𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟏𝟑𝟏 - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

"𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚, 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙮?" asked Lily lightly rapping on the door of his bedroom. "Or if you're not, the kettle's just boiled?"

"I'll be down in a minute." said Harry over his shoulder, he was still laying in his bed with his back to the door, "Thanks mum." he added.

He heard her hesitate before closing the door once again, leaving him alone in his bedroom which was supposed to have been Ophelia's once upon a time and he could have seen her liking it, a wonderful panel of light was shining the morning light through the glass, even though the sky was grey the sun managed to brighten up his whole room.

His eyes were fixed on the picture on his bedside, he'd unpacked his trunk late last night as a means to distract himself and put it there as he did in the boy's dormitories, it was a magic photo of the both of them mere weeks prior after Gryffindor won the House Cup he and Ophelia were beaming at one another before he reached down to kiss her, the photo was a never ending loop of joy.

How did that feel so right then and feel suddenly so weird now?

Under his pillow he had a notepad he had begun drafting his letter to Ophelia, countless scrunched up versions were strewn about the floor of his room but he was unable to think of anything that properly worded how he felt.

Was he angry, disappointed, hurt even that she wasn't willing to wait for him?

A part of him even felt the slightest bit proud that she held her own to him and a bigger part agreed that it was probably best she came, if not for him but for a logistical standpoint she was a lot more powerful than he was, she was also very smart and good at moral support.

But she could get hurt, killed even -- I couldn't go through that again.

Harry climbed out of bed, throwing together a quick outfit before trotting downstairs to the kitchen where the table was laid out with toast, orange juice, bacon, eggs, sausages and hashbrowns -- he grinned widely as he took his seat which was at the bottom of the table, with his parents sat opposite one another.

They all ate in comfortable silence, every so often Lily would shoot James a pointed look and nod to their son who was wolfing down his breakfast, he'd furrow his eyebrows and look blankly back at her, she rolled her eyes and turned to Harry as she set down her mug of tea.

"So are we just going to overlook the whole black-eye thing?"

Harry stopped chewing and looked at his mother.

"We got into a fight--"

"I know, what I don't know is why." said Lily, looking at her son. "Care to explain?"

Harry swallowed his food, "We got into a row about Phee, she was hurt and she was going to get herself even more hurt -- Regulus wouldn't let me go after her, so we got into a fight."

"How was she going to get more hurt?"

Did he tell his parents about her duelling Dumbledore? He decided it was probably best not to for now.

"She fell, and was fighting off a bunch of Inferi... Regulus didn't want me to get involved, we made up yesterday."

Lily hummed, "And your argument with Ophelia had nothing to do with it?"

Harry chewed on the inside of his lip, how on earth could she tell so easily? Was it stamped across his forehead? He made a non-commital gesture and Lily let out a sigh, putting an empty mug in front of him she filled it up with tea before turning her full body to face him.