Operation: Potential Breakup

Hopping to her feet, Abigail smirked as she watched Hermione’s expression drop. She stood with her arms akimbo before smugly stating, “There. You have your information; will you please leave me alone now? I only came here so I could take a short nap before I met with Neville in the common room.”

Hermione continued to stare at the blonde, mouth agape with incredulity. “The Draco Malfoy?” she asked, still utterly confused at what was happening. “The Amazing Bouncy Ferret? The slimy git that hates Harry and the rest of us like-?”

“You said you would leave me alone if I told you!” whined Abigail.

“But you’ve open a whole new topic of interest,” Hermione scolded with a hint of disapproval in her voice. “You asked Malfoy to the Masquerade Ball! If you think that this is a way to sneak into Harry’s heart, you’ve got it backwards; you’re gonna sneak your way under his skin if he finds out!”

Unconsciously, Abigail rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that day. She sighed and blew the stray strands of hair out of her face. “Then he’s not going to find out, is he, Hermione? It’s a masquerade.”

“But why Malfoy? Of all the other boys in the castle, why him?’

“I suppose you would have preferred I ask a teacher instead!” Abigail joked. “And besides, Malfoy wasn’t my first choice, but our fathers set us up. He didn’t oppose, so why should I?”

“If Harry finds out-.”

Abigail smacked herself in the face. “Hermione, I thought we went through this already: Harry isn’t going to find out, not unless someone rats me out.”

“But it’s Malfoy!” Hermione reasoned. “He’s hated us for years!”

“He’s hated the Golden Trio for years,” the blonde corrected. “Harry barely acknowledges me. Ron doesn’t even know I’m alive. Hell, you only talk to me because of the time I comforted you in the bathroom during our first year when the troll attacked!

“Malfoy is a family friend. You may not like him and he’s not really my cup of tea, but he was one of the only friends I had growing up. Despite being in opposing houses, we still tolerate each other. So can we please drop the subject before I find your ball gown and toss it in the Black Lake for the giant squid to feed on?”

Hermione’s eyes flickered to her truck in horror. “You wouldn’t!”

Abigail crossed her arms over her chest and stared at her friend with her signature smirk.

“You would…” Hermione groaned knowingly. “Okay… moving on.”

Abigail sat back on her bed and looked at Caitlyn’s bed with a ferocious glare. She inhaled sharply as she looked toward Hermione. “I still don’t like her,” she stated with another eye roll. “I don’t understand why Potter is so gaga about her.”

“Frankly,” Hermione said, sitting at the end of her bed, “neither do I, but you, Ron and I agree: she’s not good for Harry.”

That was one way to put it, Abigail thought to herself. While Ron and Hermione might actually think Caitlyn was a bad influence on the Boy Who Lived, Abigail just didn’t like the brat from day one; dating Harry Potter only made her hatred grow stronger.

“Intervention, perhaps?” Abigail suggested with a laugh.

Hermione sighed, “That’s easier said than done. Ron and I have tried it loads of times before…”

So they had thought about an intervention. Abigail shrugged. The idea of an intervention sounded reasonable, but if they had tried it out before then there was no point in trying again – especially if they had failed all those times before.

Abigail noticed the looked of defeat that Hermione gave her. She frowned slightly before thinking for a moment.

“I’m sorry,” Abigail said softly. “I think you and Ron may have it worse off than I do; you two actually have to deal with her because of your closeness with Wonder Boy.”

Before Hermione could open her mouth to reply to her friend’s statement, Ginny Weasley burst through the door of the sixth year girls’ dormitory. She quickly slammed it with the weigh of her body, panting furiously as she sunk to the floor hopelessly.

“Ginny!” Hermione rushed to the sweat-drenched Quidditch player. “You look terrible!”

Abigail walked across the room to where the other girl girls were. “If you think that this is a way to sneak into Ronald’s heart, you’ve got it backwards; you’re gonna sneak your way under his skin if he finds out how you’re talking to his little sister-.”

“Abigail!” Hermione scolded. “Ginny, what happened?”

“Yeah… did you forget where your dorm was?” Abigail asked, crossing her arms across her chest. “Or is there a reason you ran up to our dorm looking the way you do?”

