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——WHERE THE FLOWERS BLOOM
"I KNEW I'D FIND YOU HERE," GINNY SIGHED AS SHE CROSSED THE THRESHOLD OF THE KITCHEN TOWARDS A SLEEP-DEPRIVED EFFIE, WHO WAS NURSING A CUP OF GINGER TEA.
Surprise, surprise, Effie had another nightmare again. She was faced with the same riddle—everyone has it, but no one can lose it, what is it—and every time she was futile with the answer, a person was killed. This time, that person was Millicent.
All the more people to avoid so their deaths wouldn't bother me, Effie says to herself bitterly. "If you're here to accuse me of something I clearly didn't do, well you won't need to. The last person I reasoned with wasn't exactly supportive, so. . . "
"I believe you," Ginny says fiercely. Effie shakes her head—several people of her house already said that, and after that comes the inevitable question of how'd you do it?
"You can stop pretending that you do," Effie waved off, barely managing to keep the bitter undertone out of her voice. "Because even if you ask how I did it, I wouldn't know. Perhaps I died and my ghost did it for me—"
"Effie."
"Or maybe, you know, I had an evil twin no one knows about wanting to replace me so they put my name in hopes I'd get myself killed—"
"Effie."
"Or I could've siphoned off the magic from Dumbledore's age line for a few seconds just to slip my name—"
"Lillian Euphemia!" Ginny snapped. Effie stopped, startled, but then scowled slightly. "I don't care about how you did it. The point is, I believe you—you're one of the most level-headed, smartest people I know, and I know you're not a complete dumb arse like Harry when it comes to danger."
"You. . . You really think I'm smart?" Effie blinked, actually surprised. The only people who truly believed she didn't want this was Pansy. . . speaking of, why was Pansy taking so long—
"Of course! Merlin, Effie, even if you don't usually participate in discussions you can easily shut someone down with a smart remark," Ginny countered back. "Would you care to tell me when the first task is, if you're finished?"
"November twenty-fourth," Effie says quietly, wrapping her arms around herself. "You know, the rest of the Slytherins are in it for the win?"
