Epiphany |Scorpius Malfoy|

Chapter Thirty-Four

The next morning when Isabelle woke up, and after getting dressed looked at the girls in her dormitory, she noticed that everyone was asleep and that Hailey had returned while she had been sleeping. She couldn't help but smile as she noticed the relaxed expression on her face before her eyes turned to Cassidy and she had to place a hand in front of her mouth in order to not wake anyone up with her giggling.

Cassidy was sleeping with one hand off the bed. Her dark curls had also gotten in front of her face, so that her expression would not be seen. On top of it all, one of her legs was not covered by the sheets.

Shaking her head lightly, Isabelle limped over to her bed and covered her leg with the sheets and gently moved her arm and placed it bag on the bed. She then proceeded to lightly brush her hair away from her face, only for her eyes to widen as she noticed her expression.

Who even slept with their nose scrunched up?

She looked over Cassidy once again before shaking her head. She made her way to the door and with a last look at her friends, opened it and then closed it behind her as quietly as she could. As she heard the soft click of the door, she straightened up and headed to the direction of the common room.

No one was there when she reached the room. Nevertheless, she sat down on an armchair and started braiding her hair into a French braid. She was half-way finished when someone sat down on the armchair next to her. Looking under her arms at whoever it was, she offered a smile at Garry.

"Good morning Garry. Did you sleep well?"

"Quite a bit," he mumbled as he watched her braiding her hair. "What about you?"

"I slept alright," she muttered as she finished her braid and turned to face him properly. "Did you stay in the common room alone for long yesterday?"

"Hailey left about fifteen minutes after you left, I suppose she could have stayed longer," he shrugged, "I didn't eat any cake, though. Bernard insisted I didn't touch it."

"He tends to get possessive over sweets, I'm afraid," she smiled, "nobody ate cake though, so you are not alone there."

"I did make him let me eat a bite," he admitted, "one bite in exchange for my silence. He quite liked the deal."

She offered him yet another smile, mainly because she didn't know what to say and wanted to be polite. She looked at her hands then, feeling slightly awkward sitting there in front of him. After all, last time they had had something like a proper conversation, he could have exposed her prosthetic somehow. She did hope that he hadn't realised that anything was off, but she couldn't know for sure.

Before her thoughts could grow, though, she heard him clearing his throat. She wouldn't have turned, but the soft call of her name that followed had her raising her head to face him once again.

He seemed kind of nervous as he sat before her, looking at his hands but as he took a deep breath, he looked up and met her gaze and there was a slightly determination in his eyes that made him say what he had been meaning to say when he had called her name.

"You know, Valentine's Day is coming," he began, and almost instantly, Isabelle stiffened. "I was wondering if you would go out with someone?"

"It's on Friday," she said, her voice slightly stern, "we don't go to Hogsmeade on Fridays."

"Right," he cleared his throat, "then.. then perhaps we could-"

"Just because I won't go to Hogsmeade it doesn't mean that I haven't got plans for the day," she cut in, not wishing to hear what else he had to say. Garry looked up, slightly hurt it seemed, and as he opened his mouth to reply, Isabelle jumped up as she had seen Cassidy entering the common room.