The Ashes of Ebony

Chapter 21

"Mione! Ginny!" I said knocking on the portrait. I hadn't been to their common room in a while so I didn't know what the password was.

"Coming!" I heard a voice say and I chuckled. The portrait swung open to reveal Ginny's smiling face. She grinned at me and pulled me inside. The common room was crowded as usual with studying kids. But luckily I didn't see Harry or Ron anywhere.

"Hermione's up in her dorm. You don't mind sleeping here do you? We don't have classes tomorrow and I just thought it would be easier so you don't have to worry about curfew." She rambled as I followed her up the stairs. I laughed and nodded.

"That's fine. What about Lavender and Parvati?" I asked. They were Hermione's other room mates and Lavender doesn't like me very much. Not many Gryffindors do.

"They're staying in my dorm. They were happy to leave since Lavender is angry at Hermione." Ginny said smirking as we entered Hermione's dorm. Hermione was doing stuff everywhere really. I didn't know what she was doing but she seemed to be gathering stuff to put in a pile in the middle of the dorm next to a huge pile of pillows and blankets.

"Hey Hermione. Thanks for letting me stay here tonight." I said smiling. She shrugged and she stopped gathering things. Ginny led me over to the pile in the center of the room and I realized what all the stuff was.

"Painting my nails always relaxes me." Ginny said and she grabbed a pillow to sit on. I shrugged and followed suit as Hermione laughed sitting next to me.

"I can't remember the last time I painted my nails." I admitted as Hermione laid out all of her colors. I think Ginny brought some too because there was a lot of colors. Ginny picked out a pretty dark blue color while Hermione picked out a deep purple. I eventually decided on black.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" Hermione asked me as we started painting our nails. Ginny was painting her toes while Hermione and I painted our fingers.

"Kind of." I said.

"Speak." Ginny said sounding like a robot. I sighed.

"Do you guys care if I date Draco?" I asked. Technically Draco and I weren't dating it was just one date. But if he did ask me to be his girlfriend should I say yes?

"Look Ebony. None of us are exactly friends with Malfoy. But you are and I know you like him. We're ok with you dating him as long as he doesn't hurt you." Hermione said. I smiled at her as Ginny continued.

"The boys though....they might take some convincing." She said. I frowned.

"I don't know what to do. I want to be their friends and for them to be okay with my friends but if they're going to get angry every time I'm with Draco..." I trailed off not sure how to say it.

"Harry's your brother, and you know how he is about family. He's going to keep you as close as he can because you're the only family he has left. Aside from Sirius of course. But he doesn't know how far he can go. I have six brothers so I know how they can get annoying and protective at times. But you guys are new to this. I think you just need to give each other some space." Ginny said.

"I know. I'm new at having a brother too, but he's just so...forceful. I've only known that I had a brother for less than a month and he's getting so protective. I know I should just give him some space, but I'm afraid that he'll think I'm betraying him and then he'll hate me." I said sadly.

"Aww. It's like Romeo and Juliet." Ginny said and I snorted.

"How?" I asked.

"You're Juliet and Draco is Romeo. Harry's your dad. Get it?" Hermione said. My eyes widened and we all burst out laughing.