Easy Mistake ; Harry Potter

O N E H U N D R E D A N D T H R E E | The Knight Bus

Eleanor found Harry alone in his room shortly after the fiasco between Snape and Sirius.

Eleanor had also wagered a guess that Harry had just told Ron and Hermione about his private Occlumency lessons with Snape for Ron had come down the stairs looking quite horrified and telling Hermione he'd refused point blank to do it if he were Harry.

Eleanor knocked gently on the door before entering the bedroom. Harry was sat on his bed with his head in his hands but looked up once Eleanor entered. He smiled weakly.

"You okay?" Eleanor asked as she came and sat down next to Harry, after closing the door quietly behind her.

"Not really," Harry admitted with a sigh as he rested his head on Eleanor's shoulder. Eleanor raised her hand and began to run her hand through his raven hair soothingly. "I'm not looking forward to going back. I'd rather be staying here."

Eleanor nodded thoughtfully. "I'm not surprised," she said. "Hogwarts has been a giant shitshow this year." A moment passed. "But then again, it has been ever since I met you."

Harry mustered a small laugh. "Yeah," He agreed. "I'll give you that."

Harry sat up suddenly, letting out a groan of frustration. "I've got nothing to be going back for! No Quidditch, I'll be going back to Umbridge who no doubt has probably created another dozen Educational Degrees for us all. If it weren't for the D.A. I wouldn't be going back at all."

Eleanor was watching Harry closely and was unsure what to say for a while. It was hard to understand how Harry was feeling when she was a Muggle and hadn't witnessed first hand the goings on at Hogwarts. She did know that the students had been less than kind to Harry all year, as well as Umbridge and the Quidditch ban, and the now added dread of Occlumency lessons with his least favourite teacher, it was no wonder he didn't want to go back.

"You have everything to be going back for," Eleanor said fiercely after a beat of silence in which Harry looked gloomily at his bed. He looked up at Eleanor in surprise. "Like you said, you have the D.A. in which you are purposely doing the one thing Umbridge is most afraid of. By going back you are ensuring that you are not letting Umbridge get to you because she would be all too happy if you refused to go back. You'd be playing right into her hands! By going back you are standing up for what you have been saying about Voldemort returning and showing the students that you will never waver in what you've been saying all along. By going back, although it might not feel it at the moment, you are returning to the one place you've been the most happy. By going back, you'll be returning home."

Harry stared at Eleanor for a moment and it seemed that Harry was unable of speech because he opened his mouth to speak but swallowed thickly instead.

He fell back on to his bed and Eleanor saw his eyes shining and filling with unshed tears. "I just don't think I can do it anymore." Harry's voice was barely a whisper.

Eleanor lay down next to Harry and curled up at his side. She grabbed his hand which she stroked with her thumb.

"I know it's hard," Eleanor said as she watched Harry. He turned his face directly to hers and Eleanor watched a single tear run down the side of his face. "But I know you can do this, Harry. If anyone is capable of getting through this, it's you."

Eleanor leaned over and brushed Harry's fringe away from his forehead. She placed a long kiss directly on his lightning bolt shaped scar. "I'll be with you along the way. I'm only ever a letter away, okay? You can call on me for anything. Heck, I'll Floo to Hogwarts and I'll knock out Umbridge as well as the entire population of Hogwarts if I have to, in order for you to be happy again."

Harry gave a small smile which Eleanor took as a victory. Harry wrapped his arms around Eleanor and pulled her closer. The two lay like that for some time, basking in each others company, neither one being the one wanting to pull away first. They both could've happily lay there forever.