Atropos → george weasley

xlvii. the upshot

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forty seven

the upshot

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The Great Hall had been cleared of the extravagant decorations from the night before. The long House tables were back, the mistletoe wasn't mingling in the air with the candles, and the air was no longer perfumed with sweet spices. All that was left were a few red ribbons along the walls, red table runners, and a huge Christmas tree by the High Table.

By that time of year, Ottilie was well accustomed to her, Viktor, and a handful of students from other Houses being the first in the Great Hall. Even most of the teachers weren't there yet, apart from Flitwick and McGonagall who were chatting softly to one another. And Karkaroff, who was by himself, sitting one to the left of the empty Headmaster's chair.

"Mornin,'" Ottilie said to Viktor, sitting across from him as usual.

She almost fell over backward at his smile. She'd never seen him so bright.

"Good morning," he replied.

Ottilie narrowed her eyes and glanced around her shoulders before leaning closer to him. "Who are you, and what have you done with Viktor?"

He sort of laughed but ultimately ignored this. "Vere you enjoying the dance last night?"

"Yeah." She shrugged. This meant he had no idea about the Nosebleed Nougat fiasco, for which Ottilie was grateful. "It was nice. How about you?"

"It vas vonderful," said Viktor.

Neither of them spoke again until Millicent joined them later. She was grey-faced and overly silent when she sat down. She muttered a good morning and then kept her head down as she served herself breakfast. Ottilie knew why she was acting this way, but Viktor seemed concerned.

"Millicent, vhat is the matter?"

Ottilie gave Millicent a hard look. There was no point in getting into it with Viktor.

"Nothing. Just...stayed up late, and I'm tired this morning," said Millicent.

They sat in silence again after that. Ottilie finished her breakfast, said she'd see the two of them later, and headed out of the Great Hall, which had gotten twice as lively since she'd arrived.

As she stepped off the stairs into the Slytherin dungeons, she heard Pansy's voice straight ahead. Ottilie picked up her pace and walked right by Pansy and Tracey, pretending she didn't see them. She expected one of them to call after her, to try and rub salt in the wound, but neither of them did.

The common room was also quiet. Judging by the sheer noise and chaos Ottilie had walked into last night after running away from George, she guessed that a fair number of older students were stuck in bed with hangovers.

She climbed the narrow staircase on her way to her common room, thinking about the Nosebleed Nougats. After picking up her book bag from her room, she planned on going to Secret Lab II to work on the recipe while last night's thoughts were still on her mind.

She reached the landing to the fourth-year Slytherin girls' dormitory and opened the door. Inside, Daphne was sitting on her bed, reading a book with a frayed red cover. Ottilie stopped in her tracks and then closed the door as softly as she could possibly manage.

Unfortunately, Daphne heard her, and her head of thick brown hair snapped up—her big brown eyes looked unusually wide.

"Hello?" Ottilie asked hesitantly.