Never Let Go

He had a new girlfriend by the end of the week. Though she wasn’t much of an actual girlfriend, they never really talked, and his knowledge of her life was very limited, but what he did know was that he was quite keen on snogging her, and that was more than enough for him. He took every opportunity he could, to lock lips with her. Not caring if they were standing in the middle of a crowded corridor or out on the grounds. He was always up for snogging Lavender, because when people saw them, people talked. And the more their fellow students talked about him and Lav, the more certain he was that Emilia was being reminded that there were people out there that, unlike her, thought he was great enough to be with.

There was a part of him that knew he was being childish, that snogging Lav wasn’t going to do any good, but he thought that maybe if she saw him with someone else, she’d come to her senses and want to be together again, that that would be enough to make things right between them, but despite the fact that his being with Lavender did make Emilia jealous. It didn’t make her jealous enough to say something to him. She kept quiet about her feelings towards him, not even looking his way whenever he was in the same room as her. If he wanted to act like an asshole and go on a snogging spree, then so be it, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she was hurt by it, that he was breaking her heart on an everyday basis.

To escape Ron’s never ending snog-fest and all gossiping relating to his sucking face with Lavender, she immersed herself fully in her coursework and lessons, spending more time in the library than she normally accustomed. Whenever she was done spending the daily hour with Myrtle, she’d go in there to get a bit of work down, and then at some point, Sally would find her way in and they’d talk a bit as they did their work. After that, there were lessons with Snape, a break for dinner, and then more lessons. By the time her lessons were done, she wanted nothing more than to go back to the dungeons, but knowing very well that Pansy was still up, Emilia would make her way back to the library for some late night work, and it was during that time that she’d cross paths with Hermione, who also frequented the library at night. The pair would stay there until a half hour before curfew and then go their separate ways, Hermione would return to Gryffindor Tower while Emilia would go follow Draco who snuck out after curfew to the Room of Requirement.

The two girls sat at opposite tables, each with their own pile of books, and their only acknowledgement was a slight smile, but somehow that was enough for them. They were each escaping Ron’s exhibitionist relationship, and they welcomed each other’s distant company. It was nice to know they weren’t alone in the library, and even nicer not to be bothered.

It was three weeks after Ron’s relationship began that they finally started talking, and it was actually because of Ron that they began to converse. He had snuck into the library with Lavender, their usually make out spots had been claimed by other hormonal teenagers, and thinking that the library was empty, they made their way there. They were far enough from Hermione and Emilia to not see the candles they were using, but they weren’t far enough for the two young women not to hear their moans and laughter. Lavender kept breaking into fits of giggles as Ron hungrily kissed her neck, she was a very vocal teenager, and Ron was glad to hear his efforts were being appreciated, they made the fact that he wasn’t with the person he’d prefer to be, that much easier. But that laughter was painful for both Hermione and Emilia. It made their hands ball into fists and their eyes narrow in annoyance.

“That fucking prick,” cursed Emilia under her breath, scribbling fiercely on her parchment. “He thinks he’s so rad going around snogging that bloody –”

“We should tell him something,” spoke Hermione from behind her pile of books. “Let him know that’s not appropriate behavior. For a library of course, we’re here to study, not hear people doing whatever it is those two are doing.”

“We should,” agreed Emilia. “But I'm not talking to him.”

“You’re not?”

She shook her head. “He’s a jerk. I'm not gonna talk to someone who’s acting like such an asshole. So I think you should be the one that tells him something.”

“I can’t.” Hermione frowned. “I'm not on speaking terms either.”

“Well we have to do something, I don’t want to sit here and listen to those two. It’s worse than lesbian porn! And lesbian porn is awful. The two ladies are exaggerating the moaning and –” she grew quiet when she noticed the wide eyed Hermione. “What’s wrong?”

“Y-you’ve seen pornography?” questioned Hermione.

“You haven’t?” was Emilia’s response.

“Can’t say I have,” replied Hermione. “I’ve . . . that’s . . . it’s tasteless.”

“Most of it, yeah, but there’s some really good porn,” commented Paulina. “Some of the people actually make an effort at it, and it’s not so bad. I’d offer to show you some one day, but I think you might be freaked out by that.”

“I’ve nothing against lesbians.” Hermione blurted out. “I didn’t mean to offend you by –”

“I'm not a lesbian.” Emilia laughed.

“Then why are you watching that . . . that particular genre.”

“Oh, right, well, I was at a friends house and we found her older brother’s collection so we were curious and started going through it.”

“Is that normal in America?” Hermione was becoming interested.

“I think its normal everywhere. I mean, there’s nothing really scandalous about porn. People have sex. Some people get off on watching other people have sex. That’s just the way it is. And I think over here people may shy away from talking about it, but I'm pretty sure people see porn, and teenagers look at it when they find it. At least the muggles do. I don’t know if wizards have porn movies.”

