Author's Note: Not the greatest opening chapter I've written, but I had about 3 drafts for this, and this was by far the best. Hopefully it will get better. Susan/Harry should work. If you're wondering, and aren't knowledgeable on minor characters, Susan's grandparents and uncle (plus his wife and kids) were murdered by a Death Eater. That specific Death Eater, mentioned in the book, has left Azkaban. Then with what happens in HBP (not going into details), I'm left assuming Susan's parents/Susan herself are next.
DISCLAIMER: Clearly, I don't own Harry Potter. I do own a Harry Potter toy, though. Does that count?
She didn't understand. She couldn't grasp the concept. She looked around the room, people shooting Patronus' left and right, and she was just standing there.
She took a glance around the room, and saw Harry Potter standing abnormally close to a grinning Cho Chang. His hand was holding up her arm, and he even seemed to help flick her wand.
Lo and behold, out shot her Patronus.
Susan's eyes left Harry's body, and stared down at the floor. Her wand was barely in her grip, ready to fall onto the floor. She heard footsteps nearing her. Without looking up, she began walking away from them.
She passed some 3rd years already mastering the charm, and she couldn't even get one spark out of the wand. Finally, she made it to the far end of the vibrant room, and slouched down, finally looking up.
She could see all the members of the club, the Defense Association – Dumbledore's Army. She was a horrible excuse for a member. If only she could find a way to get out of this—
"Susan?" said a voice near her, out of her line of sight. She didn't even bother finding out who it was. She gave them no response. "Susan, are you alright?" The voice said again. The voice – it sounded so familiar. She slowly averted her eyes in the direction the voice was coming from, and saw a brightly smiling Harry standing over her.
Her eyes quickly shot back down to the ground. "What?" she mumbled, she could feel her cheeks burning.
"I- I wanted to know if you needed, err, wanted help? I haven't seen you make a Patronus yet." He said and moved a bit closer to her.
"Well, maybe that's because I can't make one." She responded bitterly. She felt Harry move even closer to her, and sit down next to her. Their bodies were almost touching. Susan began growing redder and redder. She moved away from the adorable boy next to her a few inches, but he persisted and moved closer again.
"You've only been at it for one day." Harry told her, "You're not going to be perfect, yet."
Susan spitefully glanced up at all the people firing off Patronus'. "Yeah, well, what about them? I'm the only one who can't…"
She felt Harry's head moved closer to hers. His breath was running down the side of her neck. Goosebumps rose, it gave her chills. Finally, he whispered, "Yours will be the best. None of these kids mean these. They're using them just for fun. You- Susan, you have a reason to use this. I know about what… He did to your family."
Susan looked over at him, her eyes narrowed. How did he find out? Nobody knew… Nobody. She flicked her eyes between Harry and the floor. She couldn't decide whether to be proud, that the 'master' thought hers would be good, or distraught that he knew about her grandparents… She let out a frail breath, and shot her head back away.
"If you're willing to stay after the class… I'd be willing to help you." He whispered, and stood up. He shot her one final look, a meek smile, which she returned half-heartedly.
Susan didn't even attempt her Patronus again until the class had left; only leaving herself and Harry in the room. She was still slouched up against the wall; he was on the far side, standing next to the door.
Wasting no time at all, Harry said, "Ok, let me see it."
Susan looked at him, slightly confused. "See what?" She asked.
Harry let out a weak laugh, "Your Patronus."
Susan mouthed 'oh', and stood up. She raised her wand, and stared off into the air momentarily, before saying, "Expecto… Patronum." In a rather indifferent tone.
Harry's smile widened, and he walked over to her, in his usual calm demeanor, "Your problem is that you don't mean it. You're just saying it as if it were any other word you used. Here – let me show you." He informed her, and grabbed hold of her wrist.
"Expecto Patronum!" he called, with no avail. He turned his head directly to Susan's (they were so close their noses could almost touch) and said, "Now you try."
After a moment of panic, Susan shakily nodded, and turned her head away. "Expecto Patronum!" She cried – nothing.
"Expecto Patronum!" She called again, with no response.
