"Emmaline, God, you take forever," Fatima sighs as I sit down next to her at the Hufflepuff table.
"We need to turn you into a stopwatch so maybe then you'll finally be able to keep track of time," Tora jokes as she takes a bite of her food.
"Funny," I comment sarcastically and fill my plate with some dinner. "So, what did I miss?"
"Not much, just thirty minutes of girl chat, that's all," Genevieve says, slightly annoyed with me and my lack of time efficiency.
"Sorry, I just... wasn't feeling well," I lie. I was feeling amazing.
"Whatever, all that matters is that you're here now," Fatima says with food in her mouth.
"Exactly," I say with a smile.
"Dean asked me to the Yule Ball this morning," Genevieve says, turning her head towards me as her mind drifts off into the clouds.
"With roses," Fatima adds with a smile.
"Wow, congratulations Gen," I tell her.
"He's just perfect," Genevieve sighs.
"No one's perfect, it's impossible," Tora adds with a grin.
"Oh whatever," Genevieve rolls her eyes. "Fatima's next. Her and Neville."
"Shush," Fatima says quietly as she looks around to see if anyone heard Gen. "He is not."
"Yeah, whatever you say," Genevieve turns towards me and gives me a not-so-hidden wink.
"Seriously, not trying to burst your bubble of dreams Gen, but... he would never ask a girl like me," Fatima shakes her head and takes a bite of her food.
"Have some faith in yourself for once," I give her a smile. She props an eyebrow, clearly not believing my empathy.
"You don't need a boy to like you," Tora says, her chih up high. I almost forgot she was there. "Anyways, Neville's-"
"Shut up," Fatima interrupts her.
"Sorry... 'the boy' is only fourteen years old. He probably doesn't even know what a menstrual cycle is," Tora continues and I can't help but laugh. Genevieve doesn't hold her laughter in either.
"I'm done with this conversation," Fatima shakes her head and looks down at her food as us girls laugh and Tora grins.
"How's Potter?" Genevieve asks with a big smile towards me.
"How many times do I have to tell you, I don't like him," I sigh. I should've never lied, now I can't get my way out of this hole.
"Oh-"
"We know you lied," Tora interrupts Genevieve.
"Tora! We weren't going to say that yet!" Fatima groans. My stomach becomes tight. Do they know who it really is? I feel my hands start to sweat.
"We know who you really like," Tora continues.
"Excuse me?" Is all that comes out of my mouth.
"Ron," Genevieve says with a big smirk.
"Huh?" I ask. As in, Ron Weasley?
"Or at least he must like you," Fatima shrugs.
"What do you mean?" I ask, my face becoming the shade of said Weasley's hair.
"Well, I mean come on. Have you not noticed him staring at you in every class?" Tora asks, bored by the conversation.
"I don't think we should be talking about this in such a public place," I sigh, looking around to make sure no one is listening to our conversation.
"So you do like him?" Genevieve asks back.
"No, I'm not gonna lie this time." I can't. I wish I could tell them the truth. I wish I could tell them about the magical dance I just shared with a particular blonde boy. But I can't. I could never. So instead, I say: "I don't like anyone like that."
"Emmaline, why did you lie to us?" Genevieve asks, clearly not joking around anymore.
"You guys just seemed so excited for me. I didn't know what to do. I'm sorry," I say, looking down at my food that I'm no longer hungry for.
"Apology excepted," Fatima jumps in. "Just don't do that again or else we'll actually set you up and you'll be embarrassed."
"Deal," I say with a grin.
We continue chatting through dinner and I nearly forget about what I was doing before. I remember when I see a certain someone walk through the doors when dinner has almost ended. I make eye contact with him as he scurries off to the Slytherin table and I look back at where I'm sitting.
"Did you see that?" Tora asks us.
"What?" I ask back, snapping back into the conversation.
"Malfoy just walked in," Tora tells us, her eyes gazing over at the Slytherin table.
"And?" Fatima asks, clearly not interested in the blonde hair bloke.
"I dunno, it's just... weird," Tora shrugs before looking back at us. "Sometimes I just feel bad for the guy. Even if he is a terrible person."
"He's a dickhead," Genevieve says bluntly, making all of us laugh. Instead of talking about Malfoy, we go back to our unimportant conversation for the remaining twenty minutes of dinner.
Although they might think Malfoy's a bad guy, I know he isn't. There's no way he is.
