vi. sloth
She's lazy today; or maybe she just doesn't feel like seeing Cho flirt with him again.
"I'm sick," she tells her best friend, with a straight, pathetic-looking face. "I think I've come down with something."
"Do you want me to get Madam Pomfrey?" Cho asks worriedly.
"No," Marietta replies, closing her eyes. "I'll just rest."
The second Cho is gone, Marietta is writing a speech to her. "I like Michael Corner, and I know you do too. Actually I might love him. He's very, very cute, and I know we can work this out."
Yeah right. She throws it out and goes down to the common room, where Terry and Michael sit.
"You two are cutting classes too?" she asks, plopping down at the table across from them.
They laugh, and Michael says, "No, we're sick as dogs. Tony gave it to Terry, who gave it to me, but he's all better now – lucky bastard."
She nods sympathetically. "Yeah…me, I faked it. I'm too lazy today."
Terry stands up, tripping over Michael's legs as he says, "I'll be right back. I've got to grab…something…from my bed…"
Michael looks after him, a mix of amusement and anxiety on his face. He looks back at her, and she can't hold in her blush. "Er," she says lamely.
He laughs. "Um…can I tell you something?"
She looks at her lap, nods. She imagines anything from I'm in love with Cho to I'm going to die. He says, nervously, "I fancy this girl."
"Well, doubtless." She finds the blood rushing to her head, her cheeks on fire.
"But it isn't Cho. Don't tell her – I don't want to hurt her feelings…"
"That's…sweet," she says, now studying his face. He, too, is red. She can't decide if she's happy that he doesn't fancy Cho, or sad for her friend. "Who is it?"
"Well…she's really gorgeous. She's also really funny. She's in this House…and in this room with me, right now."
"Me?" she gasps, having never suspected something like that. "Oh, Merlin, I – " She's about to tell him she feels the same way, that she's been waiting for this moment for oh-so-long – and then she remembers Cho, pictures her sobbing into her pillow each night for months, pictures her worried face and her smiles and their friendship. She sighs, takes a big breath. "Michael. I really, really want to like you. But – but I just can't. Cho – "
"Is your best friend. I get it." He's white, now, his hands clutched tightly together, and he's batting his eyelashes like he might cry.
"Can I tell you a secret? Something I haven't told anyone?" she asks him, trying to catch his eye.
"Depends," he says, with a half-smile, a very forced half-smile. "Will it break my heart?"
"No, I don't think so. It's just that, Michael, I've fancied you for years. Three, counting this year, to be exact. And I'm probably a fling to you – I know that. Just a girl that you'll meet, like, date, move on from. But you're more than that to me."
"Why?" he asks, through dry lips. "Why am I so special that the two hottest girls in school like me?"
"Because," she says, smiling, "you're one of the few genuine boys around. One of the few through-and-through sweet ones."
"If we both want this, why can't we be together?" he asks her.
She sighs and takes his hands. "We can't."
"Because of Cho?"
She nods. "She's like my sister. She is my sister, in all but blood. We're there for one another. We don't do this."
"Can I talk to her?"
"If you're okay with seeing her cry. I'm not, because I've seen it too often. I'm so sorry, so sorry. But we can't."
He takes her fingers, kisses each one. "Can't we do this…secretly?"
She kisses him, abruptly, long and passionate. "Maybe. Maybe. Meet me here tonight, once everyone's left and gone to bed." She hates that it sounds like a secret plan, something she can tell no one.
"Tonight," he repeats, a smile breaking out on his face. "Tonight."