Bat-Bogey Hexers

89

Viola wiped her tears on the back of her hand as she headed down the dark corridor heading to the Slytherin common room. She didn't want any one in her house to see her cry.

It's stupid to cry over bloody boys, Viola told herself in her mind, but that didn't stop her sniffling.

But Viola wasn't just crying about boys. She was crying because it seemed no one cared about her, or her feelings. And that hurt quite a lot.

Viola approached the Slytherin Common Room entrance and was a about to say the password when a voice cried, "Viola!"

Viola looked around to see Hugo hurrying toward her. She turned away and hastily dried her eyes further. She didn't want Hugo to see her cry, either. She knew he wouldn't stop asking her why, and Viola just wasn't ready to tell the story.

"How was the ball?" asked Hugo eagerly.

"Good," said Viola. Her voice sounded strained and not at all normal.

In the dim light Viola saw Hugo's grin fade slightly.

"Just good?"

"Yeah, uh," Viola cleared her throat, trying to make it sound normal. "It was really good." She tried to change the subject by looking around. "Is Clemi with you?"

"Yeah, she's over there," said Hugo, gesturing behind her.

Viola looked around the boy and saw Clemi slumped against the wall, fast asleep with her blonde hair plastered across her face.

"She got tired, huh?" asked Viola.

"Yeah," said Hugo with a grin. "We had a great time! We went up to the kitchen and had a blast! Best food fight I've ever been in! You should've seen Clemi, she was actually smiling!"

"Well, well, that is quite the achievement," Viola laughed lightly.

"Yeah. But tell me more about the ball? Did you and Benny-boy snog?" asked Hugo. He looked half disgusted and half delighted by the idea.

Viola carefully avoided the last question. She did a big fake yawn.

"I'll have to tell you more about it tomorrow," said Viola, "I'm really tired right now."

"Oh, alright," said Hugo. "Happy Christmas, Viola."

Viola gave a sad little smile. "Happy Christmas, Hugo."

Then she gave the password, and slipped into the Slytherin Common Room.

🦇🦇🦇

After a couple of dances, Neville suggested they take a break, then went off to get some butter-beer for both of them.

Ginny took a chair on the sidelines.

Wincing, she bent over and peeled off her ballet-flat shoe. It was a little too small for her, and after a hour or so of dancing, her feet hurt. Ginny examined her foot and found a red blister forming near her toe. Ginny regarded it grimly. She'd had a feeling this might happen, but she hadn't wanted to write home and bother her parents about new shoes. She'd just got these shoes last year, but her feet had already grown since then.

"Hi," said a voice, "Are you alright there?"

Ginny looked up to see a dark-haired boy sitting nearby. His eyebrows were knit together with concern.

Ginny dropped her foot. "Yeah," she said, "Just got a bit of a blister."

"I see," said the boy. "I expect there is a spell that could fix that, but unfortunately, I don't know it. I'm Michael Corner by the way."