The Difference One Choice Makes
19th October 1996
Euphemia rounded the corner of the second-floor corridor, putting her Ancient Runes textbook back into her book bag as she walked before she saw something truly painful that stopped her in her tracks and had her reaching for her wand.
The sight of two people kissing on one of the benches in the corridor almost made her ignore them so they could have some privacy but the second she saw who one of them was, it made her stop dead in her tracks.
Zacharias Smith, her boyfriend.
Or soon to be ex-boyfriend given the sight before her.
She must have had good aim because when her Knockback Jinx collided with his back, it knocked him straight to the floor causing him to groan.
It was then that she saw exactly who Zacharias had cheated on her with and it really hurt her on the inside.
"Lucy?" said Euphemia with her voice dripping with shock and hurt at the sight of the blonde-haired Lucy Mclaggen, who was her housemate and friend sitting on the bench looking at her with a guilty look on her face.
A look that went ignored by Euphemia as she felt anger starting to take hold of her.
"Babe… it's not what you think" said Zacharias in a pleading voice.
"You're cheating on me?" said Euphemia in a hurt voice.
Lucy's look of guilt turned into one of shock as she turned to look at Zacharias.
"You told me she dumped you" said Lucy in shock.
"What?" snarled Euphemia feeling her shock and anger approaching breaking point.
"I, I…" spluttered Zacharias.
Euphemia had heard enough and hit him full on in the face with a Bat-Bogey Hex, causing bats to squeeze out of his nostrils one at a time.
As Zacharias writhed in pain on the floor, Euphemia snarled and turned to Lucy who shifted backwards on the bench holding her hands up in shock and remorse.
"He told me you guys broke up I swear, Euphemia please… I swear I didn't know you guys were still together" pleaded Lucy showing a lot of remorse for her housemate.
Or perhaps it was just Lucy being upset because she had been caught red-handed.
Whatever it was, Euphemia would hear none of it and hit Lucy with a Bat-Bogey Hex and then a Knockback Jinx which threw her to the floor with a painful thud.
When she was feeling better she would have to thank Ginny for teaching her how to do the Bat-Bogey Hex, finding it to be a suitable punishment to inflict on her ex-boyfriend and someone she thought was her friend.
"MISS POTTER!" shouted a familiar voice from down the corridor.
Euphemia turned in the direction of the voice to see Professor Mcgonagall striding up the corridor towards her with a look of shock on her face.
She dropped to her knees against the wall as Professor Mcgonagall took one look at Zacharias and Lucy who were still writhing around on the floor in discomfort from the effects of the hexes she had given them.
Professor Mcgonagall turned to Euphemia who was leaning against the wall letting out sobs as tears streaked down her cheeks, staining her makeup.
Knowing that something was seriously wrong with the fifth-year Prefect, Professor Mcgonagall turned back to the two fallen students, wondering what on earth had happened.
"You two best go up to the Hospital Wing… I will speak to you later Miss Mclaggen" said Professor Mcgonagall sternly.
Both Zacharias and Lucy got to their feet and ran off towards the Hospital Wing staying as far away from each other as possible.
As they left the corridor, Professor Mcgonagall slowly made her way over to Euphemia and offered her a hand.
"Come with me Miss Potter" said Professor Mcgonagall softly.
Euphemia looked at Professor Mcgonagall and took the hand offered to her, allowing the Transfiguration Professor to lead her down the corridor.
Fifteen minutes later…
Professor Mcgonagall handed a cup of tea to Euphemia who wiped the tears from her eyes as she took it.
She was sat on one of the chairs opposite Professor Mcgonagall's desk in her office while Professor Mcgonagall was stood up next to her own seat.
"Would you like to tell me what happened Miss Potter?" said Professor Mcgonagall softly.
Euphemia wiped more tears from her eyes and took a sip of her tea.
"I thought Lucy was my friend" said Euphemia sadly.
She wiped more tears from her eyes.
"Then my boyfriend cheated on me with her… she couldn't even apologise, just said that he lied and told her I dumped him first, is that what five years of friendship meant to her, I just don't understand how they could do that to me, they deserve far worse than what I did to them" said Euphemia with a hint of bitterness in her sad voice.
