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

Chapter 36 - Shards to the heart

"Samara, wait..."

Megan hurried down the stairs after her. Luckily the crowd had slowed her down just enough for Megan to catch up.

"No, it's fine. I don't know why I bothered... he was probably just trying to impress her... well, it looks like that worked, didn't it?"

"If you'll just listen-"

But Megan wasn't even sure what to say. Ron's behaviour was very unlike anything he had ever done before...

"I... he's not really... Listen, honestly, I don't know what to tell you..." she sighed. "But there's one thing I can say: If you ever run into him, you have full permission to slap the living daylights out of him if you feel so inclined. Heck, I wouldn't mind giving him a smack myself. Or maybe a punch."

Samara sniffed, but a small smile flashed across her face.

"I don't even want to deal with him right now. But I'll keep that in mind."

"Look... I know how this looks, but really, he's not a bad guy... he's just... has a tendency to make silly choices..."

"Yes, well... I can certainly see that... tell him you didn't see me if he comes looking for me, okay?"

"Okay... I'm really sorry, I had no idea he would do that..."

"It's fine. At least now I know where things stand."

And she walked away before Megan could say any more. With a sigh, she turned away and meant to go back to the stairs. But she paused.

"Hermione...? Are you okay?"

She was sitting in a corner, looking forlorn.

"Hermione, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing... it's just... with the holidays coming, the twins' shop's been super busy with orders and such, so we haven't been able to correspond as much... I miss him, that's all..."

"Yeah, I wouldn't know anything about that..." Megan sighed, sitting down beside her. "Can you believe Ron? Honestly, of all the things to do..."

"You mean with Lavender? Oh, I'm sadly not that surprised..."

Megan stared.

"What?! Why? He definitely likes Samara... or he did, anyway."

"Maybe he still does. But Lavender's been hovering around him ever since he made the team. I guess she likes popular people," she added with a disdainful snort. "Anyway. She's the first girl to actually show any visible interest in Ron, and he probably wanted to get back at Ginny for that fight they had..."

"Yes, and of course, he didn't even think of what it would do to Samara...He's such a prat... She was really upset."

"Yes, I heard."

There was a pause. Then, Hermione looked up at Megan.

"How about you? How are you doing?" she asked.

"Me? I'm... fine, why?"

"Oh, come on, you're my best friend. And you and Cedric have been together for nearly two years. You must miss him even more than I miss Fred."

Megan didn't answer at once.

"I... I just tell myself that as long as he's okay, I am, and that we'll see each other again. It's not always easy, but... the coin helps."

"Yes, I should try that with Fred."

She rested her head on Megan's shoulder.

"How do you keep from just breaking to pieces?"