Hello, once again
It's 20 minutes past midnight here, so technically, it's Thursday, so new chapter.
Thanxx for the reviews, I love them as always. :)
Thank you also to DarQuing, my friend who agreed to Beta this as well, and for putting up with my insane ramblings.
On with the chapter..
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Saturday passed rather uneventful. Parkinson seemed more down than usual, Petunia was quiet in thought, Vernon and Dudley was mysteriously gone. It was at night that things changed drastically.
Harry woke up to a piercing scream filling his room. An extremely quick glance at his alarm clock told him it was way past midnight. The scream came from the other bed in the room. Parkinson, he thought. Moments after the scream she laid softly crying clutching her pillow. It was clear that she way awake. Her teary, deep blue eyes shone in the soft moon light coming from the half open window. Hedwig was surprisingly still perched on the desk, hooting softly.
Harry left his bed. Not knowing how to help the poor girl, he just sat down on the edge of her bed. The hard wood edges cut into his arse but in that moment, he didn't really care.
"Shh," he hushed softly, "It's just a nightmare, " he said and hoped that was the case. Sobbing harshly the girl nodded slightly. She turned her death grip on the pillow to his arm. Harry bit back the pain spiralling up his arm. Parkinson was more important now for some reason.
They stayed like that for a few moments before she spoke softly, "Why am I here, Potter? Why am I safe here?" she whispered. Her voice was harsh from the earlier scream.
"Because.." he started but failed, "Because my mother died for me, her blood protects me." Harry didn't know how to explain a scenario he didn't know about. He didn't know her side, her views, her ideas, her wants, where her parents were, why she was there in the first place. He just didn't know.
She nodded to herself again, "Because You-Know-Who killed her, and you survived. Your aunt protects you," she whispered again.
"Yeah," he agreed.
"You ignored the first question," she stated moments later. He was surprised she even remembered in the state she was in.
"I don't know why," he replied gently.
She sighed, "No, you don't."
Some time later, minutes or hours, Harry didn't know, but eventually she sat up and leaned against the wall. Gently she pulled Harry with her. He followed her silent request. Wordlessly she wrapped one of her two blankets around them and snuggled closer to him, seeking support. Again, they waited in silence just sitting there. Her sobbing had slowed down long ago, now tears flowed freely down her cheeks without any sounds or movements.
Parkinson took a deep breath and began, "They came little over a week ago, I think. Revenge. They kill every Slytherin not willing to join. They came, late at night. Around five or six of them. Father duelled them, Mother helped him. I stayed covered as I had been told. Father had contacted the Order after they approached. The Order came. The Death Eaters were taken out easily after that. We packed, and left the same night. Mother wanted me to go with them, into hiding but I have two years of schooling left. I didn't want to leave. Dumbledore promised me a safe place for all of us, but at separate locations," she explained and Harry listened attentively.
"I haven't seen them since Monday. I don't know where they are. I know nothing other than that they might be safe. It's funny, or not, that Dumbledore placed me here."
"Why?" he asked quietly.
She laughed in an equally quiet volume, but there was no humour, "We're both Half Bloods, alike in so many ways yet still so different. Dumbledore thinks you can help me, for sure, that you can understand. Maybe you can, maybe you can't. I don't know, I haven't taken the time to get to know you properly to make an image."
Harry stayed silent for a while, just looking at the flickering of white light in the room. The wind outside had picked up blowing life in some leaves outside. It left shadows on the other side of the glass. That light, and the sound of the wind was relaxing. Easy to think in for some reason, made his mind clearer to process the new information it had just been given. Speaking of which..
"You said we're both Half Bloods?" The girl leaned more against him, with her head against his shoulder.
She yawned before answering, "Yes, we are," she said then added, "In the exact same way."
Harry nodded and waited yet another while before trying to untangle himself from the girl, "Good night," he whispered to her.
She grabbed his arm again, efficiently holding him in place, "No, stay."
"Why do you trust me?" he asked suddenly.
The girl smiled a little in the dancing moonlight, "Because I think you can understand."
So Harry stayed.
