𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 ━━ harry potter

chapter sixty-one

A/N: Hehe

When December came by, and Christmas kept getting nearer, Ben wondered if Mrs. and Mr. Weasley still wanted him and Alycia to stay with them during Holidays. They had said they wouldn't let them back to Walker Manor, but that had been when their parents had disappeared. Perhaps, now that they were back, the Weasleys didn't want any trouble with them.

However, Ron soon told both he and Harry that the three of them were invited, and it was as though a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Hermione, on the other hand, was very excited about going skiing with her parents.

For the last D.A. meeting before the holidays (the second one Ben had attended to after his argument with his friends), Harry suggested reviewing the things they had seen. Ben was really grateful for it, since he had missed quite an amount of meetings.

"We're not doing anything new?" grunted Zacharias Smith, in a whisper loud enough to carry through the room. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come..."

"We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then," said Fred loudly.

Several people sniggered. Harry hid a smile. "We can practice in pairs," he said. "We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, just for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."

Ben ended up pairing up with Marina again. "How come you've come back?" she asked him as they started practising.

"I was here too last week."

"Oh, were you?"

"Yeah- Impedimenta! You were sick, weren't you?"

She nodded as soon as she unfroze. "Yes, that's why I had to miss the meeting. How'd you know?"

"Mei-Xing told me."

"I didn't know you two still talked to each other."

He shrugged. "Not as much as we used to when Cedric was here."

He bit the inside of his cheek.

"Oh," she said. "She seems quite happier lately, you know... Impedimenta!"

"Really?" he asked when the jinx lifted.

"I mean, a bit," she lowered her tone and took a step forward. "When he... When what happened last year... happened... She was devastated. She spent days on her own before coming back home. You know, I wasn't that much of her friend back then, but Delilah told me how she could barely get out of her bed, and how the girls she used to hang out with didn't do much about it. So we decided to be around her to try to show her she wasn't actually alone, and to show her support, you know?"

"That's so kind of you, Marina, really. I'm sure she's very grateful for it."

A bright smile appeared on her face. "It took us quite a long time to get her out of her house this summer, and she seemed to fall back into that state at first when we came back here. I guess all the memories came flooding back... It's understandable. But, since we started attending these meetings, she keeps looking happier and happier."

"Perhaps it's some sort of way of knowing she'd be able to avenge him, if it comes to it?"

"That makes sense," Marina nodded, and her lips curled into a smirk. "Though I don't think it's the only reason..."

She let out a giggle. Ben frowned. "What do you mean?"

"See it for yourself," she giggled again, and nodded her head towards a corner of the room. Ben turned around to find Mei-Xing chatting happily with Harry. Her hair was glowing specially that day, some of it brushing against his arm as he helped her hold her wand properly, for some reason. Did she really not know how to do it? He didn't wonder it in a judging way, of course, but well... She smiled at him, and he returned the gesture, shyly looking down to the floor.