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It hurt, a lot, but Melanie was determined not to let it get her down, any more. She had spent the worst two weeks of her life worrying and thinking over something that was rather pointless, acting weirder than usual and raising suspicions among her friends and it just simply had to stop. No more worries, no more doubts, no more 'what ifs.'

With that thought going over and over again in her head was how Melanie approached Stewart, greeting him with a wide smile. She spent the hour half-arsedly working on her essay while chattering with him about nothing in particular, careful not to get Professor Snape's attention whenever they approached a particularly funny subject.

When the bell rang and Study Hall was over, Melanie was quick to jump off her seat to get out of there as soon as possible. She began shoving everything into her bag, breaking her ink bottle in the process and spilling it all over her hands and the table. Groaning in annoyance, she wiped her right hand on her robes before taking her wand out and vanishing the mess she'd made. Her hands were still lathered in black, but she shrugged it off, simply wiping them on her robes again before picking up her bag and following Stewart towards the door. The Great Hall was almost empty by then, so it didn't take her long to realise that Charlie was standing right there on the entrance. Her face fell, along with her stomach, and her mind made quick work of coming up with an excuse to avoid him. Would it be too rude of her if she simply shouldered her way past him? She dismissed that idea immediately, knowing that avoiding him would not solve anything. She would simply have to let him know, rather politely, that she didn't want to hear whatever he had to say. That was simple. Piece of cake.

Her brows furrowed when he spoke and she automatically opened her mouth to say 'no,' but another idea struck her just in time and she closed her again. Looking from Charlie to Stewart and back again, Melanie let out a small sigh and shook her head. "Um, no. I-- I can't, I." She couldn't quite meet Charlie's eyes as she stumbled upon her words, "I told Stewart we would do, uh, something. In-in the kitchen. Right now. So, um. You know, sorry." She knew she sounded like a fool and not at all convincing, and she looked back at Stewart with wide eyes, hoping he would get the hint and get the both of them out of there, as fast as possible.