Can't Help Falling In Love - Harry Potter (Book Two)

Born To Make You Happy

Monday, 31st of July 1995

The month of July flew past in the blink of an eye, until suddenly the date of Harry Potter's fifteenth birthday had appeared on the calendar on Ariana Dumbledore's bedroom wall.

Ariana had spent four weeks thinking about that very boy. She was under no illusions that their relationship was platonic, but she still wasn't sure what they were to one another.

She knew she wasn't satisfied looking at him as simply her friend, as she had been for almost five years. The attraction she felt whenever they locked eyes, the warmth in her chest whenever he complimented her, the spark that ignited on her skin whenever they brushed hands in a busy corridor.

Those weren't feelings felt between friends.

And the more she had thought about their interactions during the past year, the more sure she felt that her affections weren't one-sided. She didn't want to feel arrogant, but she tended to know what Harry was feeling and thinking better than most.

The issue she faced, of course, was the drama that was certain to unfold for the foreseeable. Just the month before, Lord Voldemort had returned to power, and one thing Ariana definitely was sure of, was that he didn't intend to take an early retirement and open a florist in Cornwall.

He was going to make life difficult, and stop at nothing to see Harry dead at his feet. Which meant the young man had no time for any distractions of any kind, especially not the female kind.

It was a hard pill to swallow for the young Dumbledore, but she couldn't live with herself if she distracted him from what was important and he ended up killed.

"You alright Ana?" The girls head snapped up, to see her Father, Richard, stood in the doorway of her bedroom, concern on his face.

"Fine, thanks Dad," She smiled, and he nodded, but didn't leave as she had expected him to.

"There's a meeting tonight, think you'll be okay here alone for a few hours?" Richard had a look on his face that said he didn't want to say that, but he knew he had to let his young daughter know where he was going.

The meeting he referred to was the Order of the Phoenix, an organisation that Richard's father and Ariana's grandfather, infamous wizard Albus Dumbledore, had founded back when Voldemort first rose to power, and one he had reformed the same night Voldemort returned, and Cedric Diggory, a student of Hogwarts, had been murdered.

This was the most significant reason Richard disliked leaving Ariana home alone for any prolonged period of time. Cedric and Ariana had known one another for just under one year at the time of his death, but they had grown incredibly close during those months, until they had regarded one another as stand-in, adopted siblings. His death had caused her a great deal of grief and distress.

"Why can't I go to these meetings?" Richard suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, having held this very conversation with Ariana multiple times since she had returned from school, eager to join the fight and sign up to the Order. Of course, the issue with this was she was just fifteen years old.

"We've been through this already, sweetheart. It's too dangerous," He did hold some empathy for the girl, for he knew she was simply wanting to do what was right for her community, and that wasn't something he ever wanted her to lose. Besides, Voldemort was primarily after a boy which Richard knew Ariana regarded as one of her best friends.

"The other three are signed up!" The people Ariana referred to were her elder siblings. She was the oldest of four, with a significant age gap between all of them. Her parents had been sure they were finished having kids, when Ariana surprised everybody.