Always There For You (Harry Potter OC X OC)

23. Late Birthday-

'I can't believe it,' said Anthony, sitting on his bed. 'Still... who knew he was a descendant of Slytherin?'

Terry had just gotten out of the bathroom in his pajamas, while rubbing his hair dry with a towel. He went to get his wand at his bedside table, conjuring wind spell onto his hair.

'Yeah, what a plot twist,' said Joel as he was practicing transfiguration spell on a goblet, hoping it would turn into a rat.

'Doesn't add up though,' said Michael. 'He stops You-Know-Who. Why would he want to hurt us?'

'You seem to trust Harry a lot,' Anthony said.

'He's always polite and everything. You think a twelve year old is capable of doing this? Yesterday, Nearly Headless Nick got petrified too. A ghost. A ghost... You think Harry got the brains to conduct a curse so complicated?'

'Wait, I thought it was Justin Finch-Fletchley?' Joel asked.

'Him too, yeah,' Terry said. 'Yeah, Justin and Nearly Headless Nick.'

'They were petrified in the same place at the same time. Professor Sprout found them,' Anthony said.

Everyone were thinking.

'I-I-I don't believe Harry attacks people? He-He's nice,' said Andika, though stammering, holding in not to shout bezoar. They glanced at Andika inquisitively witnessing his rare speech.

'He doesn't look like the type to get amused by other people's pain,' said Terry. His hair had dried, so he put his wand in his pocket.

'Can we ask someone? We could track Slytherin's family tree? See if Harry's parents are there or something,' Anthony said.

'Even the Slytherins don't think they know anything about this. Have you seen them looking so scared? I've never seen Draco Malfoy look so scared like that. I saw him step aside when Harry Potter walks by the hallway. Malfoy! Can you believe it!' said Michael.

'Draco Malfoy?' Joel sounded amusedly, laughing.

'Oh, yeah!' Terry added, 'It's true, I saw it myself!'

They laughed, recounting how many times the Slytherin students were scared of Harry Potter. Even the older students did.

***

Joel caught a sight of his neighbour friend in the Great Hall sitting with Sandra, Markus, and Carl. They were eating a sandwich for breakfast.

'Hey Lizzy,' he called.

'Hey!' she said in usual brightness.

Joel helped himself to grab a sandwich from the first year's Hufflepuf table.

'Hey...' The others protested, seeing him taking hufflepuff's sandwich.

'Oh please, it's just a sandwich.' Joel rolled his eyes and munched. All of his body paid attention to Lizzy, facing her. 'Just want to ask if all of this petrify nonsense bothers you too. I can't focus in class,' he said, munching the sandwich.

'Well... not going to lie, Joel, these things have been stuck in my head. Who knows if we're going to be the next victim. Pretty scary to think about. Even a ghosts aren'r safe... a ghost! But I'm okay with classes. classes are just classes to me.'

'Right. Even Professor Dumbledore... look at him,' Joel said.

Lizzy looked at the teacher's long table. 'Yeah, well... just stay out of trouble, okay, Joel.'

'I have to meet my friends at the pitch. See you around latrmer. Thanks for the sandwiches, lads,' Joel said jokingly at the others.

'Oh wait, I forgot!' Lizzy said.

Joel stopped as he almost turned to leave.

'Happy very late birthday, Joel. I didn't forget, I swear. You're just so hard to find... sorry about that.'

'Oh! Happy birthday, Joel Lisbon!' Sandra added. Lizzy's friends joined in to tell him.

Joel was taken aback. He forgot about that himself, but his trouble went to something else. 'W-wait, you lot are so nice, so nice, but my god, I... wait... Happy late birthday to you too, Lizzy!' He felt bad. 'Might be because of this whole situation going on... It's... It's really out of my mind.' Joel slapped his forehead.

Lizzy laughed. 'No, I know. Your brain has a lot to think.'

'I guess we're even, then. I won't forget it next year... and hopefully, this petrification business is gone by then...'

'Yeah!' she said and laughed. 'No worries, next year.'

Joel felt really bad as he walked away to class. He had never forgotten her birthday before. He didn't even notice his own birthay...

He entered charms class. 'Hey, anyone have sweets?' Joel asked. The class hadn't started yet. Professor Flitwick hadn't arrived. People were playing with their wands or talk on the usual gossip.

'I have leftover flavoured beans if you want,' Terry offered a half eaten pack of it.

'Uh... is there unwrapped ones?'

'I have acid pops,' Sue offered, showing it.

'Great! Can I have it?'

'Sure!' Sue said, coyly.

Joel got the sweets. A wrapped up round of acidic hard candy on a stick. He kept it in his pocket. And until lunch came around, before he joined his mates for some grubs, he stopped at Lizzy's table. He didn't want to cause attention. People might get ideas if he presented Lizzy with sweets. So he threw it on Lizzy's lap, caught it on her robe like a safety net. He rushed back to his table, not looking back. Only when he had settled, he glanced quietly and saw the stick of the hard sweet dangling between Lizzy's lips.

Joel quirked up. Good mood sprouted all day long. Not even an insult from Isobel could ruin it for him.