Epiphany |Scorpius Malfoy|

Chapter Seventeen

The days passed, and from that time Isabelle and Scorpius had spent some of their afternoon in the room of requirement, he had done all he could to avoid her. No matter how many times the Hufflepuff tried to speak to him, he always managed to get away, claiming that he had duties as Head Boy mostly. Not even Albus could explain his behaviour, and the girl, desperate, had even talked to Effie about her problem.

"I am sure he will come around," the brunette had said, "I don't think he will be able to stay away from you for long. You two have spent way too much time in the presence of the other, sooner or later, he will feel your absence. In the meantime, I will make sure to casually mention you in every conversation we share. Don't worry. I'll take care of this."

The promise definitely made Isabelle feel better and not to mention, like the girl more, and as the weeks passed, she found herself actually smiling at her in the corridors and classes they shared together. However, even with Effie helping her, Scorpius had yet to let her approach him.

The girl was growing more dissapointed day by day, and it was certainly taking its toll on her. She seemed to be way less enthusiastic around her friends and she took to hiding herself in her dormitory, eating chocolate cakes. Her dampened mood did not help her in Charms either. The only time she had actually laughed was when in one charms class, Cassidy managed to produce her Patronus.

It was quite ironic that it turned out to be a lion.

Of course, she did not lose a second to start claiming she should change her house to Gryffindor instead of Hufflepuff, bringing some of the students including Isabelle to laugh.

Potions classes were extremely awkward as well, as Scorpius would never look her way and when she started conversation, it never got far as he hardly ever answered with something more than a 'yes', 'no' or a nod. It was quite frustrating for the blonde who after some lessons, stopped any attempts at conversation.

Time went by, though, with neither one of them saying anything to the other, and as the Christmas holidays were not so far away from them, Isabelle found herself unable to keep her thoughts to herself. She decided to confide in Cassidy.

As expected, she found the girl near the Quidditch pitch, training even if the weather was quite chilly. However, as soon as she noticed her friend, she led her broom closer to the ground and landed softly beside her.

"What are you doing out here, Belle?" Cassidy asked softly as she looked over her friend in a worried manner. "I thought you would be revising?"

With Scorpius's absense, Isabelle had also immersed herself in her studies, as the least she wanted, was to fail her NEWTs. So far, revision was going well.

"I should have been doing that, but I couldn't quite concentrate," she admitted, a serious expression on her features, "I have to talk to you."

Cassidy's initial reaction was to worry. "Did something happen?"

"No - I mean, not recently."

The brunette raised an inquisitive eyebrow but nevertheless, nodded. "I would like to just leave my broom, and then, we could go back to the castle."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

After leaving her broom, the two headed to the castle, but Isabelle did not seem to wish to speak until they were inside. It seemed like she was too busy clutching her robes around herself as she tried to cover herself from the cold. Everyone in Hogwarts expected that it would start snowing soon enough.

"Come on, Isabelle," Cassidy muttered as the two sat on a windowsill, "what is it?"

The girl let out a sigh before speaking. "It's about Scorpius. He has not talked to me at all since that day we spent some time together in the Room of Requirement. It is just so frustrating," she admitted, "I can't believe we actually stopped talking because of a misunderstanding-"