ch 7 : the girl who hid

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You had been feeling giddy, but it was difficult to maintain your happy attitude each day as your classmates began whispering about you whenever you entered a room. It was nothing unusual, but it always made you uncomfortable to hear them whispering.

Apparently in some newspaper, there was a picture of you with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The paper discussed how Harry was the chosen one, but they completely ignored you in the paper. You were used to this, so it didn't bother you, but your classmates began with their silly labels once again.

In Potions, you heard someone mutter behind you, "She's such a disgrace. I bet her parents would be disappointed that she wasn't a Gryffindor like her brother."

You heard someone else reply, "Of course she's not in Gryffindor. She's a coward. She's the girl who hid, after all."

You heard them laugh, and you tensed hearing what they were saying, but you just stared down at your textbook in front of you. As they started throwing out even more mocking comments about you, you heard Malfoy's distinct voice snap to those whispering, "Do you stupid gits ever shut up?"

You couldn't believe he did that. Was he standing up for you? Or was he just in a bad mood and was taking it out on them? You doubted it was former. It was him who came up with the term The Girl Who Hid, so you doubted he was stopping them from using such a clever insult now. He likely was grumpy, you decided.

When you were walking to the Great Hall for lunch, you saw that you were a few steps behind some Ravenclaws in a crowd of other students. You wondered if June was among those ahead of you.

Then you recognized her voice, so you quickened your steps to try to catch up to her, but your heart stopped when you heard her cackle, "Hah, the Girl Who Hid is truly fitting. I would hide if I was a freak too. No wonder no one really likes her."

You blinked your eyes rapidly, not believing what you just heard. As your steps slowed dramatically, a couple Gryffindors beside you grumbled about almost running into you. A couple of the Ravenclaw girls glanced back to see why people were complaining, and you made eye contact with June. You saw the regret in her eyes, but you just shook your head and walked faster to brush past all of them.

You had a hard stare as you dropped into your seat at the Hufflepuff table, and you didn't say a word as you filled your plate with food and ate it angrily. Susan and a couple of the second years glanced at you sideways, but no one said anything after looking at your face. You noticed Susan pursing her lips and glancing at you multiple times, but you didn't look at her, not wanting to talk about what just happened.

As soon as you finished eating, you pushed back from the table and left, still not having said a word the entire meal. While walking out of the Great Hall, you bumped into the twins who both greeted you cheerfully. You gave them both a weak smile before hurrying past them. They glanced at each other in confusion before turning around and watching you as you hurried off.

You got back and sat down on your bed, staring at the wall in a daze. Your mind fixated on your stupidity. How could you have believed that June was your friend? You reached for your journal, writing about what just happened. After sloppily writing for a moment, you took a deep breath and put the journal away.

Was she right? Did no one truly like you?

Just then, the door slowly creaked open, and your three roommates gingerly came in. You gave them all slight smiles as they closed the door behind them. Susan came over and sat next to you on your bed and quietly asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

You blinked and stared down at your hands. You shrugged and admitted, "June was insulting me to her Ravenclaw friends. I just feel silly because I thought that what we went through together would have made us friends for life. I never wanted to accept that I was wrong as she began growing distant as soon as we came here."

Megan sat down on the floor in front of you and reassured you, "You deserve a better friend than that."

When you refused to meet their eyes and stayed silent, Hannah wondered, "What did she say?"

"That I'm a freak and that no one really likes me," You muttered, just barely audible.

Susan immediately wrapped you up in a hug and denied, "That is absolutely false! We three love you very much. You're one of our best friends."

You slowly smiled at each of them before mumbling, "Thank you." They all got up and surrounded you with a hug. You giggled at being squashed, and before long, you were all giggling together.

Susan stood and offered you her hand. She grinned, "Come on. Let's get to class."

You went with the girls, smiling and joking once again as they playfully shoved you around and began complimenting you on your walk to class.

They were right: you did deserve a better friend than June, and you already had three of them right here.

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