𝐎, 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃 ⎥ "He wants a fight with
a God? I'll give him one."
﹙ from stardust we came, to stardust we return ﹚
Prisoner of Azkaban - Deathly Hollows
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SNOW WAS SWIRLING AGAINST THE ICY WINDOWS ONCE MORE; CHRISTMAS WAS APPROACHING FAST. hagrid had already single-handedly delivered the usual twelve christmas trees for the great hall; garlands of holly and tinsel had been twisted around the banisters of the stairs; everlasting candles glowed from inside the helmets of suits of armor and great bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors. large groups of girls and boys tended to converge underneath the mistletoe bunches every time elara and harry went past,which caused blockages in the corridors; fortunately, however, elara's frequent nighttime wanderings had given her an unusually good knowledge of the castle's secret passageways, so that she and harry were able, without too much difficulty, to navigate mistletoe-free routes between classes.
ron, who might once have found the necessity of these detours a cause for jealousy rather than hilarity, simply roared with laughter about it all. although elara much preferred this new laughing, joking ron to the moody, aggressive model she had been enduring for the last few weeks, the improved ron came at a heavy price. firstly, elara and harry had to put up with the frequent presence of lavender brown, who seemed to regard any moment that she was not kissing ron as a moment wasted; and secondly, elara found herself once more the best friend of two people who seemed unlikely ever to speak to each other again. ron, whose hands and forearms still bore scratches and cuts from hermione's bird attack, was taking a defensive and resentful tone.
"she can't complain," he told harry. "she snogged krum. so she's found out someone wants to snog me too. well, it's a free country. i haven't done anything wrong."
elara nor harry answered, but pretended to be absorbed in the book they were supposed to have read before charms next morning (quintessence: a quest).
"i never promised hermione anything," ron mumbled. "i mean, all right, i was going to go to slughorn's christmas party with her, but she never said . . . just as friends . . . i'm a freeagent. . . ."
elara turned a page of quintessence, aware that ron was watching him. ron's voice tailed away in mutters, barely audible over the loud crackling of the fire, though elara thought he caught the words "krum" and "can't complain" again.
elara stuck with hermione most of the time, seeing as the two girls had a newfound understanding. she loved hermione, but missed being able to make really inappropriate jokes with ron and just being around harry in general. she used to be able to split her time pretty well, but lavender would send shooting glares at elara whenever she joked at ron, and refused to kiss him, which made ron moody. so for the sake of everyone's happiness, she begun hanging out more with hermione.
