"Hey, did (Y/n) stop in here?" Cho asked, anxiously bouncing on her feet and looking around the Zonko's rather than directly at Fred, George, and Lee.
"I thought she was with Harry," said George.
"And we haven't seen him," Fred added.
"All right... thanks," Cho frowned, turning to back out of the shop.
"Why?" Lee ventured to ask.
"Well... I'm sure you'll find out from someone or another," Cho said vaguely, disappearing out of the shop. As they were already in the process of leaving, the boys followed her out. All four of them cast the same charm that turned the rain into an umbrella.
"What d'you mean? Did they sneak off or something?"
"That's not it," Cho said, shaking her head and rejoining Cedric.
"Anything?" they both asked at the same time. "No..." they said again.
"Unless someone turns up with her, she's got to be out in the rain," Cho said.
"What kind of lunatic stands out in the rain?" Cedric asked.
"(Y/n)," the others said. Cedric shot them all a look.
"She'll be sick," Cedric said.
"What's going on?" Fred pressed.
"As I said, you'll hear it from someone," Cho said.
"Why not you?"
"Because I haven't the slightest clue on what went wrong," Cho answered.
"What went wrong?" George asked.
"Well, (Y/n) left Madam Puddifoot's in tears," Cedric said. "And they were being rather awkward during their date."
"They've been awkward before it as well, though..." Cho said. "If I had to guess, I think (Y/n) was upset over their lack of communication..."
"She does that a lot, doesn't she? Lets her problems grow so big to the point she finally has to address them..."
"Oh, you know (Y/n)," Cho sighed. "She's got a huge fear of confrontation..."
(Y/n) watched from above as her friends soon split off again, continuing their search. She was on the roof of an old building that kept her hidden were someone to look up. Once they were entirely out of sight, her eyes shifted to the lit-up fountain with its blue dripping lights, mimicking water. She had her salmon jumper on but even that didn't stop her from being frozen by the rain.
Cho approached Professor McGonagall upon noticing that even the Gryffindor team had started to appear but still no (Y/n).
"Have you checked your dorm?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Not yet," Cho answered.
"Check your dorm," Professor McGonagall instructed. "And if she's not there, I'll go and form a search party." Cho nodded rapidly and ran all the way to the Ravenclaw tower and then to her dorm.
Cho grumbled to herself over the empty dorm and she looked for a minute for any signs of (Y/n) having previously been there, ultimately coming up empty-handed. She rushed back down to the Great Hall to relay the news to Professor McGonagall, who already had on a hat and an umbrella in her hand.
"Sit down, Miss Chang," Professor McGonagall said. Quite reluctantly, Cho agreed and Professor McGonagall walked to the entrance doors. She opened them and was in for quite the fright.
(Y/n), Angelina, Alicia, and Katie all sat on the steps outside the castle, looking quite miserable and drenched. Three of the girls were also covered in mud, which was only being partially washed away by the rain.
"Girls!" Professor McGonagall seethed. They all looked up at her in acknowledgement, seemingly not caring much for how frantic Professor McGonagall looked.
"Hey, Professor," Katie said nonchalantly, pulling a piece of slush from (Y/n)'s hair. "How long have you been out in the rain?" Katie frowned at (Y/n).
"Um... a little before lunchtime," (Y/n) answered quietly.
"Inside! Now!" Professor McGonagall barked. The girls obliged without protest and Professor McGonagall closed the doors again. She breathed deeply. "Go ahead and get washed up for me," Professor McGonagall said with a calm sort of fury. "Be back in fifteen minutes and I won't ask any questions."
Reluctantly, (Y/n) took the lead up the staircase and to the Gryffindor Tower. Wishing to save time, Angelina offered to lend (Y/n) something to wear. As the girls showered separately and talked about their days, (Y/n) felt heard knowing she wasn't the only one whose day had turned for the worst. While a bad Quidditch team and a bad date were not comparable, a bad day was still a bad day.
