Skill and Seclusion [2] || Harry Potter x OC x Draco Malfoy

158. Sink or Soar

DISCLAIMER

I do not own Harry Potter ... but what is going on with television nowadays? Every fandom I'm in supports a show that has some sort of drama, cancellations, a horrible ending, or leaks

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The courtyard was the most crowded Bel had ever seen it.

Staff and students alike from all three schools were grouped together in clumps, running around frantically trying to spot those they had to say goodbye to.

A record number of handshakes and hugs were shared, some tears shed, and it really seemed as though, for a moment, the way the year had ended wasn't so horrible.

However, despite the united atmosphere, Harry and Bel couldn't help but feel rather isolated from it all.

Neither one of them had the chance to bond with the visiting students, given the events of the year, and so they found themselves without goodbyes needing to be said.

That wasn't true for their friends, seeing Ron apologise to Fleur for his alarming Yule Ball incident, and Krum pull Hermione to the side to hand her a piece of paper, no doubt with information for her to write to him.

Riley, Ollie, and Tia were also wishing some of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students farewell, and it made Bel relieved to see all three of them able to smile again.

"It's strange, don't you think?" the Hufflepuff girl pondered aloud from where she and Harry were stood under one of the entrance archways off to the side of the courtyard.

"What is?" he asked back.

"This is exactly how it would have gone if everything was normal. Everything isn't normal, and yet ... life goes on. Happiness can still prevail."

They continued to look out at the mass of smiling and laughing students, quietly agreeing that she was right.

There is always a chance for happiness, even when it seems impossible.

"Mabel!"

Someone calling out her name caught both Harry and Bel's attention, both of them turning their gaze to the right, only to see Axel manoeuvring himself through the crowd towards them.

Harry pushed himself off the stone archway where he was leaning, taking a step closer to Bel's side just as the Durmstrang boy arrived.

"I hoped I would find you", Axel said. "Considering the tragedy, I didn't want to bother you too soon."

Bel forced a grateful smile, and nodded. "That was thoughtful of you. Thank you."

Axel smiled back, looking like a lovesick puppy.

"And exactly what do you want to bother her with?" Harry chimed in.

Briefly glancing over to the Gryffindor, Axel cleared his throat before saying, "Admittedly, I wish we had more time to get to know one another better. But then I realized that I don't need to be here to do that."

Reaching into his fur coat pocket, he produced a small piece of parchment and handed it out in Bel's direction.

"Perhaps we can continue to talk through letters?" he asked hopefully.

Bel hesitated to take it, sharing a quick glance with a very disapproving Harry, before reaching out to accept his offer.

"That sounds nice", she replied.

There was a concern that Axel had the wrong idea about their future communications, taking a more romantic stance rather than merely friendship, but Bel knew she could lay him down gently when she wrote to him first.