Chapter Text
TW: VERY BRIEF MENTION OF EATING DISORDER
SHE STARED DOWN AT THE FOOD. For some odd reason, it looked vile to her. Her eyebrows knit together into a deep furrow, creating rude lines across her forehead. With a soft sigh, she pushed the mushy food with her fork. Her stomach growled the longer she stared at it, but it almost made her vomit just imagining scarfing that nearly inedible food down. Letting her eyes shut, she set her fork down and rubbed her face.
"Are you not going to eat that?" Her dear friend, who was younger than her but hated to bring it up, Draco Malfoy asked as he leaned closer to her. His eyes darted between the food and the girl. "Are you anorexic or something now?"
"That's very insensitive to ask, Draco." She mumbled into the palms of her hands. Pulling her hands away, she looked towards her blonde friend. "Even if I did have an eating disorder, you shouldn't say it like that." She turned her gaze back down at the food. With a soft sigh, she leaned her elbows against the wooden table. Her eyes bore into the full plate as Draco continued talking to her - but his words fell on deaf ears. Her brain refuses to listen to him while it races with thoughts. Tears begin to well up in her eyes. Why are you crying, she asks herself.
A set of giggles at the end of the table grabbed her attention. Looking down, she watched as Jodie Harper pressed gentle kisses to stupid Jinnifer Lovell's neck. That was why she was crying - because of a stupid boy. Draco followed the girl's gaze to see the couple merely a handful of people away from them. "You're still pining over that idiot?" He chuckled and leaned back to take a bite of his food. "You could do much better."
"What, like you?" She snapped. The moment the words left her mouth, her dark eyes widened. She had never been that rude to her friends - to anyone, really. With a groan of embarrassment, she hid her face into the palms of her hands. Draco chuckled as he rolled his eyes. There had been far worse things said to him - mostly by his father. "I'm sorry, Draco. This stomach bug is making a monster of me."
"You've always been a monster." Draco jokes, jabbing her with his elbow. His playful smile quickly dropped when he noticed her shoulders shaking. "Min..." His voice was soft and gentle as his hand reached up to squeeze her shoulder. "You're not actually crying over stupid Jodie Harper, are you?"
The girl quickly lied her head on the table in between the crooks of her arms. Soft sobs could scarcely be heard from her. By now, eyes began to turn to her. A faint blush of embarrassment washed over Draco's cheeks. His eyes were wide and he didn't quite know what to do. She never really cried in front of people, but today she was crying in front of everyone. Before the boy could say anything else to her, she pushed herself away from the table and exited the large dining room. All eyes watched as she quickly jogged out, slamming the door behind her.
Her plain black flats quietly clicked against the marble floors. Tears streamed down her soft and chubby cheeks. They weren't the rare and small tears that would occasionally slip down the face, these were hot and fat tears that fell down every few seconds. No matter how many times she wiped her face, the tears would quickly replenish and dampen her face. A sob broke past her lips as she rounded the corner of the hallway.
The moment she turned the corner, her body collided with another. Both her and the stranger yelled out in surprise. Wiping away the trails of tears, her wide eyes looked up at the tall man in front of her. She knew who he was, but the two had never spoken before. "What are you doing here, Weasley?" She asked, her voice cracking.
"I could ask you the same thing, Hucks. Last I checked, you're heading toward the Gryffindor quarters." A smile began to grow on his lips before he really began to look at her. The puffiness under her eyes, her constant sniffling, the faint wet tracks down her cheeks. All of these things gave her away. "What happened?"
"What do you mean?" Her black eyebrows furrowed as she looked up at the ginger boy. Part of her prayed he wasn't talking about what she thought he was talking about. Her stomach cramped suddenly, eliciting a wince from the young girl. "Look, I need to go."
Before she could leave, his hand gently caught her arm. She turned to look back up at him. It was then she realized how tall he was. She barely reached his shoulders. He had to bend his head down to even meet her eyes. "Last time I checked, Minji Hucks doesn't cry."
"Well, you clearly don't know Minji Hucks as well as you thought." She managed to chuckle before sniffling. Her nose was absolutely clogged by now. It had become increasingly difficult to breathe through her nose, forcing her to breathe through her mouth. Glancing down, she noticed his hand was still holding her elbow.
Following her gaze, he cleared his throat and quickly dropped his arm to his side. He leaned his back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you going to tell me what made the very stone-cold Minji Hucks cry?"
"I don't see why I should." Her own arms crossed over her chest as she looked down at her feet. "It's none of your business, anyway."
"Well, I think that whoever makes a girl like Minji Hucks cry-"
"Stop saying my name like that!" She exclaimed as her hand reached out to gently punch his arm. "It makes me feel like my mother." Her slim arms quickly crossed over her chest once again as she began to feel uncomfortable. She had never spoken to anyone in Gryffindor this long. Normally, the very cheery house would avoid her own like they were plague rats. It was one of the things she hated about being in Slytherin. While she may have found a home in her house, she did not miss the certain looks she was given in the school. There were days where she mentally cursed her family for forcing certain admirations onto her. Both of her parents had been Slytherin and they both pushed onto her the importance of innovation and sharpness. But her aunt - her mother's sister - had always told her to be kind. She was more than thankful for her aunt, even if her father hated the muggle woman.
A hand waved in front of her eyes, pulling her out of her own thoughts. The ginger boy smiled down at her as his hand quickly stuffed itself into his pants pocket. "Now that we've established a repertoire, I think you should tell me what's bothering you. I'm not leaving until you tell me."
"Well," Minji felt a small smile creep up on her lips, "then I suppose I'll just leave." With that, she turned to leave. In her mind, she slightly hoped he would stop her. It had been so long since she had spoken to anyone outside of Slytherin that it was nice and refreshing. It was nice to feel like you weren't being judged by the stereotypes of your house and that you were being seen for... you. A pair of footsteps fell into line with her own, much to her amusement. "It seems you're quite difficult to shake, Weasley." When she turned to face the boy, her smile dropped when she met the eyes of her best friend, Draco Malfoy.
"Weasley? Were you talking to a Weasley?" He stared at her with wide eyes. His feet stopped, forcing her to stop her own walk. "Min, you shouldn't be speaking with a Gryffindor, let alone a Weasley." The name was filled with pure venom from his lips. He watched as the girl glanced back to see an empty hallway. Both of their frowns deepened. "I'm serious. Weasley's are the last ones you should be around." With that, the two began walking towards the large set of staircases.
George quickly made his way over to the Gryffindor table. The moment he took a seat, both Fred and Ron began filling his ears. "You missed it! Minji Hucks stormed out of here crying. I didn't think that was possible." The two brothers laughed together as Fred continued to speak. "Slytherin won't be too happy about that."
George simply nodded as he began to eat the food on his plate. The other Weasley siblings took notice of this newfound silence from the young man. They all shared confused glances. Ron slowly leaned in to speak. "I've heard it was because of Jodie Harper."
The young man looked up at his younger brother. "What'd he do?"
Both Fred and Ron shared small, mischievous smiles. "I heard they were having a little fling." Fred spoke as he took a bite of his food. "But now he's with Jinnifer Lovell." The boy shrugged his shoulders as he forced back a laugh. "I'm no arithmetician but two plus two does equal four."
George rolled his eyes with a small smile. "Well, Fred," he sets his fork down before glancing at the Slytherin table where Jodie and Jinnifer sat, "looks like I might have an idea." Both of the twins shared troublesome smiles. There was no wrath worse than the pranks of the Weasley twins and Jodie Harper was about to be the victim.