“Probably not,” spoke Hermione. “They’ve no teli. Not most of them at least,” she added. “Merlin’s beard!” she hissed. “How are they still going at it? They’re insufferable, the pair of them!”

“I have an idea.” Emilia smirked mischievously, leaving her seat and going over to Hermione’s. “We can throw some jinxes and hexes at them.”

Hermione pursed her lips together in thought. “I don’t want him to see me though.”

“He won’t see us.”

“Do you have Harry’s cloak?”

Emilia shook her head. “Don’t need it. We can use a Disillusionment Charm.”

“I don’t know how to cast it.”

“That’s fine. I can cast it for both of us.”

“How’d you learn to cast one, though? It’s advanced magic.”

“I take private lessons,” explained Emilia.

“Private lessons?” she asked.

“Yeah, I do. It’s not that I want to take them, it’s that because of how things were during the last war, my Nan and Grandpa decided that I have to take extra lessons in case I have to defend myself. I learn some pretty advanced stuff, but if you want I can teach you how to do a Disillusionment Charm later on.”

“That’d be brilliant.” Hermione closed her book. “Should we tidy up then?”

“I was just gonna leave the books lying –”

Hermione shot her a glare.

“Just fucking around, geez, you really do love these books.” Emilia went back to her table and placed them into a neat pile. “Let’s get them to the trolley so they can be put back, and then we’ll go teach that asshole a lesson.”

Hermione grabbed a hold of her books. “Do you mind my asking why you fell out with Ron?”

“That question requires a slice of cake and cold milk,” replied Emilia with a smile. “What do you say to heading over to the kitchens? Tomorrow’s Saturday so we don’t have lessons or anything.”

“Do you really want me to go?” asked Hermione, surprised by her friendliness. “I thought . . .”

“Thought what?” Emilia put her books on the trolley.

Hermione’s cheeks reddened. “I thought you weren’t fond of me. That you only tolerated me because of Ron.”

“It’s not that I'm not fond of you. You’re just sort of intimidating.”

“Me?” Hermione nearly laughed. “I'm not intimidating.”

“Yeah, you are. You always know everything, and you just have this look about you. I don’t know how to describe it, but I thought you didn’t like me and then, well yeah.”

“I think you’re interesting.” Hermione said. “It’s just we’ve not had a proper chance to get on well. There’s always something going on, and I suppose we just thought wrong of each other.”

“Exactly,” agreed Emilia. “But I think we should hang out. It might be fun.”

“I suppose it would.” Hermione smiled. “Though, let’s first have a go at Ronald.”

Emilia walked over to Hermione and lifted her wand to the young woman’s head; she softly tapped her wand twice, uttering the accompanying incantation in a low voice. She then directed her wand at her own head, tapping her head twice, and after the second tap, the strange sensation began coursing through her. It felt like an egg had been broken atop her head, its yolk spreading until it covered her entire body, and with herself and her belongings hidden from view, she told Hermione to make her way over towards where the moans were coming from.

In silence, they made their way over towards the section where Ron had Lavender pinned against a bookcase. Their figures were illuminated by the moonlight, and when the two teenage girls saw him lost in a fierce lip lock with Lavender, tears began to sting at their eyes, but they swallowed the lumps in their throats and drew their wands. Hermione quickly shot a horn tongue hex at both Ronald and Lavender, forcing them to pull away in horror. They tried talking, asking if the other had cursed them, but the horn prevented communication. So as they freaked out over what had happened, Emilia shot Ron a twitchy ears hex coupled with a sardine hex. It took everything she had to not burst into laughter when sardines started shooting out of Ron’s nose, mortifying him and completely disgusting Lavender. Hermione had the last shot, and she directed a jelly-legs curse to keep them from getting out of the library to quickly.

Pleased with their work, the pair ran out of there, not stopping until they were outside. As soon as they were in the corridor, Emilia uttered the counter charm and was again visible. Hermione tapped Emilia on the shoulder and asked her to please do the same, and a few short seconds later, her dark hair was on display for all to see.

“Am I awful for truly enjoying that?” asked Hermione as they walked towards the kitchens. “I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t get over the looks on their faces. It was brilliant! Especially when sardines started shooting out of Ron’s nose!” she laughed, and after realizing how loud she was laughing, she covered her mouth.

“The best part was the horn tongue hex. Hah. The looks on their faces after that one was priceless.” Emilia let out a satisfied sigh. “Ah. That ginger’s going to be paranoid for awhile. He’ll think twice before he snogs in public again.”

They laughed during the entire walk to the kitchens, and once there, they were so busy learning about each other, that they completely forgot to ask one another why they weren’t on speaking terms with Ron. It turned out that Hermione and Emilia had a lot more in common than they’d previously thought. They were fond of many of the same books, had massive crushes on Hugh Grant, and were fond of reading on rainy days. Emilia was taken aback by how good a time she had with Hermione. She’d always written her off as being a know it all, but she was so much more than that.

