CONFUNDUS; harry potter [UNDER EDITION]

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

HARRY

The icy coldness Nora's irradiates when she looks across the table at Harry penetrates deeply into his bones and leaves him frozen.

People had looked at him with hatred and loath, and he has experienced being ignored most part of his childhood. But Nora isn't even doing that. She has left a warm cup of coffee and milk and pointed at the plate of pastries (facturas, Lucca painfully corrected him for the tenth time on their way back) as if saying, see, I'm not bad but I that doesn't mean I dislike you any less than I did six hours ago when you came unaccounted to my house.

It's odd.

Harry has expected her to draw out a knife and stab him countless times when he tried to explain, in the little Spanish words he learned, how he wanted to apologise. The woman was feral, her magic, hot and violent, shook the whole house. And Harry has decided to not look her in the eyes for the rest of his stay. He can handle rejection but Nora Giordano feels entirely different.

Harry feels he has to prove to her he is not a stupid boy who is pinning after her grandson. Not even Francesca made him feel so beneath. On the contrary, her imposing presence demanded Harry to fight his hair and check for stains on his clothes because he deserved to be neat and proper to impress Lucca. However, under Nora's judgemental stare, Harry anticipates sudden death if he moves.He wants to tell her, yes, I don't deserve Lucca, but I am too stubborn and very much in love to walk away.

He doesn't hope she will understand. No one really understands how serious Harry is about Lucca. Remus suggested Harry should focus on something (someone) else in the meantime Lucca was away because, in Remus' point of view, Lucca probably was moving on and everyone assumes moving on is directed at Harry. Lucca didn't want to move on from Harry, he is certain, but from the ghosts of his past; Francesca's death, replacing Milan, William's absence and Pandora's entire presence. And the only direction the Order gave Harry, to focus on something else, was to join the Auror Force and help the Ministry of Magic to round out the last Death Eaters. But that ended up with Harry threatening to burn the Ministry of Magic to the ground if forgiveness wasn't given to Lucca, whose secrets were exposed to the world and the entire population badmouthed him as if he wasn't the main victim of Pandora's crimes. People talked about Lucca as if they knew him better — that he got away easily when he was seen with Death Eaters, and he wasn't even underage to squirm from Azkaban. This led to a whole column investigating the Sallows and exposing their little secrets, Milan's pregnancy exposed as a way to keep Cedric Diggory, Venice as the bastard daughter who Francesca forced into William, and Celia marrying a werewolf because no man would accept her. Harry doesn't know if Lucca is aware of all this; he is afraid to ask. He probably does but if he knows that, he surely knew Harry had been missing for two months. Hermione was furious Harry threatened Robards and Kingsley because word spread in the walls that Harry might be planning a surprise attack to take down the government.

"You did murder Voldemort, Harry," Hermione said. "Fear is a common reaction. Not only that but people actually listen and follow you."

Along the lines she wanted him to come back and clear his own name, because the papers were having the biggest party of speculations and rumours. It's been a long time since Harry cared what people would think. There was nothing else to lose if he tried. So he bought a portkey ticket to Poland and from there, to Argentina, just to lose if someone followed him.

Hermione and Ron were beyond upset with him after Harry went missing for three weeks without contacting them.

"Because you are coming back, Harry Potter," she screamed over their first Floo-Call. "And we're going to talk about this."