You gasped as the doors opened and your friends ran through, greeting you with a big hug. Winter break was finally over and your best friends were back. You missed them way too much. Leaning down, you picked up their bags and helped carry it back to their dorms.
The three of you entered your dorm, and Parvati gasped as she saw the room's state. "What did you do in here..." she carefully spoke, slowly walking into the room. You looked around and shrugged. "Did you throw all your clothes on the ground on purpose or.." Padma asked. "No I just-" you walked over to the mess you had made and started picking up the clothes on the floor, "I didn't have time to put these away" The two of them looked at you and then at eachother. "But you were here the whole time.."
The room definitely was in a 'depression room' state, since you didn't have any desire to do anything in the past days. You just waited until everyone returned to Hogwarts.
"Let me help you" Parvati said, helping you fold your clothes neatly, while Padma unpacked their suitcases. You picked up a shirt and slowly folded it, not even paying attention to what you were doing. "Y/n, are you okay?" Parvati asked. Your eyes remained in the same place, and you softly spoke, "I missed you guys a lot" The twins laughed and went over to you, and gave you a big hug. The two had piled onto you, and stayed in that position for a few seconds. "A lot happened," you tried to speak from under them, "while you were gone"
"Really? Like what?" Padma asked. You poked them to get them off of you, and sat up straight. You began telling them what had happened to you in your extremely eventful break.
"He said sorry? Awww"
"YOU SLEPT WITH DRACO?"
"What a cute date!"
"In the prefects bathroom?!"
"WHAT?? HOW DARE HE?"
An array of emotions were shown by your supportive friends, which immediately lifted you up. Their reactions were always very funny. They knew how to make a difficult situation slightly better.
"I can't believe he would lash out at you like that... you're right, maybe some people don't really change" Parvati shook her head in disappointment. "I know right? He's always been so terrible so it's hard to imagine how he could change so quickly" Padma added. "You deserve so much better Y/n" Parvati held your hand gently. "I'm so glad to have you both" you leaned in to hug them again. Tears welled in your eyes but you chose to move on.
"Right! I almost forgot!" You stood up excitedly, while your friends watched you in confusion. "We're having a ball!" Their faces didn't change, and still looked confused. "Here in Hogwarts, we're having a ball! Like where you dress up and dance and stuff!!" At those words, their eyes lit up as they understood what you were talking about. "A BALL?!" They shouted in unison. "Yes!! It's called The Moon Ball!! It sounds so pretty, right?" You squealed. "It sounds amazing! I've always wanted to dress up in those fancy gowns" Parvati shrieked.
"I'm SO EXCITED! I can't wait! When is it?" Padma asked. "Hmm I think it's in a few weeks actually. Wait..." you suddenly stopped in your tracks. "IT'S ONLY IN A FEW WEEKS? I DON'T HAVE A DRESS YET! WE NEED TO PREPARE" you panicked thinking about how fast the ball was already approaching.
"I don't have a date!" Padma panicked with you.
"We better get started then.." Parvati added. Quickly, the three of you cleaned up the room and put all of your clothes away. Apparently, you'd only clean your room when a fancy ball was involved. "When we get a break, or on the weekend, we need to go shopping" Parvati pleaded, and the two of you agreed with her.
Since you were done cleaning, you stood up. "Oh I should go say hi to Zach properly, I barely got to see him earlier"
"Yeah but you might not wanna mention the whole Draco thing, or atleast leave some parts out" Padma spoke up, and you stopped in your tracks. "What, why?" You asked. It's not like you were going to directly tell him all of that in the first place, but now you were curious on why you shouldn't. "Well, over the holidays, we sent a few owls to eachother and he expressed a lot of.. emotions" She spoke, and her words only kept you more on edge. "Emotions.. like what?" You urged. "He already doesn't like Draco, you know that much, but he... also said that he.. kinda likes you..." She timidly answered, trying not to say the wrong words.
Your eyes widened, but it didn't come as a shock to you. You already knew this, but it was the fact that he actually told other people too. Were his feelings that serious? "He said he never wants to come in between you and Draco's relationship but he can't help but feel angry when he sees Draco treating you wrong"
"And he's right for that, I feel it too" Parvati spoke from the side. You inhaled deeply, "still, I should go talk to him. I missed having him around!" You plastered a smile on your face and turned to the door and exited. Although, deep down, you were anxious to speak to him.
