“You know,” Cho said slowly, running a thumb over the label of her bottle and chancing a glance at her company, “When I got your invitation, I thought it had to have been an accident. Didn’t think we were on the kind of terms where you would invite me–” she motioned around them “–here.”
@elegancemultimuse-fandoms
“I know that a Muggle pub may not seem like the best place to have a celebration, but I just wanted for us all to take a night to focus on all of the positive things in life.” Dean replied, sending the former Ravenclaw a small smile. “I knew that you and I have never been close, but you lost just as much as the rest of us did.”
It’s not your concern, she’d wanted to tell him, the beginnings of a frown pulling at the corners of her mouth. And how easy it would have been, to reduce herself to the carefully guarded and emotionally on-edge girl of her 6th year self, but then he smiled at her, a surprisingly comforting smile, like warm butterbeer, and she quickly caught herself.
He was right in that they had never been close. In fact, it was difficult for her to remember much of him other than the occasional DA meeting when he had closely dodged a haywire spell of hers. And he was also right in that he had lost just as she had, and silly girl, she wanted to scold herself, of course you aren’t the only one that needs this.
Cho returned an equally small but equally earnest smile of her own, an implicit thank you for his thoughtfulness. The shadows from the patrons around them flickered on his profile, and she was suddenly reminded of color-changing banners and posters that had caught her attention on more than one occasion in the hallways and stadium of Hogwarts.
“Do you still do... art?” she asked broadly, the recollection faint but still tangible in her mind. Cho winced, toying with her half-empty bottle. “Er, sorry, that’s rather generic; I know that’s like asking a Healer if he still does medicines.”
