How To Annoy A Gryffindor ; harry potter

Step 46: Get The Approval

It was a mistake telling Austin anything and Ember knew that as soon as she had said it. The only good thing it did for her was to make her realise just how utterly stupid she had been. She loved him and she just let him go and now their relationship was never going to be fixed — not with everything that had happened between them it just wasn't possible.

She still hadn't gotten her letters back and it was unlikely that she ever would, especially if Austin had already burned them. It made Ember wonder why he was owling her, perhaps it was just 'hate-mail' she was receiving but she secretly hoped that it was more than that.

Merlin, everything was going downhill for her since she admitted it. Austin had made her train harder than ever and got angry every time she used the spell 'Expelliarmus'.

"Stop thinking about Potter!" he yelled at her, flicking his wand and sending a non-verbal spell straight at her.

She gritted her teeth angrily, "I'm not!" and she cast a particularly agressive Stunning spell straight for his chest which he only just blocked.

"Better," he would comment.

There was never a 'good job' or anything of the sort. He never did but it was even more unlikely now with everything that was going on in the world of Rowle's. Ever since Ember's mention of her mum and Harry Potter, Austin had tried to be in her company as little as possible. She didn't mind it but it meant that he was out of the house a lot more which just frustrated her. Oriana Rowle was the only person in the entire Rowle family tree who would ever care about her properly but now that she was dead it was just impossible.

Adding to her frustration, she couldn't think of any reason why there had been Basilisk blood dripping from the ceiling, there was nothing on Horcruxes so she couldn't research and the most annoying thing was that there was no owls. None anywhere near the house, not even in sight. Hades hadn't brought her any letters over the period that she'd been at home and it was slightly worrying her.

When Christmas finally arrived it wasn't the usual peppy spirit she got when she stayed at Hogwarts for the break. Usually, Cullen would enter the girl's dormitory, waking each of them up. Billie would fall off her bed, Georgia would scream and Cullen, Pansy always enjoyed hitting him over the head and Ember laughed her head off the entire time. Blaise would dress himself up as Father Christmas, which always seemed to be a slightly more Slytherin version (no red in sight) and Draco would get angry at everyone, telling us all to behave ourselves. Then there would be a snowball fight which Billie usually won. That was before the Dark Lord was alive, of course, and so they all knew it would never happen again. Especially if Ember's father was now out of Azkaban.

Snow danced in the light, a choreographed ballet conducted by the gentle wind. Ember stared at it through the glass of her window as if she were Rapunzel, high up in her tower that was more like a prison.

Austin was never the one to celebrate Christmas, he'd only ever done it when Oriana was alive. Ember missed the days where they were a happy family. Now she just questioned whether they were ever a happy family, everything felt like it was a lie now. The way Oriana had fought against the Dark Lord while her own husband served him so closely. She had to fix it... Perhaps Austin was stilll in denial.

"It's Christmas," she said, walking into the dining hall where he sat at the head of the table alone, reading the Daily Prophet while drinking a mug of steaming hot green tea.

He didn't look up, "That's nice, Love."

"'That's nice?'" Ember repeated, raising her eyebrow. "That's all you have to say?"

"What else do you want me to say? Merry Christmas? I doubt it's been very merry for anyone," said Austin, still not even bothering to look at Ember as he took another sip of his tea and flipped the page of his newspaper over.