A raven haired boy with emerald green eyes watched as his dorm mate, paled. Being that Neville was not exactly one of that had an easy time of things Harry was concerned. The other boy rose quickly and made his way to class. Harry who wasn't sure what to make of this simply looked at the morning prophet. Suddenly it made sense to him. The headline of the front page read, "Mass Break Out From Azkaban." The article that followed allowed for him to understand in greater dteail. Three of those whom had escaped the wizarding prison were those whom were responsible for the condition of Neville's parents.
Following the most recent in a series of unfortunate goings on in British magical society there were those who now found themselves the recipients of a gruesome sort of reflective fame. Susan Bones whom had lost most of her family to some among the ten seemed morose as she worked beside Neville in Herbology that morning. Many of their classmates frequently staring at the pair. It was no real secret that both came from powerful light families. Susan was a member of the prominent Bones family. All of whom were powerfully connected, yet even that had not been able see many of them spared. Susan, the green eyed wizard had learned was raised by her remaining Aunt, Amelia Bones, whom was Director and head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Harry observed the pair concerned for what they must be feeling.
Upon seeing the taller boy shift Harry knew that the other boy felt his eyes on him. Not wanting to make his loyal friend uncomfortable he quickly averted his eyes. How many times had Aunt Petunia told him that it wasn't polite to stare at descent people? While he doubted that Neville would fall under the Dursley's definition of descent people he was what Harry considered descent people. For that reason the green eyed boy never wanted to do anything to hurt the other wizard. Harry had never betrayed Neville's secret. He knew that Neville's parent's had been tortured to insanity by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr. They weren't dead as many other students likely assumed they were. He had incidentally come acrossed that knowledge initially when he had viewed a memory in Professor Dumbledore's pensive. It was only confirmed when he along with Hermione and Ginny had seen Neville on Christmas break at St. Mungo's. It was decided that they would allow Neville to bring it up. Otherwise they would never mention it. However, there are some things that you can't help over hearing. It was as he was working with Ron to complete the day's task that he heard Susan mumble softly, "Now I have a good idea of what it is like to be Harry." The sweet Hufflepuff girl with strawberry blonde hair and brown eyes was not given to being sad and it seemed such an unusual state that Harry felt compelled to something for her.
So it happened that the young wizard found himself approaching his year mate, a bit awkwardly. It wasn't often that Harry had occasion to deal with emotional females. Yet, he had felt that he must do something for the young witch. The Hufflepuff had never been anything but considerate, hardworking, and diligent from where he stood. He could also see that she was a true a loyal friend to those who knew her. Even when Hannah and Ernie had been talking during the incident with the chamber of secrets, it had not been Susan whom had said a word against him. In fact she had appeared skeptical about that idea. Now Susan needed people around her that understood how she felt.
Harry cleared his throat gently to alert her to his approaching presence. When the young witch turned to face him he spoke,"Susan, I want you to know if you need anything I'm here for you. Whatever you want or need just tell me." There a strange mixture of emotion in his voice as he realized how out of his depth he was here. That broke the dam that had been holding back Susan's tears . She flung herself into the green eyed boy who simply wrapped his arms around her. As the young witch cried on his shoulder something strange happened. A sort of warm feeling enveloped Harry, and his heart and began to flutter, while his stomach did flip flops.
He had lost all interest on the last Hogsmeade weekend in Cho. The pretty Ravenclaw seeker had held no interest in getting to know Harry. Instead, the girl had pumped him for more information on Cedric's death. Though, that date had come about through a similar instance where he had allowed the witch to cry on his shoulder, this felt different somehow. This felt more natural somehow though both girls had been wrapped in grief regarding people that they had lost. Harry didn't understand how that could be the case, but, decided to set that side to contemplate later.
It was sometime later that the somewhat shy although bright young witch looked up removing her head from Harry's shoulder. Susan blushed, her face turning nearly the same shade as her hair had once been. Her hair had mellowed and turned into a pleasant strawberry blonde over the last couple of years. Her brown eyes where the color of chocolate frogs and Harry found himself drawn to them. As the young witch stepped away the young wizard couldn't help but realize that where a robust girl had once been now stood a beautiful young woman with a nice figure. The girl seemed embarrassed by her emotional outburst and blanched at seeing Harry still standing there. It was confirmed even with Harry being a thick as he could be when it came to women as she said, "I'm sorry about that. I'm sure that you need to be going. I shouldn't have held you up." Following that statement Susan turned and left hoping to pull herself together after completely humiliating herself in front of Harry.
It was a cautious Harry whom started making his way to Transfiguration after that moment. He knew that Susan was embarrassed, but he wanted her to be able to come to him for some reason. He would need to talk to someone the question was who. He couldn't talk to Ginny about this. First off, Ron's sister had once had a crush on Harry, and their new friendship was tenuous, especially since she was seeing Michael Corner. Ron was his best mate, but was even more hopeless than Harry when it came to emotions and dealing with females. The twins were no better than Ron in that sense. That pretty much left Hermione.
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