15 Fourteen

It was another rough morning, Harry was still on edge--separating himself from everyone else.

He would however write to Sirius just like how a child would tell stuff to his or her parents. As he finds this a little bit comforting, at least. After sending his letter, he wandered around the forest. There he met Luna, barefoot out in the cold. It reminded him of you, he flashed a bitter smile. His regrets painted on his face, how he treated you these past days especially when he yelled at you. He had a sincere conversation with Luna. Which he was very thankful for, he finally came to his senses and wasted no time in trying to mend whatever he had cut off.

Back at the great hall, all of you were eating lunch. You had joined your gryffindor friends as they kindly invited you to sit with them. All of you had one thing in mind, wanting to help Harry. Hermione took one look at you and held your hand giving you the assurance that all of you were in this together. She knew that you're going through a lot. She notices everything around her especially if she considers you her friend. Although she has some doubts left but she knows what's best for everyone.

Harry then walked slowly towards you and asked his friends first if he could join.

"Of course" Hermione said but she quickly glanced at you.

You never made eye contact with Harry at the moment. But he turned his attention to you, waiting for you to look at him.

"I'm sorry..." he mumbled.

"Louder you idiot" Hermione said with a smirk.

Harry sat beside you and caressed your hair gently making you face him. Your eyes met, and the long awaited golden strings finally appeared. Hermione smiled for a bit and Ron felt like he was in a dream.

"It's real" Ron mouthed to Hermione and she nodded and whispered "told you."

You held Harry's hand tightly, noticing it was cold and you kissed it lightly. Hermione averted her gaze away from the two of you. She lightly hit Ron, signaling him not to stare as it would be awkward.

The voices of professor McGonagall and Umbridge echoed just outside the great hall. They were arguing and all of you wanted to check what was going on. It was pretty obvious that it ended bad, as the pink devil was now giving a lecture to everyone. Since then, more and more rules had been implemented.

No one was happy about it, every student was suffering. Her methods to punish students were out of this world. And all of you wondered if this was even legal. Not even an effort to talk or fight back as the students wouldn't know what evil crap is going on inside her head. Her plan to silence everyone was working, she was just dismissing this as appropriate even if it was totally bizarre.

"Ms. Maxwell" her voice was clearly heard as soon as you entered her office.

"You are well aware about the rules here at Hogwarts, aren't you?" She asked and you just nodded.

Her annoying chuckle made you want to punch her so badly but you just sighed in frustration.

"Go on, do your punishment" you said sarcastically.

"Well if you would start writing..." she insisted. "I will never disrespect my professor" she quoted for you to write.

"And we need to come into an agreement that your father must never know" she said whispering in your ear as she walked behind you.

"What, are you friends now?" You blurted out.

"Write" she said in demand.

As soon as you started writing, the wounds were unusually bigger. And they were on your whole arm not just on the top of your hand. It stung you so much that it drove you almost in tears. After your session with her, she was smiling proudly.

"Good luck to you if my father sees this." you smirked as you stared the letters carved into your skin.

"You know what's gonna happen to you if he does..." she said with her usual annoying tone.

"You don't want him to know but you're doing this to my whole arm" you mumbled.

"What was that dear?" she raised her eyebrows.

"nothing." you said faking a smile, making sure she knows how ingenuine it is.

----

You hangout with Harry and the others at the Library near the fire place.

"Your arm!" Hermione exclaimed.

You gestured everyone to keep quiet and not to cause a fuzz. She mouthed sorry to you and proceeded to let you sit on the couch.

"Can I ?" Harry asked gently for permission.

You nodded and he rolled up your sleeve.

"It's still bleeding, well a little bit." He said concerned.

At the corner of your eye, you could see Draco peeping. He was also concerned with the enormous wound on your arm.

"Isn't this too much?" Ron asked eyeing your arm.

"Well everything she does is absurd" you replied which they agreed.

Harry then caressed your arm gently and kissed your hands as he tried to warm them up.

"Be careful, someone might see you" Hermione said with a sigh and for some reason everybody turned their eyes on to Draco who was caught staring at you.

"I meant, Umbridge" Hermione said finding the situation a bit funny. She tried her best not to crack up a smile or a chuckle.

Draco on the other hand felt embarrassed and he immediately left the library.

