The Trial ; D.M

32

2nd May 2003

The week has surpassed quickly— too quickly, and the occasion that Geneva has been dreading officially arrives. The play-pretend dinner party of which the woman she so heavily loathes and her oblivious fiancé are attending. Both perched politely opposite Geneva at the dining room table.

"It was so lovely of you both to come," Geneva comments, serving a genuine, yet catty smile across to them both.

The dining room has been set up by the house elves with their usual dinner decorum, and a few decorative touches added in order to welcome this special occasion of having guests over. Though dinner has not yet been served, only five wine glasses set out upon the table.

Pansy draws on a pretty smile, not quite looking Geneva in the eye. "Thank you for inviting us."

The five of them are gathered around the table in a real established manner. Theodore and Draco, perched at both heads, Pansy and Blaise on the seats of the left side and Geneva opposite. A quiet tension hangs in the air, buried under the waves of all the conversations that go unspoken. She notices how Pansy hardly looks at Theodore. Finds it laughable. Ridiculous that she had been so blind before.

"It's not often we have people for dinner. Theodore's always so busy, off working and what-not," she yaps, filling the void. She points her thumb over to Draco, "And of course no one wants to be in his company so we tend to find ourselves quite lonely here."

Draco raises his brows, smirking, seemingly astonished by Geneva's unfiltered attitude. Pansy just frowns in return, not saying much else. Simply sitting in quiet repose.

Geneva shoots her glance to Theodore. "Don't we, darling?"

"Yeah, yeah. Suppose so," he agrees, taking a hasty gulp of his wine. Practically shovelling it back.

The fact of the matter is that Geneva has decided to have her fun this evening. All of this information that she holds of their secrets, primarily makes her the omniscient one in this room. As well as Draco, of course.

Whilst Theodore and Pansy writhe in their guilt, polluting the air and making it stink of pity, Geneva just laughs at them internally. So, instead of sitting here, feeling bitter, spiteful and altogether quite sorry for herself, she determines to play with it all. After all, the two of them made her the naïve fool all of these years, now it's her turn.

"The weather has been beautiful recently, don't you think? I've found myself outside a lot more, enjoying it all," Geneva continues to ramble. She catches Draco watching her wonderingly, his left brow raised and intrigued. "I've never been much of a summer person in all honesty, but there's something about that change from the winter that just makes me so giddy."

"That is interesting, Geneva," Blaise replies, his tone of curiosity so obviously forced. Just trying to be polite.

"How much have you had to drink exactly, Gen?" Theodore asks, his tone light and humorous. But she can see the irritation smeared across his face.

She may have indulged a few glasses of wine in preparation for this evening, having felt it was a necessary action to take. Her head only feels a little bit light. She can still see clearly.

"Hardly that much, darling," she replies, flapping her hand, dismissively.

They carry on with their small talk, conversing over the turning of seasons, summer plans and so on. Keeping topics light, never anything too heavy.

"I've been riding a lot more recently," Geneva informs them. "We've neglected riding our horses, haven't we Theodore?"

"Yeah, there's just never any time," he adds, taking another rash swig of his wine.