What You Can't See (Harry Potter Fanfic)

On the Bus

He appeared out of the blue one day during the summer months on the bus Olivia always took to and from the next town.

Olivia first started taking the bus to the next town at a young age, starting with riding with her parents or one of her older brothers on shopping trips for things they couldn't purchase in their own town or to the other town's library which was far more extensive than their small town library and contained books she couldn't find through the local library or her grandfather's bookstore.

The trips were infrequent at first, only for other things to draw her as she got older, such as the movie theater that her small town didn't have or even the ice creme shop which served flavors she couldn't get in the shops near her home. The pizza shop in the next town over was a popular hang-out for studying when the place didn't get too loud because of the other social gatherings of the teens and gave a feeling of growing up for many of her classmates at the local secondary school attended by the youth from the nearby towns as they were so small.

Everybody knew everybody, not personally, but in the sense that Olivia could easily recognize those who attended her secondary school, and he did not. As such, when he appeared out of the blue one day, she noticed. After he appeared out of the blue one day, Olivia noticed him appearing again, seeing he always rode the bus when there weren't many passengers on the bus, times her friends preferred not to ride as there weren't any cute boys to ogle at, to gossip about, to try and encourage her to approach.

Not that he who appeared out of the blue wasn't cute. "Cute, though, might not be the right word."

He was mysterious, an unnamed enigma reading a book every time he sat on the bus, not paying attention to anyone around him.

But she noticed him.

She noticed his curling black locks of hair cut just long enough so they could curl and the paleness of his skin and lips. His fingers were thin, and every so often, she caught a glimpse of her eyes which she wasn't sure whether they were silver-gray or blue-gray. Finally, deciding their color might depend on his mood, not that she ever approached him to confirm her theory.

She also noted an aristocratic feel about him, partly because he was indeed gifted with looks many of her female classmates, including her friends, would find handsome. His clothing also made him appear aristocratic, with her finally realizing his clothing from the begone era ranging from the Victorian era to just the decade before, and he wore them well. In contrast, the young men from her school wouldn't look so dapper.

Then, when everyone started going back to school, he disappeared, leaving her pondering the enigma of the boy riding the bus during the summer school break, wondering where he'd come from and why he'd visited the next town over from hers. It was when he appeared again when schools across England let out for the winter that she realized she'd been hoping to see him again, on the bus, to the point she'd taken frequent trips to the library when she knew she could get a bus with few other passengers. Yet, she couldn't ever strike up the nerve that winter to speak with the young man, the enigma.

And so, when winter break ended, or she figured his winter break ended, he disappeared, and Olivia found herself waiting again for him to appear.

"Isn't there anybody you're interested in," one of her friends asked during the spring term, just as her friends always asked, even though she usually said there wasn't anybody that perked her interest romantically, to which they suggested asking confident guys out because they thought she might get along with them. Yet, Olivia never asked someone out because doing so was outside of her comfort zone, unlike her friends and classmates.

Yet, this time, when a friend asked, her lips pushed together, and she said, "Yes. I think there is."

"Who? Who is it?"

"Well," she said, frowning as she did so. "I don't know his name, to be honest."

"How can you not know his name?" a second friend asked. "Don't we know everybody who attends our school?"

"He doesn't attend our school," Olivia said, resulting in the other girls oohing. She shook her head, amused at their reaction. "It's not like that. It really isn't."

"What do you mean it isn't?" the second friend said. "When you see him next, just ask him out?"

Olivia took a deep breath. "I can't."

He was, after all, a stranger, albeit a handsome one who, if she guessed right, also liked books.

"You can," a friend said.

Yet, when he did appear when the time for summer break came around, she didn't, at least not at first.

Instead, she sat on the bus, watching him, pushing her lip together as she tried working up the courage to speak to him, not to ask him out on a date, but instead strike up a conversation about books. After a week of seeing him every day, going back and forth at times when few rode the bus, she finally took a deep breath. "If you wait too long, then the summer will be over, and you won't see him until winter break."

Olivia stood up and moved closer, the bus shifting slightly as she walked from the place she'd chosen to sit to the site right across from him. She sat down, watching him remain engrossed in his book, not noticing her.

Taking another breath, she said, "Hi."

He continued reading, ignoring her.

Olivia frowned, disliking his ignoring her, and took a deep breath, speaking louder. "Hey. I said hi."

She watched the enigma startle; then, he slowly looked up at her. "Wait. You were talking to me?"

"Yes," Olivia said, trying to hold back the temper she'd been told ran in the family. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Yes," he said, snapping his book shut, which frustrated her, having taken the time to work up the courage to speak with him. Her fingers clenched into her fist and pushed her lips together to prevent herself from saying something she shouldn't. "You shouldn't be able to see me."

"Wait? What did you say?" It certainly wasn't what she'd expected to hear.

"I said you shouldn't be able to see me."