"that was a bit..." Ron said trying not to laugh and Hermione looked at him with her eyes signaling him not to.

"Wait Malfoy likes (y/n) ?" Ron asked as he was genuinely clueless.

"Where have you been living all these time?" Hermione asked raising an eyebrow, it was fairly obvious at this rate.

Harry laughed it off and so did everybody else. All of you were chilling and just having fun, nobody knew the disaster that the pink devil was about to do.

----

Days after days, Umbridge kept implementing rules and she has been investigating the different professors. No one was safe with her unrealistic virtues, even professors who had no problem at all was being interrogated for no reason. Everybody knew that she was doing this for her own personal gain. May it be for approval of Fudge or simply just abusing her power.

Professor Trelawney was seen outside with her luggage with Umbridge looking at her with those annoying eyes. Her heels clanking towards professor Trelawney and she was trying her best to show pity but she's not fooling anyone.

You tried desperately to see what was going on, you asked a random student about the commotion and they kindly answered you.

"It's something about professor Trelawney" they said rushing to see the scene.

"Thank you" You said with a small smile but your concern with the misunderstood teacher was pretty obvious.

"Cho, what's happening?" you heard Harry from behind and you turned to look at the two of them, perhaps Harry didn't see you.

"It's professor Trelawney..." she replied and Harry ran off to see the commotion for himself too.

You and Cho made eye contact and she looked uneasy, but you smiled and she did too --awkwardly.

Professor Trelawney begged but the decision was firm, even McGonagall rushed to comfort the poor professor. Dumbledore then came in to the scene and said that no one was being banished. He explained that he is still the headmaster and that Umbridge was in no position to act like a bitch. He went back to his office and on the way there he completely ignored Harry even though he was clearly calling him by his name.

You then followed Harry and asked him what was up when you finally caught up to him.

"I think professor Dumbledore is ignoring me on purpose" he said worriedly.

"Maybe he's just busy..." you tried to comfort him.

Back on your respective dormitories, the trio was sitting by the fire place listening to the radio. Cornelius Fudge was framing Sirius Black for the clear evidences that you-know-who is back. Hermione expressed her disappointment towards the ministry and especially Umbridge. She was cut off by Siruis appearing in a form of a fire. Ron was scared for a bit but when Harry started talking, he immediately softened up and realized that he wasn't in danger. Harry explained his concerns and had a few more talks with his Godfather.

Hermione then came up with a brilliant idea while listening to Harry's conversation and she thought about it quietly. When Sirius said his goodbye, she then shared her idea about forming 'Dumbledore's Army' to actually learn real defensive spells. It took a bit of time to convince Harry but he eventually gave in to it.

----

The next morning, Harry explained Hermione's idea to you and without any second thoughts, you said yes about joining them. You did inform your ravenclaw friends too, somehow Cho didn't want to go without Marietta Edgecombe. Both of them then happily joined in even though Marietta was reluctant. The first meeting was up the next day and it excites you knowing that you are finally doing something right, even if it's wrong in Umbridge's perspective.

You could tell Harry was pretty happy about it but his doubts towards himself was showing.

"You can do this Harry" you said to him.

"Don't tell me you can read my mind too" he joked as he felt like you knew exactly what he was thinking about.

"I wish" you replied and he smiled, grabbing your hand and kissing it.

"Be careful" Fred walked past between you and Harry.

"Eyes are everywhere" George said standing in between you and Harry as well.

"Okay point taken" Harry said a bit annoyed but you found this funny.

"Hey, you guys ready?" Hermione asked as soon as she found you. You proceeded to walk towards the meeting place where everyone else who's interested will be there too.

The meeting was painfully awkward considering the circumstances given at this time. Everyone had doubts, or some were even scared and obviously everyone had the "what if" scenarios going inside their heads. The idea was almost dismissed until Luna asked Harry if he could cast the patronus charm and it basically sparked interest to everyone. You squeezed Harry's hand as you watched everyone sign their names on a piece of parchment. You had a hunched that Hermione had jinxed this paper as she was a bit obvious about it. You looked at her and smiled as she could tell that you already figured out what she did. Everyone who betrays D.A. will have 'sneak' written on their faces. All that's left is finding a place to practice. Dobby gave relayed this information to Harry which you and Hermione researched how to find it.

