The next few days were the worst that Greg had ever had at Hogwarts. Worse than having Vince angry at him was to have him ignoring him completely. Draco sat between them both, chatting away, oblivious that anything was amiss, while Vince only directed his responses towards Draco and avoided looking at Greg entirely. Matters were only made worse by the fact that Draco and Pansy appeared to be something of an item now, so Greg had to contend with her constantly chattering in his ear into the bargain. Normally Greg and Vince would just stalk off and leave Draco with his latest belle in peace, but Vince didn't want to spend any time alone with Greg. Instead they suffered in silence.
"There's only a week left before the Yule Ball," warned Draco, his arm carelessly draped over Pansy's shoulders as they ate their dinner in the Great Hall one evening. "You're going to be hard pressed to get any date at this rate, let alone a decent one."
"I don't really give a shit about this stupid Ball," snapped Vince, glaring at his dinner. "Can you just drop it already?"
"Ooh, testy!" teased Pansy. "Who's put a bee in your bonnet?"
"Sounds like they've shoved it up his arse, more like," muttered Draco, drawing a displeased sideways glance at Vince. Vince dropped his fork and abruptly left the table, his shoulders hunched and head bowed. Draco, Pansy and Greg all stared after him gaping.
"What's got into him?" asked Draco. Pansy shrugged.
"He's just jealous because you've got the hottest date to the Yule Ball and he'll be on his lonesome. Anyway, what about you Greg? Have you had any luck in finding a date?"
"No," he replied shortly, shovelling another mouthful of cottage pie in his mouth, hoping that would end the conversation. Unfortunately Pansy was rather persistent.
"Not to worry, Pansy's on the case. I'm sure we can find someone for you. Maybe not Vincent though, he's so crabbit I fear he's a lost cause," she gave a dramatic sigh and shook her head.
True to her word, Pansy pranced into the boy's dormitory later that evening looking smug.
"Good news boys!" she declared, flopping down onto Draco's bed, sending his homework fluttering onto the floor. He rolled his eyes and nudged her out of the way. She rolled onto her stomach and smirked at Greg and Vince who sat on their own beds pouring over their own homework, "I may have just secured you both a date to the Ball!"
Vince's eyes widened and he tossed his Charms book aside, "Really? With who?"
"The Carrow twins." Greg and Vince stared blankly. Pansy rolled her eyes. "Flora and Hestia Carrow. They're the year below us. Long brown hair, pale, bit gaunt looking. They don't say much but they're the smartest in their year."
Vince huffed and his shoulders sagged, "They're going to love us, aren't they?"
Greg glared at Vince, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"What the hell are we going to talk to them about?" asked Vince, motioning to the homework spread out over his bed. "I can barely keep up with Remedial Charms, how am I supposed to sit all night with the Genius Twins and keep them entertained?"
"I don't think they'll be too bothered about your book smarts lads," interjected Pansy. "They're just happy to be invited. They're only in third year so they wouldn't be able to go otherwise."
"Oh, so it's like that is it?" huffed Vince. "They're only agreeing to go with me and Greg so they can get a free dinner and a show."
Pansy shrugged, "Pretty much, yeah. I don't see what the problem is, it's a mutually beneficial arrangement – you both get dates for the Ball, they get to attend. It's a win-win for everyone involved."
"Not for me it's not!" argued Vince.
"Then what the hell do you want, Vince?" asked Pansy sharply, all trace of sweetness gone from her voice.
Vince rose to his feet, "I want to go with someone who wants to go with me! Not just as a meal ticket. I don't think that's too much to ask!"
"I think unfortunately in this case it is," said Pansy without a trace of sympathy. "Let's be clear – you might want somebody who wants to go with you, but the hard truth is nobody wants to go with you, Vincent. So either you go with the Carrow twins, or you don't go with anyone. It's up to you."
"Fuck you," he hissed and stormed out of the dormitory. Greg instinctively rose to his feet and chased after him, slamming the door behind him. Draco rounded on Pansy.
"Was that really necessary?" he spat throwing his quill down onto bed.
"I only spoke the truth. It's not my problem he can't handle hearing it," she sniffed, then she smirked. "Well, since we're all alone now…"
Draco gave a dramatic sigh and pulled Pansy on top of him. She might be a nasty piece of work, but damnit if she wasn't a good kisser.
"Vince," called Greg, chasing after him down another corridor. "Vince, wait up!"
"Leave me alone," he shouted over his shoulder, striding around a corner and disappearing out of sight. As Greg rounded the corner he paused. Vince had vanished.
"Vince?" he called again, walking slowly down the corridor then paused when he heard the strum of a lyre. He turned towards a large tapestry of Achilles and Patroclus sitting together on a grassy knoll, watching Greg with interest. Achilles smiled and strummed the lyre again as Greg approached them.
"Is he…" Greg pointed at the tapestry and both men gave a small nod. "Thank you."
Greg pulled the tapestry back to reveal a hidden corridor and saw Vince's feet sticking out of a stone alcove. Greg approached him slowly and felt his heart sink at the look on Vince's face. His face was set in its usual deep scowl, but his eyes were puffy and red. He stared fixedly at the floor and said nothing. Greg sighed and sat down next to Vince in the alcove, neither speaking for a while.
"You know Pansy just says shit because it gets a rise out of you," he said eventually.
"Well Greg, the most cutting remarks tend to be the ones with some truth to them," said Vince bitterly. "And this one cut pretty deep."
"She's wrong you know," said Greg.
"About what?" asked Vince. "About how stupid I am or that nobody likes me? I was already well aware of both those facts, but she didn't need to throw it in my face like that."
"You're not stupid," Greg argued. "Not to me anyway. And she was wrong about nobody wanting to go with you."
Vince huffed, "We've already clarified that nobody wants to go with me. Not that I care, it's going to be stupid anyway."
"I do," said Greg quietly. Vince stared.
"What?" Vince spoke in barely a whisper. Greg shrugged.
"I would go with you. I mean, I want to go…with you."
Vince blinked and swallowed hard, "What are you saying Greg?"
Greg rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I'm not entirely sure, I'm not great with words. But I figure, we're best mates, yeah?"
"Yeah," replied Vince cautiously.
"So why shouldn't we just go together?" asked Greg as casually as possible, although his heart was racing. "We already agreed most of the other girls wouldn't be much fun to hang out with anyway. At least this way we don't need to worry about impressing the other person, or feel like we need to dance, and we don't need to buy those stupid bloody corsages everyone's been going on about. We can just go and enjoy ourselves. As mates."
Vince studied Greg closely for a moment before nodding slowly, "Yeah. Go together. As mates."
Greg smiled, "Cool, I'll pick you up at seven-thirty."
Vince rolled his eyes and laughed, "If anyone's doing the picking up it'll be me – you're the girl, remember?"
"Fuck off," muttered Greg and Vince laughed. Relief swept through Greg as the two friends walked back to the Slytherin dungeon. It had been hellish not having Vince by his side these last few days. Now they seemed to have put their little 'moment' behind them and resumed their friendship as normal.
It was just a moment, Greg told himself. A very strange, fleeting, incredibly intense moment that you can't stop thinking about.
He smiled and nodded along as Vince chatted away animatedly to him, trying and failing to suppress the feeling of butterflies in his stomach every time he looked at his best friend.