2. Broken
- Forcibly separated into two or more pieces; fractured
Hermione Granger looked across the table to her currently smirking friend with a sigh.
"Ginny, you broke his heart. I don't think you realize how serious that is."
"Hermione, give it a rest. I thought this was a girls' night out. You know, to take our minds off the other sex? Anyway, Seamus is a big boy – it's just that he has a flair for the dramatics. Besides, it's not like I led him on or something. He knew what he was getting into."
Hermione pressed her fingertips into her temples, frustrated. "Whatever you say. We might as well enjoy this one night off work."
Ginny grinned at her friend and turned to smirk at some guy across the club, but Hermione sat back as a sense of foreboding overcame her.
Two weeks later, Hermione noted down a customer's order as Ginny walked in, late and with bags around her eyes. She raised a hand to wave hello, but Ginny didn't even see her as she walked across into the kitchen.
Quickly stuffing her notepad into her uniform's pocket, Hermione strode into the kitchen, to find it extremely crowded with the other employees but Ginny backed into a corner, slipping her uniform on. Hermione deftly avoided all her obstacles towards the redhead before dropping her voice to a whisper. "Where've you been? You're late, and you didn't show up at all yesterday! Do you have any idea how worried I was? You weren't even answering your Floo!"
When Ginny turned to face her, Hermione finally saw the full extent of the damage on her friend's usually seamless appearance – her shirt was unbuttoned, her tie askew, her face without makeup, and tears hastily wiped away. There was a tumultuous cacophony of emotions playing in the redhead's usually lively eyes.
"I'm sorry, Hermione. It won't happen again."
She refused to give her any details, but Hermione couldn't help but notice the way she avoided looking anywhere near Table Six, where a certain platinum-haired old schoolmate was sitting.
