That Way

Chapter Twenty-Eight FOCUS

"Then almost kissed me in the dark."

 "Fuck, fuck, fuck." I mutter, sliding on my flats as I scrape my hair into a high ponytail with the other hand. I quickly reach for my rosewater perfume and hastily spray my neck.

Once again, I'm a few minutes late. I pad down the stairs, only stopping for a moment in the seemingly busy common room.

A soft sniffle distracts me, and I spin around to an empty corner where I see Ginny curled in a chair.

"Woah, Gin, are you alright?" The party forgotten, I kneel at the bottom of her chair.

"Y-yeah." She stutters, and a wave of remorse crashes over me. "I got in another fight with Dean." She admits, and I hold her hand, squeezing tightly.

"That bitch." I hiss, and Ginny laughs lightly. "Do you want to skip the party?" I offer, still clutching her hand.

"No, let's go ahead and go. You look too cute in that dress to not show it off in front of Harry." She laughs, and I join her, helping her up and fixing her hair. I glance down at my long sleeved scarlet dress that hugs me comfortably.

"Hey, I can show this off to anyone I want." I spin around, running my hands down my hips. We both laugh and Ginny wraps an arm around me as we leave the common room.

Before we walk into Slughorn's office, I wipe her eyes. "Hey, by the way, I dropped a few hints about you to Luna, and she said 'Ginny is exceptionally pretty' so I asked her if you asked her to hang out with just you two if she'd like that."

"What did she say?" Ginny clings to my arm.

"She said yessss." I smirk, and Ginny smiles, which gives us both the confidence to enter the room.

"Oh, Miss Weasley, Miss Le—Dabria, how nice of you to join us." Slughorn smiles, as everyone's eyes revert to us. I feel uncomfortable under the gazes and worry I'm turning the hue of my dress.

"I'm sorry, I'm not usually late." Ginny assures the professor, who smiles warmly.

"I am." I mutter under my breath, which gets a suppressed laugh from Ginny as she takes a seat next to Hermione. I can feel Harry's eyes on me as I take a seat between Ginny and Mclaggan, who probably hates me since I made Ron keeper. Sure enough, he glares at me before directing his gaze to Hermione. Ugh.

"No matter. Help yourself to the dessert, that is if Belby's left you any." He laughs at his own joke, as I direct my gaze to Marcus Belby, who's having plenty of fun with his desert. If I had known there'd be desert, I wouldn't have eaten so much at dinner.

I try to eat some anyway, holding back a laugh as Hermione explains what her parents do in the muggle world. She's explained it to me before, but watching Slughorn's reaction is hilarious.

I almost sneeze ice cream out of my nose watching Belby lick his bowl, and I watch Blaise, one of Draco's friends, judge Belby with his whole soul and being.

He must notice me watching, because he locks eyes with me, glancing me up and down before smirking. I roll my eyes, and go back to focusing on my ice cream.

I figure my potion making and reputation must be pretty good for Slughorn to let me join the club since Draco wasn't allowed because of his dad in Azkaban. My parents are about a thousand times worse, so it's a sort of confidence boost that I was allowed. Maybe he thinks I'll be something great one day.

~~~~

Classes are finally over for the day, and I lean against the wall, exhausted. I just want to rest in the common room with Hermione and Ginny. Maybe I can convince Ginny to break up with Dean today.