Sarah tapped her foot impatiently. The sound softly echoed through the torch-lit corridor, reminding her that she was alone and irritating her further. Where was he? He couldn't have missed her note, since she'd dropped it into his bag during the rush for everyone to leave Potions class.
She put her hands on her hips and sighed. He'd definitely gotten it. Maybe he'd gotten held up.
Suddenly an invisible hand clamped over her mouth. She tried to scream, but only a pitiful squeak came out.
"It's me, Sarah!" Harry laughed, whipping off the invisibility cloak. Sarah stared at him with her mouth open for a moment, her heart beating a mile a minute. She finally came to her senses and punched him in the arm.
"Harry! Jesus! That's not funny!" But she couldn't help it, she was laughing with him.
Harry grinned and leaned against the corridor wall, tucking his hands in the pocket of his ratty gray sweatshirt.
"So what's up? Your note only said to meet you here."
Sarah, suddenly self conscious, twirled a curly, dark brown lock of hair around her finger.
"Well, you know, we haven't talked in a while."
"I know, it's just been hard lately. With Quidditch, and classes, and now these lessons with Dumbledore, I have barely had time to breathe let alone schedule one of our little secret meetings."
Sarah grinned.
"Little secret meetings? That sounds a bit 007, doesn't it?"
"Well, what else would you call it? We meet… in secret."
"Not by choice. It would be a lot easier if we could just hang out in public like normal people."
"Yeah, I'm sure the rest of the Slytherins would be overjoyed if you sat with me at lunch." Harry laughed at the thought.
"Well, you could always sit at my table, you know," Sarah suggested, smiling coyly.
"Not if I want to keep my kneecaps, I couldn't!"
They both laughed, even though neither one of them really found it funny.
Sarah and Harry made the requisite small talk for a few minutes, discussing classes and friends and whatever else came to mind. They sat down next to each other, leaning against the cold stone wall of the seventh floor corridor. Then Sarah broached the subject she'd been wondering about all week.
"So… How's Ginny?"
Harry paused uncomfortably. He didn't know how to talk to Sarah about his girlfriend when he and Sarah both knew that there was something between them, too. It had always been there, right under the surface, but it was never acknowledged, probably due to the fact that nothing could ever work between a Gryffindor and a Slytherin. He cleared his throat and nodded, looking at the ground.
"She's good, she's good. You know, studying for her OWLs and everything."
Sarah picked at the hem of her pleated black skirt.
"That's good. I hope she does well." She drew in a breath, holding it for a moment before letting it out. "How is it, you know, between you two?"
"Uh, fine. It's really well. I mean, when we see each other, that is. We've both been so busy these past couple of weeks. But it's fine." They both grinned at his awkward response. Sarah hugged her knees to her chest.
"Well I'm glad it's fine. But um, I was wondering… Have you two, um…" She paused and shook her head, wishing she hadn't even started the question and wondering how to finish it. But Harry finished for her.
"Have we… done anything more than a bit of snogging?" He cracked a smile when she blushed. "Uh, yeah. Yeah we have."
Sarah nodded, looking down.
"I see. Just curious, you know. I mean, what you two do is your business. And you've been an item for a while now, so –"
"What about you and Malfoy?" Harry couldn't hide the note of hostility in his voice.
Sarah looked at him earnestly.
"What do you think?"
"I think you deserve better than some jerk who has had half of the girls in school in his dorm room."
"That's a bit harsh."
"It's honest, is what it is. I don't know how you can stand to be around him, let alone date him."
"Well we're not really dating. We're just having some fun. Besides, it's not like you're dating the Queen, either."
"Just because you and Ginny can't get along –"
"We can't get along because she thinks I'm a spoiled little prat and has no problem saying so!"
"At least she's not dating a spoiled little prat, like someone else I know, Sarah!"
"No, she's dating the golden boy who has the nerve to save the wizarding world but not to talk to a Slytherin in public!"
"And Malfoy's got himself a sarcastic know-it-all who doesn't have the nerve to tell me why she really asked me to meet her here."
Sarah stopped before her retort could leave her mouth. Harry was right. She chewed on her bottom lip as they sat in silence for a minute or two.
"So what is it you have to tell me, Sar? I know there's something going on."
She laughed bitterly.
"Oh, I think we both know there's something going on alright."
The words had come out before she could stop them. Eyes wide, she looked up at Harry. He stared back, understanding slowly clouding his green eyes.
"Yeah. I… I know."
Another silence stretched on. Sarah gave an unconvincing laugh.
"But, you know, it's not like we could ever do anything about it. I mean, you've got Ginny. And I've got Draco. Sort of."
"That's right. Neither of them would stand for it, let alone the rest of the school. We'd be mad to ever let anyone know that a Gryffindor and a Slytherin wanted to…"
Sarah saw him blush in the torch light. She grinned.
"Wanted to… what?"
Harry turned to her, moved his face closer to his. Sarah's eyes went wide again when she realized what he was doing, but instead of stopping him she leaned into him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Sarah closed her eyes and shivered as their lips touched. She felt Harry's hand slide around to her back and pull her closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck. His kiss was soft and warm, just as she'd always imagined it would be. Not rough and detached like Draco's.
Sarah pulled back suddenly. Harry released her, looking just as surprised by what had happened as she was.
"We can't do this, Harry."
"I know. I know we can't."
"We just… It can't happen."
"You're right. I mean, you've got Malfoy, and I've got –"
"Ginny. I know."
"So we'd better stop here."
Harry ran a hand through his untidy black hair, mentally kicking himself for doing something so stupid. But when Sarah reached over to gently straighten his glasses, which had been knocked sideways by their embrace, he couldn't help himself.
Again, Harry brushed his lips against Sarah's. After a brief hesitation, she returned the kiss and moved closer to him on the corridor floor. She let her hands fall from his glasses and rest on his cheeks. When he pulled her against him and deepened the kiss, Sarah sighed contently.
Harry didn't know how long they sat wrapped up in each other on the corridor floor. It could have been ten seconds, or it could have been a week. He did know that he wasn't ready for it to end when she pulled back slightly, breaking the kiss but keeping their faces just inches apart.
"Um, it's probably getting late. Someone from our houses might notice we're gone."
He leaned his forehead against hers and sighed.
"Yeah, we should get going."
Sarah swept her lips against Harry's one more time before she untangled her limbs and stood, dusting off her skirt. Harry stood also, gathering up his invisibility cloak from the ground. Their eyes met, and for a moment they just watched each other, both trying to read the other's thoughts.
"So what do you think about… this?" Harry asked tentatively.
Sarah's smile returned and she looked down, her cheeks glowing pink in the torch light. She clasped her hands behind her back.
"I think we should keep it to ourselves, don't you?"
Harry and Sarah quietly bid each other goodnight. He watched her walk away from him, back towards the Slytherin common room in the dungeons. He wondered what the next step would be, and how this would change their friendship. Surely they couldn't keep up this sort of thing when they both had someone else in their lives. It wasn't right.
Still, when he found another note asking him to meet her the next night, he couldn't help but hope he would get to hold her again.