Teen Drama or "Are we sure there are no more Horcruxes, wife?"

The Dawn of Romance

January 2011

Gianah sat far away from Stephen at the Slytherin table, completely ignoring him during the first dinner of the resumed term; beside her, Tiana Nott listened to her friend talking and glared daggers at Stephen – who sat many seats away.

"So," asked Sam O'Brien, sitting beside Stephen, "What's the matter between you and Princess Weasley now, mate?"

Stephen shrugged, "Nothing– and don't call her that," he finished rather cuttingly.

"C'mon, mate," added Charles Abbott, his other Slytherin friend, "She didn't like you before the Holidays, but now it looks like she truly hates your guts," he glanced at where Gianah sat, amongst the fourth years.

Stephen stopped piling food on his plate and decided to tell them: "I threw gum at her hair at Christmas – she wasn't happy."

Charles frowned, "Why did you spend Christmas together?"

"Her grandma threw this huge party and we were invited," Stephen said as if that was obvious, "Her brother is married to my sister, remember?"

"Oh, that's true; Draco Malfoy's wife is you sister... wait–" Sam tilted his head, as if just realising something: "Isn't the Charms and Transfiguration assistant, your brother Nicholas, married to a Weasley?"

"Yes," nodded Stephen, "Nick is married to Gianah's Uncle, Fred; Lynne is their daughter."

"So your sister is married to Gianah's brother and your brother is married to her father's brother?" said Charles, frowning as he struggled to understand that.

Stephen nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"Your family and the Weasleys are very confusing," said Sam, shaking his head, "Lynne is actually your niece, right?"

"Yes," Stephen drawled.

"She's pretty," commented his other friend.

"She's into girls, Charles," Stephen rolled his eyes.

"Anyway," continued Sam, "You should've thrown gum at Weasley's hair earlier, mate."

"Why?" Stephen asked, confused by his statement.

"Now she might stop paying attention to you and start looking at us; some of us would love to get to know her better, you know," Sam winked at him.

Stephen tried to convey nonchalance, "Good luck," but as he glanced towards Gianah, sitting many seats away from him, and imagined her sitting beside one of his friends, holding his hand and letting him kiss her... Stephen felt something hard and cold sink into his stomach and uneasiness had him suddenly uncomfortable.

Hunger. He told himself. I'm hungrier than I thought.

And he proceeded to add a couple more pork pies to his plate, eating his dinner mostly in silence, trying to warm up the cold he still felt seeping into his body.

____________

February went by with Gianah successfully ignoring Stephen – to his relief, for he was keeping his distance from her as well – doing so kept his friends away from her and he liked that.

Why?

Just because.

At least that was what he told himself.

____________

March passed by with Stephen's plan of staying away from Gianah being a complete success – his friends still talked about her but none of them approached her.