SIX YOU'RE IMPOSSIBLE

A few days pass before Theodora sees Hermione again, but she's almost glad for the break. When Hermione's around, it's all the girl thinks about and it crowds her mind so that she can not dare dwell on any thought other than the girl's soft smile or lovely blonde curls and it's so delightful yet simultaneously dreadful since she knows it's utterly helpless. To even entertain the idea that anything could actually happen between her and Hermione is all but a death sentence for her heart and she's not really in a place to bear such news.

She's walking along the lake with Helena, the two girls whispering about a letter Eleanor had sent them -- their parents going in and out of the house at night, people coming over, people even Eleanor isn't allowed to meet despite being of age and well informed of the family matters. It gets more and more curious as times go on and Thea finds herself wondering why Eleanor waited this long to inform her sisters of such a thing. Still, she misses Eleanor dearly.

"I don't know why it's such a big deal that people are coming around to the house," Helena sighed, but there was still a twinge of worry in her voice, "I mean, maybe mother and father are throwing dinner parties, who knows?"

"Hels, when have our parents ever been dinner party people?" the older girl argued, nudging the other with her arm. She'll admit she was worried, but she knows if she were to say that in front of Helena she would be ridiculed. Maybe it was childish to be afraid of what her younger sister thinks of her, but she's never liked the way Helena made her feel. Maybe that's cowardly, but she can't find it in herself to worry too much about that right now.

Helena scoffed at this, rolling her eyes. Still, Thea can see she's just as worried, she just isn't voicing it. It's a start, she figures. Maybe she'll make a human being of her sister yet. As they walk along the lake, they come across Hermione and Ginny, walking next to each other while discussing what looks to be a heated subject judging by the exasperation on the Granger girl's face.

Thea is content to ignore them and move on with their day, but Helena seems to have other plans as she calls out, "Oi, Ginny! 'Ave you read The Daily Prophet article with your boy in it? You've seen him up close, tell me, do his eyes really glitter with the ghosts of his past?"

"Oh, shove off, Helena," Ginny sounds annoyed, but a smile teases at her lips as the two duos converge by the lake. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"Dungeons get stuffy," the brunette answered, "Plus, Thea and I needed to talk about something without the prying ears of our housemates, you'll find Slytherins are quite nosy."

"We're already well aware of that," Hermione finally spoke, a small smile on her face as her eyes dart over to Theadora, "But then again, we're not much better. Turns out, pride gets in the way of a Gryffindor too and the boys are driving me insane with their stupid quarrel."

Clearly, Thea missed something, but she has a feeling she'll get filled in anyway, but that doesn't stop her from asking, "Aren't they best friends? What could they be fighting about?"

"This bloody tournament," Ginny sighed, "Ron thinks Harry cheated his way into it and is all bitter that he did it without him. I reckon Harry didn't cheat at all, he's not smart enough to pull it off on his own, and 'Mione had nothing to do with it, so I already know Harry isn't responsible."

"I hate that you have a point," the blonde laughed at this, "but that's probably more information than you wanted, I'm sure they'll work it out, but right now Ginny and I are their stupid messenger owls because they refuse to speak to each other."

Thea can't help but let out a small chuckle at this, "And boys always say girls are the dramatic ones, but here they are giving each other the silent treatment."

"We were gonna head inside, I roped Thea into helping me study for my charms essay, you guys wanna come with?" Helena asked and the older girl's eyes widened because they had no such plans. She doesn't want to help her sister with her charms essay nor does she need to deal with Hermione being by her side while she does it.

"We'd love to, but, uh," Ginny shoots a careful look over to Hermione before saying, "I'm making Hermione help me practice Quidditch so I can try and make the team next year since they cancelled it for the stupid tournament. More time for me to get better, I guess, but we'll see you around, yeah?"

The girls bid each other goodbye and as they're walking back to the castle, Thea is seething, "What the hell was that, Helena? I am not helping you with no such essay, why would you make up a lie like that? What game are you playing at?"

"I knew it," Helena chuckled, crossing her arms as she faced her sister, "You're friends with Granger, you can't lie to me I've got eyes and ears all over the place."

Thea breathed a sigh of relief. Friends. So she hadn't caught on. She already had Pansy knowing and she didn't need nor want anyone else involved in that secret. It was dangerous enough for one person to know, Merlin knows what would happen if Helena got her hands on that knowledge.

"Yeah, maybe I am. But I'll have you know we're hardly friends, we simply have... a mutual understanding of one another. We're... acquaintances. Nothing is wrong with that, I don't know why it should be such a big deal. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you can be friends with Ginny, I reckon there's nothing wrong with me being friends with Granger. She's... pleasant."

"Pleasant," Helena repeated with a raised eyebrow, looking far too skeptical for Thea to be comfortable. "Okay. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, I just wanted to hear it from you. Plus, I actually do need your help on my charms essay, you know I've never been a strong writer."

"Not after that stunt, I'm not helping you," the brunette scoffed with a shocked grin, "You're impossible. Impossible!"

She steps into the castle, her sister whining behind her, "Thea! Seriously?"

"Seriously!" she calls behind her, flipping her sister the bird because Blackwoods are always known to be classy as ever, "See ya later."