ON HOLD! 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 ~ 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘑𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳

10. meetings

TW! for this chapter: sexual violence

"What the fuck are you doing?"

At the sudden sound of Harry whispering those words, Lara almost had a heart attack. She quickly pointed her flashlight in his direction and whispered back: "Get back to bed you idiot."

Harry held his hand in front of his face to avoid the bright light from Lara's flashlight and whispered stubbornly: "No, not until you tell me where you are going."

Lara, dressed in her mom jeans and hoodie with a backpack hanging from her shoulder, pulled the sleepy Harry dressed in his plaid pajama pants with her down the stairs. She mumbled something in a grumpy voice, but Harry wasn't able to hear what it was exactly.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Lara looked at Harry. "If you tell anyone about this, you're dead." She said.

"Alright, alright, I won't tell anyone. Now tell me why you are creeping around the house at 3 a.m. like a damn psychopath." Harry said, clearly confused.

"I'm going to my aunt, I'll probably be back within twenty-four hours. If they ask where I am, just say I went over to Pansy's place to make sure she's ok." Lara explained to the boy in front of her.

Last night, Lara had decided she wasn't going to give up on eating Christmas dinner with her aunt and cousin, so she had prepared a backpack with some food and she was going to travel to London on her own. Now she was caught by Harry, Lara feared he might wanted to stop her from going.

And she was partly right, because Harry shook his head. "You're not going to London by yourself when it's dark outside. I'm going to walk you to the bus station."

Knowing there was no point in fighting, Lara nodded and she grabbed their coats. Within a minute, both teenagers had their shoes on and were outside in the snow.

The walk to the nearest bus station was about twenty minutes and even though she wouldn't want to admit it, Lara was happy Harry decided to come with her. Even during the mere walk of twenty minutes and even though it was the middle of the night, there were multiple men on the streets who eyed the kids, especially Lara, with a hungry look in their eyes.

For the whole walk, Harry kept his arm wrapped around Lara's shoulder to keep her warm and to give her a somewhat safe feeling.

"Do you have enough money?" Harry asked Lara when the two reached the bus station. Luckily, there were a lot of lights lightning the bus station up and the bus that would take Lara to London was already there.

Lara nodded as she patted the pocket of her jeans to indicate the money was there.

Harry tucked a loose curl that escaped from her bun behind Lara's ear and pulled her into his chest to hold her for a second. "Be safe." He whispered.

A smile broke onto Lara's face when she realized how lucky she was with someone as caring as Harry.

"I will, don't worry."

And with those words, Lara pulled away and boarded the bus, ready to meet her family.

✰✰✰

After some hours, Lara had reached London and she had spent her day in the Leaky Cauldron and walking a bit around in Diagon Alley.

Now, she stood in front of the apartment that was supposed to be from Odette and Blaise. After taking a breath to relax herself, Lara rang the door bell. A female voice sounded from the little box next to the bell: "Who's here?"

"It's Lara." Lara's voice sounded smaller than she initiated for it to sound.

"Of course, come in sweetie. We are upstairs." The woman Lara assumed to be Odette said and the door buzzed for a bit, before it automatically unlocked.