I had to endure dirty looks from Noah all day. Or at least until lunch. She scolded me for giving George Weasley too much confidence, and for not paying attention when she was talking to me. She said I looked more like a love struck toddler than a confident heartbreaker that moment at breakfast. She kept telling me I had to ignore him from now on, or else he'd follow me around like a lovesick puppy, and believe me, those are terribly annoying. Even though i nodded and agreed with everything Noah said to me, it almost hurt to even think about ignoring him. I remembered staring into his eyes, and the warm feeling that spread trough my entire body as he smiled at me. I kinda liked that smile. It made his eyes sparkle even harder. All of a sudden, I was woken from my deep thoughts by Noah, bless her heart, as she slapped her potions book on the top of my head.
"Wake up toddler, it's time to go to lunch." she said.
Even though the prospect of lunch usually lifted her spirits after an hour of boring potion brewing (her uncle had thaught her everything when she was younger) she didn't look very happy as we made our way to the great hall. I felt guilty, because I had a feeling she was worried. Fred had enlightened us with George Weasley's history, and it was colorful. He was, in muggleterms, a player, kind of a male version of Noah. The difference being that Noah had stricter, and more proper, limits. Noah didn't make out with every guy of this school just to keep her status high. She didn't need to, her beautiful face, and bitter hard facade did the job for her. People respected her, and even envied her. She had worked her way up the Hogwarts social ladder by being harsh and slightly uncaring. Her attitude was so terrible sometimes that our fellow gryffindors whispered (behind her back, off course) that she'd fit better in slytherin. But of course, Noah also had a soft side. If you knew her well enough, and most gryffindors did by now, you wouldn't wonder why she was the first year gryffindor's favourite tutor, especcially when it came to potions and transfiguration. She even tutored some older gryffindor, mostly halfbloods or muggleborns, but she had to help pureblood Ginny Weasley through her potions O.W.L, even though no one knew that.
I stopped her right before we entered the Great Hall, and gave her a big hug. She smiled when I released her, and sighed. Even though her smile didn't reach her eyes, she kept it plastered on her face as she hooked her arm through mine, and we walked into the Great Hall. We made our way over to Fred, who had his girlfriend, Katie, sitting next to him. Before sitting down, Noah scanned the slytherin table, and her smile faltered when she couldn't find her favourite blonde. They had had a fight after breakfast, and when they fight, things tend to get ugly. Noah and Draco had colliding personalities, mostly because they were so similar. They were both stubborn, proud and, most of all, insecure. Luckily, they didn't fight that much. But when they did, it was almost physically painful to be around Noah for a week. She'd be angry at everything, and everyone. But the worst part was seeing how much it hurt her. She barely slept, or talked, or ate. The same went to Draco. He looked as terrible as she did. Eventually one of them would put their pride aside and apologize, and everything would be lovey dovey again. I was woken from my reverie when Noah snorted.
"Funny huh." she said.
"What is?" I answered.
"Usually food makes me cheerful, but I feel so depressed that even that doesn't work."
She was still fretting over her fight with Draco. I didn't know what it was about, but I did hear that he had called her a lot of bad names.
"Come to figure, I actually think he was right." she said. She put her chin in her hands and stared at her empty plate. I felt so bad for her. Even Fred looked worried then. This wasn't the first time she stopped eating after a fight with Draco, and the last time, they had to carry her to the hospital wing because she had fainted. Her non eating record (no other word to describe it) stood at 2 weeks and 4 days. Fred and I kept close looks on that, because we didn't want to lose her. All of a sudden, an idea popped into my head. However depressed she was, there was 1 thing she simply couldn't turn down. Chocolate pudding. I scanned the table, but there was no jar of the liquid happiness in sight. I scanned the other tables and found a jar, right in front of the depressed looking blonde Noah had been searching for 5 minutes ago. I gave him a light smile and inclined my head in the direction of the jar. He pushed it forward an inch, and I stood. Noah was too lost in her owns depressing thoughts to notice, so I didn't explain where I went. Arriving at Draco's table, i sat myself in the seat opposite him.
"Are you mad at me?" he asked. His voice was rough, and his eyes red rimmed. He had been crying.
"Why would I be?" I tried to sound gentle, and managed pretty well.
"I said some horrible things to her." his eyes teared up again, and I was clever enough to pretend I didn't see him wipe them away secretly.
