Hold My Hand - Harry Potter (Book One)

A Higher Place

Saturday, 15th of April 1995

As the weeks flew by, one would presume the biggest anxiety in Harry Potter's life would be the upcoming third task, which was now a little over two months away. However he was far more consumed by his love for one of his best friends.

And frankly, it was killing him.

How was it possible that a feeling he had never realised he had, could consume him so quickly and so completely? He could barely eat, he could barely sleep, her face was all he saw whenever he closed his eyes. It was taking over his entire life.

But truly, Harry didn't really mind it.

However, he was starting to realise that bottling it all up and keeping it to himself wasn't doing him much good. He needed to tell someone how he was feeling, to get someone else's perspective, to have someone to offload to whenever he had to see all the boys in the corridor turn their heads to watch as she walked by.

He was sat in Charms, and frankly he had never been more bored. Usually, he didn't mind Flitwick's lessons, as they were mostly practical, but this was a theory session and he would rather be anywhere else in the world than sat listening to him drone on about safety when brandishing your wand.

Of course, his newfound Ariana obsession was making things significantly more exciting, as he had something to think about, but as she sat behind him with Hermione, it wasn't as if he could watch her.

He realised how creepy that sounded, and shook his head at himself.

"What's wrong?" Ron whispered, and Harry noticed he must have seen him shaking his head, which just made him look crazy.

"Nothing," Harry whispered back without looking at him, whilst grabbing his quill from his desk and dipping it into the ink pot he and Ron were sharing.

He wrote a note into his book of parchment, before subtly ripping the parchment out and handing it to his best friend, who looked at him with eyebrows furrowed, but took mental note to do as he was told, out of curiosity if nothing else.

————

Charms finished after what felt like a lifetime, and Harry found himself stood in the owelry alone, stroking Hedwig's feathers mindlessly, watching the doorway eagerly.

He hoped they would hurry up, as he desperately wanted to get to his lunch, and Ariana.

"Could you be any more cryptic?" The voice of Hermione called as she dashed into the room.

"I could have been if I had wanted to be," Harry shrugged, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"What did you need to meet us up here for? I'm starving," Ron complained.

"I love Ariana," Harry decided there was no point beating around the bush, he had to just say what he needed to say, get it off his chest and out into the universe.

"Is that it?" Ron asked, and Hermione subtly kicked him in his shin.

"Very tacful, Ronald," Hermione scolded.

"What do you mean? This is big news!" Harry insisted.

"Well, yes, I imagine it is to you," Hermione responded, and Harry appeared confused.

"I don't understand," He shook his head. He was expecting them to be shocked, surprised, thrilled perhaps. But there reaction was almost non-existent.

"The thing is, we all already know," Ron explained.

"How?! I didn't even know til a few weeks ago!" Harry's voice raised slightly.

"I understand that. But it's obvious really, her approval is all you've wanted for about two years now," Ron argued.

"That's just not true," Harry shook his head.

"It is, a bit. You saved Ginny from the Chamber, and all you wanted to do was to tell Ana. You were buzzing when she said she was proud of you. You didn't really believe a word Sirius said last year in the Shrieking Shack until Ana said she believed him," Hermione reasoned.

"Well..." Harry stuttered, "yeah, you've probably got a good point. But it's more than that now,"

"How?" Hermione asked.

"It's more than just loving her now, I can't picture life without her," Harry insisted.

"As in, you want to marry her?" Ron questioned.

"Yes," Harry nodded.

"You're fourteen, Harry," Hermione smiled, and Harry frowned.

"So?" He asked.

"Well, are you not a bit young to know who you want to marry?" Hermione chuckled.

"No," Was all Harry said, and Hermione thought to herself how lucky Ariana was, and she had no clue.

"Well, fair enough mate," Ron nodded.

"For what it's worth, I'm fairly certain she feels the same," Hermione reassured Harry, who's eyes lit up at her words.

"How? Has she said something?" Harry's voice was full of hope, and it broke Hermione's heart to let him down.

"Well, no, not exactly. But I know her better than anyone, she'll realise it one day. It took you until now to realise, didn't it?" Hermione said, and Harry tried to ignore the feeling of hope slipping away.

"Yeah, but I don't know how I didn't see it before. It's always been this way, just at the back of my mind. Now I can't get rid of her," Harry looked like a mad man, and Ron and Hermione presumed this is what a boy in love must look like.

"Let's go to dinner, yeah?" Ron said, gesturing towards the door, and the two others nodded in agreement.

"Ron! I've just thought, you can tell this story in your best man speech at their wedding!" Hermione skipped down the stairs, a spring in her step, and the boys laughed at her.

"Who said Ron will be my best man?" Harry questioned, humour in his voice.

"Hey! What do you mean?" Ron shrieked.

"I might ask Fred, or George," Harry shrugged.

"You wouldn't fucking dare!" Ron was outraged, and Harry burst out into laughter.

"It's fine, even if I didn't have you as my best man, you'd end up being Ana's," Harry reassured his best friend, knowing there would be nobody else better to be his best man in reality.

"As long as I don't have to wear a dress," Ron huffed.

"Like at the Yule Ball, you mean?" Hermione joked, shrieking as Ron tried to shove her down the stairs in retaliation.

————

The three approached the Gryffindor table for their lunch, and their friends were all too aware that they were late.

"Where have you three been?! We thought you'd died!" Ellen gasped as they approached, clutching her chest to sell the performance of 'shocked, concerned friend.'

"We were just busy, chatting, hey Harry, why don't you sit on that side?" Ron shouted to his friend, who was about to sit on the side of the table opposite Ariana.

Harry's cheeks flushed dramatically, and he glared at his red-headed friend.

"Why, Ron, that is a very good idea," Hermione smirked. Ariana, who was sitting beside Nora, and chatting with Fred and George, looked up in confusion.

"What's going on?" She smiled, but her eyes were flooded with confusion.

"Nothing!" Harry insisted a little too quickly.

"It's not nothing! You're all acting really weird," She laughed.

"Ana, nothing's going on, I promise," Hermione reassured her, shooting a wink to Harry when Ariana rolled her eyes and turned back to continue her conversation with Nora and the twins.

Harry was relieved she had let it go, but he hoped his friends would be trustworthy and not blurt his secret out to the one person he didn't want to find out about it.