Aionios

Chapter 27

"Ace, where are we going?", Astoria asked as the said raven-haired boy pulled her by her wrist out of the Great Hall, the rest of their Slytherin friends following just behind them.

"We're going to see if Draco screws up or not", Blaise answered for her, his arm slung comfortably around Pansy's waist as they walked side by side, "I saw Isabelle sneaking out just moments ago. She's probably on her way to the Quidditch Pitch".

"Oh, this is so exciting!", Thalia gushed, looking up to her partner, who had his hand settled protectively on her lower back, "Don't you think so, Theo?".

"Yes, Thalia", he smirked, eyes twinkling a brighter blue despite looking drowsy from all that dancing, "Let's just hope Draco didn't make a fool of himself".

"This is Isabelle we're talking about", Pansy snickered, "He always makes a fool of himself".

The chorus of chuckles that followed were an agreement of that.

It was that time of the night where most students were already heading back to their dorms, so it wasn't hard for the group of Slytherins to look inconspicuous on their way out of the Great Hall. Just as they were about to head out for the Quidditch Pitch, two arguing Gryffindors suddenly brushed past them.

"He's using you", Ronald Weasley grumbled as he attempted to stomp away from Hermione Granger, who had a look of betrayal and confusion on her face.

"How dare you?!", she exclaimed, hastening her pace, not allowing Ron to get away with his jerky attitude this time.

"Maybe we should go", Astoria, being tactful of the situation, whispered when her friends suddenly froze to watch the scene.

"Are you kidding?", Pansy smirked, leaning back against Blaise as if to enjoy the show, "I've been waiting for a drama like this since the night began".

"Seriously?", Astoria rolled her eyes, turning to Ace for help, but he merely shrugged and watched on with just as much interest, "You too, Ace? I can't believe this".

"I'm not usually interested in other people's business, but that Weasel has had this coming for a long time now", he grinned, admiring the brewing emotion in Hermione's eyes that was just waiting to explode and wreck havoc on poor old Weasel, "I've been waiting for Hermione to snap for so long. Looks like tonight was the last straw".

"He's way too old", Ron scoffed in disapproval, only fueling Hermione's aggravation.

"What? What- That's what you think!", she defended, voice raised and slightly breathless from keeping pace with Ron's long strides.

"Yeah", the redhead nodded in challenge, "That's what I think!", and then he turned his back on her, focused on getting to the stairs and just leaving her there to go crazy on her own.

But she was far from done, because she knew exactly why he was acting this way. She knew the exact reason why he was trying to ruin the amazing night she was just having with Viktor.

"You know the solution then, don't you?!", she hissed, chasing after him again.

Ron stopped, allowing Hermione to step in front of him. "Go on", he said as if asking her to enlighten him on what she thought the solution to all of this was.

"Next time there's a ball, pack up the courage to ask me before someone else does! Not as a last resort!", she screamed for everyone outside of the Great Hall to hear, "You can't just bitch around and ruin my night just because someone else was brave enough to ask me to the ball instead of you! For Merlin's sake, Ronald, you are a man! And a Gryffindor at that!".