Eat ice cream.

“It’s not that I want to get back together with him,” Ginny tried to explain as she sat with Luna outside Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour, waving a spoonful of double chocolate chunk ice cream around wildly as she gestured with her hands. “Really, I think deep down I knew that we were never going to work.”

Luna raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Really?” she questioned breezily, swirling her spoon around in a half empty cup of pistachio ice cream with dried strawberries and whipped cream. Never let it be said that Luna followed the normal path, even when it came to ice cream.

“It was too perfect,” Ginny stated in a very matter-of-fact way. That statement had become a sort of mantra for her over the past few months. “We are not meant to be together.” Maybe if she said it enough times, it would become true.

High above them, the hot July sun beat down on the crowd of perspiring shoppers bustling around Diagon Alley, too distracted by the bright store windows to notice the sweltering heat. The red umbrella shading Ginny and Luna glowed in the sunlight.

“It didn’t seem like you were thinking that when we ran into him earlier,” commented Luna, piercing Ginny with her simultaneously unfocused and sharp glance. The two of them had been friends for a long enough time that Luna could see through the brave-faced, nonchalant façade Ginny was putting up against the world.

“Well, I mean, come on Luna,” said Ginny, chewing on the tip of her spoon, “we were together for nearly four years. Of course I’m not going to be completely over him in just what, three months?”

There was a pregnant pause. “Ginny,” said Luna, looking extremely serious, “are you even trying to get over him?”

Ginny arranged her features in an expression of shock. “What? Of course!” she answered, a little hurriedly. “What, am I going to sit around and pine after some bloke who’s made it clear he no longer wants me?” She scraped at the bottom of her bowl for the last bit of ice cream, refusing to look up.

“Maybe,” said Luna. Despite her bowed head, Ginny could still feel her skin prickle uncomfortably from Luna’s penetrating stare. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a series of hacking coughs.

“Luna? Are you alright?” Ginny asked worriedly, reaching across the table to lay a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Luna smiled and waved her off, taking a sip of her water.

“Don’t worry about me, its fine. I’ve just had this dreadful cough lately and it won’t go away. Daddy wants to put in the Quibbler- it might be caused by the infestation of Nargles we found last week. He already has a headline too- The Malady that No Healer could Cure.”

Ginny shook her head and laughed. She loved Luna’s beautiful, quirky, never-dampened personality.

The sun climbed higher as the two of them ordered seconds. It was nearly noon and they should’ve been eating an actual meal- with real food and all- but what was the point of being grown up if you couldn’t eat ice cream for lunch once in a while? Ginny shoved a large spoonful of fudge and calories into her mouth and grinned happily. Exactly.

“Keep eating like that and you two will end up looking like Slughorn before the age of thirty.” A wry voice came from behind them.

Luna shaded her eyes, glancing up at the figure towering over them. “Why, hello Draco,” she said, smiling amicably at him. “What are you doing here?”

Malfoy smirked and pulled up a chair, plopping himself next to Ginny. She glared at him, not quite sure why he had decided to stop by for a chat, but sure it was for some dirty underhanded motive.

“I was merely shopping and happened to spy two of my dear old classmates from across the street. I would never be so rude to walk by without saying hello.” In the shade of their red umbrella, his platinum blond hair looked almost pink.

“Really,” replied Ginny dryly, not believing it for a second.

Suddenly, a look of pure terror crossed Draco Malfoy’s face and he ducked down behind Ginny, so that he was barely visible from the street. “Bloody hell. Hide me,” he hissed from somewhere near her spleen.

“What? Did you spot Crookshanks or something?” asked Ginny, grinning mischievously.

Draco popped up from under the table briefly. “Not funny.”

“Draco? Darling? Where did you go?” A short, but unbelievably loud, witch came barreling down the street, running into about six different people but not stopping to apologize to a single one. Draco squeaked and dived under Ginny’s chair again.

The woman’s hair was vaguely the same color of Luna’s, but instead of being sleek and straight it was- there was no other way to describe it- puffy. She called out across the Alley again.

“Draco? Where are you? I just found the most fabulous set of robes at Madam Malkin’s and I can’t carry them by myself.” Her voice grew increasingly whiny, that high pitched nasal tinge accenting every word. “Draco Malfoy, where are you? Come help me now!” The sound of her demands faded as she moved further down the street.

Malfoy carefully raised his head and peeked around Ginny’s shoulder in the most undignified fashion. “Is she gone?”

Ginny had to suppress a laugh at the sight of Draco Malfoy, his hair tousled and out of place, face flushed, eyes wide with fear. He looked nothing like the contemptuous jerk she had previously known him to be. “Coward,” she teased. “How is it that every time I see you, you’re hiding from something cute and harmless?”

He straightened and dusted off his robes, glowering at the redhead sitting next to him. “Astoria Greengrass is anything but harmless. And definitely not cute,” he pouted. Ginny couldn’t help but notice that he looked quite adorable with his lower lip sticking out like that.

“Really. A short, blonde witch with some sort of afro is rising to fill the void of evil left behind by You-Know-Who, is she?”

“Yes. That woman is mad. Mad, I tell you. Her sister introduced us and ever since then that psychopath has been convinced we’re getting married. She stalked me to my apartment two nights ago. And when I came to meet someone at Gringotts she got the notion that we were on a ‘romantic outing’ and has been whining after me ever since.” He winced.

“So basically, you’re hiding from a little girl.”

Draco scoffed. “That is no little girl. And she’s bonkers, that one.” He looked down his nose at Ginny. “Even more so than you.”

Ginny squeaked indignantly, but chose not to retaliate. She was over immature little insults like that. Obviously. “Bonkers? Really?”

Draco leaned in conspiratorially, like he was going to whisper a secret in her ear. “She told me five minutes ago that she had decided on a name for our first child. Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.” He pulled back, shuddering. “I think I threw up a little in my mouth when I heard that.”

“So you came over to 'catch up' with me and Luna in order to hide from your future wife?” Ginny made a face. “Classy.” She looked over to Luna for her input and was surprised to see that the other witch had disappeared.

“I am a Malfoy, Weasley,” retorted Malfoy, getting to his feet. “Everything I do is classy.”

“DRACO!” came a loud squeal from halfway down the street.

“Bloody- how in the world can she see me from a mile away? I should’ve just done this in the first place,” Malfoy said, pulling out his wand to Disapparate. He paused and turned to Ginny. “If the Aurors find out tomorrow that Astoria Greengrass has been mangled and killed in some sort of violent manner, it wasn’t me.” He grimaced and was gone with a resounding crack.

“You look considerably cheerier than you did when I left,” remarked Luna as she slid back into her seat, bottled water in hand. Behind her back, a short girl with hair roughly the size of a beach ball stalked down the street, looking for someone. Ginny couldn’t help but notice that her eyes were slightly crossed.

“I got to see Draco Malfoy practically wetting his pants because of that little female over there,” said Ginny, pointing to poor Astoria Greengrass. “That’s enough to cheer anyone up.”

Luna eyed Ginny suspiciously. "You know, with that smirk spread across your face like that, you practically look like him."

Ginny wrinkled her nose. "Not even going to dignify that with a response, Luna. Really." She looked down at the four large empty bowls sitting on their table. “You know what?” she said, getting to her feet. “I think we need more ice cream.”
Leave a Review
You must login (register) to review.