Ginny continued to pant as Hermione helped her to the nearest bed. The redhead shook her head as she looked toward Abigail with a frown.

“Quidditch practice wasn’t exactly a walk in the park,” the fifth year rubbed her hand across her face roughly. “But that was nothing compared to the hell we were greeted with in the common room…”

Abigail leaned against her bedpost as Hermione took a seat beside Ginny.

“What happened, Ginny?” Hermione asked once more.

Again, Ginny brought her hands to her face. She groaned loudly as she tried to recall the past couple of events. The Weasley told the older girls about how Harry’s train of thought had been derailed for all of their practice time, causing so much friction between the entire team.

“While he was calling out commands left and right, he meant the opposite of what he was saying!” Ginny complained. “And it wasn’t like we could do the opposite of what he asked, because then he would go berserk!”

She also told them how, after Quidditch practice, she and Ron decided to take Harry to the kitchens. Apparently, the Weasley siblings had hoped it would clear their captain’s thoughts.

“It worked,” continued the redhead, “until we got to the common room! Caitlyn gave him a tongue lashing when she saw the three of us come in. Ron and I only stayed for a couple of minutes before rushing to our dorms.”

“… but you’re in our dorm,” Abigail stated.

Ginny nodded. “I had to tell Hermione…” the fifth year student turned to the brunette beside her. “You’ve got to do something about her; she’s insane!”

Hermione glanced at Abigail before looking back at Ginny. With a shrug, she sighed, “Ginny, I’m trying… but it’s not like we can just swoop in and tell him that he needs to dump her.”

“Just outta curiosity, Weasley,” Abigail began, “why was the demon spawn freaking out when she saw Wonder Boy?”

“I guess she wasn’t too happy that Harry took a detour from the common room after practice… especially since I was there,” Ginny replied. “Hermione, you have to do something about Caitlyn!”

Hermione shut her eyes tightly, rubbing her temples gently. “Ginny, it’s not that easy. Ronald and I have tried, remember? Loads of times, in fact! Caitlyn never lets Harry out of her sight though…”

Abigail watched Hermione fidget around beside Ginny; she sensed that Hermione was growing more and more stressful just thinking about Caitlyn and all the possible ways to get rid of her. She sighed, empathizing with her best friend. Abigail also watched as Ginny continued to stare Hermione down, as if hoping for an answer to just fall from the sky. Sighing, the blonde tapped Ginny’s shoulder.

“Weasley, how about you go get some rest in your dorm for now?” Abigail suggested. “I’ll go get you if Hermione comes up with something, yeah?”

Ginny nodded. “Thanks, Crenshaw…” she said softly. “I’ll see you two later then.”

Pushing herself off the bed, Ginny slowly dragged herself out of the sixth year girls’ dormitory. As the door shut behind her, Hermione groaned loudly in frustration.

“Abs, what am I going to do? I told Ron that we had to refrain from intervening,” Hermione explained, “unless Ginny spoke up to say something about it.”

Abigail scratched the back of her neck. What did Ginny have anything to do with Caitlyn? The blonde nodded slowly, gesturing Hermione to continue explaining.

“We figured that Ginny was always the most patient with Caitlyn,” she confessed. “Ron couldn’t stand her the moment we met her… same with myself. Ginny, on the other hand, she’s been so tolerant of Caitlyn we both figured that-.”

“You thought that if you had someone else’s say on the matter… it would justify your dislike for Caitlyn,” Abigail finished. “And it helps that Ginny is almost as close to Harry as you and Ron are, right?”

“Exactly!” Hermione remarked. “This is why you’re my best friend!”

Laughing, Abigail shrugged. “Well, now Ginny’s on your side, right? What’s stopping you from doing anything?”

Hermione exhaled in defeat. “Caitlyn never lets Harry out of her sight…”

Abigail eyed Hermione worriedly. While she would never have to deal with Caitlyn at the level Ron and Hermione might have, she understood their pain nonetheless. Having a friend with an insufferable significant other was a universal feeling, Abigail told herself mentally. But if that was the case, then this should be easy, right?

“That’s why you have to get to Harry let Caitlyn out of his sight.”