snow in July

I sighed heavily, leaning against the stone wall. “He’s just a loser,” Blaise repeated, tossing his wand. “I’m surprised how Pansy didn’t kill him with her stilettos.” “I think she’ll have this opportunity when Theo approaches her for the sixth time,” I chuckled and turned away. Theo truly was a loser. Funny, with a mop of curly hair that constantly fell into his eyes, and a bunch of jokes in every pocket. That didn’t stop him from being my best friend and biggest pain in my ass when it came to talking about girls. He couldn’t stand most of his classmates and was damn good at plotting intrigues against them. Because of this, all the girls avoided their notorious company. “No, well, have you seen her stilettos?” Zabini did not let up. “She can use them to gouge out the eyes of anyone who looks at her badly.” Pansy. Damn. Parkinson. All the junior year boys drowned in her swamp-green eyes, as soon as she put on that same blue dress. It fluttered casually and carelessly in the wind and her legs always seemed short and slightly crooked to me. But that didn’t stop Theo from drooling over her since his first year at school. Blaise Zabini is another interesting character in my life. We became friends at the most seemingly inopportune moment. Professor Flitwick sent me to detention — cleaning goblets — and this asshole, walked past me, vomited into a hundred-year-old relic. I lost my temper, called him a stinking asshole, and he laughed. And he turned his stomach out a second time. As it turned out later, cheap Muggle alcohol does not have a positive effect on the body. “Why are you stuck?” a voice from outside brought me to my senses. “Yes, sorry, I’ve been thinking about everything,” I answered, straightening my overgrown hair. “Have you already decided who you will invite to the prom?” this question arose from every corner, which tirelessly reminded: you are in the company of losers, guy, you will go to the main holiday of your life alone. “There’s still a whole year until graduation, relax,” the nose suddenly itched, and after just a minute of active rubbing it resembled a clown’s. Blaise laughed. Positivity flowed from him like a river, even when everything was going downhill. More precisely, it flew. More precisely, straight vertically into the abyss. “Have you already decided to invite little pretty Ginny or have you chickened out?” I responded, which I immediately regretted. Zabini’s downcast face could have been an advertisement for an anti-diarrhea potion. Baby Ginny Weasley was forbidden fruit, but nothing like Pansy for Theo. For the second couple everything revolved around jokes, spoiled pumpkin juice at dinner and the girl’s unsuccessful (thanks god) attempts to kill the obsessive guy. Ginny waved her red hair, and Blaise kept reminding me of the beautiful sun highlights between the strands, the even posture and all sorts of other nonsense that I ignored. I don’t wanna be like girls and sprinkle pink hearts on everything I like. “She has Potter, so she won’t even look in my direction,” Zabini muttered, turning around suddenly. I followed his example. The guys had already begun to gather on the lawn. I hated the person who invented the idea of this mandatory summer camp for graduates because it made no sense. Well absolutely. For almost ten months we have been living under the same roof, eating together and sitting in classes. What’s the point of keeping us together for another month? Literally feeling the flow of energy filling Blaise, I began to peer more into the crowd. A little further away from everyone that Weasley girl was talking sweetly with Katie, who was a year older than her, and I was already mentally prepared for another Blaise’s story about the beauty of her outfit today. But suddenly ten strangers approached the main group of our guys. We don’t seem to have been warned about anyone else. Or they warned, but I slept through everything again? Theo, as if emerging from nowhere, waved his hand at us, inviting us to join. His eyes were still darting between us and Pansy when I put my hand on his shoulder. “Believe me, brother, you won’t get it even at the end of the damn Universe,” I didn’t like upsetting people, but I don’t approve of lies either. “Before the end of this year I will take my ten galleons from you, Draco, I promise,” he whispered in my ear, and I grinned. A stupid dispute began in the fourth year. Whoever loses their virginity first gets money. Everything is honest and transparent, and it’s even prosaic that by the last year our dispute was still valid. But still, we are losers. You quickly get used to it. “I welcome everyone to our camp,” a ringing voice rolled loudly across the lawn, drawing attention to the girl who stood on an improvised pedestal. Nott made a funny face, twisting it, and I giggled. The