For the first time in her life, Persephone had found herself slacking at work. Distracted about her Father's potential well-being, poor Obadiah Burke got the short end of the stick. Already horribly depressed because of the shunning at school, and neglect at home, the poor Hufflepuff struggled to even understand the basic theory behind the Cheering Charm. It wasn't until Persephone forced herself to calm down and refocus did the lesson even take off as it was supposed to. As it turned out, all Obi needed was someone to vent his feelings to. After that, everything was just golden and Persephone was able to honestly give a glowing report to Mrs. Burke.
After that the rest of the morning went by in a blur, with Persephone hardly having time to breathe much less use the loo in between lessons. It wasn't until her lunchtime lesson with Cassidy Fawley did she finally have time to relax and enjoy the sun that had just poked out from behind the heavy clouds of earlier morning.
"How did your date with Asa go?" Cassidy chattered, licking the frosting from her Madame Puddifoot's cupcake needlessly seductively as a gaggle of recent graduates passed by the window of the café.
"It went exceedingly well," Persephone admitted, picking at her own cupcake with a dainty fork, "Asa is a perfect gentleman."
Cassidy raised a blonde brow, giving Persephone a withering look that betrayed disbelief.
"I heard Pansy Parkinson ruined it for you." Cassidy remarked casually.
Persephone scowled, stabbing her cupcake more sharply than intended. Just thinking about that dog-face shrew was enough to twist her stomach up. And if Draco didn't come to his senses soon enough and leave the cow for a nicer girl like Astoria Greengrass, Persephone was going to have to resort to some heavy meddling to get rid of the Pansy Problem.
"I may not like any of Draco's mates," Persephone drawled, "But by far, she is the worst of the bunch."
"Merlin help me, I don't know why she's so mean." Cassidy agreed, taking a tiny sip of tea.
"I imagine some people are just born that way." Persephone shrugged, wanting to move on to more pleasant topics.
Understanding the expression on Persephone's face, her best mate quickly cleared her throat and appeared to rack her brilliant mind for a different conversation starter. Always one to know everyone else's business, Cassidy was sure to spout out the latest bit of juicy gossip just as soon as she'd swallowed her tea and reapplied her lipstick.
"I hear the Weasley Twins are sure to lose their shop, any day now." Cassidy divulged, leaning forward just a bit to whisper. "They owe a lot of money to all the wrong people."
Despite herself, Persephone startled a bit and nearly topped her half-empty mug of coffee across the crisp, white tablecloth.
"But people have been lining up for hours just to get inside, how can they be struggling?"
"Well, you know what they say." Cassidy dismissed. "Gryffindor's are terrible at managing businesses."
"Fair enough." Persephone agreed. "But I'm sure they'll get things squared away. They seem like nice boys."
Cassidy scoffed, her blue eyes shooting upward towards the pink ceiling.
"They're handsome enough, I'll give them that." Cassidy nodded. "But I think it's just…disgusting how they share that Johnson girl between themselves."
Persephone shook her head, unable to believe that either Weasley Twin or Angelina Johnson would debase themselves by such behavior. From what she gained of Daddy's annoyed rants about his students, they were 'good enough kids,' but dreadfully annoying and wasteful of their intelligence.
"I don't believe it." Persephone disagreed, trying hard to not seem too vested in one of the objects of their conversation.
"Believe it or not, I don't care." Cassidy assured, looking bored. "But you simply cannot deny the fact that they're womanizers."
"Where do you hear this nonsense?" Persephone laughed, unable to believe anything negative about the boy who'd stolen her heart.
"It's true!" Cassidy insisted, becoming more animated as she gossiped. "Delia Flint went on a date with George Weasley and he grabbed her boob behind the Whomping Willow!"
"Why would Delia even agree to go out with George?" Persephone pressed. "Her father would kill her if he found out."
"It's an excitement thing." Cassidy informed. "A Forbidden Fruit Complex."
"Just because George got fresh with Delia, doesn't mean Fred is like that." Persephone defended. "Besides, we both know Delia isn't exactly a…"
"A prude?" Cassidy supplied.
"I wouldn't use that word," Persephone blushed, uncomfortable about bullying anybody save Pansy, "But…I'm sure it was consensual. That's all I'm saying."
