𝙑𝙄𝙍𝙄𝘿𝙄𝙏𝙔 ➞𝘏.𝘎

fifty seven

"Cormac McLaggen"

-IT WAS A FEW WEEKS LATER. Right now, the members of the Slug Club were eating dinner together with Professor Slughorn. It was awkward, to say the least.

Adhara didn't even bother to touch her food, not feeling hungry, and took a sip from the glass of wine in her hands. Her other hand was on Hermione's thigh, which tightened when she noticed Cormac McLaggen not taking her eyes off of Hermione.

The two were in a complicated relationship. They acted like a couple, but they hadn't made it official that they'reback together yet. Which was actually Adhara's idea, even though Hermione wanted nothing more than to fully get back together.

"-yes, sir. In fact, I'm meant to go hunting with him and the Minister of magic over the holidays." said Cormac proudly.

"Oh, be sure to give them both my best." Slughorn proudly said. "And what about your uncle, Belby? For those of you who don't know, Marcus' uncle invented the Wolfsbane potion. Is he working on anything new?"

Adhara sneered in disgust when she noticed the boy wolfing down his dessert.

Marcus Belby shook his head, not looking away from his dessert. "I dunno. Him and my dad don't get on. Dad says that potions are rubbish."

Blaise also made a low, disgusted sound, noticing the same thing Adhara had.

The Malfoy siblings made eye contact as soon as Slughorn tried talking to them, both of them rolling their eyes simultaneously, a sign for Slughorn to leave them alone, which he noticed and looked away.

"And what exactly do your parents do in the muggle world, miss Granger?" asked Slughorn excitedly.

"My parents are dentists. They tend to people's teeth."

A few minutes later, Ginny Weasley was there as well.

Adhara glared at McLaggen, who was hungrily looking at Hermione and giving her winks and flirtatious smiles, making Hermione highly uncomfortable.

Hermione immediately relaxed, though, when Adhara held her hand under the table as a sign of comfort, knowing she needed it.

That night, Adhara and Hermione were on the Astronomy tower together.

Adhara looked at the girl she was holding by the waist and frowned, remembering something. "Stay away from McLaggen."

Hermione tried not to frown at the demanding in her tone, but couldn't help it. "Don't tell me what to do."

The taller girl was now facing her. She tucked a strand of Hermione's hair behind her ear, not once looking away from her eyes. "I'm not letting anybody get between us again, Mia."

"You didn't seem to have a problem with it before."

Adhara took a deep breath, trying not to lash out. "Are you always going to bring that up?"

"Yes, because you didn't believe me!"

"And you didn't trust me!"

"Well, you certainly gave me a reason to trust you after our breakup, right? Going to broom closets with her every day!"

"When almost everybody you know believes you to turn into something, you have no choice but to follow their beliefs. I had nothing to lose. Everyone-you, every Gryffindor, every Slytherin, every Ravenclaw, every Hufflepuff- everyone believed that I cheated. So, what was I supposed to do? I tried telling them the truth, but all I got was being called a liar and shit. In the end, I just went along with it."

Hermione stayed quiet. It was only then that she realized how hard it must've been for the girl in front of her, but it wasn't fair that she was basically ordering her who to be with. She didn't even know Cormac, so why was this even such a big deal to Adhara?

"Addie?"

Adhara hummed, pulling the girl to her chest and starting to play with her hair.

Hermione wrapped her arms around the taller girl's waist and asked something that had been bothering her for days, "What are we?"

Adhara's face didn't give any emotion away when Hermione looked up at her. "We're just enjoying the moment, love. We don't have to label this."

"But, Addie, this is us."

"So?" She asked, looking unbothered as she kissed Hermione's forehead softly. "Don't you want to enjoy this with no problems?"

"Of course I do."

"Good, because as do I."