Helium | Harry J. Potter

16

Harry would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous about what Blaise had up his sleeve. He also couldn't help but wonder what favor he would ask of him. Harry did agree to anything, knowing Blaise, it couldn't be good.

As promised, Harry was on his way to meet Blaise in the library. On the way, he ran into McGonagall, who nearly dragged him to Transfiguration. After Harry promised what he was doing was important, she hesitantly let him go with a suspicious glare.

He made a mental note to talk to Blaise about why he can't miss classes and then walked into the library. He spotted Blaise in the corner that no one works in, sighed, and sauntered to the hidden corner. He sat down across from Blaise and waited for him to start talking.

"So what is your incredible advice that I had to miss class for?" Harry crossed his arms and placed his elbows on the table in front of him.

Blaise shook his head at Harry's tone and calmly said, "You really should watch your tone with the only person willing to help you." He copied Harry's movements.

Harry mumbled an apology, looking anywhere except at the person before him. "Seriously, though, if we're going to do this, I can't miss class like this."

"Fine, Potter, for now on we will meet after dinner," Blaise reasoned, to which Harry agreed. "That's settled then. Anyway-" he ducked his head under the table and took out a large binder-"this will do wonders."

Harry tilted his head to read what the binder cover said. "The Legendary Book of Blaise," he read aloud. "Blaise, what is this?"

"This is binder number one."

Harry flipped to the last page and commented, "This is two-thousand pages. I am not reading this."

"Of course not." He flipped to the tab labeled 'How to Get the Girl.'

Harry read the first page and laughed. "This won't work."

"What won't work?"

He laughed once again and quoted, "'Step one: Be Blaise.'"

Blaise huffed in defeat but nodded in agreement. "I guess you're right," he agreed. "But, honestly, Harry, nothing in here will help you anyway."

He tilted his head. "So I'm a lost cause?"

"No, you're not. You need to get Alura to hate you less."

"She still hates me horribly?" He frowned, then opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, but stopped and shook his head.

"What?" Blaise pressed.

"I just thought... I guess I just thought we shared a moment after the party, and-Never mind, it's stupid."

"I'll be honest with you; I couldn't tell you if her feelings have changed toward you, but Katerina could..."

"She hates me more than Alura does. She wouldn't want to help me."

"And she'll get suspicious if I press her for info," he added. "I'll see what I can do."

"So this is your incredible advice? That was rubbish."

Blaise shot him eye-daggers. "No, it wasn't. My advice is to stop giving Alura cold looks, smile, even. Now, is there anything else I need to know?"

"I was the guy that got dragged out at the ball," Harry remembered. "I suppose I could tell her that."

Blaise's eyes widened. "Uh, I think she already knows."

"What?" Harry furrowed his brows, turning to see what caught Blaise's attention.

Alura had a cold glare on her face as she approached Harry. Her look altered from cold to confused when she saw Blaise covering his face with a binder. She stood in front of the table and pushed down Blaise's binder.

"You know, if you're going to hide from me, don't use a binder with your name on it for cover," Alura teased.

Blaise looked down, waiting for her to snap. The one thing Harry hated more than Alura snapping at him, was her being silent. The silence was killing him, and Alura's cold front was not helping.

Harry finally spoke up after what seemed like a million years. "Say something, anything, please."

Alura wasted no time in exposing him. "Why did you act that way at the ball? To embarrass me? Well, congrats, you did it," she fired at him. "For the first time in what seemed like years, I finally wasn't thinking about Cedric when I was dancing and speaking with you. And then I find out that it was you who danced with me, only to embarrass me."

"Alura, I-"

"And you know what the worst part is?" She paused, debating whether she should bring up the actions that Harry clearly regretted. "You were the person that stroked my hair and let me cry on your shoulder when Cedric ended things."

"It wasn't-"

"And you." She looked to Blaise, who was still looking anywhere at Alura until she called his name. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Blaise put his hands up innocently. "I'm an innocent bystander," he defended himself.

"I'm being serious, Blaise."

Harry saw how Blaise was struggling for an excuse, so he ushered to his defense. "I was asking him questions about the homework-He refused to give me the answers."

Alura looked at Blaise for confirmation, to which he nodded. "Harry, do me favor and don't ever speak to me again." She gave the two one last look before speeding off.

Blaise pushed Harry to go after her and he obeyed. Alura ignored his calls as he chased her into a random hallway and finally caught up with her. He caught her shoulder, causing Alura to face him.

Her eyes were puffy and mascara smeared down her cheeks, along with tears. Harry was caught off guard by her crying. He could count the number of times he'd seen her vulnerable on one hand.

"Are you...?" he questioned, scanning her red eyes. When she didn't answer, he took that as an opportunity to speak again. "I didn't do it to embarrass you."

"Then why did you do it?" she sniffled, her lip quivering.

Harry struggled to look for the right thing to say. "I guess... I want to be... somewhat close to you again."

Alura scoffed. "I don't understand us. We do this back and forth thing. One minute we're friends, and then the next we're not."

"It won't be like that this time."

He brought his hand to wipe her tears and caress her cheek. It took all of her self-respective to not lean into his touch.

Alura shook Harry's hand off of her. "No. If we continue this-" she gestured her hand between the two of them-"neither one of us will recover."

"We don't know that."

"But don't we? We've done this before. We've had this exact conversation. It always ends the same. We can't ever be friends again."

"Alura, I know you don't mean that, you can't."

"Harry, I can't handle any more pain. And you're a direct line to causing it," she told him. "If you try to speak to me again I will make your life a living nightmare."

"Please-"

Alura abandoned Harry for seemed like the thousandth time. For what she thought would be the final time.

She'd be lying if she said the offer wasn't tempting, it was. But she knew everything would end the same. When she left Harry crying in the hallway, it felt like the final time. After today, she and Harry would be nothing more than people who live together. If only she knew what the future held.