Professor Mcgonagall frowned and moved towards Euphemia resting against the desk next to her student.
"Do you want me to fetch your Brother?" said Professor Mcgonagall softly.
Euphemia let out a harsh chuckle.
"Harry will put him in the Hospital Wing when he finds out, I doubt I'll care too much though" said Euphemia harshly.
Professor Mcgonagall frowned.
"I'm afraid you'll have to serve detention with me for this… but I don't see any reason to extend it beyond one night tomorrow after dinner" said Professor Mcgonagall.
Euphemia looked up at the older Professor in shock.
"Detention tonight will do little to help you… so it can wait until tomorrow" said Professor Mcgonagall softly.
Euphemia sipped her tea finding that it did little to comfort her.
"Try not to make this a habit though, next time I won't be quite so forgiving… and try to remember that you are a Prefect, which means you have to set a positive example to younger students" said Professor Mcgonagall strictly.
Later that evening…
"I'm going to kill that cheating son of a bitch!" Euphemia heard Harry snarl as he walked through the portrait with Katie, Neville, Hermione, Janet and Ron.
Lacey and Ginny who were sitting on either side of her on the settee trying to comfort her, looked towards the doorway.
"I say you break every bone in his body mate" said Neville with Hermione surprisingly nodding in agreement as did Ron and Janet.
Katie, however, glanced at Euphemia and sighed.
"Not now Harry" said Katie sternly.
Ginny stood up from the settee and made her way over to the four as Harry turned his gaze on Euphemia who had turned to look at the fireplace while Lacey squeezed her hand trying to reassure her.
"A word Harry" said Ginny sternly.
Harry turned to her and nodded before walking back out of the entrance followed by Ginny while Katie, Hermione and Janet made their way over to Euphemia to give her some support.
Once they were outside the portrait entrance in the corridor Ginny turned to Harry with her hands on her hips.
"I know that you're pissed off and that you want to curse him into oblivion Harry, believe me I want the same thing… but she doesn't need that right now" said Ginny.
"And what do you think she needs?" spat Harry harshly.
He frowned when he saw Ginny look shocked and a little insulted at his tone.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that" said Harry guiltily.
Ginny moved closer to him.
"Do you know what she needs right now Harry?" said Ginny sternly.
"What?" said Harry.
Ginny pushed him back slightly.
"She needs her brother you prat, she needs her big brother to go back in there and put his arms around her so that she knows he's there for her" said Ginny fiercely.
Harry sighed.
"And if after that you still want to curse that prick, I'll happily join you… but you need to get your ass back in there and be a big brother to her first" said Ginny stiffly.
She was surprised to be wrapped in a hug from Harry but eventually returned it.
"Thanks Gin… for giving me a kick up the backside" said Harry softly.
"I'm surprised Katie didn't do it first" said Ginny as the two let go of each other.
Harry shrugged his shoulders.
"Katie wants to make sure everyone knows that he's the scumbag who cheated on my little sister" said Harry darkly as they went back into the Common Room.
Not long after Harry and Ginny had returned to the Common Room and gone back to comforting Euphemia, Lucy Mclaggen made her way over to them with a look of immense guilt on her face.
"Euphemia… I'm so sorry, he told me that you guys weren't togeth-" pleaded Lucy before she was cut off.
"Haven't you done enough damage?" spat Lacey fiercely.
Lucy spluttered as tears appeared in her eyes.
"Even if what you just said is the truth… why didn't you just ask her if it was true, instead of jumping on the chance to steal someone else's boyfriend?" said Katie harshly.
"Just leave it Lucy… you should've known better than to do that to one of your friends" said Ginny flatly.
"I didn't mean to" pleaded Lucy whose makeup clad cheeks were stained with tears now.
"Why don't you just go upstairs… you are only making this worse" said Ginny in a slightly forceful tone.
Upon noticing that most people in the Common Room were looking at her with angry looks on their faces at what she had done to her housemate, Lucy turned and ran upstairs to her room letting the tears fall as she did.
20th October 1996
Harry felt slightly thankful, that when he saw Zacharias Smith approaching the Great Hall that morning that he was alone.
Drawing his wand, Harry pushed himself away from the wall and moved towards the boy who had hurt his Sister without so much as a care in the world.
