It Just Takes Time (A Hinny Fanfiction)

Chapter 25: Is It Too Late To Say Sorry?

"Why do you hate James so much?" I asked.

"Excuse me?" she said laughing as if the answer was so obvious.

"Please tell me. It'll help me understand why I should stay away from him." I begged.

She stared at me, to see if I was crazy or not, but I was dead serious.

"You really want to know?" she whispered.

I nodded slowly. She got up without a word and I followed her to an empty corridor. 

"Ginny. You're going to hate me when I tell you this. And you're never going to look at me the same way. But I'm friends with a ..... Slytherin." she said as she looked away as if I was gonna burst into tears and run away.

I sorta already knew about her and snape. Although I haven't seen him yet, I knew. Harry told me everything. I guess she was waiting for a reaction so I gasped dramatically as she covered her face.

"I know! It's awful." she sighed.

"Is it really though?" I asked stupidly.

She looked at me for sure thinking I was insane.

"Slytherins and Gryffindors are like huge rivals. It goes way back." she sighed.

"What does that have to do with James?"

"He won't let it go. He despises him. His name is Severus. Severus Snape. Really sweet guy once you get to know him. James has completely changed him. He teases me and Severus all the time. I know one day James will go too far. He's going to ruin my friendship even more with Severus."

"Even more?" I asked curiously.

"... well.... lately he's been getting a bit more distant. And he hangs out with Slytherins. And I'm completely fine with that but his behavior is getting different. I'm afraid he's hanging out with bad people. I don't get it."

"I'm so sorry you have to deal with this." I hugged her and smelt a familiar scent. It smelt motherly? Like how Harry describes me. Flowers. She gave me a small smile. OH god does he mean I smell like a mom?

But she smells like... home.

"Listen, no one else knows. Partly because I don't have many friends as you can see. Please Ginny, I'm trusting you to keep this a secret okay?"

"Of course. Cross my heart." she laughed as we headed back into Hogwarts. The sky was getting darker as it was time for dinner. I saw Harry on the other end of the table with my parents and my heart jumped at the sight of me. I don't think he noticed me because he was so engrossed with his conversation with my dad. I caught a word, muggles and rolled my eyes. Of course dad was obsessed with muggles as a child as well. Sirius and James called me over as I took a seat next to them. Lily was searching for a place to sit so I called her beside me.

"No, no no." said James.

"Shut it. She's my friend now. Behave James. I need to talk to you about her later."

She hesitated as she saw James but smiled and sat on the other side of me.

"Hey." she said quietly.

We talked about teachers at Hogwarts including, Professor Slughorn who was very much interested in Lily's magical abilities.

"We're having a small party tomorrow. You should join us."

"Who else will be there?"

"Just a couple of other children, 3 from Ravenclaw, 3 from Gryffindor and 2 from Hufflepuff. I grinned when I heard no slytherin was invited.