Out of my League

Chapter Twenty Seven

Going home sounds dreadful considering I'm not even going home, I just want to stay at Hogwarts but that's obviously not an option. I've finished packing and plan on getting to bed early so that it will be easy to get up tomorrow and get on the train without forgetting anything.

There's a knock at the door, I assume it's Lavender or Ginny or someone coming to say goodbye. "Just come in." I call out.

The door slowly creeks open as I see the rim if Harry's glasses peaking through.

"Uh hi, Hermione isn't in here right?" He stutters.

"Yeah it's just me." I say while standing up and going over to the door since he won't go past the doorway.

"Tomorrow will be chaotic and there's a good chance I won't be able to see you so I wanted to say goodbye." He explains.

"Oh, yeah you're right." I begin "Well, it's been a mostly good year, I'm glad we became friends." I admit.

"Me too." He smiles.

There's an awkward silence where we sort of just stare at each other.

"I'll be going then." He says while turning away.

"Bye Harry." I say quietly, I want to say more. This is the last time I'll see him for a long time but I just can't seem to force the correct words out. So I begin to shut the door behind him.

"Wait." He stops the door with his hand and pushes it back open. "I do this silly thing every year where I say goodbye to Hogwarts, I use the invisibility cloak and go out to this spot that overlooks the Black Lake from up high, would you like to come?" He looks anywhere but at me while he's waiting for my response.

"That's not silly, it sounds brave actually. Going out in the middle of the night on your own, of course this time I'll be coming along but we'll be fine. We have the chosen one protecting us." I say sarcastically.

He laughs awkwardly and looks at the ground, it tells me he doesn't like being called that. I was really wrong about him before, he's not arrogant. He hates attention and being 'The boy who lived' he just wants to be normal like everyone else. But he can't have that, so I'll try to be the balance he's looking for. I'll just treat him like a normal teenage boy and bring up his past as little as I can. I think he would like that.

"Sorry, I'll get a coat." I say while beginning to go over to my trunk.

"I brought one." He interrupts while ripping his jacket off and shoving it at me. I hadn't noticed before that he was wearing two jackets, or that he was wearing one at all. "I just thought that you wouldn't want to pull one out after you've already packed." He says while touching his neck, he always does that when he's uncomfortable or nervous or when he just doesn't know what to say.

I thank him and zip up the black coat, it's too big on me and I feel a bit stupid in it but I don't want to complain because I like that it's his. It offers a bit of comfort.

His normal straight face grows into a big boyish smile once he sees that the sleeves go far past my hands and the end of the coat falls close to my knees.

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I don't like the path that we are taking to get to this spot Harry is talking about, it's really sketchy and I keep hearing noises from the woods.

"Are we almost there?" I ask anxiously.

"Yeah, but don't you like to walk slow so that we can appreciate the forest at night?" He asks while he continues to look all around.

"You know there's ware wolves out here right?" I ask.

"Yeah." He laughs "I've been attacked by one."

I was only joking, I thought that it was just a stupid myth that there were actual ware wolves at Hogwarts. But he doesn't seem like he's joking. "Are you serious?" I ask while trying to subtly being walking closer to him.

"You're fine, nothing is going to happen."

Empty promises.

"Harry, you don't know that." I argue.

"Don't tell me the Kennedy Wood is scared?" He teases.

"I'm not scared." I defend while hitting his arm lightly "I'm just cautious." I explain.

Instead of arguing or making fun of me any more, he reaches down and grabs my hand.

I like this a lot better than being stubborn, I might start substituting some of my snarky comments for gestures like this.

It's only a few moments before he lets go to tell me that we're at the spot. It's really breathtaking to be up here, we can see the moon reflecting on the Black Lake.

"I think it's a full moon." I point out.

"Oh, cool." He looks disappointed for some reason but I assume it's something rather personal so I won't ask him about it.

We sit ourselves down in the cool, soft grass.

"When I leave Hogwarts I feel like I'm leaving home, it's the opposite for most everyone else but not for me. I hate going back to live with my aunt and uncle." Harry says while looking up at the sky. He says it so calmly, like it's completely normal to hate your family like that.

"I know how you feel now that I won't be going home." I sigh "We could write to each other." I add.

"Yeah, I'd like that." He says excitedly.

He scoots a little closer to me and offers me his pinky, I shake it but unlike the other times neither of us let go after. Our hands rest on the hard ground, my heart is racing so much that I'm worried he can feel it all the way in my hand.

I won't see him for a whole summer. We could easily come back to school and have lost each other as friends because we simply drifted apart. So I've really got nothing to lose, if I make a fool of myself I don't have to talk to him over the summer and we can just go back to ignoring each other.

"Harry," I turn to him to make sure I can look him in the eye when I ask the question that's been taking over me for the past week or so. "Did you only kiss me to make yourself feel better, because you lost a bunch of friends and I was just available to your use?" I ask, I don't really demand the question. The tone I'm using reminds me of how Luna Lovegood speaks.

He laughs at me. Merlin, I've really screwed up this time.

"You think I'd waste my first kiss on a girl I didn't even fancy?" He asks with a big grin.

I don't have words to describe the amount of joy that has just filled me, so I throw my arms around him. I can feel his fast heartbeat against mine, offering some comfort.

It's something about the way he was so confident that makes me believe that he actually fancies me.

That's all I need to get me through the whole summer, just having that thought in the back of my mind.

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