Blinding | Draco Malfoy

fifteen

"Oh, bloody hell." Ron groaned, looking off in the corner of the room. They all looked that way, then, seeing Ginny and Dean together. Aurora looked over at Harry, who was rubbing his face. "Slick git."

"Honestly, Ronald, they're only holding hands." Hermione shrugged, but by the look on their faces then, she could tell that changed. Now they were all a little bit uncomfortable considering how she was like their little sister— and Harry had taken a liking to her. "And snogging."

"I'd like to leave." Ron breathed out.

"What?!" Hermione exclaimed as they'd just gotten their Butterbeers. "You can't be serious."

"That happens to be my sister!" He replied.

"So? What if she looked over here and saw you snogging me? Would you expect her to get up and leave?" Hermione asked, and Aurora shook her head. Not slick, Hermione.

Ron just stared at her. When Slughorn turned around and noticed them, Harry and Aurora gave him a wave. "Hey, you two!"

"Hello, sir. Wonderful to see you!" Harry stood up and shook his hand. Aurora did the same.

"And you!"

"So, what brings you here?" Aurora asked.

"Oh, the Three Broomsticks and I go way back, further than I care to admit." He chuckled. "I can remember when it was One Broomstick." He spilt his drink slightly on Hermione as he was clearly drunk. "All hands on deck, Granger. Listen, you two, in the old days I used to throw together the occasional supper party for the select student or two. Would either of you be game?"

"We'd consider it an honor, sir." Harry nodded.

"You'd be welcome, too, Granger." He told her.

"I'd be delighted, sir." She nodded after taking a sip of her Butterbeer.

"Splendid! Look for my owl." He told them, then looked to Ron. He squinted at him, probably because he couldn't see straight at this point. "Good to see you, Wallenby."

"What are you playing at?" Ron asked them.

"We've been..." Aurora paused, glancing over at Ben. He knew they were the ones chosen to fight Voldemort, so this couldn't be too much of a secret, could it?" "Dumbledore's asked us to get to know him."

"Get to know him?" Ron furrowed his eyebrows together.

"I don't know." Harry shrugged. "It must be important. If it wasn't, Dumbledore wouldn't ask."

They noticed Hermione had finished her Butterbeer very quickly, understandably so. She had a bit of foam above her lip that she didn't notice. Aurora tried to tell her discreetly, but she didn't understand before Ron noticed and jumped in. He pointed to his lip. "You've got a little bit..."

She wiped her face quickly, embarrassed. Ben broke the awkward silence. "Well, do you like it?"

"It is pretty amazing." She nodded. They began walking back to Hogwarts, and Hermione was clearly a little tipsy. She was walking in front of them, not in a straight line.

"Did you hear what she was saying back at the pub?" Ron whispered to them. "About me and her snogging? As if."

Aurora gave him a look, but he didn't notice before Hermione wrapped her arms around all of them. But, they were stopped in their tracks when they heard Leanne in front of them scream. "I warned her! I warned her not to touch it!"

All the sudden, Katie's body began floating around like it was paper. She flew up into the sky with her arms out, letting out a blood-curdling scream. Then, she fell back to the ground like nothing. Aurora felt sick. That was truly terrifying. Suddenly, Hagrid approached them.