"Expecto Patronum!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, and a 'boom' noise echoed through the room and a large glimmer of light emerged from the girl's wand, in shape of a lion.
In a mix of excitement and shock, Susan wrapped her arms around Harry's neck tightly. Tears were streaming down her cheeks; lastly, she lightly kissed Harry on the cheek before pulling away from him.
She looked into Harry's eyes. He was smiling, though his face was a pale red. There was little movement for a few seconds, before Susan realized what she was doing. She began struggling to get out of his grasp, pulling away. He tried to keep his grip tightened on her shoulders.
"Susan…" He whispered.
She stopped trying to struggle. Looking down at the ground, she responded with, "Yes?"
"How – Why is it a lion?" He sounded confused, yet awestruck.
Susan didn't know the answer. Lions symbolized bravery. She wasn't brave, and she knew it. "I- I don't know. I've never seen it until now." She replied shakily.
Harry kept his face fixed on Susan's, her face was faced down, and Harry could only see her hair. He slowly moved his hand up and ran his fingers through the tied hair. Susan looked up, her brown eyes looked glassy. Harry moved closer, and cupped the back of the girl's head, and pressed his lips against hers.
Susan felt as if this was all a dream. None of it was happening. Wishes like this don't come true. She was shocked, yet her epiphany was complete. She couldn't return the kiss. She couldn't. She pulled her mouth away from Harry, her body shaking. Their faces were only a few inches apart. She could see Harry's lips trembling. She turned her head up, and saw Harry looking directly at her. She wanted to tell him it was wrong. They couldn't.
Finally, she whispered, "… It's getting late. I should go." Harry only nodded. He let go of the frail girl, and she sped passed him, to the door of the Room. As she opened it, she could hear Harry mumbling to himself, his back still turned to her. As she passed through the doorway into the hall, she took one final look into the room. She gently closed the door and began heading towards the Hufflepuff Common Room, shaken by the night's predicaments.
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The next days Herbology class was extremely uncomfortable for Susan. She kept glancing over at Harry, feeling extremely guilty about leaving him the night before. Harry barely looked at her. Hannah Abbott was eagerly trying to find out what she had learned after the meeting, but Susan wasn't talking. She kept daydreaming about Harry, and tried to half-listen to Sprout's lesson.
"— Alright, then. Everybody pair up." Susan heard Professor Sprout say, and there was a shuffle of feet through the greenhouse. Susan turned over to Hannah, who had reluctantly paired up with Ernie; and Justin Finch-Fletchy had (grudgingly) been paired up with Zacharias Smith. Susan panned through the class and saw nobody without a partner, except—
"Bones, stop dallying, pair up with Potter. Get on the assignment." Sprout said, causing Susan to freeze. She glanced up at Harry. Ron and Hermione had paired up together – just her luck. Halfheartedly, she gathered up her equipment and walked over to Harry. Neither looked at the other during the assignment, nor spoke at all.
Susan finished pulling the leaves off her Radix Fungor, and began trying to pull out the plant by its roots, to no avail. Harry noticed this, and placed his hand overtop of her, and pulled it out for her. He brushed his hand away before there could be any more contact between the two.
"Thank you," Susan said, slightly embarrassed. Harry looked over at her with a smile.
"For what?" he asked, with a laugh.
Susan rolled her eyes, and let out an exasperated sigh. "For- For everything, for last night, for just now; you're so helpful. You're so modest, even though you're clearly better than all of us. You're the only one who can... Only you can save us."
The last comment made Harry's stomach churn. Still, he let out an uncomfortable laugh, trying to sound as sincere as possible about it. "No, I'm not," he said, coolly.
"Yes, you are. You survived- You survived You-Know-Who. How many times now? 2, 3--"
"Four." Harry interrupted, but let her continue.
"Four. How many other people could say they've done that?" Susan asked, finally looking Harry in the eyes. Neither seemed to be paying much attention to the assignment, nor the fact that Professor Sprout was looking right at them.
"Get back to work, you two." Sprout shouted, from the other side of the room, before Harry could reply. Startled, both of them turned back to pulling the Radix Fungor. Not another word was spoken for the remaining 20 minutes of class.