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006.
THE AIR OUTSIDE of the castle was cold and brisk, and Esme had to squint to see past the onslaught of raindrops coming down on the pavement. She tried to use her Potions book to shield herself from the bad weather, but that just ended up with her book soaked and soggy in her grip. She sighed, finally finding cover under a balcony next to an open door on the other side of the castle. The courtyard was usually the fastest way to get to the dungeons, instead of walking all the way around and through the castle, but Esme was regretting her decision when her clothes and exposed skin became uncomfortably sticky.
"Esme!"
She turned, and to her relief, she saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing a few feet away, shielding themselves from the rain just like Esme was doing. She smiled at them, and made her way over. "Hi. Are you all going to Potions?"
Ron nodded, a sullen look on his pale face. "Yeah. We've got it with the Slytherins. I'm not looking forward to being stuck in a room with Malfoy." His shoulders slumped at the realization, yet Esme felt her heart soar. She might be able to talk to Amara – it felt like ages since they last spoke.
Esme looked over at Harry and Hermione – both also looking equally depressed at the thought of the other House joining their class. Esme could understand – Draco Malfoy was a piece of work. She usually didn't get involved with things like House rivalries, although Gryffindor and Slytherin were the two Houses that hated each other the most, but Draco was someone that Esme liked to stay away from. His family was pureblood, and equally extremely well-off, and the blonde haired boy's parents managed to make him so extremely smug that any criticism seemed to bounce right off of him. There were a few times over the years where the Malfoy boy would send a jeer or comment her way, and Esme would snap back, but she didn't much feel like engaging with him at all anymore. Not since what happened.
Before she could gather her thoughts and spark up another conversation to distract the trio from the lingering dread, someone walked around the corner and knocked right into her. Her books went flying out of her hands, and landed on the wet ground with a horrible thud. Great, Esme thought. Another way to ruin her books.
"Hi, Harry," Esme heard from above her as she scrambled to pick up the wet pages. Hermione got down on her knees and began to help, to which Esme sent her a grateful smile. When they finished, and the soaked, but thankfully still in-tact books were back in Esme's shoulder bag, she straightened, looking to see who it was that ran into her and didn't say so much as a sorry.
Cho Chang stood there, her shiny black hair flowing down her shoulders prettily. She was staring at Harry with such infatuation that Esme had to look away.
