August | Hermione Granger x OFC

Chapter Fifty-Seven

♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡

Following the uncomfortable Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson on Boggarts, the Ravenclaw girls, for the most part, had an unspoken agreement to...let it go unspoken.

In other words, none of them wanted to talk about their fears. Not even during a lifey (which Robyn had not been participating in this year). She could still hear them through her bed curtain, though. That is, she heard Olivia carefully ask Willow if she wanted to talk, and Willow gave a resounding 'no', and that was it, really.

Which was good, because Robyn didn't need people digging into why she was afraid of her own father. Others in the class could speculate all they wanted – she didn't care, as long as they didn't directly ask her any questions.

Besides, the Boggart version of him had called her a disappointment, which – ouch (but, yeah, probably true), however, people would most likely assume that her fear was disappointing him, rather than him in general.

All good.

Every morning and evening she meditated, it made her feel better, somehow. Fresher. Zen. Something like that. And every lesson she had with Snape, she found it easier and easier to clear her mind, which was great, because she'd been having quite a rough couple of months.

Obviously, after what she'd experienced, she'd never be the same. But she was slowly – very slowly – starting to feel less miserable again.

Though, she missed Hermione.

And she felt awfully ill every time she saw Dylan.

And she still wanted to murder Gunnar Rowle.

And she was still quite paranoid around, like, everyone.

Meaning she spent the majority of her time alone, to the consternation of a few.

And she missed Hermione.

But, yes, she wasn't as miserable as she had been, which she saw as progress. It was like, before, she had been 100% miserable, and now, she was only 99%.

Baby steps, people.

And then, the Yule Ball was officially announced, which got everyone excited.

"Oi, Robyn. Come to the Ball with me?" asked Blaise cheekily when she sat down next to him for lunch. Across the table, Draco almost spat out his pumpkin juice.

"Oh, Blaise," she laughed uneasily, glancing between the two boys. "I don't think—"

"No," said Draco. "She's already going with me."

Robyn bristled slightly. Sure, she too was under the assumption that they'd go together, but she'd still like to be asked. And—

"Did you ask her?" challenged Blaise.

Great minds think alike.

"No—"

"Well, I did. So, Robyn? Then we could re-enact your birthday afterwards, if you know what I mean. What do you say?" Blaise interrupted, raising his eyebrows several times suggestively.

It was her turn to almost spit out her pumpkin juice.

"What do you mean?" asked Draco before she could respond.

"I mean—"

"Nothing! He...gave me a present. He's just trying to annoy you, Draco. It doesn't matter."

Draco looked suspicious but was distracted when Theo decided to annoy him, too, by asking, "Want to come with me, Robyn?" Draco turned to him abruptly and thwacked him on the head. "Just joking, Draco, honest!"