star shopping ✰ d.m.

CHAPTER TWENTY

After wandering about the castle for a bit, which was cold but still slightly warmer than the Astronomy Tower, Arabella went back to Gryffindor Tower. She was smiling until she climbed through the portrait hole and saw Ron. Knowing that if she continued to keep secrets from her family she could potentially ruin her good standing with them, she made her way over to her twin brother.

"Ron," she said, "do you have a minute?"

"I have many minutes, Bella, but whether I want to spend them with you is an entirely different matter," Ron replied coldly, not looking at her.

"Ron, please. It'll only take a moment. I just need to tell you something."

Ron finally looked up at her, hearing the note of urgency in her voice. "Fine, then. Go on."

Arabella sighed, looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, and then sat down next to him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I was going to the ball with Draco. It was petty and stupid and I should've told you and Fred and George beforehand so that you didn't find out like that. I don't know what I was thinking, but now that it's all said and done, I feel terrible about it. And speaking of Draco, I've just been to see him and... I just feel that after everything, you deserve to be the first to know."

"He's your boyfriend now, is that what you've come to tell me?"

"Yes," she answered tentatively.

"Bella, you told me you didn't like him. Not too long ago. Remember?"

"Yes, I remember, but Ron... I didn't think I did back then. Actually, I didn't even know I liked him until last night. I know how it sounds, but I don't know how else to describe it. I guess I knew I felt something for him, but I didn't know it was that! I just thought it was some weird new tier of friendship."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"I know!"

"'Tier of friendship.' What even is a 'tier of friendship'?"

"Why must you ask such stupid questions?"

"Because what you say doesn't make sense!"

And just like that, the twins were back to normal.

Ron offered to help Arabella tell everyone else that needed to know, and while she knew she had to be the one to tell them, she agreed to let him step in if she became too emotional. And so the two of them rounded up their siblings and Harry, Hermione, Seamus, and Dean, and Arabella broke the news to them. None of them were happy about it, though the Weasleys and Harry were considerably more upset. In the end, though, they walked away not completely hating Arabella, and that's all she could have hoped for.

There was a Hogsmeade visit halfway through January, and as expected, Draco and Arabella spent the day together despite their friends' negative attitudes towards it.

As they walked past Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, Draco turned to her. "Say," he said, "why don't we take that old woman's advice and check out the place?"

Arabella looked at the shop and beamed. "Oh my gosh, it's pink, we have to," she said excitedly, grabbing his hand and leading him in.