Mischief - Book Two of the RP Saga

16. Distractions and Temptations

"How was your walk?" Was the first thing Hermione said to Rachel when they finally sat down in the Great Hall to eat their final meal of the day.

Rachel had just finished loading her plate of the usual glorious roast dinners the school elves made. It was pork that particular evening, with lots of roasted vegetables to offer as well. But of course the elves cooked much more than that.

Like usual, there were plates filled with extraordinary food. Some from the countries of France and Bulgaria so the transferred students had something fairly similar whilst they stayed the year in an unfamiliar country.

"It was good." Rachel said looking down at her food with a smile.

Hermione cocked her head in thought, it clearly wasn't the food making Rachel so happy. She was just about to ask what had been so good about it until the answer was practically thrusted at her face. Cedric Diggory walked past Rachel with his friends, accidentally knocking into her. As he turned to apologise and see who it was they both - Cedric and Rachel - smiled stupidly at one another.

"No one is ever that happy to be knocked into." Hermione said, Rachel looked back towards her.

"Cedric asked me to the Yule Ball." Rachel said, acting as though it weren't a big thing.

"You said yes?" Harry interrupted, leaning closer to his sister.

"Oh I'm sorry." Rachel set her cutlery down. "I did not realise I had invited you into mine and Hermione's conversation."

"Sorry." Harry scoffed moving away from her once more.

Rachel took a bite of a roast potato and then a swig of her drink before putting down her goblet and looking at Harry from the corner of her eye.

"But yeah, I said I'd go with him."

Harry smirked at his sister and they both laughed. But in all sudden seriousness, Rachel looked up at Hermione who had began quarrelling with Ron. They were like children, you could not leave them be for five minutes without them arguing. Noticing her stare, Hermione looked across at Rachel.

"We need to go dress shopping."

A smile broke out on Hermione's face and she nodded excitedly. The two girls quickly put their heads together and began discussing what dresses they wanted, what colours looked best and would they need a bag as an accessory. Ron and Harry looked at each other in slight horror.

"We will never hear the end of this." Harry concluded.

"Definitely." Ron nodded, looking at the girls and then to Harry.

Rachel shot the boys a playful glare but within seconds was back turned to Hermione and engaged in their discussion.

Whilst they were talking excitedly, George had noticed how distracted Fred was. He wasn't listening to Lee or Angelina who constantly repeated themselves to be heard by the particular redhead.

Fred was staring at Rachel but perhaps not in the nicest way he could have been. It was a sort of anger/regret. His eyes scanned her face and felt ashamed of himself that it wasn't because of him that she was so happy.

Yet he didn't even though who or what made Rachel happy at this moment in time.

"Fred!" George elbowed him in the side. "Seriously that's the fifth time you've looked at her within ten minutes!"

"I'm not looking at anyone." Fred huffed and turned his attention back to his friends that began to get irritated from his blank responses.

George looked back at Rachel, wondering why Fred was staring. She seemed normal to him, like she had always been: happy, lively, witty and sarcastic. Glancing back to his little group, Fred was looking at his hands and briefly engaging in the conversations.