It had been two weeks since you last spoke to him, and so much had happened during that time. And now you knew his real feelings for you, you didn't want it to alter your great friendship. You creeped over to the outside of the boys dorms, and stood outside, still on edge. A boy was walking by, so you pulled him to the side and asked him if he could call Zach out for you.
After a minute, Zach walked outside, looking around, trying to locate you. His eyes landed on you and a warm smile came on his face. "Heyy!" He picked you up and spun you around in a welcoming hug, and the two of you giggled. He placed you back down carefully. "This second year came in telling me 'some girl' was looking for me, I didn't think you were just some girl" he laughed. "I wanted to say hi! It feels like I haven't spoken to you in forever" you groaned. "Well why didn't you just send an owl?" He asked, raising one of his perfect eyebrows. "I was a bit busy so.. it didn't really cross my mind. Sorry" you smiled bashfully at him, making him chuckle. "Did you have fun?" You questioned. "Oh my god yes! Like I said, I got home and slept for the whole day! Until it was time for dinner though" you playfully pushed his arm. "I played games a lot. Oh, and it even snowed! It reminded me of you" he looked into your eyes.
He was thinking of you? When he saw the snow? "Me?" You stuttered out, not knowing how to respond. "Yeah I saw how much you enjoyed the snow, and when I saw it again, I could just imagine you making a snowman" he laughed to himself. He didn't know but, you did make a snowman, just not with him. A sense of guilt came over you. Zach was such a great friend, he was always there for you, but you couldn't help but feel guilty at the fact that you didn't like him back. Maybe you did like him a little bit, but not in the same way he did. You could never reciprocate the love he showed you.
"Hey Zach.." you daintily held his wrist, making him look down to you. His expression dropped slightly at your more serious tone. "I missed you" you said before wrapping your arms around his waist, and pressing your face against his chest. Zach slightly jumped at your gesture and then softened at your grip. "I missed you too" he awkwardly chuckled, confused as to why you suddenly had done this. "What's up?" He said, pulling you away slightly so he could see your face. You looked into his brown eyes and watched his eyelashes flutter as he blinked.
"Nothings up... why.." you shyly spoke, looking back down at the floor. You couldn't look into his eyes and lie, he was so good at catching you. "You just said you missed me and hugged me so tightly! Of course there's something wrong.." he said, slowly bringing your face up by your chin, forcing you to look at him. "I don't know if I should tell you" you were reluctant to tell him because you didn't know how he'd react. "You can tell me anything" he said, leaning down to hold your shoulders. "Okay.. But first, let's go somewhere else" You grabbed Zach by the hand and led him to an empty classroom.
You sat at one of the seats and he came and sat opposite you. "During the winter break... Draco came and apologised to me. It was very sincere.." you began.
"...and..?" Zach prompted you to continue.
"And I... I accepted his apology. I accepted to be his girlfriend" you paused after you finished, still being wary over your words. "Oh" Was all he said.
"Yeah, and I actually had a good time with him but-" you cut yourself off, trying to think of a better way to word this. Zach watched your face carefully, waiting for you to answer. You looked down and noticed he was fidgeting with his fingers. "We had an argument. It was a pretty big one"
"Really?," Zach exclaimed, his voice raising. "What happened? What did he do?"
"I brought up the bet, and he didn't like it, so he yelled at me.. really badly.." you looked down to the floor as your voice wavered. You felt so weak and useless. You had liked Draco for all this time, only for him to prove everyone else right. He was just a bully. Like he always had been.
Anger rose inside Zach, but faded as quickly as it came. His voice softened as he spoke, "maybe it's for the best. I'm sorry he put you through that, and so much more, but maybe it's a good thing. At least this way, you know that he's not going to change"
You gulped before responding, knowing he won't like what you're going to say next. "I know, he really scared me in the moment. But what scared me most was how I still wanted to be with him..." Zach looked at you with a worried face. "I understood his anger, although he was harsh, and I actually felt sorry. I know I wouldn't like it if someone brought up my past mistakes, and I shouldn't have done that to him either. He was right to get mad at me. But I don't think he'll ever want to speak to me again" you finished. Tears pooled in your eyes again and Zach sighed. "You really love him that much huh?" He said with a small smile. You silently nodded your head, trying to sniffle your tears away.
"If you love him that much, and he loves you as much as I think he does, then I think you'll be just fine. He'll come back to you, don't worry. I've seen the way he looks at you. I don't need a confession from him to know that he actually has feelings for you. Who wouldn't?" He smiled at you, a few tears creeped into his eyes too. "Thank you Zach" you pouted.
"It's okay"