Megan Potter - A Saga of the Heart - Book 6 - Dark Temptation-

Chapter 35 - A jumble of feelings

Megan slowly returned to Gryffindor tower, trying not to let the pain of leaving Cedric again tear her apart. She eventually reached the Fat Lady.

"I hear you won the match, well done!" she said.

"Thanks," she said, forcing a smile. "Alea iacta est."

The Fat Lady swung open and Megan slipped through the passage into the common room, which was bustling with excited people celebrating the team's victory. Red and gold abounded. The room was full of cheers and cries of excitement. Megan could hardly make a step without being surrounded by people congratulating her. The noise was almost deafening. This wouldn't have been so bad if a lot of them hadn't been also trying to get her to go out with them, or invite them to Slughorn's party.

"Hey, have you found someone to go with to the party?" asked someone

"No, and no, I don't want to go with you, but thank you."

"What about me? We could hang out and get to know each other-" said another.

"No thanks, I'm taken."

Girls were surrounding Ron, who she could just make out through the mass. He didn't seem to mind in the least, while Megan had the worst time in the world shaking off the Creevey brothers and the many bachelors around her.

"I'm not interested, I have a boyfriend and I'm not leaving him", she said firmly to an overly persistent seventh year. "Now, please stop bothering me."

She'd only taken a few more steps when a hand touched her shoulder. Irritated, she spun around to give them a piece of her mind.

"I said I'm not-Oh... sorry, Samara."

Sure enough, before stood her fellow fifth year.

"It's okay, it's mad in here. Uh... can... can I talk to you a minute?"

"Uh... sure," Megan replied. "Let's try and find somewhere less crazy."

She caught her wrist so they didn't get separated and found her way to a more quiet corner of the common room.

"There, this is better," Megan sighed, grateful for the respite.

She was slightly surprised that Samara hadn't gone to Hermione. Almost as though reading her mind, Samara said:

"I would have gone to Hermione about this, but I can't seem to find her."

Oh. That explains it, Megan thought.

"I hope you don't mind my asking you?"

"No, of course not. I mean, I'm not her, but maybe I can still help. What is it?"

Samara clasped her hands on her lap a moment, staring at the table between them.

"Tell me... you're good friends with Ron, aren't you?"

Megan hesitated. It was true of course, but she wasn't sure she was comfortable discussing their possible romance.

"Yes," she replied carefully. "Why?"

Samara glanced uncertainly up at her.

"... Do... Do you know if he's angry at me?"

Oh, Megan definitely didn't like where this was going.

"I don't think so, he seemed fine when you studied together," she told Samara.

"I know!" Samara exclaimed, looking up and flinging her hands in frustration. "That's what I thought too. But then... he stopped talking to me for some reason."

Megan ran a hand through her hair, feeling more uncomfortable every moment.

"Well... I don't really know. I'm not sure what Ron's doing lately..." she sighed. "I'm sorry, but... I think you should just ask him."

Samara hesitated, then answered:

"Yeah... maybe you're right... I'll go and find hi-"

Just then, loud whistling noises filled the room. Resisting the urge to cover her ears, Megan looked round. And froze. There, sitting on one of the sofas, was Ron, who was voraciously kissing Lavender Brown, who seemed only too keen to kiss him back. Megan's mouth fell open.

"Samara..." she began.

Samara's eyes were fixed on Ron, glistening with tears.

"Oh. I see." she said evenly. "That's why he suddenly ignored me."

"No, it's not that simple..." Megan began.

"Forget it. Never mind. I wasn't that interested anyway..." she choked, and stormed out of the common room.

"Samara, wait!"

But she was already gone. Megan heaved an exasperated sigh and looked at Ron. He hadn't even noticed, he was too busy kissing a very enthusiastic Lavender.

"Oh, Ronald..." she sighed, a little angrily.