Neville eventually found the room of requirement and no one missed an opportunity to praise him for it.

"Good one Neville" you smiled at him and he mumbled to say 'thank you'.

All of you were on your way to have your first class with Dumbledore's army. You were pretty excited about this so you happily entered the the room of requirement hand in hand with Harry.

"I think this has been the only time we could get close without getting in trouble" Harry whispered.

"It's been so long" you whined looking at his eyes.

He kissed your cheeks and lightly blew some air on your ears. You knew he was up to something so you pretended not to know.

Everyone arrived and eventually the class started.

-----

"Hey Harry do you want to---"

"Bloody hell Hermione" Ron said after he was cut of by a strong tug in the arm by Hermione.

"Let them be" She whispered.

"we'll see you later" Ron said waving to Harry and leaving the two of you alone.

As soon as the door closed, Harry approached you. You were staring at the mirror, and his arms made their way to your stomach area. He was hugging you from behind.

"Are you okay?" You asked.

"Never better" he said kissing your neck.

"It's been so long..." he whispered kissing your cheeks simultaneously.

"I miss hugging you"

"I miss giving you kisses"

"I miss everything about you" he said breaking his embrace and turning you around.

"I'm sorry for treating you badly" he whispered giving you a kiss on your forehead.

"It's okay, I did much worse" you said looking down on his shoes.

"Hey" he said touching your chin, making you face him. He kissed you softly, and undoubtedly kissed him back. You lips were savoring each touch, not noticing the time ticking by.

"Wait" Harry said mid air.

"Is something wrong?" You asked.

"No--I mean yes but nothing about you" he said looking down on the floor.

"You can tell me" you assured him.

"My head hurts" he said truthfully.

"And I keep seeing visions"

"What kind of visions Harry?" You asked.

"It's, it's --you wouldn't understand!" His tone changed.

You didn't know what to say.

"I, I have to go" he said rushing to pick up his bag.

"Harry wait" you tried to process what was happening.

"I'm sorry" he said as he quickly left the room of requirement. You took your things and followed him outside.

"Harry!" You shouted at him demanding an explanation.

"I don't want you to get involved..." he said stopping and leaving you once again.

You stood alone, dropped your bag on the floor and heard the sound of his foot steps walking away from you.

"Not again!" You whined trying to keep your tears from falling. You covered your face, trying to calm yourself down.

"If I were you, I'd break up with him." You heard a woman's voice.

"What do you want Parkinson?" You replied in an annoyed tone.

"Hold your horses sissy, I'm just telling free advice" she smirked walking towards you.

"If you're gonna make fun of me, please not now" you said still trying not to cry.

"Ouch" she replied.

"What now?" You snickered.

"Nothing, you're just too tough today jeez" she rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing here anyway?" You asked wiping some tears that were able to escape from your eyes.

"I was patrolling, wanting to see something that would benefit me." She replied.

"Well today is your lucky day, you like seeing me miserable, right?" You said in a sarcastic tone.

"Before, yes. But now... not really" she replied picking up your bag.

"You are suspiciously nice"

"Oh am I?"

"Did Draco asked you to be nice?" You asked.

"As if" she replied.

"Then what?"

"Why are you so eager to know?"

"Duh, you're Pansy bloody Parkinson." You replied which made her laugh.

"Fair point, but trust me... If I wanted to pick on you I would've ran off and told professor Umbridge that you and Harry had sex in a broom cupboard" she blurted.

"Okay that was... too much" you said awkwardly.

"Keep your head up Maxwell" she said while dusting off your bag.

"Like I said, just break up with Potter." She paused "or he will do it for you soon."

"He will never do that to me." You defended and just nodded in annoyance.

"But seriously, take my advice. It's the best option." She winked while painfully shoving your bag in your hands and walking away from you.

"Oh, and lastly... You should be careful, Umbridge is forming a group to annihilate your heroic actions soon." She said clicking her tongue at the end of her sentence and then she vanished out of sight.

"Odd" you said suspecting that she was just messing with you.

You walked your way heading towards the ravenclaw dormitories. But on your way there, you stumbled upon Professor Trelawney.

"Sorry professor" you said picking up some papers that fell from her hands.

