The rest of the day, Emelie barely made it through her classes without the memory of Cedric and Cho crossing her head.
She hadn't seen the trio at lunch either which was a good thing or else she'd have to explain everything and she certainly didn't want to tear up again.
It was now after her last class, Charms. She'd been grateful not to cross paths with Cedric at all all day. If she had, her whole day would have gone up in flames even more than before.
"Oh there you are Hermione, I haven't seen you three all day" Emelie said, attempting a somewhat enthusiastic tone.
"Where are Harry and Ron? I surely hope they're not in the library still".
"Oh, Harry went to ask Cho to the Yule Ball. I don't know about Ron, probably went with him".
Something about that sentence didn't sound right to Emelie. It hit her after a few seconds. Harry had gone to ask Cho to the Yule Ball. Oh no, Emelie thought, two broken hearts in one day.
Suddenly the door to the common room burst open to reveal Ron being supported by Neville and Seamus, with Harry following close behind them.
"What happened?" Hermione asked worriedly.
Ron looked almost petrified by how pale his face was. Neville and Seamus sat him down on one of the chairs near the fireplace.
"Apparently he tried to ask one of the veelas to the Yule Ball but as you can imagine...". Neville let them finish the sentence themselves.
"I-I was g-going to ask F-Fleur to the Yule ball but s-she said n-no in front of e-everyone-".
"In the courtyard" Seamus added which earned him a look of disapproval from Neville. Hermione tensed next to Emelie, glaring at Ron.
"Uh, I think I'll go study", she said, storming up to the dorm rooms. Today was going wrong on so many levels. Which reminded Emelie she should ask Harry how it at gone even though she already knew.
"Harry, can I talk to you for a second?", she asked, pulling him aside while Seamus and Neville calmed Ron down.
"Yeah, sure", he said. Emelie took a deep breath before saying, "I already knew about Cho and Cedric. I'm sorry Harry".
"Oh", he said, gulping "Thank you. Were you supposed to go with Cedric or...?".
"I thought I would but at least I have someone else to share my heartbreak with". They both laughed at that. Then Emelie got serious.
"Now, do you have a method for the second task? To go underwater I mean?".
"Not yet, but we did find out that the line from the song 'we cannot sing above the ground' refers to mermaids. They sing, it told us in Hogwarts: A History. But since the task is underwater it's mermaids instead of fairies above land". Emelie understood the logic immediately.
"That's great and for now, Harry, let's take a break. We'll pick things back up tomorrow". He nodded and thanked her.
While he was walking away to the boy's dorms, Emelie's mind flashed her an image of Cedric and Cho, a bit of pain rising in her. She ought to take a break too, it had indeed been a long day. For all of them.