Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter world, I just own a few stray characters.
Ron Weasly sat in a large, frayed armchair with a Firewhiskey clasped in one hand, talking and laughing with his wife and his sister and his brother-in-law.
"I can't believe the Holidays are over and the kids are already back at Hogwarts," Hermione was saying. "Didn't the Holidays seem longer when we were kids?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Harry said, swirling his bottle of Butterbeer around. "Time itself is speeding past. It seems like just yesterday we were sending Aiden off as a nervous first year. I can't believe his sixth year is half over."
"Speaking of Aiden." Ginny looked at Ron and Hermione. "Did either of you see him near the end of the Ministry Ball last week?"
Ron and Hermione both shook their heads.
"I remember seeing him sitting at a table looking really bored," Ron said, "but that was only about two hours into it. Why do you ask?"
Harry shrugged. "I went to look for him a few hours into the ball but he had disappeared. He didn't reappear until after the Countdown, and he won't tell us where he was."
"Maybe he was just with a girl," Hermione suggested. Ron looked scandalized.
"That's what I thought!" Ginny said. "And he kept staring off into space, so I thought he must be lovesick! But then why wouldn't he tell us? We knew all about it when he was dating that Caitlyn girl."
"And besides," Harry added, "I don't think there were many girls there his age."
"Didn't Alador Clement bring his daughter to the ball?" Hermione asked Ron.
Ron snorted. "I doubt it's her, she reminds me of a small whale with blonde hair."
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Gabrielle could hear their footsteps echoing loudly, could feel the horrible tension between them. It was their first Prefect patrol since after the holidays. For the most part everything in her life was exactly as it should be. Her father hadn't asked any questions, her friends hadn't asked questions past who she had danced with, and the classes Slytherins shared with the Gryffindors had been easy to manage; she never bothered talking to Aiden Potter during classes, after all. But now it was just the two of them, walking silently through the hallways. She could feel him darting quick glances at her, but she set her face expressionless and pretended not to notice. Growing up, she had learned how to surpress her emotions.
After an hour of walking, he cleared his throat. "Look," he said awkwardly, "about-"
"One time thing," she said curtly, keeping her eyes focused straight ahead.
"I know I was the one who said-"
"We both agreed. One. Time. Thing." she repeated.
"Just- just stop walking for a minute!" He jumped in front of her, blocking her. "I just..." He began to rake his fingers through his hair again and he dropped his green eyes to the ground, staring at his feet.
"Yes?" Gabrielle wasn't happy. What had happened was a fluke, a one time thing, something that never should have happened to begin with.
"You weren't who I thought you were," he finally said, looking straight into her eyes. "And... and I think we should be friends," he finished lamely.
"Friends," Gabrielle repeated. She was about to dismiss the idea, but then... "What would we talk about?" she asked.
"What?"
"What would we talk about?" Conversations with her Slytherin friends mostly consisted of the latest gossip on wizarding families, something Gabrielle didn't particularly enjoy. And if they weren't discussing the latest gossip, no one ever kept Gabrielle interested for very long. No one she talked to seemed to have their own opinion; they always agreed with her. It was extraordinarily frustrating. Her father and the Bloody Baron were the only ones she could really talk to without becoming bored. Pathetic, really- one of the only two conversationalists in her life was a ghost, and the other was her own father. What the hell had happened to the cunning wit all Slytherins were supposed to possess?
"Er- we could talk about... Quidditch?"
"Quidditch."
"Yea... yea, like... like the World Cup last year, when Spain pulled off that amazing play and faked out Italy to-"
"That wasn't an amazing play," Gabrielle said immediately; she and her father had had a long arguement about that match. "They should have been fouled, Hernandez took a swipe at O'Connell when-"
"O'Connell lost control of his broom because of the bludger, and besides the ref-"
"The ref was an imbecile who was too busy staring at Cruz to see-" Gabrielle stopped talking and shifted uneasily.
Friends? Could she be friends with Aiden Potter? She looked up at his green eyes and they stayed that way for a moment.
"Friends," she said finally, and she held out her small hand. Aiden smiled nervously, shook her hand, and they began patrolling the halls again, spending the rest of the night arguing about the match.
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It had become sort of an unspoken agreement that the two only talked during Prefect patrolling. Aiden found the patrolling much more enjoyable, and more than once he caught himself wishing Dexter had the same quick wit as Gabrielle. Their conversations ranged from their families to what they wanted to do after school to stupid stuff, like their favorite candies or ice cream flavor. Aiden began wondering how he could have ever thought badly of Gabrielle- she was one of the most interesting people he had every met.
