subplot four

[james godric potter]

■ ■ hestia siobhan jones [6th]
■ ■ ---- ---- wood [7th]
■ ■ ---- ---- wood [5th]
■ ■ ---- ---- whitby [5th]

JONES was always the quieter one. When compared to her twin, she always seemed to fall into her shadow. Not that JONES minded. She was a particularly private person who had no interest in any spotlight being shined on her. Her sister was the quidditch player, she the prefect. She had a small circle of friends that she was dedicated to, but nothing more. She’s never even been kissed yet. She mostly keeps to her book, a silent beauty focused more on school than that week’s Quidditch scores or hot gossip.

WOOD [7th] was much more used to the attention being on him. He was the captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team. The Woods were famous for turning out fabulous quidditch players, and WOOD [7th] was no exception. Not that he particularly adored people talking about him. He didn’t really care either way. Laid-back and modest, he was mostly concerned with deciding if he wanted to pursue a career in professional quidditch. JONES always looked his way, but was too shy to approach him, and too private to divulge her secret crush to anyone but her twin sister.

But one day towards the beginning of her sixth year (his seventh), JONES found herself at the library (as usual) and unable to reach a book high on one of the shelves. WOOD, also in the library at the time, spotted her, and offered his help. The two got to talking and ended up sitting with each other for the rest of the afternoon, studying, chatting, and even laughing. WOOD was taken with the girl; JONES was nervous, but excited. The pair began spending more time together, until they were great friends. Over the Christmas holidays they owled each other at least every other day. Each party was starting to develop feelings, and to say that they’d completely disregarded other members of the opposite sex would probably be an understatement.

Meanwhile, WHITBY and WOOD [5th] were getting into their usual trouble. Both fifth year Ravenclaws, the girls hadn’t been friends very long. In fact, they used to detest one another, and were constantly competing in different respects. Both outgoing, headstrong girls, they originally clashed completely. The end of their fourth year, however, had brought an odd change in circumstances. After being paired together for a final project in Potions that required many long nights of studying, during which each girl contemplated and realized some things about herself, the girls ended up snogging behind a couple bookshelves in the library. And again behind a tapestry. And again on the Astronomy Tower.

Neither girl whispered a word of their secret snogging sessions to anyone, barely acknowledging the other, even! After a while, however, their awkwardness in experimentation wore off, and they simply settled on keeping their scandalous romance a secret from everyone, trying to avoid judgment from their peers and teachers in a time when sexual relationships between members of the same gender were frowned upon.

Recently, when JONES was making her evening rounds for her prefect duties, she stumbled upon the most curious of sights. She’d caught WHITBY and WOOD [5th], trapped in one another’s embrace, snogging in the restricted section of the library. Both 5th years immediately burst into tears, and Hestia, an extremely tolerant and caring individual, was quick to hush them and try to sort out what was going on.

But JONES wasn’t blind, and neither was WOOD [5th]. JONES knew that WOOD [5th] was WOOD’s [7th] younger sister, and WOOD [5th] knew that JONES and her brother were getting very close. WOOD [5th], in fear that JONES would tell her brother about her secret affair, threatened to ruin the older pair’s relationship if JONES ever told WOOD [7th] what she’d seen. JONES, knowing the siblings were close, agreed, not wanting to risk what she had with WOOD [7th].

But WHITBY and WOOD [5th] are spending more time together and neglecting their studies. WHITBY, always the more crazier of the two, has been getting WOOD [5th] to go parties with her and indulge in other bad decisions. WOOD’s [5th] grades are dropping and WOOD [7th] is starting to get concerned. He confides in JONES about his concerns, who nervously stays uncomfortably silent on the entire topic.

Will WOOD [7th] discover his sister’s secret affair? Will he approve, or be uncomfortable? Will JONES crack and tell WOOD [7th] about what she’s seen? Will one of them finally make a move on the other? Will WOOD [5th] tell her brother on her own? Will WHITBY become too fast paced for WOOD [5th]? Let’s find out…