Epiphany |Scorpius Malfoy|

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Isabelle got to sleep early that evening, and as a result, she had no chance to speak to Cassidy. The next morning when she woke up, her friend was, as usual, sleeping, and not wishing to disturb her sleep, she simply got ready for her classes and after grabbing her charms textbook, she made her way to the common room and from there, to the Great Hall.

As she pushed the doors open, she scanned the room quickly with her eyes, only to see that she was the first student in the room. Shrugging slightly, she made her way to the Hufflepuff table and sat down. She poured herself some tea and grabbed a toast. Placing her Charms textbook to the side, she started eating.

For the next five minutes or so, she was all alone, until she saw someone sitting down opposite her. Looking up, she was quite surprised to see Cassidy. For a second, the two just stared at each other before they both opened their mouths and started talking at the same time.

"I am sorry!" they exclaimed, only to fall silent as they looked at each other in confusion.

"Wait, why are you sorry?" Isabelle asked with a frown. "I was the one being rude yesterday-"

"I should have been more understanding, I am aware that this is not a comfortable subject for you," Cassidy cut in, "I made it sound like it was simple, when it really isn't, I was the one at fault-"

"No, that's not true!" the blonde interrupted, her eyes wide in disbelief. "I was the one that yelled at you, you were right, I was going to tell you anyway, there was no reason for me to get so defensive-"

"No, you had every right-"

"No, stop it, I had no right to get mad at you like that," she shook her head, "I was at fault and you know it. Don't you dare try to shift the blame on yourself when you know that's not true!"

For some time, the two girls just stared at each other as they stopped trying to argue about the other's innocence. Their passionate tone had attracted quite some looks from those in the Great Hall, but they did not seem to mind at all. Slowly, smiles slipped on both of their lips before Cassidy shook her head and placed a hand over Isabelle's on the table.

"I don't want us to fight again," she murmured.

"Neither do I," Isabelle mumbled, "let's just forget this ever happened."

"Deal," the brunette nodded as she retracted her hand. Grabbing a piece of chocolate cake from nearby, she proceeded to turn back to her friend and lean slightly closer to her. She glanced around them and then spoke up, her voice barely audible to Isabelle's ears. "How did Scorpius figure it out?"

"It was an accident," she explained softly, "we were sitting together and I got up to leave. He tried to stop me from leaving and grabbed my leg. It wasn't hard to figure everything out afterwards."

"I see," she nodded, "how did you feel about it?"

The girl frowned slightly as she tried to place the feeling she had felt that day. Cassidy was patient as she waited for her reply. After some time, she did speak.

"I felt violated, if that makes sense," she murmured, "and hurt. I also was quite dissapointed in myself for not preventing him from knowing. I could have reacted in another way, perhaps if I hadn't run away and remained calm I could have persuaded him that what he thought he had felt was not true."

"Belle, how could you persuade him into believing something else?" Cassidy asked softly, "Scorpius is intelligent, you know he is."

Isabelle sighed. "I could have always cast a memory charm of sorts."

"We both know you would have never been able to do it."

"Yeah," she nodded, "I really wouldn't have done it. Especially not to him."