When it came time to separate they bid each other goodnight. Hermione made her way back to Gryffindor Tower and Emilia took the walk to the dungeon. She planned on dropping her things off and then going over to the Room of Requirement, but when she walked in, Draco was in the common room, sprawled out across a couch.

“You alive?” she asked, walking over to him.

He lifted his head off the couch to look at her. “Very much alive,” he replied. “Where were you doing out so late?”

“Oh, you know, I was just out pulling some pranks.”

“On whom?” he asked, sitting up.

She took a seat on the couch opposite him. “Ron.”

“Weasley?” he spat. “But you . . . you’re mates with him.”

“Not anymore.”

“May I know why?”

“He’s a prat.”

“That didn’t stop you before.”

She let out a weary sigh. “It’s not worth talking about.”

“You said we’re family, that we should trust each other, so go on, talk.”

“I . . .” She knew it was best to tell him, to allow him to feel that she was letting him in on secrets. “I fancy him, well fancied. Wait. No. I'm in the process of having fancied him.”

“Him?” his nose crinkled in disgust. “How could you fancy him of all people? He’s . . . he’s . . .”

“Don’t you dare talk about his family’s finances,” she stated.

“Wasn’t going to mention that,” he folded his arms across his chest. “Alright, I was, but later on. What I was going to say, before you so rudely interrupted me, was that he’s ghastly, all freckled face and an absolute beast to look at. You could do better. In fact, I’ll find you a suitable pure – oh alright, a half blood, but don’t you dare think I’ll be welcoming of mudbloods.”

“Draco!” she exclaimed. “I’ve told you not to use that word around me.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine, I won’t be welcoming of muggle borns. That better?”

“Way better,” she smiled. “But you don’t have to trouble yourself by throwing a Slytherin my way. “

“Slytherins aren’t my only acquaintances. I happen to know a few Ravenclaws.”

“Really?” she asked, not believing him.

He nodded. “They do some of my work.”

“Why am I not surprised by that?”

“Because you know someone as brilliant as I can’t be bothered to their own work.” Draco smiled lazily. “And just so you know, Weasley is a fool.”

She shot him a confused look.

“He could never do better than you.” Draco said. “And that slag he’s been running around with. She’s grotesque even for him.”

“Is this your way of making me, feel better?”

“If I wanted to make you feel better, we’d criticize over a bit of whiskey. And coincidentally, I’ve a new bottle. Would you care for some?”

“Thanks, but I don’t drink. And even if I did, I'm pretty tired so I want to knock out.” Emilia stood up. “Are we still on for Hogsmeade tomorrow?”

“After breakfast we’ll leave. I’ve reserved a carriage for us.”

“I’ll see you in the morning then.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “Night Draco,” and with that she disappeared up the stairs to her dorm.

Almost as soon as her head rested on the pillow, she drifted off to sleep. It was a dreamless sleep, a welcomed change to the dreams of Ron that had been plaguing her for several weeks, and when she woke in the morning, she felt ready to take on the day. She quickly put on some warm clothes, and grabbed her parka off the back of her chair, making sure that the hood was still attached to it. The other day she’d forgot that she detached the hood from the parka and had gone out onto the grounds, where she only lasted a few minutes before running back inside the castle.

After having made sure she had everything she needed, she left the dormitory and went off in search of the Great Hall. She was almost there when her arm was grabbed. Instinctively, she whipped out her wand and shoved it in her attackers face. It was Ron.

“What’s your problem?” she snapped, freeing her arm from his hold.

“Don’t be daft. You know why I'm here.”

“Actually, I’ve no fucking clue.”

“Yes. You bloody do.” His ears were turning an alarming shade of red. “Look, I don’t very well know how you did it, but last night . . . last night you followed Lav and me to the library and –”

“Are you seriously accusing me of following you around?” she was faking indignation, her voice steadily growing louder. “You’re so full of yourself!”

“Take that back!” he shouted.

“Why should I? Honestly Ronald, you’ve got some nerve to accuse me of following you around. I have better shit to do with my time. Now please go and be paranoid and ridiculous somewhere else.”

“I know you did it. You can say you didn’t, but I know you did.”

“Did what?” she cried. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about!”

“Yes you do. And you know you did it. You can’t handle the fact that someone out there thinks I'm brilliant enough to be with!”

“I never said you weren’t brilliant.” She paused, staring intently into his blue orbs. “I said you were childish, and this . . . this screaming and ridiculousness, is proving me right. Now move.”

He didn’t move. Not on his own accord. She had to push him slightly to the right in order to get out of where he’d cornered her. With a heavy heart she walked into the Great Hall, wanting nothing more than to get back to the dorm and lay in bed all day, but she was meant to spend time with Draco. She only had a week left before they went on winter break, and she had to make the most of it.