Imperio ⇢ D.M

Chapter Eighteen

Curiosity

~Ron Weasley~

Arden was acting strange. She's totally blown us off since the ball, and started hanging out more with that bloody Malfoy. Did Harry ask her? Blimey, I told him to wait until we knew she liked him back! Poor guy is off his rocker, couldn't wait to rub in how he scored her as a date; I guess he got so caught up in it and scared her off.

But I think that's not the only reason, maybe it's not a reason at all. No one in their right mind decides to drop their closest friends to hang out with a git like Malfoy, that's completely mental. Harry, Hermione and I were all in the common room doing History of Magic homework, well, mainly just Hermione.

"It's weird, how she could just-" I started.

"Honestly Ronald if you're going to bring up Arden and Malfoy again I'll-" Hermione interrupted.

"But Hermione, he's right. It is weird that she's suddenly avoiding us!" Harry argued. Hermione looked at them and smirked.

"Well, she's not avoiding me." She smiled. Harry and I looked at each other, we both had the same thought.

"So she is avoiding us!" I said. Hermione rolled her eyes and put her quill down.

"You two boys are so blind! You knew Arden was weird about going to the ball with you, Harry, and you knew she didn't like you in that way! Yet you had to go and ask her the question, you made her nervous and now she thinks your friendship is ruined!" Hermione snapped. She looked at us worryingly then started to proofread her homework. Hermione wasn't telling us something, she makes that worried look when she lies...

"That can't be it, Hermione, I know you're lying." I pressured. She kept her eyes on her piece of parchment and shook her head.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm the one who she talks to the most, so I'd know more about her than you two do." She said, keeping her eyes on the parchment. 

"Come on Hermione, tell us what's up with her! Why is she hanging out with Malfoy?" Harry begged. Hermione scowled at the both of us and started rolling up her parchment angrily. 

"You two clearly don't respect her privacy do you?! Sure, you two may not particularly like Malfoy-"

"No shit! We hate him!" I butted in. Hermione glared at me then continued.

"You two may hate him, but Arden is his Potions parter, and they're in the same house, this was bound to happen. Arden isn't a Gryffindor, she isn't some pretty sweet girl that you think she is, so stop being babies about her talking to people other than you!" She spat. Hermione walked away from us and started marching up the stairs.

"Bloody hell Hermione, we just wanted to know-"

"No! You wanted to get into her business because you're butt-hurt that she doesn't fancy either of you! She's her own person and can talk to who ever she wants. Stop whinging, let her talk to you when she wants to, and for goodness sake, do your History of Magic work!" She stomped up the stairs, then a loud slam of the girls' dormitories door echoed throughout the common room. 

I looked at the fire and sighed. Hermione was probably right, I mean, when was she not? Harry probably did scare her off, and now she's hanging out with that lunatic. It's weird that she's in Slytherin, but her Slytherin traits have become more clear lately -probably thanks to Malfoy-

"Hermione's hiding something." Harry muttered. Harry had a concentrated expression, like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

"Oh give it a rest mate, when is Hermione ever wrong? Besides Arden's been hanging around her equally as much as she has with Malfoy, Hermione knows more, so we should just take her word for it." Harry wasn't convinced, as usual.

"I reckon she fancies Malfoy..." Harry said. I snorted out laughter at such a stupid accusation.

"Yeah, and I  fancy Hermione." I laughed sarcastically. "What are you on mate? You sound bloody mental!" 

"Didn't you notice her a few weeks ago? She was staring at him non stop, he gave her flowers, she felt bad when she rejected his Yule Ball date offer. It's obvious, Ron!" Harry said. The signs were clear, but that was weeks ago. Even if Arden did fancy Malfoy -which was totally gross- what were we going to do? We can't just say 'we forbid you', that'd make her avoid us even more. There's no doubt Harry will have a fit about it, but I guess for now all we can do is just let her talk to us when she's ready.

"Whatever mate, I think you need some sleep." I said. I stood up from the chair and beckoned for Harry to follow. The two of us went to our dormitories to get ready for a good night's sleep.