"Thank you my dear" she said smiling and when she touched your hand, she suddenly saw a vision.

"Darkness" she whispered.

"What is it professor?" You asked in concern.

"Are you alright?" You asked again.

"Your eyes... y-you possess strange magic. So many mysteries...!" She said again, but you couldn't tell what she meant.

"Professor?"

"You need to be careful, danger is near" she said before snapping back to reality.

"Professor?" You asked again and she seems to be clueless.

"I must go, see you at dinner my dear" she said rushing.

"Uhm--" was the only thing you could say.

"Today is really weird." You sighed.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

A few more weeks passed by, Harry was still acting weird. One minute he would be very sweet but one blink later, he would be completely different. He's there but distant, he never failed to give your affection but it felt cold. You started to suspect that something was bothering him so much. And somehow you weren't buying that it was just about his trauma with Cedric's death.

You couldn't even share your concerns with Cho as she would often spend time with Marietta. You were a bit jealous but there was something about Marietta that ticked you off somehow.

You wondered what to do next but you were clueless, so you just let things be... Convincing yourself that an explanation might reveal itself soon.

"You ready for the last session?" Hermione interrupted your thoughts.

"Oh uhm, what last session?" You asked her.

"Before we go home for the holidays silly, we still have one last class with Harry" she smiled.

"Oh right, would you like to walk together?" You asked and she nodded.

--

All of you were practicing your patronus charm, it wasn't an easy spell. You were struggling for a bit too, Hermione gestured Harry to come and help you.

He rested his hands on your shoulders and massaged them lightly.

"Think about your happiest memory." He whispered to your ear.

"Close your eyes"

"...and let your memories flow" Harry said sweetly.

You did what he told you, while you could feel your tensed up muscles relaxing from his massage. After a few moments, you opened your eyes and carefully casted the charm.

A tiny light appeared and eventually formed a goat-like appearance. It then ran off around the room and Harry praised you for it.

"Thanks" you said kissing his cheek.

The time passed by so fast that all of you didn't even notice that it was getting late. Harry then said his regards to everyone and dismissed his class.

"I'll just use the lavatory" you told Harry and he said he would be waiting inside the room of requirement.

You sprinted as fast as you can in order to pee. After using the toilet, you went right to the sink and washed your hands.

"So..." you jumped in shock and looked at the mirror to see who it was.

"You scared me" you said after realizing it was just Pansy.

"You seem a bit happy" she commented.

"Here to ruin it?" You asked raising an eyebrow.

"Not really" she replied and then she went out.

"Very odd" you sighed once more.

You walked back towards the room of requirement after drying your hands with a towel. You followed the same procedure to open then room of requirement. When the doors opened you happily called Harry's name.

"Are you ready to lea-" you stopped your sentence as you saw Cho and Harry's lips locked together.

"(y/n)!" both of them said while they desperately tried to deny what just happened between them. You couldn't believe your eyes, you froze for a moment. Harry tried to walk towards you but you ran away from him. He did follow after you, no matter where you ran off to, he was on your trail.

You bumped into a person while running and accidentally dropped down on the ground. Thankfully it was Draco, he took one look at you and the direction where Harry's voice was coming from. Your eyes pleading for him to help you, without any hesitation he pulled you with him and both of you entered an abandoned office-like room. He made you sit down on a chair and he went back outside.

"A bit preoccupied there Potter" he snickered but Harry ignored him. And when Harry was gone, he went back to check up on you. You were staring blankly, unable to process what you needed to do or what emotion to feel.

"(y/n)?" He asked in concern.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Nothing..." you mumbled.

"Then why are you hiding from him?" He asked.

"If you tell me one more time that it's nothing, I'm gonna call him back here" he said.

"It's just, it's my fault..." you said.

"What?" He said in disbelief.

"I-I cheated remember? T-this is just my punishment" you said stuttering and starting to tear up.

"What are you saying?" He asked.

"Harry and Cho... they k-kissed" you said finally realizing what happened. Your heart sank, tears finally flowing. You could feel the enormous pain flowing heavily in your heart.

Draco without any second thoughts, hugged you in comfort.

"It's my fault.... It's my fault" you said repeatedly while he embraced you tightly in his arms.

"It's not" he said to you.