"Going somewhere Smith?" Harry called out.
Stopping dead in his tracks, Zacharias Smith turned to face Harry, shaking with fear.
"Potter… I…" said Zacharias in a nervous, pleading voice that trailed off.
He started to back away from Harry when he saw the wand in his hand, not even thinking about going for his own wand.
"Scared Smith?" said Harry mockingly.
"Please don't hurt me" pleaded Zacharias, with the scene now drawing a crowd of students.
The crowd consisted of students from all four houses, including to Harry's delight, Euphemia. With Harry feeling glad that she was going to see him punish her ex-boyfriend for what he did to her.
Harry pointed his wand at the Hufflepuff Chaser.
"After what you and Mclaggen did to my sister… did you honestly think I was going to let you get away with doing that to her?" said Harry, venom dripping from his words, glancing at Euphemia as he spoke.
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry… please, just don't hurt me!" pleaded Zacharias.
Harry moved towards him, keeping his wand aimed at his chest as a few teachers saw the commotion outside the Great Hall and started to make their way over.
Casting a new spell he had read about in one of the Charms books he got from the library, Harry felt pleased when he saw what it did to Zacharias Smith.
A large thought bubble appeared above Zacharias Smith, with the orange flaming words inside of the bubble making everyone laugh and spit harsh comments at the Hufflepuff Chaser and Captain.
"I'm the scumbag who cheated on my girlfriend Euphemia Potter, hex me because I deserve it"
"Twenty points from Gryffindor and detention for a week Mr Potter!" shouted Professor Mcgonagall as she emerged from the Great Hall just in time to see Harry's spell take effect.
Harry could not care about the detentions or the loss of points and just walked into the Great Hall without another word.
"Tell me how to get rid of this Professor" pleaded Zacharias, causing most of the students to hurl angry words and boo him, obviously angry at what he had done.
Professor Mcgonagall took one look at the words above his head and turned to him with disgust and anger etched on her stern face.
"Go up to the Hospital Wing and see if Madam Pomfrey can help you" said Professor Mcgonagall flatly.
Laughter and more angry comments could be heard as Zacharias Smith took off running towards the stairs, heading up to the Hospital Wing to see if she could help him get rid of the words above his head.
Taking her seat next to Harry at the Gryffindor table, Euphemia gave him a hug and thanked him for what he did.
"He got off lightly as far as I am concerned" said Harry darkly.
He served the first of his detentions that night, joining Euphemia in her own detention with Professor Mcgonagall where he was informed that he would not be allowed to attend Hogsmeade on the trip that weekend thanks to his actions.
23rd October 1996
As Neville, Hermione, Janet and Ron walked into the Three Broomsticks which on this day, was busier than it usually was on the Hogsmeade weekends, with it being so busy that it was nearly impossible to spot familiar faces in the crowd.
The four found a table in the centre of the room, letting Neville and Ron get butterbeers for the four of them.
Once the two boys had taken their seats at the table, Ron caught sight of something in one of the booth's that made him uncomfortable.
"Oh, bloody hell" said Ron.
Turning to the booth he was looking at, they saw Ginny sitting close to Josh Sloper holding his hand on the table with the two talking amongst themselves.
"Come on Ron, they're only holding hands" said Hermione.
Then they saw the couple share a kiss.
"And snogging" said Hermione, with a slight awkwardness to her voice, not wanting to stare at the couple.
Ron placed his hands on the table and straightened up.
"I'd like to leave" said Ron, which had the other three people at the table looking at him with a mixture of shock and amusement.
"What?" said Hermione amusedly.
"You can't be serious Ron" said Janet with equal amusement.
"That happens to be my sister… I don't want to be here when she's snogging someone else out in public" said Ron with a hint of distaste in his voice.
Hermione let out a chuckle.
"So… if she looked over here and saw you snogging Janet, would you expect her to just get up and leave?" said Hermione amusedly.
The entire table fell silent as Janet took a drink of her butterbeer deliberately looking away from Ron out of embarrassment while Ron himself looked slightly dumbfounded by Hermione's words.
