Chương 88: Guilt-tripping

"Lying isn't very nice, you know," came a gentle, otherworldly voice from behind the pages of a quibbler magazine.

"Er... what?" Ben stuttered, surprised by the unexpected remark. It was then he noticed the presence of a third person in the compartment.

Ben instantly recognised the protuberant silvery eyes peering above the pages of the Quibbler as Luna Lovegood's.

"My daddy says you should always tell the truth. People don't like being lied to, you see," said the girl nonchalantly.

'Great! Daddy's girl can detect lies as well. What a drag,' thought Ben.

"Uhm-You're Luna, right?" said Ben, clearing the awkward atmosphere in the compartment.

"I am. How did you know? I don't remember ever seeing you before," asked Luna, her voice full of intrigue.

"I'm Ben. I know everything," he said, flashing a smile.

"Hello, Ben. You did it again. Are you not able to stop lying? You must have got bitten by a Perfidy Pixie," said Luna.

The two girls looked at Ben, who just shrugged.

"That sounds made up," said Hermione.

"Oh, they are real, but very small and invisible," said Luna.

"They're invisible? Then how are you so sure they exist?" asked Hermione.

"My Mommy told me. She said they build nests on the heads of politicians, but they like to bite the naughty kids the most," Luna said.

Hermione rolled her eyes at that, but she had heard weirder things coming out of Ben's mouth, and for once, she felt she had found an explanation.

"Don't worry, they're mostly harmless, and go away if you stare at them long enough, or tell the truth," she said, staring intensely at Ben.

"Umm, thanks Luna. I think I'm feeling better," said Ben, but Luna kept staring at him with her enormous eyes.

"They go away faster if you tell the truth," she said.

"Come on Ben, tell us what you're hiding, or Perfy Pixie is going to build a nest on your head too," said Ginny with a chuckle.

"Yeah, come on Ben. Don't be a naughty kid," said Hermione, joining Ginny.

"Alright, I lied. I don't know everything," he said, putting his arms up in surrender.

"But I know most things, like right now, Ron and Harry are right up there," he said, pointing his finger towards the sky.

"What, on the roof?" asked Hermione, frowning her brow, but Ginny quickly caught on the implication.

"They're flying Dad's car?" she asked.

"No way, even they aren't that dumb," said Hermione.

"Knowing that they are going to crash it into the whomping willow, I'd say they are pretty dumb," said Ben, making a hasty escape, afraid that Luna would once again catch him lacking.

"See you later, Luna. You'll be joining me in Ravenclaw, I'm sure," he said, closing the compartment door behind him.

Both Hermione and Ginny looked towards Luna, not sure if they had heard one more lie or truth this time.

"He didn't seem to be lying this time. The staring must have made the pixies shy," she said nonchalantly and once again started reading the Quibbler.

Ben made his way further down the train, towards the pantry. He did have some bacon sandwiches for lunch, but he was hungry again and the Trolly Witch only had snacks left.

On the way, he met Cho who was buying a pumpkin pastie from the trolly witch.

"Hey Cho," Ben greeted her.

"Hi Ben," she replied. Ben noticed she looked a little uneasy to see him, and unlike usual, she didn't have Marietta tagging along with her.

"Anything of the trolly dear?" asked the trolly witch, bringing Ben out of his musing.

"Oh, no, thank you," he said, and the witch pushed her trolly forward.

"See you later, Cho," he said, walking past her to continue on his quest for sandwiches.

"Uh, Ben," Cho called.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning around.

"Marietta-I mean, we, when we came to your house-" Cho said with some hesitation but got interrupted.

"Ben! We've got to help them," Came Hermione calling from the back.

"Yeah, maybe you've got to help them. I don't have to do shit, Granger," said Ben.

"Come on, they're going to get into a lot of trouble," said Hermione.

"Well, they are having a lot of fun flying the car right now. I say they deserve some trouble that's coming their way," said Ben, thinking about what he wouldn't give to be in that car right now.

"I'm not denying that they deserve some punishment for flouting school rules," said Hermoine. "I just don't want them to crash into some tree and hurt themselves badly."

"So you want me to flout school rules to save their skins?" said Ben, giving her an intense stare, with a raised eyebrow.

Hermione nodded, a little flustered at realising how hypocritical she sounded.

"Forget about-" she muttered, lowering her head.

"I'll do it," said Ben.

"Really?" she said, looking up with her glistening, wide eyes.

"But it's gonna cost you," he said with a smirk.

"What do you want?"

"You'll write all my assignments for the year," he said bluntly.

"No way! Not happening," said Hermione, shooting him down instantly.

"Alright then, I guess Ron and Harry can handle a few weeks in the Hospital wing. Big deal," he said.

"They deserve it," said Hermione folding her arms, not sounding convincing at all.

"Yeah. They might get expelled for endangering the Statute Of Secrecy, but hey, it is their fault for getting spotted by muggles," he said and watched the colour slowly fade from Hermione's face.

"Ron's dad might get fired from the ministry for misuse of Muggle Artifacts, but that's not really our problem," he said, making her further tense up.

"But hey, none of it is our fault. It's not like we can do anything to stop it," he said, guilt-tripping her further.

Cho, who was still there listening, couldn't watch him manipulate the poor girl any further and stepped in.

"Ben, stop," she said pleadingly. At first, she thought it was one of Ben's usual antics and he was teasing the girl. She was even a little jealous, as she'd experienced nothing like that with her friends. They were all mostly yes girls, except Marietta, and even she- Anyway, Cho could see that Hermione did not find any of it funny, and even she felt Ben had gone too far.

Ben too realised that he had perhaps gone too far.

"Ahm, you know, maybe the Headmaster will cover up for them, and everything will be fine. We can always hope for the best," he said in a poor attempt to reassure Hermione.

"I get it alright, I'll do it, I'll write your stupid assignments," she said in a voice full of frustration.

"Now, are you gonna help them or not?" she said, growing impatient at Ben's dumbstruck staring.

-End of Chapter-

A/N: Do you guys have any suggestions for the story? Let me know in the comments.

Like my work, help support it at Patre@n/DreamyApe