Fine Line || Ron Weasley

Chapter 7

Footsteps echoed through the corridors as Isabelle, Pansy, and Blaise sneaked towards the Hogwarts kitchen. The giggles and laughs echoed even louder than the footsteps.

"Are you sure we won't get caught?" Isabelle asked, suddenly halting.

"No." Pansy kept walking. "Blaise and I have never been caught. Plus, the teacher that patrols the corridors this day is Snape, so we won't get punished."

Blaise shrugged. "Yeah, Isabelle. I know how to get out of trouble."

Isabelle sighed and ran a bit to catch up. She was pretty hungry, a little midnight snack won't hurt.

They had been drinking some firewhiskey in the common room. Tomorrow they were going to regret everything but at the moment it seemed like a good idea. Isabelle didn't know how Blaise snuck the whiskey into the school, but none of that mattered.

Pansy had come up with the great idea of sneaking into the kitchen, claiming that she and Blaise did that all the time years before. Draco, as always, was nowhere to be found. Isabelle had asked Blaise if he had seen Draco and if maybe he wanted to drink firewhiskey too, but Blaise brushed her off.

Pansy went up to a painting of a fruit-basket and ran her hand along the pear. A door suddenly opened and a kitchen filled with house-elves came into view. It was pretty extraordinary, all the house elves cooking and cleaning. Isabelle couldn't help but feel sad, she couldn't imagine a life just being a slave.

"Isabelle," Dobby the house elf gave her a little pie that he had been making. "I need some advice."

"Yeah, sure, Dobby." She said in response. Taking a bite of the pie. "What do you need advice on?"

"My dear friend called Winky had been in some depression spiral ever since her master let her go." He informed her, pointing towards a girl elf that was sitting on a small stool, drinking butterbeer. "How do I get her to come help me clean?"

Isabelle looked over at Pansy for guidance, but figured that Pansy was too drunk to do any good. "Well, erm- you can help her by making her happy."

"How do I do that?"

"Maybe show her pictures of her old master or help her get over working for him." Isabelle had made all of this up on the spot so she wasn't sure it was going to work.

"That is what Dobby always liked about Master Isabelle." Dobby gave her a bashful smile that made her heart fill up with a feeling of home. "She is the wisest master Dobby has ever had."

Isabelle smiled at the comment, but the smile was wiped off when she saw Harry Potter and Ron Weasley enter the kitchen, holding a sock for Dobby.

"Oh, Dobby's masters meet." Dobby jumped up and down.

Isabelle scowled and looked the other way. "Really, Dobby?" She was mostly agitated.

Pansy and Blaise continued giggling in the background at an obnoxious volume.

"We meet again, Isabelle." Ron said. His red hair fell perfectly on his forehead and the striped shirt he was wearing was a bit too tight, probably a hand-me-down.

"Whatever, Weasley." Isabelle shook her head while looking at him meanly. "We were just leaving actually."

"Why leave the party so quickly?" Ron asked.

"Get out of the bloody way, Ron!" Isabelle exclaimed at him as Harry just stared silent.

He finally moved and Isabelle stormed out, not noticing that Pansy and Blaise were not behind her. She just assumed they would follow, but they didn't. "Whatever." Isabelle though. They would find their way back to the dorms.

She slept like a baby that night. Maybe it was the drinks they had, or just plain exhaustion. She has been extremely tired these past couple days. Not in terms of sleeping, just of Hogwarts. Isabelle never thought she could get homesick, for she didn't feel like she had a home.