The Year I Did Not Sign Up For! (Edited)

Books and Records

"Hey." Seamus greeted softly. Harriet was giving off an upset vibe.

"Hey." Harriet replied robotically, not looking up from her book.

"What are you reading?" He asked, sitting down on the floor near her. He watched her lips twitch. Positive direction of conversation then.

"Dragon Tales," Harriet replied quietly.

"My mam used to tell me the one about the Irish Clover Dragon as a bedtime story," Seamus chuckled, "It's a good one."

"It is." Harriet smiled, closing the book.

"Biscuit?" He asked, holding out a pack.

"It's okay." She said quickly.

"You want one and you know it."

"One biscuit or one packet?" she smirked slightly.

"Packet, I think," Seamus grinned, handing it to her and pulling another out of his bag. "Good thing I brought two."

"Thank you."

"I heard you fighting with Theo earlier?" He asked.

Harriet sighed. "We may have had a few problems in the past."

"The Heir of Slytherin situation?"

"Mostly."

"What else was there?"

"Him blaming me for his girlfriend almost dying."

"That's rough." Seamus said. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Well..." Harriet began.

"Well?" he prompted, raising an eyebrow.

"You could take me to the bookstore in Hogsmeade this weekend?" She tried, smiling shyly.

Seamus grinned. "It's a date!" he declared. Inwardly, he kicked himself. He had not just said that.

"Okay." Harriet felt her cheeks heat up. She hoped she wasn't blushing. He didn't mean that like an actual date, right?

Seamus nodded. "Great!" He grinned, his voice nearly an octave higher. "I shall leave you to your book then."

He gave her the second pack of biscuits and a cheery wave before disappearing round a corner.

Both teens spent a moment in complete shock of what had just happened. Did they really like each other? In that way?

The weekend came sooner than planned. Pansy, Harriet and Ginny were standing in the Entrance hall. Waiting for everyone to assemble so the group could go to Hogsmeade.

"It's not like it's a date." Harriet told Pansy and Ginny for the umpteenth time.

"He's taking you to the bookstore!" Pansy rolled her eyes at her friend. "Of course it's a date!"

"Yeah," Ginny agreed, "Not to mention that I heard him bugging Draco about your likes and dislikes this morning. It's totally a date."

"But-" Harriet tried to protest.

"No buts!" Pansy and Ginny shut it down.

"He took you to the Yule ball," Pansy reminded her.

"He put effort into his dancing for you," Ginny said.

"He agreed to take you to the bookstore." Pansy continued.

"He's actually trying to look presentable today!" Ginny remarked.

"And you don't see the way he looks at you!" Pansy snapped as Harriet opened her mouth to say something.

"Fine." Harriet gave up. "It's a date."

"Yay!" Ginny cheered.

A few minutes later, Seamus walked up to them. He gave the two other girls a small greeting and then turned to Harriet.

"Ready to go?" He asked, offering his arm. Harriet noticed that he looked less rumpled than usual. More like on the night of the Yule ball. Had he really put more effort in today? Was this because of her reputation or because he might like her?

"Yeah," she replied taking his arm. She was pulled away from her friends as the the student mass began to move, Professor McGonagall leading the fray. She gave Ginny and Pansy one last helpless glance and recieved two pairs of thumbs up and big grins in return.

As it turned out, the afternoon she spent with Seamus was one of the nicest she'd had in a while. He took her to the bookstore - as promised - and watched her browse for a few hours. He even helped her pick out a new book. Not to mention he paid for it and took her out to eat afterwards. They spoke about their respective families.

"My dad's a muggle. My mam's a witch," he told her, "she didn't tell him 'till they were married. Bit of a shock for him when he found out."

Harriet snorted into her tea. "Well, too late to back out then, right?"

A quick stop at Honeydukes concluded the 'date'. It still felt super wierd calling it that. Something was a little off as well.

The walk back to the castle was spent holding hands and enjoying the snow that was still there. Harriet pointed out some of her favourite spots. Seamus told the occasional joke - which got Harriet laughing again and again - and gave gossip about the teachers. They said their goodbyes in the entrance hall and promised that they would go on another date sometime. Yes, they were calling it a date out loud.

Harriet skipped all the way to the Slytherin common room, causing several people to be unnerved. Harriet? Skipping? Since when did she do that? Had her worst enemy died?

Harriet and Seamus spent Valentines day in a similar manner. However instead of the bookstore, they went to the record store and picked something out for each other.

The good mood didn't last as long as Harriet had hoped it would. The pressing matter of the tournaments second task and finding the Iris Pendant weighed down like a ton of bricks.

The 24th of February came far too soon.

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No ship hate please! I have plans! Trust the author!

Anyway, who do you think Harriet will save in the second task?
Humor me, the next chapter is going to take ages to write properly.

Thanks!
Drachma
XOXO