Never Let Me Go ⚡︎ [ harry potter ]

⚡︎ • ❝ f o r t y f i v e ❞ • ✴

Whatever hope that Grace felt that Sunday afternoon, was gone quicker than it came. Peace lasted maybe an hour before her parents started arguing again over something small and trivial. Weekdays were both Harry and Grace's favorite, since it was usually peaceful in the afternoon with just them, Remus and Sirius. They liked the days where they spent the afternoon at Blue Cottage. Harry liked the openness that surrounded the house, and the homey feel he felt every time he stepped out of the fireplace; it reminded him of the Burrow. It didn't have the same magical touches that the Burrow had, thanks to Mrs. Weasley, but Blue Cottage had a sense of comfort to it that Harry looked forward to feeling.

One afternoon in the second week of July, it was particularly hot out as Grace and Harry walked through the forest, trying to escape the sun. Grace hopped on a fallen tree trunk, and walked heel-to-toe with her arms out for balance. Harry lazily walked on the ground a little bit behind her, just watching her. Her curly hair was tied in a knot on the top of her head, only little fly-away hairs seemed to have escaped. She wore a light pink floral spaghetti strap shirt that was tucked into a pair of light denim shorts. Harry's tried for the last two hours to not stare at her too much, but every move she made his eyes seemed to gravitate to her.

"What's the incantation for a banishing charm?" Grace asked as she jumped off the log, and picked up a long stick from the ground. Helena didn't want them going out side and running wild before doing their actual school work, the same rules as last summer applied: Two hours of school work, then the rest is free. Unfortunately, and much to everyone's surprise, Sirius also agreed to those terms. However, during the week, Sirius didn't care how they managed to do two hours of their summer work if it got done. A loophole done at its finest. While it was hot out, Grace thought it was to pretty of a day to be kept inside, and decided that instead of reading their texts, they were going to revise; so for the past hour and a half, she's been quizzing Harry on everything they had learned last year.

"Er... Depulso," Harry answered, surely and Grace grinned at him from over her shoulder. Harry felt a familiar tug in his chest at her smile. It was something that he's noticed he's been experiencing often the past two weeks, usually when ever she smiles at him, or when she's laughing. Not a normal laugh, but a big, loud, laugh that had her head falling back, her hands clutching her sides, and complete unawareness of herself. Many times when she had one of these laughs she always found herself leaning onto Harry's side, or found herself half laying on his lap. He didn't mind, he liked it when she did that because he liked it when she laughed.

"Good job, Mr. Potter," she teased. "I say that's enough revision for today, I'm hot."

"Yeah," he found himself thinking out loud, and he felt his cheeks heat up.

"Huh?" she asked, turning to look at him but he shook his head.

"Nothing, I just agreeing, it's – er – hot out," he stumbled over his words.

"Let's go cool off," she said, grabbing his hand and leading him further into the forest.

"Er... wouldn't we go back to the house?" he asked, but let her lead him anyway.

"There's a stream a little bit ahead," she told him, "the water is usually cool." What Harry thought 'a little bit ahead' meant was obviously very different than what Grace meant. He thought they were going to be walking only a handful of meters away, not a whole kilometer. Harry felt the sweat beading on his forehead and the back of his neck when they finally reached the stream.

Grace let go of his hand, and sprinted to the water; slipping off her shoes, she stepped into the cool water. She bent down and cupped her hands into the water, then splashed her face, sighing as the cool water rolled down her neck. Harry stood there, swallowing a strange lump that formed in his throat as he stared at her, watching the water droplets cascade down her neck and disappear under her shirt. "Aren't you going join me?" she asked him. Harry blinked, shaking his head.