F I F T Y N I N E
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Being under the control of a strong imperius curse became Saffron's reality moments after she was thrust to the floor beside Olly. There was no resisting. There was no breaking free from the magic. There wasn't anything that the Grey could do for her given the strength of the curse that had been placed on her. She was completely under the control of the fifth girl in the picture of her mother's old friend group and was going to be used as a tool in whatever game she and the man posing as Moody were playing. She was unable to even think about being under the imperius curse, she simply was. She was forced to keep on living in ignorant bliss, the moment at the clearing in Hogsmeade completely erased from her mind.
Everything to Saffron felt normal. All of those around her didn't notice any difference either. They didn't realise that she could be used as a weapon against them at any time and that the boy she had been with Hogsmeade was in the exact same boat.
The only thing that Saffron was somewhat confused about was what exactly happened on her day out with Olly. She had never had the opportunity to voice what she wanted him to know. Leaving the clearing when revived by Moody, they were forced to walk back up to the castle and in Saffron's mind, it had been normal but confusing as she still didn't know where they stood. She voiced this confusion to Hermione, Lavender and Parvati when the three of them arrived in their dormitory later that night.
"How did it go?" Hermione inquired curiously, as Lavender and Parvati entered the dormitory after her. The three girls circled around Saffron, eager for details as to how her Hogsmeade date or whatever it was with Olly.
"It well, I think," said Saffron blankly. The girl wasn't quite sure if it went well or not. She knew she had a good time but everything had blurred and she was too caught up in trying to make the blur transparent to say anything else before Lavender butt in.
"Did you kiss?" Lavender demanded a second later making Parvati giggle and Hermione scoff, looking utterly appalled. Lavender shrugged her shoulders at Hermione's disapproval. "There was no point in beating around the bush, might as well get to the good parts of the story first,"
"They weren't even on a date," retorted Hermione hotly. "That's a big assumption to make of two people who never said they were on a date,"
"Just because they didn't say they were on a date doesn't mean they weren't," insisted Lavender. "I'll bet you anything mini Olly was too nervous to call it that, not wanting to get rejected, which is a stupid thing for him to think, not many would reject him, I know I wouldn't--- if we didn't have rules in place," Lavender added to Saffron specifically as an afterthought, eyeing their sheet of their names with boys they were allowed to be with, still on their wall.
"Again, that's an assumption," countered Hermione.
Before Lavender could respond, Parvati put the dispute to bed by saying:
"Why don't we let Saffron tell us?" Parvati exclaimed bracingly, sitting right next to Saffron, who was sat with her legs over the side of her bed. "You're all red in the face, does that mean it went well or...?"
"Yeah, it went well," Saffron said in agreement, the words flowing out of her mouth seamlessly. "Hopefully we can go again. I almost feel like we didn't properly... I don't know,"
"Oh, so you didn't kiss," Lavender concluded, looking rather crestfallen. "That's a shame. That means our dorm is still half and half,"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Hermione furrowed her eyebrow at Lavender, taken aback.
"Half of us have had our first kiss, half haven't," Lavender stated as though it was obvious.
"And who is this half, exactly?" Hermione questioned rhetorically.
"Me and Parv,"
"Again, that's an assumption you're making," said Hermione sounding rather defensive.
"Oh, yeah? Well, who have you kissed then?"
"That's none of your business," snapped Hermione waspishly and yet again Parvati put an end to it.
"I'd rather we focus on Saffron, thanks," Parvati had her hands in the air to signal to the two other girls to calm down. She had noticed that Saffron was deep in thought and wanted to get her to feel comfortable to speak about how she was feeling. "I think it's nice that you didn't kiss, Saff. There really isn't any rush. Besides, you'd rather it be special than just anywhere at any time. I had mine in a tent on Summer camp, it was awful and I'll never get it back,"
"Did he even call it a date in the end?" Lavender questioned longingly. "If he didn't I'll be very disappointed,"
"I guess you'll be disappointed because we didn't," said Saffron in response. "We... I don't know, I thought maybe it was, that that's what he wanted it to be... but I guess not,"
"How did he not make it clear or not?" said Lavender, aghast. She looked to be on the verge of taking back the positive things she had said about Olly and flipping them on their heads to turn them into negatives. "He asked you for Merlin's sake,"
"He asked her to go to Hogsmeade," Hermione butt in. "You could argue that him asking her to Hogsmeade is the same as me asking her, or you. I'm sorry if you don't want to hear it, Saff, but maybe he just wanted to go as friends,"
"Thanks, Hermione," Saffron said weakly, her voice lathered with sarcasm. Hermione's opinion wasn't making her feel any better about it.
Saffron could sense the prevalent tension between Hermione and Lavender brewing hotter and hotter now, as Lavender's glare towards Hermione was sharp after the girl had said such a thing.
"Well, I'm refusing to believe that," proclaimed an adamant Lavender. "You two are so well suited and I can just tell he has a thing for you, it's obvious. Plus, don't forget the prediction I made,"
Hermione let out a laugh that she tried to disguise as a cough. Saffron could tell that Hermione had done it purposely and could have easily have kept her mouth shut if she wanted to. Nobody said anything to her but both Lavender and Parvati were glaring at her. They had insulted their favourite subject Divination, which wasn't okay in their book. On top of that, she had criticised their prediction they had made as a part of their homework a few nights ago that Saffron wasn't only going to succeed in her 'date' with Olly but that she wouldn't be with anyone else ever again, they would get married and have four children. Saffron thought the girls were roughly a million steps ahead of where she was and agreed with Hermione that it was a very far-fetched prospect.
"Oh, come on," sighed Hermione desperately, looking to Saffron to back her up but Saffron wasn't in any state to do so. "You can't seriously believe you've mapped out Saffron's whole future with a crystal ball, that's ludicrous, quite frankly,"
"Using your big words isn't going to make me change my minds," said Lavender in a falsified bright voice. "But you should really start changing yours and being positive and supportive rather than negative and... and... whatever you get my point,"
"I'm being realistic," chided Hermione, moving over to her bed and taking out a large book from her shelf. "If you want to call that negative, go ahead,"
"Thanks for your permission, Professor Granger," Lavender turned away from Hermione and stuck her tongue out whilst rolling her eyes. "Anyway, where were we?"
Lavender and Parvati spent the next half an hour or so talking at Saffron who was still trying to figure out why it felt like she was with Olly for such a short amount of time even though they technically were gone for the majority of the allocated time. Saffron responded with short answers as she was far too preoccupied.
It appeared that Saffron's three roommates had noticed small changes in Saffron's demeanour, but that was put down to her being forlorn at not getting the desired outcome she wanted from going out with Olly. They didn't in a million years put it down to the fact that the Gryffindor fourth year girls technically had a new roommate, as Saffron was no longer alone anymore. She was no longer her real self, as the fifth girl in the picture was going to be with her wherever she may go from now on.
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New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV
FanfictionAfter spending past three years that Saffron Mitchell spent in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, she had been on a seemingly never-ending spiral of near-death situations. But with Peter Pettigrew behind bars, a slim grasp of her Clairvoyant...