Out of my League

Chapter Fourteen

Another large crashing sound made from thunder along with a blinding strike of lighting comes from outside. I jump a bit but Harry doesn't really look phased by it.

The heavy raindrops start pounding in the beautifully stained glass window just begging to break through and destroy the art.

"You don't have to stand all the way over there you know." Harry reminds me.

"I know." I say dryly.

"Come sit on the edge." He offers. I don't want to show how uncomfortable I am so I do as he suggested.

I use my hands to hoist myself up onto the tile which is making my shorts and part of my legs wet. I sit backwards so I could still talk to him but I'm not facing the water.

Harry stares at the egg as if he were to stare long enough it would tell him what to do.

"Try opening it underwater." I suggest.

"Yeah, right. You see, I was just about to-"

"Sure you were." I say raising an eyebrow and handing him the egg. It's heavier than I expected do I nearly drop it into the water before he sticks his hand out for it.

I bite back a yawn as he gets the egg under the water. He takes in a deep breath and submerges himself in the bubbly tub. There are so many suds that I can't really see him while he's under there.

I can tell he's opened the egg once I hear angelic music rather than the usual screeching noise it makes.

Soon enough his head pops back up while he gasps for air "It says I've got to recover something that they've took?" He says looking confused.

"Well who's they?" I ask.

"I don't know but I've got an hour to recover it. It also said something about not being able to sing above the ground." He answers.

What type of creature sings underground? I look around the room for some sort of clue maybe. I notice the stained glass mermaid wink at me.

"Merpeople." I blurt out.

"Do you think the task is in the Black Lake?" He asks.

"I'm almost certain. Now we've just got to figure out what they would be taking from you. It could be such a wide variety of things. It'll be almost impossible to guess." I explain.

"Maybe I should just prepare for anything." He suggests. "And I've got to somehow hold my breath for an hour." He adds.

I've been hanging around Neville a lot recently and he was going on about this thing called gillyweed. Supposedly it makes you able to grow gills and flippers, sort of like an animal but you mostly stay in human form. I don't know if I should be assisting him this much, I feel like it's cheating especially because he's completing against my Yule Ball date.

"Listen, I can't help you anymore after this because it's setting Cedric behind but, go to Neville and ask him about gillyweed." I say while rubbing my eyes.

"Thank you, I get it I guess." He mutters. He looks a little bothered at the fact that I'm choosing to help Cedric over him but what does he expect? "Tired?" He asks.

"No." I lie. I know he stays up this late practically every night but I rarely stay up past midnight and for some odd reason it embarrasses me. Almost like I have a need to impress him.

"Yes you are." He insists.

"No I'm not." I cross my arms.

"Fine, I'll meet you back in the common room." He says.

"Ok." I say forcing my mouth from forming into a huge smile.

I hop off the edge of the bath and head out of the room as quietly as I can. Once I am out of the bathroom I walk a little slower since I was trying to prove that I had plenty of energy when really I'm lacking it. But I can't sleep with the storm anyways. It's so disruptive.

Another flash of lighting along with an explosion of thunder wakes me up a little as I enter the common room and plop down on the sofa desperate to sit down.

Shortly, Harry enters the room. His hair is still wet and he still looks ten times more awake than I will ever be at this hour.

"Sorry I took so long, Murtle came back." He says while sitting on the complete other side of the sofa from me.

"I don't blame you, she's a handful." I respond.

He continues on with his story while my responses slowly turn from short and simple answers to head nods with a small smile until nothing at all.

———————————————

I wake up to my shoulder being shaking very gently. I open my eyes slowly and notice my head resting on the arm of the sofa rather than my pillow. It's dark outside but the storm has calmed down to more of a soothing rain patter that I could easily fall back asleep to.

"I just didn't know if you wanted to sleep in your room or out here." Harry says.

Shit.

I pick my head up quickly and sit up straight "Oh I'm sorry, Harry." I apologize. I can feel my cheeks tinge pink.

"It's ok. Don't be embarrassed." He says. I guess he can now tell when I get embarrassed. Great, just brilliant.

"Well how long have you been sitting here alone?" I ask.

"Only about an hour maybe. And I wasn't technically alone per say." He corrects me.

An hour?! This just got about ten times worse.

"Oh I'm so sorry that's so rude of me." I never thought I would find myself being so apologetic with Harry but here I am.

He lets out an awkward laugh "it's fine, really." I've just now realized that he is significantly closer than before. But I haven't moved so that must mean he purposefully slid over closer to me. To my surprise it's it making me uncomfortable at all. I kind if like his company, he's surprisingly warm, I can feel his body heat from where I am sitting.

"Ok, I'm going to go now. I'll see you tomorrow Harry." I say, wobbling while standing up since I've just woken up.

"Yeah, brilliant. Erm Goodnight." He says sounding a little unsure.

I wave and smile before heading back up the stairs.

————————————————————————