Nothing's Fair In Love And War | Zarry

Part Six

Harry had missed the classroom; the fragrance of the wooden floor, the dust of chalks on the blackboard, the small bookshelves at the corner, and the cheerful noise when the kids swarmed in. What comforted Harry was, it appeared that his students missed him much as he missed them.

"Harry!" A girl with two ponytails wrapped her arms around his waist, "I miss you so much! Where did you go?"

"I missed you a lot too, Anita." Harry whispered, giving her a warm hug. He took a quick glance at the door. Zayn was still outside the classroom, and he didn't seem to notice what the little girl said.

"Can you turn my hair into purple this time? Pleaseee!" A little boy dragged his sleeve and bagged. Harry kneed down and smiled to him, "No, it's not gonna happen today, Peter. Kalisha will show you something much cooler today, okay? Promise me that you will pay attention!"

More and more children were surrounding him as Zayn and Kalisha both walked into the room. Harry hastened the kids to go back to their seats when he saw Zayn headed toward his direction. He lifted himself up and stood behind the last line of the students. Zayn looked much more nervous than he ever was.

"Good morning, class." Kalisha clapped her hands to get the attention from the kids, "I know you're all very excited today. But before we start our class, I'll need to introduce you guys to someone else first. Can we please welcome Mr. Zayn Malik with your loudest cheer?"

The whole classroom was applauding, even though some of the kids still didn't know where to look at. Zayn's entire face turned red as Kalisha led him to the front of the classroom. Harry pressed two fingers on his lips. He was surprised to notice that he was smiling again.

"Uh... H-hello, little buddies!" Zayn stuttered, forcing himself to make a proper opening. Some kids were waving at him, which encouraged him to continue in a much calmer tone. "You guys can call me Zayn. Although I'm older than all of you, I'm actually very new to this place. I'm not just here to teach you, I'm also here to study from you. Hopefully we can all learn a lot from each other!"

The room was full of applause again. A little boy next to Peter raised his hand, "Can you show us something? Harry turned our hair into orange last time. Can you do that too?! Just like that?"

He pointed at the silver highlight in Zayn's fringe. It was Harry's face turning red this time when the class laughed out loud. Zayn seemed pretty confused, but he grinned at the little kid as he answered his question. "I can show you guys something else after the class as a reward, if you all listen carefully to your teacher. Who knows, I can turn your hair into rainbow colours, maybe?"

All the kids started cheering and clapping their small hands. Kalisha stepped forward to replace him and tried to calm the class down. "Alright, you heard that! Today's class is very important, so I need all of you to focus. Now, who can tell me what's the main purpose of a magic circle?"

Zayn returned to the back of the classroom, standing next to Harry and rubbing his hands. "Was I doing good?"

"They like you." Harry answered lightly. Zayn wasn't really convinced. He leaned closer to Harry as whispered as Kalisha elaborated the history of magic circle. "You really think so? I mean...you have a great relationship with the kids. They all gathered around you right after you stepped into the room. That was amazing."

"Amazing?" Harry cracked a laugh, "You think it's impressive that I get along with kids?"

"I'm serious." Zayn swept his lower lip with his thumb, drifting his eyes away, "A newly born dragon is probably easier for me to handle. I needed to imagine all of them as Arnie so I could start talking. They are lovely, but this is just a difficult mission for me. I really don't know how to interact with them... Stop laughing!"