2 | CONFESSIONS° HARRY POTTER

20 | THE QUIBBLER

ACT THREE, loss
CHAPTER TWENTY, the quibbler

     Because Harry had been too embarassed to approach after what Ron was calling "The Disaster Date", he told Hermione to inform Iris about his interview with Rita Skeeter that would be published in The Quibbler regarding the night Voldemort returned. 

Iris was surprised, to say the least, because Rita Skeeter and The Quibbler weren't exactly what she would call "reliable sources", but then again, neither was the Daily Prophet.

"How'd your date go?" Sabina asked, sliding into the seat across from Iris in the common room when she and Tracey came in after they finished spending the day with Fred and George. After Iris left Hog's Head, she hadn't really been in the mood to spend anymore time in Hogsmeade so she went straight back to the castle and got ahead of her homework. 

Tracey sat down in the seat next to Iris and looked at her with an excited expression, wanting to hear all the details about how it went.

"It wasn't a date." Iris corrected.

"Uh oh, what happened." Tracey leaned forward. Iris sighed and closed her History of Magic book.

"Well, it was going really well at first. Harry and I were having a good time on our not date until Cho came in and started yelling at him while we were in Hog's Head." Iris said. 

"Yelling about what?" Tracey asked.

"About how Harry had led her on or something. I'm not really sure, I didn't stick around long enough to get the full story, but obviously there's some unfinished business there and I don't want to have to deal with all of that." Iris said. She didn't know what was going on between Harry and Cho but she had enough drama to deal with just by associating with Pansy, she didn't want to add their relationship drama to the mix. Besides, that display was enough to convince her that she had been right in saying that it wasn't a date like her friends had told her it was. "Anyway, enough about that, how was hanging out with Fred and George?"

Iris looked pointedly at Tracey and at the blush was the creeping slowly up her neck.

"Your friend here definitely has a crush on George." Sabina said nonchalantly. Tracey gasped.

"I do not!" Tracey denied quickly. Iris chuckled at how shocked she looked at the notion. 

"You definitely do. By the way, thank you for telling me that I had been calling them by the wrong name the entire time we were together." Sabina said sarcastically to Tracey. Tracey laughed, turning to Iris.

"It was hilarious." She said. 

"So," Iris asked turning to Tracey with a mischevious expression on her face. "are you going to ask George out?"

Tracey rolled her eyes.

"I'll ask George out when you admit that you have a crush on Harry." Tracey said. Iris pressed her lips together. "That's what I thought."

The entrance to the common room opened and Willa walked in with Blaise by her side. Iris nearly fell out of her seat when she saw Blaise smile down at Willa. She didn't think she'd ever seen him smile before, let alone so brightly. He leaned down and kissed Willa on the cheek before turning away from her. When he saw the three girls staring at him, his face dropped immediately and he went back to being stoic so quickly that Iris nearly thought she imagined the whole thing.

Willa waltzed over to them with a cheshire grin on her face.

"I take it the date was successful." Sabina said. Willa sat down beside her.