Lauren Davies and the Glydan Pipe

The Missing Niffler

After a full plate of chocolate digestives and two cups of milky tea, Lauren's insides had been sufficiently warmed. Her hands were bright red and movements in her limbs were slow as blood began flowing to them again. Snow had resumed falling slowly outside the window and darkness was beginning to settle over the late afternoon. The four girls were feeling full and relaxed, perfectly content to remain in the warm Great Hall for the rest of the day. Tess seemed jubilant to have them all sitting together again and Erin had finally begun to divulge more details from her time with Draco.

"It was really cold on the way there so we didn't talk much, but once we got inside, it was less awkward." Her cheeks were flushed with excitement and her hands were still shaking from the adrenaline. Lauren could finally see that although Erin put on an unbothered front of formality when it came to Draco, deep down she was rather pleased to have spent the day with him.

"What did you guys talk about?" Claire persisted. She was leaning so far over the table that her hair began brushing over the plate of digestives. Lauren pulled the biscuits closer to herself and grabbed another one off the top, taking a nibble while she continued to listen to their conversation.

Erin shrugged. "Just normal stuff like school. He tried to bring up quidditch, but I shut that down pretty quick."

"What's wrong with quidditch?" Lauren asked midchew.

"It's boring," Erin responded without missing a beat. It was clear she felt very strongly about this and no one would change her mind, so Lauren dropped the subject for the sake of keeping the peace.

"Not boring," she muttered under her breath so only Tess could hear. An elbow collided with her ribcage and Lauren quietly squeaked in pain as Tess looked on innocently. Erin and Claire barely noticed as they continued to fire questions and answers back and forth at rapid speed.

"Did he ask you out again?" Tess asked, finally joining into the discussion. Claire whipped her head to look from Tess to Erin, eagerly awaiting her response. Erin sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"He didn't say anything about hanging out again," Erin said defeatedly. "But he didn't ask me to Hogsmeade till the last minute," she added.

"He definitely likes you," Claire said decisively. "There's not a single doubt in my mind."

"Yeah," Tess added. "He wouldn't have asked you if he wasn't interested."

Lauren was so overwhelmed she just nodded, too worried to say anything else.

"But what if he's just doing it because his parents made him?" Erin groaned and shook her head in confusion. Lauren was a bit taken aback by her openness. Despite Lauren's presence, Erin seemed to have let her guard down.

"I'm sure that's not true," Tess assured her.

"You don't know him though," Erin argued. "He may seem like a confident asshole sometimes, but his parents could convince him to do anything-"

"So?" Claire interrupted. "They're not here! He can do whatever he wants."

"Yeah, but they could find out," Erin quickly countered. "They have eyes and ears everywhere."

At this, the four girls swiveled their heads to warily glance around the Great Hall. The portraits on the wall were going about their business and the ceiling didn't seem too menacing, so Lauren reasoned that they were fairly safe.

"There's no way they can hear everything," Lauren said, finally joining in and shoving another bite of biscuit in her mouth. "Don't the Malfoys have much more important things to do than spy on their adolescent son?"