Defend

Chapter Thirty-One Christmas and More Mistletoe (This Time No Brother)

"Theo?" I whisper, leaning closer to him.

"Yes?"

McGonagall glares at me for the disruption, but does not deduct points from my house. I pull out a piece of parchment and scribble a note on it, which I pass to Theo sitting next to me.

Can I talk to you after class?

He glances at it, and uses my quill to scribble back: Of course

I wait anxiously for the end of class, slightly dreading what I have to do.

~~~~

"You alright?" Theo asks after class, and I sit on a bench against the hallway wall.

"I am, but I wanted to tell you something that I don't really want to say."

Theo looks concerned and scoots closer to me, and I see Draco glancing at us from across the hallway. "What is it?"

I take a deep breath. "I have really enjoyed our dates, and if we went on another one, I probably would have asked you to be my boyfriend." I cringe at what I said, realising I'm not helping what I'm trying to say.

"Brilliant." Theo smiles and goes to hold my hand, but I force myself to put a bit of distance between us.

"What I'm trying to say is, I don't think we should date anymore." I say quickly, a tone of sadness decorating my voice.

"What are you saying?" Theo asks, his brow furrowed.

"What I'm saying is, I've come to the realisation that I'm not fully over Draco, and it isn't fair to you if I'm dating you without my full commitment. I really enjoyed our dates, and we could be friends, but either until I'm fully over Draco or something else happens, I think that's all we should remain."

"Oh." Is all he says, his eyes wandering across the tile.

I hug him, a frown etched into my face. "I'm sorry, Theo."

"That's alright, Eliza. Thank you for being honest."

We smile at each other one last time, and I collect my books before disappearing into the crowd.

~~~~

After studying for OWL's, I tell Ginny what happened.

"Well, I'm proud of you for being honest, both to him and to yourself, but you should have waited so you'd have a date to Slughorn's Christmas party." She admits.

I sigh. "You're right, as usual."

She stares at me and raises her eyebrows. "Or you could have a date..."

I know exactly what she's talking about. "Isn't that a little soon?" I ask.

"Oh c'mon, just don't admit it's a date like you did with the Yule ball."

"Ginny, do you even remember what happened at the end of Yule ball night?"

~~~~~

"Um." I intelligently begin, taking a seat on the couch in the common room.

Draco looks up. "Yeah."

"I— uh. Wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

I breathe and remember what Ginny told me about going straight to the point.

"I, uh... Do you— um..."

He prods me onwards with his eyes, his eyebrows raised in annoyance.

"Do you want to go to Slughorn's party with me next week?"