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four — every corner of this house is haunted
☾
REYNA WOKE EARLY THAT FOLLOWING MORNING, wrapped in a sleeping bag on the drawing room floor. A chink of sky was visible between the heavy curtains. It was the cool, clear blue of watered ink, somewhere between night and dawn, and everything was quiet except for Harry, Ron and Hermione's slow, deep breathing. Reyna glanced over at the dark shapes they made on the floor beside him. Ron's hand was inches away from Hermione's, and Reyna wondered if they had fallen asleep with their fingers intertwined. The idea made her feel strangely lonely, and her eyes glanced over to Harry.
Reyna couldn't help but think back to their fourth and fifth years. The way she would cuddle into him in the common room, wearing one of his sweatshirts . . . And that time he had gotten her flowers for Valentines Day, and Ron looked like he could be sick . . . All the nights they had spent together in the Astronomy Tower, with Harry's Cloak and the Marauders Map beside them, incase they ever got caught by Filch's stupid cat . . .
Reyna could not stand lying there with nothing but bitter thoughts for company. Desperate for something to do, for a distraction, she slipped out of her sleeping bad, picked up her wand, and crept out of the room. On the landing she whispered, "Lumos," and started to climb the stairs by wandlight.
On the second landing was the bedroom in which she, Hermione, and Ginny had slept last time they had been here; she glanced into it. The wardrobe doors stood open and the bedclothes had been ripped back. Reyna suddenly remembered the overturned troll leg downstairs. Somebody had searched the house since the Order had left. Snape? Or perhaps Mundungus, who had pilfered plenty from this house both before and after Sirius died?
She walked into the bedroom, vaguely wondering if whoever searched the room found what they were looking for. It felt strange, being back in this room — it reminded her of all the memories she had made here; all the pranks she pulled on Sirius, all the eavesdropping the kids did when the Order had a meeting, her first Christmas which didn't only consist of herself and Astrid . . .
Curiously, Reyna made her way to her cupboard. She found a few shirts, a jumper that she had stolen from Hermione, and a skirt she had been missing for a while now in the first drawer, and the second drawer was almost empty, with a polaroid facing downwards.
She picked it up, turning it over to see a picture of herself and Harry. Immediately, she recognised it; it was taken back in their fourth year, at a party hosted before the Yule Ball. She was wearing a mini black dress, her hair pulled up into a messy ponytail, with a bottle of Firewhiskey in one hand. Her other hand was around Harry's shoulder, and she was smiling at the camera, her eyes showing her utter joy. Harry, however, was facing Reyna rather than the camera, looking at her as though he had never quite seen something like her before. There was also a smile on his face, and at that moment Reyna truly understood what everyone meant when they told her that it was obvious he loved her.
