The Night is Young | Hermione Granger

12. The Truth Comes Out

The day is nice enough to be outside, so my friends and I take our daily studying to the grounds. Though none of us actually get around to it.

Isola prefers to lean her back against the tree we're sitting under, and scribble away in her little notebook like always. Daphne takes to the wildflowers growing in abundance around us, weaving them into intricate crowns, and taking Maxim as her assistant to pick and organize them into patterns for her. And I pluck absently at the blades of grass, trying - and failing - not to think of Hermione Granger.

"Well, don't you look menacing with those flowers." Daphne teases, pulling out some petals that blew into Max's hair. "What would your father say?"

He sends her a harsh glare, which is undercut in its terror by the lilac Willowherbs on his head.

"I don't want to be anything like my father." He tells us as if we don't already know. He shoos Daphne's hand always from him, then shakes out his curls to clear it.

"You're nothing like your father." Isola says, a bit distracted. "In fact, you look exactly like your mother."

Daphne and I exchange looks, and she's about to tell Isola that that's not what Max meant, when he waves her off with a hand gesture and expression that means 'just leave it.'

And Daphne goes back to weaving the patterns Max lays out until a new presence appears. A shadow, connected to a boy that I don't know the name or face of, and when I look to Daph, it seems like she doesn't either.

"Isa." He calls, and the girl looks up, a smile blooming on her face when she notices him. Isa? "Can we talk?"

"Of course." Isola says, placing down her book and quill to stand up. When she does, she takes off her flower crown Daphne made to place on her things before following him a good distance away. I watch them, wondering if I can catch anything about their conversation, but when I can't, I turn back.

"Who's that?" Daph asks and I shrug. We turn to Max, who's attention is on his work.

"Rudy Meyer, her boyfriend." He looks up for a second to Isola and the boy. "Well... maybe ex-boyfriend now."

"Boyfriend?" I sputter.

"Definitely 'ex' now, look at them." He motions casually, a flower between his fingers.

"Isola has - had - a boyfriend?" Daphne clarifies, and he nods.

"I thought you two were dating." I say and Max gives me a look that I can only describe as a mix of confusion and disgust - judgemental, maybe.

He shakes his head.

"But..." I blink, trying to comprehend. "But, the constellations."

Only then do I get a fleeting look of understanding.

"Madame Pomfrey gave me medicine for the scars." He points to his back. "I can't reach, I need Isola's help."

"Oh." I sigh, at the same time Daphne goes,

"Scars?"

"It's no big deal." He tells her, handing over more flowers. She looks towards me for a more adequate answer.

"Scars on his back." I say, but don't give anymore information, mostly because I don't have much more.

She looks to Max, then to Isola and her (not sure if it's ex yet) boyfriend, before shaking her head slightly.

"We keep a lot of things from each other, don't we?" She mumbles, finishing off her second crown. A mix of white and varying cool toned flowers.

"I guess." I agree with a small sigh, looking back at Isola. The corners of her lips are pulled down, and even from here I can tell she's upset.