𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒-ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣❥

𝐇𝐁𝐏 𝟏𝟐

That night in the dormitory had carved itself into Emily's mind like a memory she couldn't shake.

Every time she looked at Harry now, she saw flashes of that moment—the heat of his hands on her waist, the press of his lips against hers, the way he'd said he liked her shorts in that low, breathless voice.

In class, she found herself staring before she could stop it. When he shrugged off his cloak and jumper during Potions or pushed up his sleeves to wrestle with writhing plants in Herbology, her gaze traced the lines of his arms... imagining them wrapped around her again.

It wasn't just her.

Harry was different too.

His eyes followed her through every corridor, every lesson. He always seemed one second away from reaching out—his fingers brushing her arm as they passed, his knee bumping hers beneath the table, his hand lingering on the small of her back just a little too long.

Whenever they were together, he looked like he was counting down the seconds until they were alone.
Until he could kiss her again.

It was becoming impossible to pretend nothing had changed.

Because everything had.

Snow was swirling against the icy windows once more; Christmas was approaching fast. Hagrid had already single-handedly delivered the usual twelve Christmas trees for the Great Hall; garlands of holly and tinsel had been twisted around the banisters of the stairs; everlasting candles glowed from inside the helmets of suits of armor and great bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors.

Large groups of girls tended to converge underneath the mistletoe bunches every time Harry went past, which caused blockages in the corridors; fortunately, however, Harry's and Emily's frequent nighttime wanderings had given him an unusually good knowledge of the castle's secret passageways, so that he was able, without too much difficulty, to navigate mistletoe-free routes between classes.

Ron, who might once have found the necessity of these detours a cause for jealousy rather than hilarity, simply roared with laughter about it all.

Although Harry much preferred this new laughing, joking Ron to the moody, aggressive model he had been enduring for the last few weeks, the improved Ron came at a heavy price.

Firstly, Emily and Harry had to put up with the frequent presence of Lavender Brown, who seemed to regard any moment that she was not kissing Ron as a moment wasted; and secondly, Harry and Emily found themselves once more the best friends of two people who seemed unlikely ever to speak to each other again.

Ron, whose hands and forearms still bore scratches and cuts from Hermione's bird attack, was taking a defensive and resentful tone.

"She can't complain," he told Harry and Emily. "She snogged Krum. So she's found out someone wants to snog me too. Well, it's a free country. I haven't done anything wrong."

Harry did not answer, but pretended to be absorbed in the book they were supposed to have read before Charms next morning (Quintessence: A Quest).

Emily always stormed away whenever Ron mentioned Hermione, she was amazed by his foolishness.

Determined as she was to remain friends with both Ron and Hermione, she was spending a lot of time with her mouth shut tight.

"I never promised Hermione anything," Ron mumbled. "I mean, all right, I was going to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with her, but she never said . . . just as friends . . . I'm a free agent. . . ."

Emily finally had enough and decided that she and Harry should go on a 'walk' which always ended up with the two finding an empty cupboard.

Hermione's schedule was so full that Harry and Emily could only talk to her properly in the evenings, when Ron was, in any case, so tightly wrapped around Lavender that he did not notice what Harry and Emily were doing.