𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 ━━ harry potter

chapter thirty-five

When Ben went back to school after New Year, his friends still hadn't made up. It was really strange to see them separated, so the boy kept trying to get them to fix their issues, but it was useless.

Hermione was being extremely stubborn. She kept saying she had done the right thing, and she refused to apologise. Ben understood her worries, but he honestly didn't think telling McGonagall behind Harry and Ron's backs was the best thing to do.

So Ben was caught in a very uncomfortable position, continuously trying to convince either one of both sides to understand the other's reasons, and to stop ignoring and avoiding each other. They were all making it nearly impossible, therefore he began hanging out more with Thomas and Leah. And sometimes with Harry alone, since at least he wasn't constantly complaining about what happened, unlike Hermione and Ron, who kept critizising each other.

One afternoon, Harry had to go have private lessons with Lupin. He was helping the boy learn a spell to defend himself from dementors, in case they attacked him again. And Ben didn't want to stay at the Gryffindor tower, so she went to see if he could find Thomas. They met each other at the library and, as they usually did, they worked on their shared comic, as they chatted, and tried their best to not laugh too loudly, to avoid getting kicked out.

A couple of hours later, they decided it was enough for the day, and went back to their common rooms. Ben was worried Harry wouldn't be at theirs, yet, so he accompanied Thomas on his way to the dungeons.

Right as they arrived at the entrance, Ben's eyes widened as he saw none but Steve standing near it, a wide smile on his face. Thomas waved goodbye at his friend, and he copied the gesture, before approaching the Hufflepuff hesitantly.

"Hey," he greeted, slightly shyly.

Steve turned to him, and he looked genuinely happy at the sight of him. "Hi!"

"Are you here to... see my sister?" he asked, after a pause. He wasn't sure if it was okay for him to ask, but he technically wasn't supposed to know they had broken up.

"Yeah, I was," he replied. "I just dropped her off."

"Cool, that's awesome..."

There was a rather tense silence. Ben wanted to find out if they were back together or something, but the ambience was so uncomfortable that he preferred going back to his common room, even if it meant to hear Hermione complain about Ron and Harry, or to hear Ron complain about Hermione.

"You knew, right?" asked Steve, all of a sudden.

Ben frowned. "Knew what, exactly?"

"That she was hiding it before."

"Oh," he said. "Well, uhm... Yeah. But it wasn't because she was... ashamed of being with you, at all. Our parents aren't especially sweet, and they don't really like most people, you know?"

"I know, I know," he admitted. "She told me everything on the first day of school. I'm honestly very glad she did; I was being way too rude to her, and I don't think she deserved it."

Ben nodded in understanding. "Are you... dating again?"

"Yes, we are," he answered, smiling from ear to ear.

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"How's she doing it?" Ron muttered to Harry and Ben that evening, as they finished an essay on Undetectable Poisons for Snape.