On Monday morning I woke up as usual, went to the bathroom and took a bath.
Ready for class I went to the Great Hall for breakfast and everything went as I expected. Bridget was sitting among her roommates while I had to find a place to sit.
Noticing my presence, she hurried to finish her breakfast and left. Probably heading to the potions room to have time to swap places with someone.
I ate without rushing.
I had told her more than I should have, Bridget knew I wouldn't be alone for long and she needed to make the decision. Some people might think that I'm demanding too much of her, but that's the person I am and I don't usually make exceptions for others.
I could only be understanding at that moment and let her live as she wants.
When I got to the classroom she was sitting with one of her roommates and Matthew Rizz was sitting in her previous seat. My luck at that moment seemed to want to play with me, apparently Ginny saw the situation and arranged for the seat next to her to be vacant.
I mentally debated what I should do and then made my way to Ginny.
"Is this seat vacant?" – I asked respectfully.
Ginny smiled at me.
"Yes, you can sit here." - she said immediately.
I unceremoniously sat down next to the Gryffindor girl.
I felt Bridget's gaze on the back of my head, but I didn't look at her.
She made the decision not to associate with me, I would respect her to the fullest.
"What happened between you and your friend?" – asked Ginny, uncomfortable with Bridget's gaze.
I smiled awkwardly.
"She decided to have no further contact with me after I slept with Gemma Farley the Seventh Year Prefect." – I said without hiding it.
Ginny was still in the curiosity stage and we hadn't had much contact since the start of the school year. Seeing what happened with Bridget I decided to be frank with her, if there was anything to come out of this relationship it would be for her to accept my way of life.
Ginny froze for a moment.
It was as if the hero image she had of me had crumbled in that instant.
"This is a problem?" – I asked her.
Ginny recovered from the startled shock.
"No, I imagine not." – she said without much certainty.
"We're all adults here, casual relationships are common, I bet your brothers must have girlfriends, right?" – I asked casually.
"Fred is dating Angelina Johnson and George is dating Alicia Spinnet. It's convenient for them because they're all on the Quidditch team. Percy is dating Penelope Clearwater because they are both Prefects and Ron I have my doubts that he will get a girlfriend in this life.
I laughed at her assessment of Ronald, it was quite possible being annoying as he is.
"So, teenage dating is one thing, but we're all adults, relationships include sex. Bridget and me were getting to know each other and she decided to walk away from me after I slept with Gemma on Saturday." – I explained.
"Are you going to start dating Gemma?" – she asked curiously.
"Probably not, it was just casual sex." – I replied.
Her head didn't seem to quite understand the concept.
Our conversation was cut short by Snape's arrival.
The task of the day was the review of the first year potion, Wiggenweld Potion.
Ginny knew how to make the potion, we all knew, but it was the kind of potion that you always need to train for its usefulness.
I taught her how to make the potion as I had done with Bridget throughout the time we were close.
Ginny seemed to forget our conversation before the Professor arrived and enthusiastically.
She didn't have as solid a foundation as Bridget, but she still did well.
At the end of the class she received 5 points and Bridget 10 for her potions, which made Snape look conflicted. On one hand he was happy not to give me points, but on the other he was bitter about being forced to give points to Gryffindor.
He couldn't argue with the quality of the potion Ginny made, it was just a few steps away from a potion made by a Potions Master.
After class ended I said goodbye to Ginny and headed to the inner courtyard of the castle where I usually spend this vacant period. I sat on my captive stone bench and raised my legs, sitting in the lotus position.
It took me a little longer than usual to get into meditation than usual. When the free time was coming to an end, I woke up from meditation and noticed some eyes directed at me.
Apparently the news about me sleeping with Gemma was traveling around the castle, probably Malfoy's work.
What I can do now is be there for her if she needs help, I won't approach her because she clearly doesn't want to talk to me at the moment.
When I arrived at Greenhouse 2 for herbology class, Bridget kept her distance from me. The day's activity was to be done in pairs and I ended up alone until Luna came towards me.
"Are you also without a partner to do today's task?" – she asked, looking past me.
"It seems so." – I replied.
"Why are you surrounded by Flebeers?" – she asked curiously.
I was confused by her question.
Luna is known for saying strange things and making up words. I took a good look at her eyes that were still looking at something beyond me.
Her eyes were seeing something that normal eyes couldn't see, I could be sure of that.
She could be seeing magical remnants of my meditation or…
"Fleebers tend to surround people who are sad, I think you shouldn't be sad after sleeping with Gemma Farley at the weekend." – she said casually.
Emotions, she sees the projection of emotions.
"I'm not sad about it, of course." – I replied.
"You must be sad that Bridget walked away from you, then." – she declared, still looking flustered.
I nodded.
"I understood." - she said
I smiled at her and we began to perform the task.
When class ended, Luna accompanied me until we entered the Great Hall where I said goodbye to her.
The Slytherin table was as welcoming as ever to me.
I was impressed that they were all adults, but at the same time they behaved so much like children, perhaps the high rate of purebreds is a factor in this type of behavior.
This is tiring especially for me.
With the afternoon free I went to my room to study.
I started my new third year Charms book and reviewed the Spells to see what I could learn.
Carpe Retractum was interesting, being able to be used in combat, but it needed to be used carefully due to the need for the movement component while using it. It's basically using a whip to pull things, not one of my favorite activities.
Glacius is something more similar to my notion of magic, along with Incendio it needs to be practiced extensively to have considerable effects. Freezing enemies can be useful to slow them down or make them lose feeling in their extremities making it difficult to use the wand.
Lumos Maxima is useful for distraction especially in dark environments.
Petrificus Totalus is something I really wanted to see done by a really powerful wizard. A Curse that causes the body to enter a state similar to rigor mortis that prevents the enemy from moving.
Depulso in turn was useful against physically stronger opponents, in the case of humans, few threaten me, but creatures are clear threats. But it can also be trained to have an immediate effect and make enemies lose their balance or even slam into a wall.
Finite Incantatem is the most powerful version of Finite, but still not completely useful. Good for learning, but with few effects in real combat as it is the Simple Curses solution.
Cheering charm is not very useful in my opinion and the Wingardium Leviosa review is just more training to improve Spell efficiency.
After dinner I went to Astrology and without much patience I spent almost two hours filling out a star map taking into account that I needed to consider the planet I was on as the center of the system. Something that so far I still don't feel satisfied with carrying out this atrocity.
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