ghost stories - h. potter

Thirty-Three

The next evening, Belle sat up in her dorm room, her face burning a bright red as James and Sirius happily pretended to reenact Belle and Harry's infamous kiss from the night before. They were squealing about it in high-pitched voices, pretending to be Pansy (though in a nice way) when Belle had sat down the next morning at the Ravenclaw table and told them what had happened the night before. Luna, though she hadn't squealed, had simply beamed brightly and said 'it was about time.' She hadn't properly had the chance to talk to Fred, Cedric, Tonks or any of her other friends about it, but it seemed as though Sirius and James had seen what had happened, due to the way they were exaggerating the soft kiss Belle and Harry had shared.

"Hey, Belle," Tonks said quietly and the embarassed Ravenclaw glanced over at the woman, who was smiling kindly at her.

"I wanted to say thank you, though I know I should probably be thanking Harry for what he said last night. It was very sweet of you both and I wish I had gotten the chance to speak to you before I died, too." Belle itched to throw her arms around Tonks but due to the fact that she'd probably just go toppling off the side of her bed, she settled for a warm smile.

"Now that you and Harry are somewhat.... together," Cedric started awkwardly, causing the attention in the room to turn towards him.

"Will you tell him? About us, I mean." Belle nodded.

"I've been planning on doing so for a while now I've just never found the right time. With exams coming up in two months, all this homework and then all this happening, it's been a little hard to bring it up. But I will. And I'll tell Ron, and your family, Fred. I'll talk to Mr and Mrs Diggory, Cedric and if you want, when he's older, I can talk to Teddy, too. I don't want this to be kept a secret from the families of you all, not with how much you all mean to me," she finished.

"And we'll be right by your side when you do, no matter how it goes," Lily said and everyone nodded.

"You've come such a long way from being the young woman who sat alone on the train on her way here," Remus said.

"We're so proud of you, Belle. Not just because of last night, because of how you've helped other people heal and still managed to make yourself happy, too. Hogwarts truly is going to be lucky to gain you as a teacher, Harry was right."

"Were you all watching us last night?" Belle asked, though her eyes swam with happy tears. Remus' words had truly touched her, because all she had wanted to do was help people after the war. Hearing the words come from someone who had watched her try to do so, really did mean a lot to her. Remus simply shrugged, a hint of a smile on his lips.

"Creeps," Belle laughed, before she sniffed and smiled at her family.

"That would mean a lot to all of us if you talked to them, Belle," Fred said, placing his hand on her own and Cedric nodded.

"My Dad might be a little harder to persuade but..."

"Don't worry," Belle said.

"Luna and I... we've been doing a little bit of studying on Clairvoyancy. There may be something I can do that will help people to understand that I'm not lying to them."

"Like what?" Lily asked curiously and Belle only smiled knowingly.

"You'll find out. If it works."

With her mood still set on high and her mind buzzing, she wasn't able to focus on her potions homework for much longer. Fred went to visit George, Cedric split to watch over his family and Tonks and Remus departed so they could go and see little Teddy who was growing bigger by the day. She pushed her homework into her trunk and closed the lid, before bidding James, Lily and Sirius a goodnight. She headed into the bathroom with her pyjamas and turned on one of the showers, hoping that the warm water would cause her to become sleepy. The bathroom mirror was completely foggy by the time she got out and it seemed that the water had done nothing but increase her mood as she caught wind of the small smile present on her face when she had wiped the steam clear from the mirror. She padded back out into her now-empty dorm room that was almost completely pitch-black other than the small, lit lamp on one of the spare bedside tables. She ran a hand through her damp hair and climbed into her bed, pulling the comforter over her body.