Control ▸ Ron Weasley [2]

VIII. THE GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM

      Daphne rolled her eyes. "In the hopes that you would read it at appropriate times like a normal person." Daphne slid over the plate of eggs to her sister, and Astoria was all too happy to load them on her plate. "I read it last summer after Potter faced off the Hungarian Horntail. It was pretty interesting."

      "You could borrow it if you'd like," Astoria offered, shoving her fork into her mouth in an unladylike manner. If Nova's father could see Astoria, he might have scoffed. Which naturally made Astoria that much more endearing. "But not until I'm finished. You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands."

      Daphne shot a warning look to Astoria, as if to warn her off talking about death this particular moment, but Nova found herself laughing. "Noted."

      "Is Theodore going home this year?" Daphne asked when her sister was preoccupied with pouring too much syrup on her pancakes. Nova wished she could answer. The truth was, with her father in Azkaban, she didn't know if Theo would be permitted to go home this October eighth. She hoped, for her sake, if he had left, he would have tried to take her with him. She wouldn't have been able to go into the manor, since her father put up wards against her, but she could have at least visited her mother's grave.

      Nova shrugged. "I'm not sure."

      He didn't show up to the Great Hall during breakfast, but neither did Blaise, so she didn't have any suspicions that Theo had gone home without her. It was equally as possible that they had hidden in a broom closet and were snogging the living daylights out of each other, which Blaise always reminded her they did to get a rise out of her. Nova's first class of the day was Herbology, but as she started walking to Professor Sprout's classroom, her steps slowed.

      Most of her professors knew that the Nott twins were unavailable on the eighth of October. It was just something they had gotten used to in the past six years. So really, was this year any different?

      Nova stared at the pathway to the greenhouses before turning on her heel and walking back to the castle. She didn't know what she was going to do with her day, but she decided class wasn't on the table. She wasn't one to ditch, but damn it, she deserved it today.

      It was only when she was in her dormitory, sitting on her bed, that she realized she had absolutely nothing better to do.

      Blaise had finally gotten around and convinced her to come to Slughorn's Christmas party as his guest, so there was the matter of finding something decent to wear. Nova had many, many dresses from her years of growing up in a pureblood household and having fancy dinner parties, but she didn't want to wear anything green. It would just remind her that she had spent those same dinner parties blindly following what her father said about muggles and Harry Potter before she had gotten to know the truth. She gently lowered herself down onto her knees in front of her trunk and opened it, trying to search through her clothes to see if there was something else acceptable.

      Merlin knew it would be hopeless to owl George and Fred about sending her one of her dresses she had left behind. Knowing them, they'd send her a sack.

      Daphne walked into the dormitory less than twenty minutes later, her eyes widening when she saw the mess Nova had made on the floor with her clothes. "Er, you alright, Nova?"

      "Blaise invited me to Slughorn's Christmas party and I have nothing to wear." Nova eyed Daphne. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"