"ELLA! We haven't seen you in ages!" Ginny sighs dramatically as she opens the door to let me into the burrow. I roll my eyes. As I step into the house, I meet with a cacophony of noise.
"You saw me yesterday, Gin." I remind her. She locks elbows with me, leading us to the kitchen.
"Barely." Ginny whines. I glanced around.
"Where's Luna?" Ginny gives out another dramatic sigh.
"She's with George, would you believe it. He's gone barmy over her. It's quite funny." Ginny informs me excitedly. "Ever since Fred and Angelina started hanging out more, George has been following Luna around like a lost puppy. Luna enjoys it of course. She's been informing him about all the potentially harmful invisible animals out there. Soon he'll be just as much of an expert as we are." I giggle. We'd become friends as first years, and had befriended Ginny in third year, before I skipped a grade. We had been close at Hogwarts, but the war had made us inseparable.
"I don't know Ginny. It took us years to absorb all of Luna's mind-blowing knowledge." I say, but Ginny smiles.
"With the way things are going, I'm certain that George and Luna will be together for ages. In fact, I bet Ron that she's going to be the next sister in Law. He thinks it'll be Angelina." My smile drops for a second and Ginny looks apologetic. "Sorry, Ella, I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine, seriously. Actually, I do have some news. My lab partner, Henry asked me out or well, he would have if Draco hadn't interrupted." Ginny squeals and Harry comes running into the room.
"What's wrong?" Harry asks. His eyes dart around the room looking for danger. He's been especially paranoid since the war.
"Ella almost got asked out today!" Ginny says as Luna walks into the room with George. Harry turns and walks out, slightly disappointed that there was nobody to save from life-threatening danger. Luna removes herself from George's arm and hooks her elbow with my remaining one.
"I'm sorry," Luna apologizes, facing to George. "But we have to interrogate Ella until we feel as if we were right beside her when it happened." George looks at my face and laughs.
"Good Luck." He wishes her. With that, they drag me up numerous flights of stairs to Ginny's room.
"Okay," Ginny says, bouncing up and down on her bed. "Spill, what happed?"
"My lab partner, Henry, and I were walking to the floo stations. He had been trying to ask me out all during class-"
"Wait." Luna interrupts, leaning in closer, "Is he cute?"
"Yeah. It's not worth going out with a guy if he's not good looking." Ginny adds with a wink. I wrinkle my nose at her.
"There's more to a guy than just his looks you know." Ginny and Luna stared at me. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "He's cute." Cue the squealing.
"As I was saying, he was trying to ask me out, but he was always interrupted. Then when we were walking to the floo channels, I thought that he would finally spit it out, but then Draco interrupted."
"Draco, Like Draco Malfoy?" Ginny inquires.
"Yup." I respond carefully. Draco might have been on the side of the order, but that had not stopped any of the childhood rivalries that had developed at Hogwarts from continuing.
"What was he doing there?" Luna questions.
"He's the Teacher's Assistant. Anyways-" I try to divert back to the story, but it's futile.
"Is he as hot as he was during school?" Luna giggles.
"I bet he's even hotter." Ginny tells her.
"Are you going to let me finish telling you what happened or what?" I demand.
"Fine." Ginny acquiesces, rolling her eyes.
"We'll stop interrupting you." Luna promises.
"Right, well Henry's just about to ask me out, when Draco asks if he can talk to me alone. Then he tells me what I already know, that Henry's into me and asks me what I'm going to do about it." Luna and Ginny laugh. I continue. "Apparently according to Draco, I can't go out with Henry because he's a spineless flobberworm, he hates children, and, I quote, going on a date with Henry would be worse than going on a date with Hagrid." Luna and Ginny roll off the bad laughing. I sit there, awkwardly waiting for them to stop. Hermione opens the door and stops to glance at them before going back to me.
"What's going on?" Hermione asks.
"They're laughing at my love life." Hermione nods and closes the door. Ginny and Luna sit up slowly, leaning back on their arms as they suck in air, desperately trying to calm down.
"I think . . . I think . . ." Ginny gasps, laughing. "That Malfoy's got a crush on you!"
"No way! Ginny, that's absolutely ridiculous!"
"Think about it, Ella!" Luna adds, bouncing up and down on her knees. "You two we're a team during the war. You were the only person keeping him sane. It is only natural that he would develop feelings for you. Now that the war's over, he's trying to show it by helping you with Teddy and by scaring off other suitors. Face it Ella, that boy is nuts for you."
"It doesn't matter though does now? He's engaged to Astoria Greengrass or haven't you heard." I tell them, lying down on Ginny's bed and staring up at the ceiling. Then I sit back up. "The one boy I want is taken. The boy who wants me is engaged. And Henry likes me, so why not go after him?"
"Wow, what a complicated love triangle." Ginny sighs dramatically. "If Draco loves her so much, Luna," She gave Luna a pointed look. "Then why doesn't he call off his engagement to Astoria?"
"He can't. Trust me. It's an arranged marriage. The only way they can break it is if the ministry passes a marriage law in a few years if the population doesn't pick up or if the heads of the family were to absolve it. Lucius and Astoria's father have no intention of doing so, even in Azkaban." I tell her in hopes she'll drop the conversation.
"Wait! If Lucius were to die, wouldn't that make the Draco head of the Malfoy house? Couldn't he absolve it then." Luna inquires, having extensive knowledge of pureblood traditions after gaining the title of the head of the Lovegood House, which Luna was trying to return to its former glory.
"Well, yes, he could, but who knows how long it could take for Lucius to kick the bucket." Ginny sighed, obviously depressed by the thought of Lucius living long enough for Draco to be married.
"Anyways, The wedding's scheduled for a year from now. So Lucius would need to kick the bucket soon." I sigh. "I don't even understand why we're having this conversation. Draco has no interest in me and I should just go on a date with Henry." Luna and Ginny look ready to argue, but I walk out of the room before they could, only for the twins to corner me.
"Hello." I greet them. They immediately attach themselves to my sides.
"Hello." They respond in tandem.
"So, I hear that you've gotten yourself an Ikle boyfriend" Fred teases. George gives me a look of deep pity, which I try to shrug off. "Who is he? More, importantly, when can we meet him?"
"I don't have a Boyfriend, Fred." Then I stop our procession down the hall to face him, wagging my finger in his face. " And when I do get a boyfriend, I expect absolutely no nonsense from the likes of you."
"But Ella Flora, somebody's got to threaten him to take good care of you." George chimes in. He looks quite earnest, too, but I'm about to give in. After all, if you allow the Weasley twins one small slice of pie, the next thing you know, they've stolen the whole thing. I wasn't about to set my pie on the open windowsill.
"I'm sorry, George, but I'm afraid that I'm sticking to my guns." I tell them both pointedly, only to receive looks of confusion.
"What are guns?" They ask simultaneously. I consider telling them for an instant, but then imagine all of the things they might do with that information.
"It's just a Muggle saying." I respond quickly, turning to hop down the stars before they can pursue the line of questioning any further.