"We're absolutely doomed, (Y/n)," Katie said as they made for Alicia's and Angelina's (along with their roommates') dorm. "Go easy on us, won't you?"
"Mhm," (Y/n) mused, taking the beige jumper Angelina had blindly thrown at her off of her head. Even a warm shower hadn't stopped her from shivering and feeling exhausted. She opted to take a bath after dinner.
"How're you still cold?" Alicia teased.
"'M'not in warm water anymore," (Y/n) said, using a hot air charm to dry her hair. Alarmed, she dropped her wand in order to catch the grid cardigan Angelina tossed at her. (Y/n) didn't protest putting it on. She stood still for a moment before finding the strength in her to reach down and grab her wand.
"Are you all right?" Katie asked, growing concerned.
"Yeah," (Y/n) said shortly. With her hair soon dried by her hot air charm, (Y/n) tied it into a low ponytail and dragged herself after the Gryffindors. She paused at the top of the stairs for a moment before walking down them. Every step felt as though her knees would buckle and her legs would give out. The Gryffindor girls continuously looked back at (Y/n) with concern. They wound up reaching the entrance hall long before (Y/n) and they peered up at her as she walked down the marble staircase. As they approached the Great Hall, (Y/n) seemed to snap out of her exhaustion long enough to walk straight inside with her head held high. She did not acknowledge a single Gryffindor other than saying a short goodbye to Angelina, Alicia, and Katie. Due to concentrating on keeping her head high, (Y/n) nearly crashed into a relieved Cho, who had flown out of her seat to meet (Y/n)
"Where have you been?" Cho cried.
"Around," (Y/n) mumbled, practically collapsing in the seat beside Cho. Cho scowled at (Y/n) but (Y/n) only folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them.
The Gryffindors were quite confused over (Y/n)'s icy behaviour and lack of acknowledgement towards them. Back in the common room, Harry started being pressed for answers.
"Hey, how'd your date go?" Ginny asked, staring quite accusingly at Harry.
"How come you were over at the Three Broomsticks so early?" Hermione asked.
"Er... well, it was..." said Harry, getting started on his homework, "a complete fiasco, now that you mention it."
"That's an understatement," Dean said pettily.
"Harry... you let her down gently, right?" Hermione asked. "You explained why she couldn't join the interview, right?"
"I couldn't!" Harry said defensively. "I didn't know why you wanted me at the Three Broomsticks!"
"The date, how'd it go?" Ginny pressed.
And Harry told them what had happened in Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop.
"...so then," Harry finished several minutes later as the final bit of crumble disappeared, "she jumps up, right, and says 'I'll see you around, Harry,' and runs out of the place!" He looked around at the people who were interested in the story. His eyes settled on Hermione. "I mean, what was all that about? What was going on?"
"Oh, Harry," Hermione said sadly. "Well, I'm sorry, but you were very tactless."
"Me, tactless?" said Harry, outraged. "One minute we're getting on fine, the next minute she was telling me that Dean Thomas asked her out and how I don't talk to her, when I totally do— how was I supposed to feel about this?"
"Well, you see," said Hermione with the patient air of one explaining that one plus one equals two to an overemotional toddler, "you shouldn't have told her that you talk to Ron and I."
"But, but," spluttered Harry, "but— I do talk to you two! What am I supposed to say, 'I don't talk to them either'?"
"No!" Hermione exclaimed. "You should've told her differently," she said, still with that maddeningly patient air. "You should have told her that you 'absolutely hate talking about your feelings but Ron and Hermione won't let the subject go until you spill.'"
"Of course she's feeling insecure when you've done nothing but ignore her all of winter break," Ginny said.
"Right," Hermione agreed, nodding. "You should have said that you would love, love, love to talk to her but you'd prefer a more secluded space."
"And, you know, not laugh at her when she expresses herself," George chimed.
"Well, I know that laughing was wrong," Harry said. "But I don't understand why I need to lie to her face. Wouldn't that upset her more?"
"It would," Ginny stated. "But I don't see how anything Hermione suggested would have been a lie. Unless you really don't want to talk to her." She rose an eyebrow.