He sometimes wondered if his parents knew about his friendship; they kept dropping hints in their letters, repeatedly telling he could talk to them about anything. But he almost preferred people not knowing- it would be too weird. No Gryffindor was friends with a Slytherin, it was unheard of. He and Gabrielle were only friends because they were forced to be, he told himself. They spent four hours every two weeks together, after all. You can't go through that for a year and not be friends.
Then again, a nasty part in the back of his mind said, Fran Lebowitz and Otis Dolohov weren't exactly friends; more than once the two had been sent to the Hospital Wing during their patrolling times.
And then there was the matter of the quick pangs of jealousy he began feeling whenever he saw Gabrielle walking with Vince Jugson. Jugson seemed to be escorting Gabrielle everywhere, and though Aiden knew they weren't going out (he had asked her about itduringone of their patrols in what he had hoped was a casual voice), he could tell it wouldn't be long until Jugson asked her out.
But it wasn't because he liked her as more than a friend or anything, he told himself firmly. It was because Jugson was a conceited little berk who was clearly evil, and Gabrielle was, well, Gabrielle. She deserved better than him, that was all. She was Aiden's friend, and she deserved better than Jugson.
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Anthee Thomas sat staring bitterly at the bird sitting on her desk. It was Transfiguration class, and they were turning quills into blue jays, using magic without speaking. Anthee was one of the only people in class who had anything that resembled a bird, but the jay had stubbornly stayed a black color, despite Anthee's best efforts. Gritting her teeth, she could see Gabrielle Malfoy on the other side of the class lazily watching as a perfect blue jay flapped around in front of her. Anthee was relieved when class was finally over; she couldn't stand that Malfoy girl.
Walking toward the door, though, her bag split apart and her books all went tumbling to the ground. She groaned and closed her eyes. Her bag had been falling apart for ages and she kept charming it together, but Stitching spells were very difficult to get perfect. With a sigh, she opened her eyes and was about to reach down and pick up her books when she saw Gabrielle Malfoy standing in front of her. Before Anthee could say anything, the Slytherin girl made a sweeping motion with her wand. All of Anthee's books collected themselves back into the bag, which mended itself. Gabrielle Malfoy quickly turned and left before Anthee could do more than give her a confused look. Looking carefully at her bag, she saw tiny, perfect stitches holding the bag together. She was torn between being grateful and feeling once again inferior.
"Did you see that?" Anthee asked, catching up with Aiden as he was leaving the class.
"See what?"
"Gabrielle Malfoy! She just mended my bag together!" Was it her imagination, or had Aiden jumped slightly when she had said Malfoy's name?
"What about it?" Anthee narrowed her eyes. Aiden was using that voice he used whenever he was hiding something and wanted to sound casual. She had known him for too many years to fall for it.
"Well- Why did she mend my bag together?" she continued in a suspicious tone. "She didn't even make any snide remarks or anything!"
"Maybe she was just being nice."
Something was definitely wrong with this picture, Anthee thought as she watched Aiden abruptly begin conversing with Dexter about Quidditch. Since when was Gabrielle Malfoy nice? And come to think of it- Aiden had stopped complaining about his Prefect patrols with the girl. What was going on?
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"There's something different about you."
Gabrielle looked up from the chessboard into Harper's dark eyes, and she raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? And hurry up, Macnair, I haven't got all day."
Harper pulled up a chair to the table, where Gabrielle was playing wizarding chess with Theo Macnair.
"You don't seem yourself," Harper said.
"What do you mean?"
"Like the other day, when you fixed that bookworm's bag!"
"I was raised to pity the unfortunate," Gabrielle said coolly. "And it doesn't get more unfortunate than that girl, does it... Move, Macnair!"
"We were all raised to pity the unfortunate," Harper said, rolling her eyes. "All that means is we donate money to the Ministry." Gabrielle gave a short, dark chuckle, but didn't respond. "Fine," Harper said. "Why do you keep dazing off into nowhere then."
Gabrielle shot her a look. "I have no idea what you're talking about... Macnair, you have six pieces left. Move one of them!"
"You do too know what I'm- No!"
" 'No' what, Harper... And Merlin's bear, Macnair, how slow can you get!"
A large smirk appeared on Harper's face. "You're in love," Harper squealed.
Gabrielle looked at her exasperatedly. "I am not."
"It's Jugson, isn't it?" Harper laughed, it was all so clear! How had she not seen it before?
"You don't know what you're talking about, Harper... MACNAIR!"
"All right, all right," Macnair grunted, shooting Gabrielle a dirty look and moving one of his pieces. "Happy?"
"Yes." Gabrielle smirked. "Checkmate."