✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

30 | D R A W I N G

   "But what would Moody do in the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night?"

   "That's of course an interesting question, Hermione", said Ron, but his eyes were fixed on Ember. "Do you know what another good question is? What was Ember doing in the owlery in the middle of the night?"

   "I sent a letter, Ronald", Ember dryly replied, rolling her eyes, then turning to Hermione. "Do you think he had found out about — don't know, anything important about what's going on?"

   Hermione opened her mouth, but was harshly interrupted by Ron, who was scolding at Ember, "There's someone in this castle trying to murder you, am I the only one being bothered by this?"

   "I'm sorry, Mum?", Ember scoffed, throwing him an annoyed glare. "Don't act like an overprotective big brother, I already have one of those, and that's more than enough."

   "Well, Harry isn't here, is he? So somebody has to tell you that strolling the castle during nighttime is just stupid!"

   "Out of your mouth, I can't take this too serious, huh?", Ember hissed. She indeed had awaited exactly this reaction. From Harry. But he had gotten himself in detention with Snape, so no drama; that's what she had thought. "Say Ron, do you want to tell me about Aragog? Or how it was to smuggle a baby dragon to the top of the Astronomy Tower? I'd also love to listen to the story how the three of you sneaked out of the castle care for Hagrid and ended up in the Shrieking Shack with a mass murderer and a werewolf! Oh, and that one time —"

   "Enough, both of you!", Hermione snapped, and Ember let out an angry growl, but shut up. "Fine. So when Harry returns, he for sure can ask Moody if he has any news about Mr Crouch or — or Ember's attacker." The last words she whispered as if saying it out loud would have lead to Ember's sudden death.

   "At least it's a plan", Ember muttered.

   She stayed with Ron and Hermione for a while in the library, doing their Herbology homework — drawing a sketch of a Fanged Geranium. No different than expected, Hermione was the first one to finish hers, while Ron's plant was looking like someone had ran over the giant squid with a tank.

   "I just can't!", he complaint, throwing his quill onto the table in frustration. "I'm a bloody wizard, why do I have to draw anything at all?"

   "Well, Mr Wizard, why don't you just hex your quill to do the work for you?", Ember snickered, having almost completed her own sketch, but she stopped mid motion when Hermione got up. "Where are you going?", she asked the other girl, her eyebrow raised.

   "To the kitchen, I want to talk with the house elves."

   "But —"

   "I see you at dinner", she called over her back without turning around, and gone she was. 

   "She's still doing this Belfer stuff?", Ember asked with a snorted little laugh, shaking her head in disbelief.

   "I just hope the house elves don't get too mad", Ron mumbled, his eyebrows furrowed he had retaken his attempt to draw something that looked a bit more like a plant. "I would need to kill her if she really managed to talk them into some kind of general strike. I love the food here!"

   "You love the food everywhere, Ron", Ember absentmindedly replied, drawing the last line of her Geranium.

   "Oh, you've never had the joy to meet Auntie Muriel yet! I definitely don't like her meals, no matter where I am. Gosh, this is pointless!" Again his quill landed on the table.

   Whatever it was he'd drawn, it was not a Geranium. Ron was looking as frustrated as she'd last seen him when he'd been paired up with Malfoy for a whole week in their Potions class.

   "Give it to me", she said, stretching out her hand, snapping her fingers.

   "What? No, you don't need —"

   "Have you properly looked at it?", Ember said in a matter of fact kind of voice. "I do need. But if we'll ever have to do a sketch of what happens when a Grindylow and a Blast-Ended Skrewt breed, I know where to find you."

   Ron watched her in silence as she tried to save what she could out of his sketch.

   "Where have you learned to draw like that?", he then asked in awe, when she finally handed him a finished painting twenty minutes later.

   "When you spend most of your childhood in a closet, you need something to skip the time", she replied with quiet laughter. "So Harry had his one-legged toy soldiers, and I had a pencil."

   "That explains a lot", Ron snorted. "Thank you, Emmie! Mum would kill me if I would fail this year because of Herbology."

   "You won't fail anything, Professor Sprout would have given you at least an Acceptable for trying", Ember said, closing the ink pot. "But to be honest, what you did in some way even exceeded my expectations." Throwing him a grin, she could watch his ears turning crimson. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude", she hastily added. "It didn't look that bad."

   "It did."

   Both of them raised from their chairs, Ember hanging her back over her shoulder, about to go.

   "Oh, hey, you forgot —"

   She had noticed; her own quill was still laying on the table, and as she stepped forward, reaching out her hand for it, she wasn't the only one having this idea. Strong, warm fingers brushed over small, petite hands, both immediately pulling back, as if this touch had been boiling hot. 

   Ember's eyes snapped up at Ron's face, Ron was already staring back, his face scarlet, her own burning with the intensity of a sun. She watched him swallow, her own mouth running dry in this awkward situation that didn't want to end.

   After what seemed like eternity, Ron was the first one to move, finally grabbing the quill and handing it Ember.

   "You — erm — forgot your —"

   "Yaah ... T—thanks."

—