Well it has been awhile, lots happend. Apparently I am an ADHDer and Autistic and I am still recovering from an Autistic burnout. So I really couldn't write. But finally getting some brain power back.
This chapter is probably very flawed, so forgive me. I hope you still can enjoy it.
And I updated and changed chapter 31 - 34. It s a bit different so I would recommend rereading those. And I changed chapter 30 a bit in the end. So well enjoy this chapter!
Will I ever finish this story I don't know, I am going to try!
It was a big day, well at least for Ron. The quidditch game was on. Paige looked at Ron from the Slytherin table. He didn't look good. The rest of the Slytherin table were booing him.. Even throwing their food at him.. Paige looked away in misery.
Her best friend has been ignoring her ever since Hogmead. Everytime she was even close to where he was he would walk the other way. Pansy had said that he was bitter that Slughorn didn't invite him to his party. No way that that was true. He absolutely had something to do with Katie Bell cursing.
The last thing Paige had heard about it was that she was in St Mungoś Hospital now. And they had no idea when she would return to Hogwarts.
And then the feeling she had at Slughorn's party. The feeling she thought she broke. The connection with Harry.. It was small and faint but it was there, just for a moment.
The impulse to slam her head on her plate was overwhelming. Was it really because she was jealous of Ginny, being close to Harry.. that was so pathetic… She sighed as Pansy placed herself next to her..
'So.. going to watch how Ronnie will make an absolute fool of himself!' She said excitedly. Paige slowly moved her head to face her.
'A fool? He did the best at tryouts.' Paige mumbled, not really feeling the energy to push back hard.
'Well he did but did you see how..' Pansy felt silence at the face Paige was making. Extremely tired with no doubt.
'But I do wanna see the game.' Paige continued not looking at Pansy anymore.
Ron placed himself at the Gryffindor table, looking awful.
'How was it?' He asked. Hermione looks confused.
'How was what?' She asked back.
Ron sighed, 'Slughorn's party.'
'Ow, quite boring actually. But I think Harry enjoyed dessert.' She answered. Harry looked up.
'What makes you think that?' He asked, putting down his food.
'Paige and you kept on making eye contact. I know you are angry at her for wearing Draco's necklace..'
'I know it was stupid, I just.. I don't know… somewhere I hoped after we kissed that she would hint that she still wanna be with me…' Harry looked at Paige sitting at her table, she looked almost as awful as Ron.
'Well the way she looked at you, makes me think she does still wants you.' Hermione began… 'You know slughorn is also hosting a Christmas party. And we are meant to bring someone.'
'I expect you to bring Mclaggen?' Ron stated bitterly.
'Actually, I wanted to ask you.' Hermione said indignantly.
'Really..' Ron said not believing her.. Lavender Brown came behind Ron, wishing him good luck. It didn't really help Ron, he even looked more awful.
'After this game, I am resigning.' He stated not taking a bite of his food.
'Fine, have it your way.' Harry said handing over a drink, Ron took it and was about to take a sip when..
'Hi..' Luna said, looking at Ron… 'You look dreadful… is that why you put something in his drink, Harry?'
Harry shrugged while putting his Felix fortune potion back in his pocket. Hermione looked worried.. 'Harry that is illegal.' She said.
'I don't know what you are talking about..' Harry said acting like nothing happened.
Hermione turned to Ron. 'Ron don't drink that!' She warned him. But Ron looked excited at his drink and drank it all. Hermione looked stunned. 'You can be expelled for that.' She stated.
'I don't know what you are talking about.' Harry said again.
'Go on, Harry. We have a game to win.' Ron stood up ready for the match.
Paige was sitting in the audience. 'Where is Draco?' Paige asked Pansy.. 'He was not playing this match?'
'He didn't feel well.' Pansy said.. 'Well let's see how Ronnie will blow this!' She continued excitedly.
But Ron didn't blow it.. Actually he did extremely well. He stopped everything and Slytherin was absolutely going to lose.