26th October 1996
To the dismay of Harry and the rest of his teammates on the Gryffindor Quidditch team that evening, Ron had turned up to their practice session after dinner in a bad mood about something or other.
With the team coming along well with each practice session before tonight, the problem of Ron's nerves and confidence affecting his abilities that Harry had hoped would not return, came back with a bang within thirty minutes of practice.
Harry hoped that the reason for his nerves and low confidence was because of their upcoming match nearly three weeks from now, hoping that there was not something else behind his mood.
After letting in nine goals, five of which were scored by Ginny, Ron's technique was getting more wild as time went on, finally going too far when he punched an oncoming Demelza Robins in the mouth as she flew towards the hoops.
"I'm so sorry Demelza, it was an accident I swear… I just!" shouted a panicked Ron as Demelza zigzagged down to the ground, dripping blood everywhere.
"You just panicked… look at the state of her you prat!" shouted Ginny angrily as she landed next to Demelza, joined by Katie.
"Episkey" said Katie, fixing Demelza's fat, bloody lip.
Ron scowled as Harry landed next to the three girls.
"You alright?" said Harry.
Demelza nodded, wiping the blood off of her lip with a tissue.
"Alright, everyone get back up there… and Ginny, don't call your brother a prat, you're not the Captain of this team" said Harry.
Ginny glared at him.
"Well you were too busy to do it yourself and I thought someone should" said Ginny fiercely.
Harry could not deny that he agreed with her but he just shook his head.
"Come on… let's have another fifteen minutes then we'll call it a night" said Harry.
It would prove to be fifteen long minutes for Ron, who not only managed to continue his argument with Ginny. But also start a separate argument with Janet a few minutes later about how he should stop taking his anger and frustration out on everyone else.
After having to listen to the seemingly endless arguments, Harry was relieved to call time on their practice session, telling them that their next practice session was on Friday evening at seven PM.
Unfortunately, after changing out of their Quidditch robes, Janet, Ron and Ginny walked up to the castle separately, with Ron and Janet still in a bad mood with each other after their argument.
Half an hour later…
Having caught up with Ron, Neville and Hermione joined him walking up to the castle, with Hermione demanding to know what had put Janet in such a bad mood with him.
Shortly after they caught up with Ron, they were joined by Harry and Katie who were being surprisingly quiet about Ron's mood and temper, deciding to let Ron explain his own actions.
They walked around the corner into one of the deserted corridors on their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room.
Or at least, they thought it was deserted until the sight of Ginny and Josh Sloper locked in a passionate kiss, not noticing that their privacy had been invaded.
Before anyone could stop him, Ron caught sight of the couple and reacted in the only way his mood would allow him to react.
"OI!" shouted Ron, which made Josh and Ginny spring apart before turning to face them.
"What?" said Ginny, with her anger rising.
"I don't want to find my sister snogging people in public!" shouted Ron.
Naturally, this made most of the others look extremely embarrassed.
"This was a deserted corridor until you interrupted us!" shouted Ginny.
In addition to Harry, Katie, Neville and Hermione looking embarrassed, Josh looked equally embarrassed.
"Come on Ginny… let's just go back to the common room" said Josh nervously, refraining from looking at Ron.
"You go… I want a word with my brother!" said Ginny fiercely.
With that, Josh left them, not looking sorry to leave them one bit.
Neville and Hermione also left them, with Katie trying to get Harry to leave with her but he refused, deciding to stay in case the situation got out of hand.
"Let's get a few things straight Ron… it's none of your business who I go out with or what we get up to" said Ginny fiercely, fingering her wand which was in the pocket of her jeans.
"Yes it is… do you think I want people saying that my sister is a-" said Ron angrily.
"A what… what exactly?" spat Ginny fiercely.
"He doesn't mean anything by that Ginny" said Harry quickly.
This made Ginny turn her growing anger onto him.
"Don't you dare defend him Harry… he's just jealous because the only kiss he's ever had was from our Great Aunt Muriel!" shouted Ginny.
"Shut up!" roared Ron, with his entire face a shade of crimson with both embarrassment and anger.
"No Ron… I've seen you hanging around Bill and Tonks, trying to pick up tips on how to go out and get yourself a girlfriend are you?!" shouted Ginny.
