Two Ghosts // h.s

CH. 7

Harry's POV (Only for a little! I promise to go back into his POV for a whole chapter soon!):

Alex.

He was one of Sophia's friends? When I first met her, that first night out, I could tell she was reserved. That she didn't trust easily and selected the people around her very carefully. I wanted to be one of those people. She was such a mystery and challenge, so unlike anyone I've ever met. I'm used to people being open with me, wanting me to like them, but she could barely tolerate being in the same space as me sometimes. She liked me too. I was determined to be her friend no matter how hard it was going to be, I wanted to be special to her because I liked her and I believed she had a good choice in friends. Until I learned about Alex. Sophia, the most closed-off person I knew, chose Alex to be one of her friends? I only knew him for less than 10 minutes and in that small time, I learned he was more than a co-worker and he was more than willing to see her tonight. That pissed me off. Even if he was her friend, she didn't look too happy to see him, and yet he was inviting her to meet up with him tonight. Sarah herself called him a prick, which he was. Why the fuck was she friends with him? They obviously had a thing but why with him?

I was starring at her now in the car to the house. I was going to find out why. Was she going to take him up on his invitation? The thought made me sick. She deserves better than some arse like that.

On the flight, I felt like we were getting somewhere. She was laughing and she didn't lie. She's never been in love, she was scared of love. The complete opposite of me. I asked her why but she didn't answer. Not that I was expecting her too but I couldn't help it. I wanted to know why she was so set against people getting close to her. I thought maybe she had been in love and they broke her heart, closing her off. But no, I was wrong. I could ask Sarah, but maybe her own sister didn't even know. I talked to Sarah about her once before. The day after taking her to Kings Cross, I pulled Sarah aside and asked her about Mitch. Mitch had already told me they were going to date (I was so happy for him) but I wanted to ask Sarah about it too. She was practically beaming and it was lovely to see. She then asked about mine and Sophia's night. I told her how I took her to dinner, then Platform 9 3/4.

"That was nice of you to do, H."

"I'm a nice guy, Sarah." I shrugged.

"She looked beautiful in the pictures you took." She smiled.

"She always does." I let slip out. It wasn't anything bad, it was the truth. Maybe I shouldn't have said 'always' but I couldn't help it. Sarah's my friend and I knew she could tell how I looked at Sophia sometimes, but she's also Sophia's sister. When I first held her hand, I couldn't ignore how it made me feel. If I got the chance to touch her, I couldn't let it pass. Subtly though, like grabbing her hand, giving her a handshake. I couldn't act on it in ways that I sometimes thought about, she and I weren't even friends. To her. That wasn't the reason I wanted to be her friend, of course. But trying to be her friend gave me the opportunities to spend time with her, get to know her. "She looked uh happy." I tried to recover a bit. "Over Harry Potter. It was really pure, like an angel, is what I meant." She really did remind me of an angel. An angel in the sense that she looked so innocent, so pure, seeing as she was the happiest I've ever seen doing something as small as taking a picture at an attraction from a children's book.

Sarah just gave me a curious look and smiled. "She's been through a lot, but she can be an angel at times." I wondered what this meant for a little until I understood. She wasn't innocent, not anywhere near it with what she's been through, but in moments like that night with me, you could never tell she was anything but an angel. I nodded in agreement and the conversation ended there.