'Well he was the best at tryouts.' Paige said to Pansy smirking.. yet a bit worried… he was so worried before but now he was playing so confidently. 'Wow!' She followed up as he made a brilliant save.
'How?' Paige heard Pansy mumble under her breath. When the match ended Griffindor won big time. It wasn't even close..
Paige and Pansy walked back to their common room. The room was really somber. And Paige really didn't feel anything to be here. So she said goodbye to Pansy and walked back into the hallway. Not a lot of students were rooming about. They were probably partying, Paige thought. As they should.
Paige walked without thinking when she heard someone crying.. She got closer to a classroom door and opened it. She saw that it was Hermione.
'Hermione?' Paige asked, walking into the classroom, Hermione looked up, her eyes red. 'What's wrong? Are you okay?' Paige asked as she walked towards her.
Hermione looked away again.. 'Well.. I… It's..' Hermione stumbled when the class room opened again and Ron with.. Lavender walked in all giggly and holding hands.
They looked up and saw Paige and Hermione.
'Oh looks like this room is taken.' Lavender said, walking out of the room again. Ron stood there watching Hermione.
Hermione stood up and pointed her wand at him. She casted a spell, paper birds flew at him. chasing him out of the room. Hermione sat back down and started crying again.
Paige understood and placed herself next to Hermione, putting an arm around her.
'I'm sorry Hermione.' Paige muttered feeling really bad for her friend. Hermione looked up at her.
'Why are you here?' She asked. Paige, taken aback by her question, took her arm back.
'I don't know, I still care about you...' Paige answered quietly, looking at her hands.
Hermione looked difficult, 'Why break up with Harry? It isn't his fault your mother is a monster..' She said harshly, caring a lot about Harry. 'Harry misses you so much... he feels very uneasy not having the connection with you. He hasn't slept well for weeks.'
A bad feeling came over Paige.. 'But it's not because I think it's Harry's fault.' She managed to say. 'It's for the better if we stay apart. It's safer for him to stay away from me.' Paige finished.
Hermione looked very worried. 'Why would it be safer for Harry to stay away from you?'
Paige panic returned, feeling she maybe had said too much.
'Did your parents do something? Made you promise things?' Hermione continued asking. But Paige didn't answer. 'He is not afraid of them, Paige.' She finished still looking worried.
'And well, I miss you too.' Hermione added after a while of silence. Paige looked up at her.
'Miss you too, Hermione.' Paige quietly.
The door opened again, this time it was Harry. 'Ow hi..' He said a bit surprised. Hermione and Paige looked up, Paige's heart jumping up..
'Umm.. Hermione, are you okay?' Harry asked, also placing himself next to Hermione. She shrugged and did not look at either one of them. Harry and Paige looked at each other, both worried about Hermione.
'Is this how it feels?' Hermione suddenly asked. They looked confused. 'Is this how it feels when you two are apart?' She finished.
Paige felt her heart jump up again… Her face got a bit red in the face… looking away from Harry.
'Yeah.' Harry said, still looking at her. Paige looked up again.
'Yeah.' She said as well.
The three of them sat there for a while in silence.
Harry was now pulled in two directions. Hearing Ron nag about Hermione and hearing Hermione deny she would even want to be with Ron… It even went so far that she asked someone else to go to Slughorn's party when Harry had the brilliant idea to go together because both of them couldn't go with the one they really wanted.
Harry knew he couldn't ask Paige to go with him. And he had to be quick with asking someone, 'cause people wanted to go with him so badly they were busy getting love potions. All because they thought he was the chosen one.
'Hermione, can you not do something about it? You are a prefect?.' He asked, Hermione looked apologetic.
'They didn't have the love potion on them, I couldn't do anything. Just find someone fast!' She explained quickly.
'Yeah, okay. You're right,' Harry said, trying to think of someone to go with. 'I will find someone I like, someone cool.'
Paige was getting ready for the Christmas party. She had a cute dark red dress on. Perfect for her gryffindor necklace. She put it on not yet sure about her decision. But determined to hint to Harry she still wanted to be with him. But hoping he would understand that she couldn't. At least not yet.
