A Shared Understanding

"Uhm, hi."

Harry looked up. He was in the library doing his homework. The common room was a little too loud to comfortably do work and he was eager to avoid the looks from the other Gryffindors. What he did in Potions had gotten around and while no one had said anything outright to him, he still garnered more attention than he wanted. He was currently finishing an essay when someone spoke to him.

He looked around for a moment, wondering if the girl had meant to talk to him. Seeing no one else close by, he looked back at her. "Hello," he said shyly.

Lavender stood there, fidgeting a little. It had taken her a few moments to gather the courage to come talk to Harry. The incident from the other day did not sit well with her and when she saw him sitting alone in the library, she had decided she needed to do something. She coughed awkwardly. "I'm sorry," she said at last.

Harry looked confused. "What for?"

"I should have said something, the other day," she said. "When the other boys were being rude to you."

"Oh." Harry rubbed his neck. "It wasn't your fault, it's not like you joined Seamus or anything."

"No, but it wasn't right what he said either," she said. "It was really rude."

"Yeah, it was," Harry sighed. "But I'm used to it really."

"Oh, that's not right either," she replied weakly.

"Like I said, I'm used to it," he replied just as weakly.

They looked away from another in shared awkwardness.

"I…I know what it's like," she said all of a sudden. "To be picked on for something like that."

"You do?" he asked, looking at her directly.

Lavender nodded, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Yeah. Especially for something you can't really control."

"That's not right either," he repeated quietly.

She smiled shyly. "Are you working on your Potions essay? Do you mind helping me? I don't really get it."

"Sure." Harry blinked when she sat beside him eagerly.

"Thank you," she sighed with relief. "I don't understand the differences in the potions instructions and Professor Snape is really intimidating."

"Yeah he is," Harry said, agreeing completely. "I don't think he likes me."

"I don't think he likes anyone," Lavender whispered. "I heard he's only nice to people in Slytherin."

"That's not right," Harry said with Lavender echoing him. They smiled at each other and after some giggling, started working together.

"Thank you so much," Lavender sighed when they finished the essay. "I get it more now. You're good at potions."

"It's like cooking, following a recipe," Harry said with pink cheeks. "I hope to get better the more I learn though. It's kinda interesting."

"So you really do cook?" Lavender asked.

He nodded. "When I can."

"What do you cook?"

"Oh lots of things I think, mostly British things. I like to bake too, especially biscuits."

"I wish I had some biscuits," Lavender sighed wistfully. "Those sound good right now." She saw Harry look about. "What's wrong?"

"Well, uhm, nothing but don't tell anyone. Since you've been nice to me…" he pulled out a small wrapped package from his school bag.

"You have some biscuits?!" Lavender asked excitedly, seeing them.

"Shh!" he shushed, looking around again. "I actually got the chance to make these the other day."

"Really? How?" Lavender whispered.

"I'm not allowed to really say. Headmaster," he said apologetically.

"Oh, I see," she said, frowning. The frown went away when Harry held out a few to her. "I can have some?"

"If you like," he said shyly.

"Yes please!" She happily accepted them and wasted no time in popping one into her mouth. Her eyes opened wide as she chewed it hungrily. "Wow! This is so good! It tastes like you just made them!"

"The Headmaster cast a charm on the wrapping to keep them fresher longer," Harry said. "Isn't that cool?"

"Yeah!" Lavender nibbled on the second one, taking small bites to make it last longer. "These are really good! Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," Harry said, looking embarrassed and pleased.

Lavender looked at the last one in her hand. "I want to eat it now but I want to save it too," she sighed.

"You can have more," Harry said.

Lavender beamed at him. "Thank you, Harry. You're really nice."

"So are you," he said softly, almost unheard.

-0-

"Really?" Parvati asked.

"If it's okay with you," Lavender said. "He's really nice actually."

"If you say so," Parvati said hesitantly.