"That's not it," Harry denied.
"Good. Then there'd be no lying," Ginny said simply. Harry sat in thought for a moment.
"Look," Hermione said, "you upset (Y/n) when you said you were going to meet me, so she tried to make you jealous. It was her way of trying to find out how much you liked her."
"Is that what she was doing?" said Harry.
"Yes!" Hermione said. "And you didn't acknowledge her at all! So she overthought things and assumed she did something wrong and when she tried getting answers, you changed the topic!"
"Well, wouldn't it have been easier if she'd just asked me whether I still liked her?"
"Girls don't often ask questions like that," said Hermione.
"Well, they should!" said Harry forcefully. "Then I could've just told her I fancy her, and she wouldn't have had to get herself all worked up again!"
"I'm not saying what she did was sensible," said Hermione. "I'm just trying to make you see how she was feeling at the time."
"You should write a book," Ron said, "translating mad things girls do so boys can understand them."
"Yeah," said Harry fervently.
"In her defence, (Y/n)'s plenty aware that she doesn't know how to express herself until it's too late," Fred said.
"Something about not wanting to burden someone with unrelated problems," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "And then she goes and burdens herself with someone else's problems."
"And I don't suppose her feeling like a last choice helps much, does it?" Dean frowned.
"What? When did she say that?" Hermione asked.
"Today," Dean answered. "After mentioning she only gets second-hand information—"
"Oh, jeez," Ginny mumbled, dragging herself out of her chair. "I'll be back."
"While you're at it, tell (Y/n) to keep a lookout for the Quibbler!" Hermione shouted. "It'll give her some understanding on why she couldn't come today!"
"Why couldn't she come today?" Harry asked.
"Honestly, I was worried that her hearing the retelling of that night might've been a little too much," Hermione admitted quietly. "I really doubt she needs to relive that on top of the whole Anastasia business..."
"She probably heard it anyway," Ron said reasonably.
"Pyjamas and all," Adrian mused, joining (Y/n) at the edge of the Astronomy tower. As exhausted as she was, (Y/n) stayed standing and holding onto the rail as she slowly sipped the potion she got from Madam Pomfrey that would have her feeling better by the morning. "If you're sick, you really shouldn't be going back out into the cold, should you? I mean, you can't even see the stars."
"No, but the clouds are pretty when the lightning flashes," (Y/n) said. Almost as though it was on cue, the sky flashed with lighting, turning the dark sky purple for a brief moment. There was a loud rumble of thunder that followed not even two seconds after the lightning.
"We should get down," Adrian said nervously.
"Already?" (Y/n) frowned.
"Lightning followed by thunder means the lightning's close," Adrian stated. "And we're in one of the tallest towers at Hogwarts." (Y/n)'s eyes flicked down to the ground, Adrian's last sentence settling into her mind.
"Isn't it crazy how one step could just end everything?" (Y/n) asked. "Metaphorically and literally..."
"Don't."
"Huh?"
"Don't take that step," Adrian said. "Don't 'end it all.'" He paused. "Where's this all coming from? Because the guy you like is running off with a different girl?" (Y/n) snorted. "Jealousy?"
"That's not it," (Y/n) said, shaking her head. "It's more that I feel left out, I guess... I'm left wondering what changed and when it happened. Before I got into a relationship, they'd always come directly to me before talking about anything and now it's like I have to be there to actually know what's going on and, you know, not hear it from someone else... I guess I'm stupid for thinking that things could go back to normal but I didn't think I'd have to lose so much for that to happen... Somedays I don't even want to get out of bed because of how tired and sad I've become— Especially considering I promised myself that I'd never let it show."
"They're the stupid ones," Adrian said quietly. (Y/n) smiled and lightly nudged Adrian before starting to head down the Astronomy Tower.
"I'm not jealous of Hermione Granger, by the way," (Y/n) said in clarification. "The day Harry and Hermione get together is the day Snape becomes my favourite professor." Adrian snickered.