The newspaper fell on the table. More accurately, it got slapped down on it by Draco.
"Hey, what the hell?" Meli said, the milk in her spoon falling on the table.
On the front page, the title stood out in bold letters. Harry Potter; Teenage Tragedy. Below, a picture of Potter moving, his facial expression indicating the flash had taken him by surprise. Jane snatched the paper before Meli could and started reading, Blaise anxiously looking at the page over her shoulder.
"Mmmmnmnnm, eyes glistening from the ghosts of his past." she read out loud dramatically.
Meli grabbed the newspaper and placed it in front of her and a smirking Draco. Her eyes flew over the text and she laughed. "This is hilarious."
"Right?" Draco said from her right, looking like a kid on Christmas morning.
It was now Blaise's turn to take the newspaper from Meli and read it in his head. "I mean, she obviously deformed what he was answering."
"That's what make it even funnier!" Draco seemed so happy it made Meli smile even more.
Blaise murmured a very unconvincing 'yeah' and gave the thing back to Jane who gladly read the rest of the article.
Whispers spread in the Great Hall and heads turned to Potter walking in. Realizing all eyes were on him, the boy went red and shot a glance to the Gryffindor table. Weasley and Granger were sitting together. The girl looked at him invitinglyr but Weasley elbowed her and she looked back to her plate. Potter's face fell. He ended up sitting next to Longbottom.
"Who wrote the article?" Meli asked, leaning over the table.
"Rita Skeeter." Jane finally closed the newspaper and went back to eating. "Ok, hear me out. The woman is a complete bitch but..."
"Her articles are great." finished Meli. Jane pointed to her, nodding in agreement, and took a mouthful of eggs. "The drama, the rumours? I love it."
"You two are sick." Draco shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but you love it too. Don't lie." Meli slapped him behind the head.
"Only because it's about Potter!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meli replaced the lime green bralette she was wearing under a white oversized shirt. She was also wearing beige pants with black sandals.
She was waiting for Louis on the marches next to the school's doors. Jane had already made her way down to Hogsmade, arms intertwined with Cedric's, and Draco was... somewhere, probably.
A hand touched her shoulder and she turned, looking up to meet Louis' eyes. She smiled and he held out his hand to help her stand up.
"Hi." he said, still looking unrealistically beautiful in black jeans and a simple red shirt opened to let appear a white camisole.
"Hey." she said back. Her hand was still in his.
They walked in silence to the small village, crossing groups of friends and couples. Louis still hadn't let go of Meli's hand and they fell into an easy conversation, commenting on what was around us and what they had done recently.
Meli told him about how she had started taking piano lessons and how nobody in the Slytherin common room recognized the songs she would play because of how slow she was playing them for now. Louis told her about the difficulties of having your own bedroom for two months and then having to share a room with four other guys again, which obviously ended in their dorm being a complete mess.
After a small amount of time, Meli and Louis reached the entry of the village. They hesitated for a while, trying to guess in which direction the other wanted to go. They laughed awkwardly and both their glances fell on their hands. Meli didn't know who was sweating but it wasn't comfortable anymore so she let go of his hand.
He didn't comment on it and gave her an unbothered smile. "Where do you want to go?"
"Anywhere but Madam Puddifoot's. The Three Broomsticks is good." she said with a smile too.
"Sweet. Let's go!"
He didn't try to take her hand again but placed a hand on her lower back when they entered the pub.
If the temperature outside was hot, the summer only beginning it's way to autumn, the inside of the pub was agreeably cool. They must've had put on a spell that made the air light despite the big amount of people sitting in the place. Some were making their way to or from the counter with different drinks while their friends talked at the tables scattered around. With Louis' hand still on her lower back, making her flustered, the two made their way to a booth in the back.
"I'm going to get us something to drink." Louis said. Meli opened her mouth to tell him what she wanted but he had already headed to the counter.
Ok, I guess. Could've asked what I wanted but ok.
Meli got more comfortable on the booth and started playing with the napkin in front of her. A few moments passed and Louis came back with two Butterbeer and two muffins. When he reached the table, Meli saw what sort of muffin they were. She swallowed.
Date muffin. She hated those. It made her want to puke her stomach out.
Louis placed the things on the table and took a sip of his Butterbeer. Meli reached for hers and took a sip too. They began talking a bit and but after a while, Louis noticed she wasn't eating her muffin.
"Are you going to eat it or not?" he laughed, pointing at the pastry.
"Um, no. You can have it if you want." she pushed the plate to him with a smile.
"No, you eat it. I bought it for you, take it." he said. To Meli's utter confusion, he seemed a bit annoyed.
"What? You can't force me to eat something I don't like." She furrowed her eyebrows.
"You don't like date muffins? You could've told me that." Now, Louis was properly angry. And Meli was starting to get there too.
"Are you joking? You didn't even ask me what I wanted."
"Merlin, why do you have to be so difficult? It's just a bloody muffin." Louis rolled his eyes.
Where the fuck is this coming from? Meli was completely confused. They had been in a coffee this summer and he hadn't done anything like that. Why was he reacting like an arsehole?
"You absolutely can't be serious. Are you actually mad at me for not wanting to eat some food you got me without asking what I'd like?" she said, still not believing this was happening.
They voices had gotten louder and louder and a bunch of costumers had turned to them, trying to hear what was going on.
"God, you're annoying. I didn't think you'd be like that." Louis rolled his eyes.
"What did you bloody think I would be like, then?" Meli had forced her voice lower, not wanting to cause a scene.
"I don't know, I thought you weren't like other girls."
That's it. I'm out.
Meli stood up and looked down at Louis who was still sitting with an expression that managed to make ugly his beautiful features, somehow. "You're not even a bad person, are you? You're just really fucking stupid."
She turned on her heels and headed to the door. She had only made a few steps when Louis grabbed her wrist.
"If you go now, I won't take you back."
Oh my lord, calm down. We're not a married couple, we've only been on two dates, Meli thought.
Instead she laughed. "You say that like I'm not able to forget you by tomorrow."
At his absence of reaction, she yanked her wrist out of his hold and walked away, shaking her head at how fucking stupid he was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shoutout to my friend who didn't know what arsehole meant until i explained it to her a week ago.
Hope you enjoyed,
Laeti