Good Enough | hp

43| Christmas Discontent

Estella visited Harry again the next morning, slipping through the door and passing by the Quidditch team who smiled at her(with the exception of Wood, who looked rather hollow).

"He's going through a rough time," Alicia whispered to her out of the corner of her mouth. "Fred and George had to drag him out of the showers."

Estella crossed the room to Harry's bed, not surprised when she saw Hermione and Ron already there. Still, there was a small flicker of disappointment in her heart that she would not be able to speak to him alone.

With those two there, she felt... pressured. To remain calm and normal and not show any signs that would cause Hermione to question her or Ron to give her a look.

As she took the chair to the right of Harry and opposite both Hermione and Ron, she saw a few 'get well soon' presents on his bedside table.

There was a bunch of earwiggy flowers(which looked like yellow cabbages, Estella thought) that were no doubt from Hagrid, and underneath a bowl of fruit was a thin sheet of cardstock.

In front of it all was a bundle of broken twigs. Estella felt a frown cross her face briefly but she erased it almost immediately.

"Cards from your admirers?" Estella joked.

Ron was the one who spoke. "Ginny. She came in last night with that." He gestured to the card.

Hermione hit his shoulder. "Don't be mean Ron. I'm sure she tried her best."

"It wouldn't stop singing all night!" Ron protested. He said to Estella, "Harry had to put it under the fruit bowl so we could get some rest."

"Yeah, I figured that's why you didn't come back to our dorm," Estella told Hermione. "Madam Pomfrey was fine with you two staying?"

Inside her head, her mind was racing. A handmade card. From Ginny. 

She could envision the scene in her mind: a blushing Ginny, turning up with her creation, handing it to a smiling Harry.

She inwardly cursed herself. Sometimes she wished she could shake her head and lose all these persistent imaginations.

"She said it was okay," said Hermione, pointing to two beds on the left of Harry's. "We just slept there."

Estella nodded absently.

She recalled the events of last night, where she had sat waiting for Hermione on her four-poster bed.

Lavender and Parvati had entered, took one look at Hermione's empty bed and asked Estella if she was with Harry.

Estella had said "yes" and Lavender and Parvati had looked at each other.

"They're rather close, aren't they?" Lavender said, giggling. "Harry and Hermione."

"I guess," Estella responded, tight-lipped. 

"Do you think they'll end up dating?" Parvati had said conspiratorially.

"Maybe."

"I'm sure Hermione would tell you if she liked him," Lavender said, plopping down on her bed.

"Probably." Like how I told her? Probably not.

Hermione didn't return, and so that night, Estella was left alone, saying goodnight to the stars, who couldn't reply.

"Stella? Uh, Stella did you hear what I said?"

Estella shook her head to find Harry, Ron and Hermione all staring at her. "What?"

"I asked if you ended up sending that letter to your parents," said Harry.

Letter? Oh, the letter. Of course. "Yeah, I went to the Owlery on my way here. And I forgot to tell you. In their last letter they told you to write more," she added to Hermione.