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chapter seventeen
"IT'S SAFER TO JUST GO"
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"And then," said Melanie, chewing on a piece of toast. Blood-red strawberry jam sat on top of the butter, and it kept on falling onto the plate underneath. Em sat opposite her, as the other half of their quartet were busy finishing some homework. She can't remember what. She thought it would be a little ironic, though, if it was something set by Slughorn, considering both Carmilla and Dinah were members of his weird club.
Well, Em was technically a part of it, but she was incredibly aware that she only got the invitations because Slughorn felt sorry. Sure, she was good at Potions, but that was because Slughorn told her beforehand about surprise tests, or homework a week before it was set, so she had longer to complete it. She appreciated it, she really did, but she couldn't help but feel weird. There was a nagging pain in the bottom of her stomach every time he — or any teacher, for that matter — pitied her and babied her because of it.
She knew they were trying to help, but she felt worse. They were going out of their way to make sure that she was fine, but really, it often felt like they were prodding at the alien, figuring that they might be doing the right thing, and it's working so far, so it should be fine.
Emilia felt bad being annoyed about it. It was just that she felt like an alien in those moments. And she knew they didn't mean to make her feel that way, but she did, and she didn't like it.
"He told me that he's in the running for some really amazing job, which I suppose is a good thing, right?" Melanie glanced over at Em, who shrugged. Pulling a face, Melanie continued, "It's at the Ministry, though, but Sage says the job's still a good one, but that's the one drawback. Which is good. He doesn't like the Ministry. Better than some of these idiots, huh?"
Melanie gestured to the boy in the year below, reading a copy of the Prophet. Em rolled her eyes, and the boy seemed to have overheard the comment, to which he looked back and frowned, like he would say something back, but he knew it would be useless. It would just result in his life becoming hell, thanks to Melanie.
"Does this mean you're going to lay off destroying egos?"
"We're not going out," said Melanie. Em raised an eyebrow, and Melanie rolled her eyes. "OK, Em, I love you, but making out doesn't translate to, yep, we're going out. I thought you'd know that. You're not going out with Sirius, are you? You keep on making out with him."
"I mean, I haven't asked — well, no, he doesn't decide, but—" Em let out a sigh. "You know what I mean." Melanie frowned. Em sighed. Again. "I don't know if we are. I don't think so. At least, if we were, I would be aware of it."