Unfortunately she had to ask Blaise to go to the party.. again. At first she wanted to go with Draco but he was nowhere to be found. Bitter about that, she asked Blaise… as a friend. He looked disappointed, but agreed to go with her.
At the christmas party, Blaise and Paige almost directly left each other's side. Paige was finding something to drink, when she saw Hermione with Mcglennen.
'Damn,' Paige muttered. 'Ron really did hit hard huh.' She said to herself. Harry entered the room with.. Luna! Paige was relieved, she was quite scared that he would have gone with Ginny. Luna was cool, Paige thought, still watching Harry. He got greeted but quickly noticed Paige and gave a small wave. He made his way over to her. Butterflies flew inside her stomach.
'Hi, can I talk to you at this party?' Harry asked carefully. Paige looked at him, how bad can it be to talk at this party, it's not if he would tell her about the prophecy here.
'Sure..' Paige said, taking a sip of some weird purple drink, she didn't like it. 'Is that a vampire?' She asked Harry, pointing at an extremely pale man wearing sunglasses and a black cape.
'I think so yeah,' Harry answered looking at who she was pointing at.
'Sick.' Paige mumbled, enjoying the sight of it. A ravenclaw boy placed himself next to Paige also grabbing something to drink. He accidentally pushed Paige a bit.
'Sorry,' He started, as he turned towards her. 'Ow, shit it's you. Please don't set me on fire.' He said before walking away. Paige saw him walking to his friends whispering about her, as they were all looking at her.
'Rude.' Harry said, looking at the boy.
'Who told them?' Paige asked herself, taking another sip of her drink, then putting it down 'cause it just didn't taste good.
'I could go talk to them.' Harry suggested already planning to confront them. Paige stopped him.
'No thank you, I don't wanna make it worse.' She said, taking her eyes off of the Ravenclaw boys, her eyes landed on Hermione and Mcglennen. 'Did you see who Hermione brought to the party?' A small giggle escaped Paige's mouth. Harry looked around spotting Hermione.
'Mcglennen?' Harry said in disbelief. 'Ron really got to her.'
'That's what I was thinking.' Paige said. They saw Mcgleggen move to the mistletoe, Hermione made her escape. Paige felt bad for her but couldn't help laughing a bit about how silly this looked. Hermione hid behind a curtain.
'I should check on her.' Harry said, giving Paige an apologetic look.
'Yeah I think you should.' She said, looking Harry up and down. 'You look good.'
Harry blushed a bit. 'Thank you.' Now he looked at Paige and what she was wearing, his eyes landed on her neck. 'You're wearing my necklace.' He said quietly… almost not believing it.
'Yeah, fit the dress well.' Paige said quickly. Harry was smiling.
'I will see you later.' He said and walked towards Hermione.
Paige sighed. Holding onto the necklace. Then looking back at the Ravenclaw boys, they were still laughing and looking at her. How did they know? Paige thought. 'This is such a drag.'
'Let go of me!' Draco's voice sounded behind Paige. She turned around, seeing Filch holding on to Draco.
'Professor, I found this student trying to enter your party.'He said excitedly, 'What could we do with him?'
'Well,' Slughorn started. 'I understand why someone would try to enter my party. It is fabulous. You know what boy, you can stay… I did know your grandfather.'
Snape turned up as well. 'No Slughorn, he will be coming with me. I'm the head of his house.'
'Oh Snape, please.' Slughorn tried but Snap wouldn't budge.
'No Slughorn, I will have a conversation with mister Malfoy.' Snap said, pulling Draco with him. Paige saw Harry follow them and she went after them as well.
'Harry,' Paige whispered.
'Paige, what are you-'
'I also wanna know what they have to say to each other.' Paige said, they were in the hallway. Harry nodded while pulling out his invisibility cloak. Pulling it over himself and Paige. She had to stand really close to him for the cloak to cover them both. She could hear his heart beating fast.
They walked through the hallway, listening closely if they could hear Draco and Snape. Finally they heard them, their voices coming from a classroom. They moved to the door, listening closely.