With that, Harry finally decided to quickly leave the siblings to themselves, letting Katie drag him away, expecting to find out that one of them had been admitted into the Hospital Wing the next morning.
"You're pathetic Ron, acting like a bit of snogging is disgusting… maybe if you went out and snogged someone yourself, you wouldn't mind it so much when you see other people doing it!" shouted Ginny.
With that, the brother and sister finally drew their wands on each other.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" roared Ron.
He tightened his grip on his wand.
"Just because I don't go around snogging in public!" roared Ron.
Ginny let out a scream of laughter at his words.
"Been kissing old Errol have you… or have you got a picture of Auntie Murial stashed under your pillow?" said Ginny, mocking laughter etched into each word.
"Don't be so bloody stupid" snarled Ron.
"Harry snogs Katie a good few times a day, Hermione and Neville snog each other as well… Janet snogged that bloke she went to the Yule Ball with… yet you act like it's disgusting Ron… and that's because you have as much experience as a twelve-year-old!" shouted Ginny.
That was the catalyst for spells to fly between the two, with Ron's Impediment Jinx missing Ginny by millimetres while Ginny's Bat-Bogey Hex hit its target perfectly.
Leaving Ron to suffer the effects of the hex on his own, Ginny started walking back to Gryffindor Tower, not caring about what state Ron was in.
Just over five minutes later…
Walking back into the common room still feeling angry about what had just happened with Ron, Ginny saw Harry and Katie sitting together on one of the settees by the fire, with his gaze fixed solely on the dancing flames in front of him.
Not surprisingly, Josh was nowhere in sight when she returned to the common room, probably going to bed early to avoid yet another confrontation with Ron.
Feeling a little bit bad about snapping at Harry when he tried to break up her argument with Ron, Ginny took a deep breath to try and calm herself down before making her way over to the couple.
"Harry?" said Ginny testily.
Harry and Katie looked up at her with wary looks on their faces.
"Ginny" said Harry flatly.
Ginny sighed.
"Look, Harry… I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier… I was just taking my anger at Ron out on you and that wasn't fair" said Ginny with a hint of regret in her voice.
Harry straightened up and looked right into her eyes.
"I want an honest answer… am I going to have problems with you and Ron being on this team?" said Harry sternly.
Ginny, feeling her anger bubbling to the surface again, managed to control herself and shook her head.
"No… I won't make things difficult and I won't let you down" said Ginny flatly.
Harry sighed.
"Good… because if the two of you keep acting like this then you're both off of the team" said Harry sternly.
"Harry" warned Katie, feeling like he was being a little unfair on Ginny, given that all of the trouble that had been caused was Ron's fault.
Understanding the change in her tone of voice which was being aimed at him, Harry sighed wearily.
"Look, I don't mean anything bad by that… we just can't afford to be acting like this" said Harry wearily, feeling like he understood the pressure Angelina was under when she was Captain last year.
Ginny nodded.
"It's okay… I promise that I'll try to keep my temper in check when it comes to Ron… but I won't promise that I won't react if he goes too far again" said Ginny.
Harry nodded.
"I'll take your word for it… and I'll have a word with Ron about this as well" said Harry sincerely.
Ginny sent him a small smile, feeling grateful that he was so understanding about how she felt.
"Thanks Harry… for being so understanding about this" said Ginny softly.
Harry nodded to her.
"You're welcome" said Harry.
Glancing around the common room for a moment, Harry let out a weary sigh.
"Where is Ron, Ginny?" said Harry wearily.
Ginny let out a small scowl.
"Where you left us… I hexed him before I came back" said Ginny flatly.
Sighing, Ginny dropped into one of the armchairs.
"Are you angry at me for doing that?" said Ginny flatly.
Harry sighed and shook his head.
"I suppose I could let things slide just this once… after what happened earlier" said Harry flatly.
Unfortunately, things started to get worse the next morning, with Ron not only avoiding any sort of interaction with Ginny. But also giving Janet the cold shoulder about something unknown to everyone but Ron, who denied giving her the cold shoulder at all.
Author's note: I would like to end this chapter by saying thank you to everyone who follows, favourites and reviews this story, your support is greatly appreciated and most welcome. I hope you're all enjoying the story so far.