girl looked at me accusingly before continuing: “This camp was created for the purpose of magical fellowship among teenagers, so you will spend the next month side by side with the senior students of Durmstrang.” The guys behind her shuddered. They felt uncomfortable being here. The girls of Hogwarts glared at the students of another school. I never understood why they should compete with each other if each product has its own merchant. Maybe to seem like a more expensive product? Everyone gradually began to disperse to their houses. On the outskirts of the forest they didn’t look at all organic, but the only good thing was that the houses were for three people, so I would spend the whole month side by side with my favorite losers. Who have already run away to occupy the best beds. I shook my head. I wanted to smile and also have homemade chocolate cookies, but I won’t get them for the next month. “The guys are getting ready for lunch on the main landing,” Theo said to me as I dumped my bag on the only free bed. “No, I passed,” I grumbled, because the atmosphere of general fun did not attract me. “I’ll be there by lunchtime”. “We mayn’t be very popular, but your reclusiveness certainly won’t help you pick up some chick,” Nott tsked, adjusting the nasty purple headband on his head. This phrase made me wince. The pillow under my right arm was heavy enough to throw at Theo. Which is exactly what I did. He jumped back and laughed, throwing it back to me. “You’re a real ass, Malfoy,” he shout, trying to disentangle himself from the grip of Blaise, who was already dragging him onto the landing. The door slammed shut, and I, putting the pillow in its rightful place, looked around. Three beds, three bedside tables, an almost rotten wooden floor and cloudy glass in the window did not add a bit of charm. This devil’s hole seemed like a prison. I exhaled, trying to come to terms with the terrible conditions in which I would have to rot for a month. The blue curtains were too dusty, as if they had not been washed since they were purchased. I sneezed, and then I even managed to realize that the girl, who was galloping past the house, burst into the door, locking it with a roar. Her hair was tousled like a crow’s nest, and her pleated skirt rode up on one side, exposing her thigh. And the eyes, the damn eyes, like two light bulbs, shone with excitement. “Hide me, quickly!!!” she screamed, running around me. Her hands grabbed my elbow and it seemed like she was looking straight into my soul. And I still stood there like a statue, just staring into her huge brown eyes. “Oh well, thank you for helping,” she snorted and instantly ducked under my bed, tugging at the blanket so that it covered the gap. I approached carefully and bowed down. She lay on her stomach, trying not to breathe so loudly after her run. “What happened…” She pushed me so hard that I backed away and fell, and only a hand put out in time softened the fall. “Quiet,” the girl hissed. I instantly looked back when a guy in a burgundy T-shirt, like her, flew into the house. Do I have a sign on my doorstep that says “open day” or something? “Have you seen a girl here, so curly, who has gone a little crazy? She stole one of my things,” he asked, and I just shook my head from side to side. The guy whistled. This seemed very ridiculous because there was not a single emotion in his gesture. “If you see her, then tell her that she is a dead man,” he left, leaving me alone with a thousand questions. A minute later, the girl crawled out of her hiding place. And I sat on the floor, now looking up at her, still not knowing what to say. Well, it turns out that Theo is not the last loser on this planet, since I can’t find words when I see a stranger. Well, obviously a beautiful stranger. She gave me her hand, helping me get up, and I began to brush myself off. The floor here, apparently, had not been washed either. “So will you tell me what you stole?” I finally said when the girl tried to straighten her hair, looking into the cloudy reflection in the window. The girl took a wand from her skirt pocket. I never knew that skirts had pockets. I came closer, but she deftly hid the shaft back. “He bewitched the girls’ feet to make them fall,” she said, and her anger could be felt with her hands. “And then they fell, and the dresses… Well, you understand.” “Asshole,” I couldn’t find an original answer. The girl came out, moving away from the house. And I decided that I shouldn’t regret it again for the rest of my life, just as I regret many things I didn’t do. “What is your name?” I shouted after her, hoping that the wind would carry my words. And the wind brought me her answer, clear and light, like the murmuring of a brook in the forest. “Hermione. Hermione Granger.” She turned around, waving at me. “See you soon.”