatever hole you crawled from."

"A, rude. And B, I'm not here to apologize;" he inclined his head, and pointed at the mid-play chess board between them, "I'm here to win."

Bianca scoffed, pausing her game, a Knight in her grasp, "I'm sorry, win? I haven't even taught you the whole rulebook."

"You didn't need to, I read up on the remainder."

"You picked up a book?" she repeated for confirmation. The Slytherin rolled his eyes, "About chess?"

"Oh don't give me all that I'm-surprised-you-can-even-read crap. Yes, I checked out a book and yes, I read it. To its entirety." he dragged out his words. "And I think I registered enough of what it said because I believe I am ready to play you."

Bianca exhaled, putting down the singular piece, "Fine." she began re-setting the board, so he could play black, and her white. "But just so you know, you don't stand a chance."

➼

ADRIAN DID NOT HAVE A CHANCE. He was not going to win.

"So who are you planning on taking to this ball?" he asked, breaking the silence that had settled, as the two of them sat, concentrated expressions, moving the pieces across the board.

The publication of the ball was all but an hour ago, and Bianca had a lot of other things to worry about. Adrian being the cause. Going alone, seemed to be the only mediocre option for her.

"Oh, so all of a sudden I have to have a date?" she took his last rook.

"Well no, I just assumed that something like this would excite you, and you would want to share that with someone?" his tone became one of a question.

Bianca held another black pawn that she had taken from him in her hand and looked up at the boy, who was staring at the board, contemplating what to move next. "Are you suggesting yourself as a candidate?"

"What?" he looked up, startled by her suggestion. "No. Course not. Ew." he bluffed. "You're going by yourself, and well that's "independence at its finest"." he grinned caustically, with an inclined head, as he tried to cover up his bluff.

Bianca smiled sarcastically, and with one swift movement, she moved her remaining Bishop, two places to her left diagonal, concealing her smirk. "Checkmate."

Bianca didn't doubt that she was going to win, but it still felt just as great to win anyway.

Adrian tutted and rolling his eyes, knocking over his king with a single push. "Okay, fine." he sighed, sitting up straighter, and more poised towards the board. "But it was my first go, so re-set." he pulled his chair closer to the desk and began returning his black pieces to their designated starting squares.

Bianca stood up, and removed her robe from the back of her chair, "You played okay considering it was your first time, and like I said originally, you will never beat me, but I have a detention to go to." she gestured to the door, pulling her robe over her uniform and placing her bag onto the chair, at which she was just sat. "And as much as I would love, from the bottom of my heart, to play another round, I can't." she pulled the board and pieces back into her bag with a hand over her heart. "So good day."

Bianca had but turned around, when Adrian smirked, "Oh, you have the detention with McGonagall right?" he said, knowing full well she did.

She rotated back to face him, her bag resting on her shoulder, "Right." she said slowly.

Adrian's smirk had dissolved into a smile as he stood up, "Then I can come with."

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" she asked, as he collected his things.

"I have detention with McGonagall too. Four o'clock? Her office?" Adrian asked to confirm.

Bianca's eyebrows knitted together, "Yes."

"Great. Let's go then."

She watched as he brushed past her side, and continued his stroll out of the library, her mouth hung open, "Oh, you've got to be shitting me."

Bianca Larsson was quite obviously not going to create a false identity, and disappear to the Caribbean, but as she walked to Professor McGonagall's office in time for her Saturday detention ─ Adrian Pucey at her side ─ that's exactly what she wanted to do.