'Let me help you, Draco!' They heard Snape say.
'No, just leave me alone.' Draco snapped back, 'I can do this alone!'
'Yes, because the situation with Katie Bell went great.' Snape stated. Harry and Paige looked at each other. So Draco did have something to do with Katie Bell.
'I don't know what you are talking about.' Draco said, sounding extremely irritated. 'Now if you can just leave me alone!'
'I made the unbreakable vow.' Snape tried, Harry and Paige looked at each other… The unbreakable vow…
'I don't care what you did!' Draco snapped.
Harry and Paige backed up just in time when they noticed they were coming towards the door. They opened the door and went straight past Harry and Paige..
Snape and Draco went their separate ways.
Paige couldn't let this chance slide. She slipped out under the cloak, Harry tried stopping her but was too late. When Paige was sure Snape was gone she called out to him.
'Draco!' She said not really controlling her anger. He turned around extremely fast.
'Paige, what are you doing here?' He asked with a panic in his voice. He looked awkward.
'Why, didn't you tell me you wanted to come to Slughorn's party? I was actually hoping we would go together so I didn't have to ask anyone else. Now, NOW I had to ask Blaise AGAIN. You know how embarrassing that is. God Draco, what are you so busy with that you can't even hang with me?!' Paige let out weeks of frustration. 'I CAN'T hangout with other people, you have me completely this year and now I'm not good enough to hang out with?' She felt so angry, how could Draco do this to her.
'Paige it's not that you are not good enough to hang out with.' Draco started.
'Then WHAT is it?' Paige looked furious, breathing heavily. Not even trying to hold her cool.
'I have to do something, and I have to do it alone…' Draco said desperately trying to calm her.
'And what do you have to do?' Paige asked, absolutely forgetting that Harry was also still in this hallway.
'I.. I can't tell you that..' He answered slowly, not giving her one look.
'Right.' Paige said feeling like she was losing her mind. 'What were you and Snape talking about then? Does it have to do with Katie Bell? Is that why you were at Hogmead without telling me?'
'You heard us?' Draco's panic became bigger. Then he switched to annoyed. 'Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop?'
'Hey that's what's rude here.' Paige snapped back. She felt so done with this.
They fell into silence.
'Look, Paige, this has nothing to do with you. Just.. you have to let me be.' Draco finally said.
'Yeah, I will do you one better. I don't think this friendship is going to work.' Paige said, turning around and walking away. Angry about this whole situation. She walked past Harry, she totally forgot about him at the moment. The only thing she wanted right now was to go to bed.
Paige was dreaming of the hallway again.. a body was lying on the ground.. it had to be Harry.. She killed him, she broke the connection. His eyes flashed before her eyes.. The moment she got back she noticed the body was gone. She looked around her, starting to walk down the hall. Turning the corner she was taken aback, seeing Harry kissing Ginny…
Paige felt disgust, taking a few steps back before turning back. 'Whats wrong with me, she would be good for him.' Paige heard herself say. She leaned against the wall, feeling inside herself.. trying to find the connection with Harry…
She felt wind on her face and looked up.. The woman! The woman in the picture, Evanora Greengrass. She was holding out her hand to her. Paige reached for it before a green light illuminated her back. The woman fell forwards, lifeless. Behind her stood Ashley… her mother. She was laughing, looking at Paige.
Paige woke up… She was sweating, breathing heavily. She looked around her, the rest of the girls were still asleep. She fell back into her bed, still feeling warm. That woman, an eerie feeling fell upon her. If she was in a picture with her dad and a baby looking very much like her..
No she couldn't be my mom. Ashley is my mother, Paige thought. She felt a headache coming up again. She growled, placing her hands on her face. What a mess. Nothing makes sense.
Her thoughts went back to her dream, Harry and Ginny kissing..
Why is she so jealous about Ginny.. maybe because Ginny is brave, is strong, wouldn't have given up on Harry so easily.
But I'm not giving up either, Paige thought, she really wanted to be with Harry again.. But not yet, she first had to survive Christmas break with her mom.
Thank you for reading!