"So did she."
"But I meant them, like really meant them from the pits of my heart." he sighed.
" And she think you're right." I couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. Dating Noah was like dating a storm, unpredictable and dangerous, he had said once.
"I'm a jerk." his shoulders slumped.
"You're not! You just want her for yourself, which is understandable. I'd be mad too when my boyfriend would flirt with girls all the time right under my nose."
"Did you tell her that?" he lifted an eyebrow.
"Not yet. She's been too busy worrying about the Weasley thing from this morning. I think she's avoiding the conversation."
I thought about that. Noah hated a lot of things, but most of all, she hated hearing what other people thought of her and knowing it was true. Her reputation wasn't that bad, but her relationship with Draco was an entirely different thing.
"I think," I started, but wondered how to continue.
"She's just scared to throw herself completely into your relationship. She's had some pretty bad ones before. It's called, oh what's the word." I racked my brain for it.
"Separation anxiety" said a voice behind me. I turned, and flushed. George Weasley, of all people, was standing behind me. Oh God.
"What is a cute girl like you doing at the slytherin table?" he asked, sounding very... intoxicating. I felt like I was drowning in the soft flow of his words. Off course, I was woken from that strange feeling by an irritated Draco.
"And what's an ugly player like you doing at the slytherin table? Leave my friend alone Weasley, go find yourself another victim." with those words, Fred's story drifted to the forefront of my mind.
I shook my head, patted Draco's hand and grabbed the chocolate pudding, completely ignoring George. When I was back in my seat, I stared in Draco's direction and saw he atleast made the effort to eat. I looked at Noah then, and saw a single tear make a track on her face. I smiled at her, and handed her her favourite dessert. Her eyes brightened and she even managed a real smile.
"No lunch for me today?" she asked, sounding like a little girl, something I found so adorable she did it when she wanted something from me.
"No lunch for you today, not that you were going to eat any." I grinned when she looked guilty.
"God I feel so terrible. I blame you of looking like a love struck toddler while I'm acting like one." she snorted. So did I.
"Man up." Fred said, " You're better of without him anyway. Now you can find yourself a nice gryffindor to date."
But Fred had said the wrong words. Her lower lip started to quiver, and before she burst out in tears, she quietly, and very discretely made her way out of the Great Hall.
"Wonderful George, just wonderful." Katie shook her head.
"You're an inconsiderate jerk, did you know that?" Angelina, Katie's best friend, threw in.
I smiled, and started to rise to go comfort Noah. She'd need it. But I saw Draco rise, and hurry in her direction. I smiled, and felt something heavy lifted from my heart. I would hate to see Noah and Draco's break-up being finite. Fred, Katie and Angelina drifted out of the Great Hall as well while I grabbed something to eat. I dug in, ignoring all the clatter around me. All of a sudden someone took the seat right in front of me. I looked up, and saw George again. He smiled. I didn't smile back. Fred's words were still in the front of my brain, killing all the butterflies I felt fluttering that morning.
"What were you doing at the slytherin table, seriously?" he asked, curiously.
"I was comforting two friends at once." I answered.
"I don't understand why. Noah's a bitch and Malfoy's a jerk. There's no denying that" I froze.
"Excuse me?" I forced the words out of my throat.
"Come on Lexi. She bosses you around like you're her slave. And don't even make me start about Malfoy." he snorted. "I got an entire book on him."
I glared at him. Anger boiled in my veins. He could say whatever he wanted about Draco, but no one insulted my best friend like that.
"Noah is NOT a bitch. You don't know her!" my voice was growing higher, and louder.
"Relax, whatever you say right." he had the urge to wink at me.
"But know that she's not around, why don't we get to know each other better." he reached for my hand. I jerked it away so abruptly that i almost elbowed a girl that passed behind me right at that moment. I gathered my things and got up.
"I wouldn't want to know you for all the galleons in the world." I filtered as much ice in my voice as I could, and gave him the best impression of Noah's deathglare (people actually shrunk away from her when she looked like that). I walked out off the Great Hall and looked back at where he sat. He had the oddest expression on his face. He looked almost... angry. At himself. I decided Fred and Noah had been right. Keeping that in mind, I hurried to my next class, and with every step I took, I was able to care less and less about George Weasley.
Little did I know, the trouble was only starting.