Vengeance| Harry Potter

seventeen. fudge forever

-CHAPTER SEVENTEEN-
~fudge forever~

VIOLA HAD NOT originally planned on taking a shower, but was glad she did. The cascading hot water almost seemed to melt away every bad thing from the day: the embarrassment, having to relive the worst day of her life, and not even being able to punch Rita Skeeter despite sitting across a table from her for a few hours. How she had managed that last one would forever remain a mystery.

It almost made her feel bad to think about it, but she was happy that her day hadn't been the only one that didn't go smoothly. Harry had his problems with Cho, Ron with Quidditch... It looked as if Hermione had ended up with the best one out of all of them.

She forced herself out into the cold of the steamed up bathroom, pulling on some comfortable clothes and wringing out her hair into the sink. She hated when the cold drops would creep down the back of her neck, but wasn't bothered to perform the Hot Air Charm. The only thing that currently felt inviting was sitting by the fire in the common room. Preferably alone.

But the common room was never empty, a fact she was foolish enough to not let dull her hopes. And as she hopped off the last step, the regret swelled within her.

Because Dean was sitting in a nearby seat, book propped open on his lap.

Viola glanced to the fire. Maybe it would be more pleasant to just throw herself into the flames. Escape what she knew she had to do.

She wished she was more of a coward as she took a deep breath and began to walk forward. There was only one way to get this over with, and that was to just do it.

"Hi."

So maybe she should have practised this in her head beforehand.

Dean looked up in alarm, no doubt too engrossed in his book to notice her approaching. Or maybe he was actively trying to ignore her in the hope she would turn away. Viola hoped it was the former.

"Oh— hi."

She definitely should have gone over this in her head beforehand.

"So... I just wanted to say that I, uh... I'm sorry about what happened earlier."

Dean's eyebrows furrowed as he sat up straighter. "You don't have to be sorry. It's my fault for assuming that you... uh..."

"But I shouldn't have run off," said Viola. "Halfway through our day together. And I'd been acting weird since Honeydukes and—"

Dean closed over the book, keeping a finger trapped in the pages so he wouldn't lose his place. He shook his head and said, "That was understandable. I mean, you just saw a picture of your uncle when the news only—"