New Romantics | Hermione Granger Book IV

|73| Chapter Seventy-Three

 S E V E N T Y  T H R E E 

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When Saffron woke up on Boxing Day, she woke up feeling very different than she had the but twenty-four hours previous. So much had changed for her within that period of time to the point that it was a lot to even think about.

Yesterday, she strengthened her friendship with Dean and had her first kiss with him. Her first kiss that occurred out of spite but Saffron was oddly okay with it. It felt much better to get it out of the way given that she knew exactly where she stood with Dean. Had it of happened with Olly, she probably would have been unbelievably confused about what it meant given how wishy-washy he was, something that even Padma had picked up on. But with Dean, it was different because the pair of them provided each other with full transparency as to what they were going to do.

After the kiss, Saffron and Dean went up to the Gryffindor common room and spoke about what they were going to do moving forward, now that both their crushes had seen them kiss each other. They both knew it was a rash decision fuelled by envy and heartache but they were going to follow through with it.

Little did Saffron know when Dean mentioned a 'fake relationship' that minutes later she would find herself in one. It wasn't something that Dean had ever anticipated either. But as of that morning, they were going to start telling their friends that they kissed at the Ball and were exploring where their 'relationship' would go from here.

In a sense, it was true but the exploration was more to do with a potential stronger friendship rather than a romance. They were at full disclosure to one another and were honest that there weren't any feelings there. Saffron could appreciate that Dean was very handsome however she didn't get the same feeling she got when she looked at him that she got when she looked at Olly. Dean echoed similar sentiments which made it easy. They just had to take it day by day and could end it at the right time, in order to show that what they had was 'real'.

They were intrinsically and eternally linked now as a result as Saffron and Dean both readily agreed to take their secret to the grave. Nobody need know and they didn't intend on allowing their relationship to last long enough to even have anyone question it.

Saffron rubbed her eyes and flicked the switch on her bedside table to see the other three girls in the dormitory. Hermione was out cold, not even under her covers, her hair had gradually lost its straightness the aftermath of last night still etched upon her face. Saffron already felt terrible for not comforting her after the whole ordeal with Ron. She hoped that things hadn't gone further south after the argument and made a mental note to apologise to Hermione profusely when she woke up.

Lavender too was fast asleep, although all Saffron could see was her left leg, which still showed her dress from last night. That surprised Saffron as Lavender was in the dormitory sleeping when she arrived last night so Lavender must have been exhausted as otherwise she would have gotten change. By the looks of it, she and Rowan had a good night which Saffron was happy about. Seeing as Lavender didn't have the Ball that she had dreamed of by not getting another date, having fun was a good compromise. At the very least she would have solely good memories of the night, some of which involved dancing with Saffron, unlike Hermione who would have a mixture of emotions riddled in hers.

When she looked at Parvati, she saw Parvati looking right at her. She was in a sitting position at the end of her bed and offered Saffron a small smile. She was surprised to see that the other girl was dressed and seemingly ready to go outside. Parvati had come into the dormitory after Saffron had which certainly was saying something, as Saffron was on the brink of collapse by the time she made it up and didn't even notice that Parvati was absent at that time. She supposed that maybe Parvati and the boy from Beauxbatons had spent a little longer together than originally anticipated.