The next morning Emily's alarm clock buzzed at its normal time. Breakfast had been going for fifteen minutes and she had exactly fifteen minutes before it ended. She jumped out of bed, forgetting that she would be leaving behind Hogwarts, and more importantly, Ronald Weasley, later that morning. Most of the other sixth year girls had already gone down to the Great Hall, and only one girl remained asleep: Samantha Jenkins. Samantha was always the last one to wake up and would miss breakfast half of the time.
Emily sauntered over to the sleeping girl's bed and began prodding her with her index finger until she awoke. "Wah?" was all that came out of Samantha's mouth.
"There's only about fifteen more minutes of breakfast if you want to eat, and plus we're leaving for break right after, so you'd better get up," Emily advised her.
"Alright, alright. I'm getting up," the half-awake Sam groaned, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.
Emily smelled herself and grimaced. She needed a shower but if she took one she would miss breakfast, and she was quite hungry. And it was going to be a busy day. She didn't want to waste time in the shower when she could be hanging out with the trio for the last time for a couple weeks. Besides, she would be heading home that morning, and she could take one when she got there. It's not like you could smell her from miles away or something, anyway.
She hurried up and dressed in some dark wash skinny jeans and a bright yellow tank over a dark blue wife-beater, paired with some yellow flats with white dots. She quickly brushed her hair and messily put it up in a high ponytail, and then spritzed herself with a bit of perfume before heading down to the common room. She found that Ron, Harry, and of course Hermione, had already gone down to the Great Hall so she headed there herself. On the trip down, she thought about Christmas break, how she wished she could go to Ron's for the break, and, mostly, about Ron.
She knew that they were all leaving for break and that she wouldn't see them for a bit, but it hadn't really hit her yet. It still felt like a normal morning, that is, until she reached the Great Hall. It was buzzing with students excitedly talking about what they're planning to do and where they're going over Christmas break. Some even brought their suitcases down to breakfast, which Emily admitted was probably a good idea as you wouldn't have to go back up the many flights of stairs to your House to get your belongings, especially if you were a Gryffindor. She decided she would just leave early to go get her stuff, if you could call it leaving early being as it was more than half over by the time she got there.
Emily scanned the hall for familiar faces and spotted Harry, Hermione, and Ron at the middle of the Gryffindor table talking to Seamus and Dean. Ron was the first to notice her as she walked over to them. "Finally up, I see," he remarked cheerfully. "I thought you were going to miss breakfast."
"Well, I guess I didn't, now did I?" she shot back, with an air of mock snide.
"Don't get all excited, now," he told her. "I was just messing around. You know…being silly. I was joking, Em."
"Yeah, I know," she sighed as she slumped onto the bench next to him, defeated. "I just really don't want to go home for Christmas break." She laid her head down on the wooden table.
"Well, it'll only be a few weeks," he told her, although he himself was down about not being able to see her for that long. "But you can come over during summer break. It will be longer than Christmas break, and maybe if you ask so long in advance that you'd definitely be able to come."
Her heartbeat jumped at the thought of being able to stay with him for part of the summer, if not the whole time. But then another thought struck her. It was barely just Christmas break; it would be months before the summer. "Yeah, hopefully," she replied, trying to hide her frustration as much as possible. She sat up and examined the lengthy table for something to eat. She settled on a piece of toast and some strawberries: her favorite fruit. She then poured herself some pumpkin juice and downed a big mouthful of it.
Breakfast was about over and she needed to go get her stuff if she didn't want to get stuck in a carriage with some annoying second years or something. "I think I'm going to go get my suitcase," she told the group, standing up.
Ron immediately jumped up after her. He coughed timidly and mumbled, "Me too." Together they walked silently up the many flights of stairs to the Gryffindor common room, where they went there separate ways. She grabbed her suitcase and checked herself in the mirror before dragging her bulky luggage down the steps back into the red and gold clad common room. It was occupied by only a few other people, most likely getting their things as well. Ron and Emily met up between the two staircases. He looked her up and down a time or two.
"You look beau- er, nice," he mumbled nervously. His ears turned slightly pink at his almost slip-up.
"Thanks…" she replied shyly, blushing a little herself at the random compliment. "So…shall we?" She pointed to the door.
"After you," he said, holding out his arms as to let her go first.
They slowly headed back to the Great Hall, walking slightly closer than usual, although neither acted like anything was different. And neither knew how much the other one wanted so much to grab hold of their hand.