Emily Potter-Book 3-Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter 4

Over the mess of sorting out her homework and finishing the final tasks for the event planning, Emily did not have time to sort out the schematics of her own evening. She had left things partially sorted with the last conversation she had with Draco in the hospital wing and has not spoken with him privately since then adding some stress on both ends of the party. Emily was adamant to keep her promise to Percy by being each other's platonic date, however seeing that she did agree on it due to her own confusing feelings left a sourness in her throat. She wasn't particularly fond of keeping this from Draco, especially now that they were trying to focus on reparations.

Though she didn't feel all that bad over it, she was given the daily reminder that Draco still had Astoria for a date through the smug vision of Daphne's sister giggling every morning, noon, and night each time she passed by her.

Heavy knocks rapped at the door followed by bored groans from Pansy Parkinson. "Emily Catherine Potter quit hogging the loo! Daphne's nearly burst here – "

"Alright, alright!" Emily screamed back at her, and then opened the door and got out before Daphne trapezed in and slammed it shut, nearly wedging the lacey part of her friend's dress in the hinge. Pansy pulled her away from the loo and into the warm light of their dorm room to admire her look, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I have genuinely offended myself by not asking you to be my date – Em, you're gorgeous." Pansy's fingers looped around the dark waves that fell past Emily's shoulders.

She didn't manage her time well enough to OwlOrder a dress, thankfully her Aunt Minerva found something that suited her tastes well enough. It was a vintage brown dress with a lace bodice underneath a layer of tulle that created a halter neckline, layers of more lace and silk draped each other until they had melded together in harmony in the form of the dress' small train. Emily had no clue who had made the dress or where it came from, leading her to believe that it might as well have been thrifted over its lifetime.

"Took you look enough to see me, Parkinson." She teased, reaching for her hairbrush on her dresser. "You look radiant yourself." Emily admired the sage green sweetheart neckline dress Pansy wore with a matching sash tied around her waist before the skirt poofed around her like the icing on top of a cupcake.

Pansy and Blaise had agreed to go together as friends seeing that it was better than explaining to everyone what 'going stag' meant. Daphne, on the other hand, chose to go alone and swore to walk away from anyone who used 'who are you here with' as a conversation starter.

"Percy's a lucky boy," Pansy mused, "Does he know about Draco?"

"He doesn't have to know- this date is purely platonic." Emily reasoned with her. "If anyone's going to say anything, it should be Draco to his date. I know Astoria's had a crush on him since last year. I'd feel sorry for her if she weren't so annoying."

"You're not intervening?"

Why would I intervene? This isn't my mess to deal with, and honestly, he should have dealt with this the morning after we spoke. "I'm trying to trust him on this, Pans. I'll just have to go along with it and see where it leads us."

~

"So," A voice manifested from behind him, "You're Percy Weasley, we haven't met yet." The head boy turned around and saw a third year Slytherin with his hand extended towards him, "Blaise Zabini." He introduced himself with an impressive amount of confidence that Percy personally had never seen before, "Mind me asking you a question before your date arrives?"

"Erm, go ahead, I suppose?" Percy nodded for him to continue despite him being flummoxed. Blaise stared down with great intent, his brow raised, "Last I heard, you were dating that Ravenclaw girl...Penelope River water."