mirrorball

chapter ten

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Clara woke the next morning and waltzed downstairs for breakfast. To her surprise, a familiar brunette sat at the table speaking to Ron who looked absolutely delighted in her presence.

"Hermione?"

"Clara!"

The girl rose and jumped into Clara's arms. Clara let out a grunt and waved her arms around in the air before letting them rest on Hermione's back. Hermione quickly pulled away with a sheepish look on her face.

"Sorry. Ron told me you weren't really a hugger, I should've remembered."

"It's ok."

Clara took a seat next to her and thanked Mrs. Weasley for the plate she placed in front of her. As she took a bite of her toast Hermione began to ramble.

"-And I usually would've stayed with my parents but I just felt so guilty, what with Mr. Weasley being injured, so I figured I should just come over and make sure everyone was doing ok, and I didn't want Ron to be lonely or-"

The group looked at her and her face turned a deep red.

"A-and Ginny, Harry, and Clara as well."

Ron chuckled and continued eating his breakfast. Clara sensed something deeper than friendship was going on between the two. 

"Hey, where is Harry?" Clara asked, looking around to see that the boy was not here.

"Oh," Mrs. Weasley said with a sigh, "I had hoped he might come down with you. He's been in his room since last night. Something's troubling him, heaven knows what."

Clara looked at Ron who shrugged and looked at Hermione, who wore a tight expression.

"I'll try to talk to him." Ron said. He stood from his seat and exited the room with a determined stride. Only minutes later Ron returned, defeat covering his face.

"No response. Do you think he's dead?"

Hermione scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Ron. Maybe he just needs to be alone?"

Clara spent the rest of that day playing cards with Sirius and Remus. After ten games the two forced her upstairs where Ginny and Hermione lay gossiping about everyone and everything. Clara awkwardly stepped inside and waved. Ginny patted a cushion and Clara sat crossed-legged.

"We're talking about the hottest guys in the grade." Hermione said with a giggle.

"And girls!" Ginny said.

"Who are your picks?" Hermione quickly said, her eyes trained on Clara, waiting for an answer.

"Oh er- I don't know. They're all equal I suppose."

Ginny and Hermione both let out shrill giggles to which Clara responded with awkward laughter. Luna never wanted to talk about romance, so Clara was swimming through uncharted territory here. 

"Oh come on! There's gotta be at least one guy you think stands out from the rest." Ginny said.

Clara gave the question some thought, and one name pushed itself to the top of her mind, but she ignored it.

"I guess Draco's nice." Clara decided.

"He's in my top five as well!" Ginny said.

"You guys are delusional, there are so many better looking guys than Draco Malfoy." she said, pronouncing his name in a fancy accent. Laughter erupted from the girls and it took them several minutes to compose themselves.