-,.,-
Harry looked down on a sleeping Parkinson in his lap. She had traces left of dried tears still on her cheeks. Harry tried to brush them away but they were stuck. It would probably need water to wet them and wash them away again. So he settled on gently stroking her hair. Something had happened during the night to make them connect. He felt sorry for the girl and he understood Dumbledore's reasoning to place her at Privet Drive. Harry could understand her, at least somewhat.
He had woken up around ten minutes ago when the sun decided to show its beautiful face through the still open window. Hedwig had left during the night; Harry had heard her just before he fell asleep. He fell asleep sitting with the girl leaning against his side. In her relaxed state of sleeping she had fallen down softly with her head in Harry's lap. Short after that Harry had fallen asleep himself.
Harry knew this was supposed to be wrong; Parkinson wouldn't do something like this. She should still be at Malfoy's side, part of Umbridge's little group terrorising him, one of the nasty little Slytherins who didn't waste a chance to pick on him. But she wasn't, instead she was peacefully asleep with him in his aunt's house.
A few more minutes went by before Harry felt the mattress move as she tried to get her right arm up from under her. He had thought it had to be uncomfortable sleeping like that, but hadn't really done anything against it, afraid he'd wake her up. Parkinson eventually gave up and just rolled to the side so she lay on her back.
Looking up at Harry, she spoke softly, "Thank you."
"For what?"
She shrugged before sitting up and turning to face Harry again, "For.. I don't know. Everything?"
Harry nodded, "You're welcome. We should get dressed and go downstairs," he said, changing the subject.
"We should," she agreed.
-,.,-
The next day, Harry got another letter. The little piece of parchment came with Pig, so Harry assumed it was from Ron. And he was right.
Hi, mate
Hermione told me you didn't know you
weren't going here for the rest of the summer.
Do you know where you're going? I asked
dad, but he doesn't answer. So I know he knows
something at least, but won't say anything.
Wherever you're going we can contact you, so
it'll be fine. I think. Mum is worried that you
don't eat properly. She's been badgering me
like crazy about it. So, please eat whatever you can.
Ginny says hello, and the twins. And well, everyone.
Take care
Ron
Once again he caught Parkinson starring at the letter in his hand. She looked almost longingly at it, and sadly. Every time Harry looked at her deep blue eyes, he saw sadness. But he now knew why, she was worried abut her parents.
They sat almost identically in their beds: with their backs against the wall and knees pushed up against their stomach slightly. Parkinson had a book in her lap though, while Harry had a sketch-pad and some pencils for drawing. And now the letter as well. She continued to look at the letter, while he looked at her. Eventually she turned back to her book.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
She looked up again, this time at him, "No, just.. Was it from Granger or Weasley?"
"Ron," he answered.
"I wish I had friends like that, who cared nothing about blood. But," she paused, "Now that I think about it, I only have one I can actually call a true friend. Of course, he cares about blood as well."
"Malfoy?"
Parkinson nodded, "Draco, surprisingly, he's my friend. Slytherins don't generally have true friends, but he's mine and I'm his. But when he finds out about my mother, he'll.. give that up."
"Is he really a friend then?" he questioned carefully. Every question was asked carefully between them at the rare times that it was even asked in the first place.
"Yes, he is," she sighed, "But blood is very important. I don't think he'll stay when he finds out I'm not pure and that I have been lying about it," she explained.
"I've never understood why bloods is so important," Harry said and shook his head slightly.
"Honestly," she began, "I don't either, but to them it holds a certain pride to be pure so it matters to Draco. But it doesn't to Weasley and Granger."
"Yeah, a Blood Traitor, a Muggleborn and a Half Blood tend to do that," he joked a little.
Parkinson didn't say anything more. But Harry was somewhat happy that they had had a decent conversation anyway. And he learned a lot from the few words they exchanged. Once again he settled back and wrote a reply.
-,.,-
"What are you doing?" Parkinson asked suddenly on Monday. Harry looked up in surprise. Their places were the same as every other day in the past week.
"I'm drawing, " he answered.
Her eyes lit up a little, "May I see?"
"Uhm, " he replied, "Sure."
The girl jumped off her bed and walked the short metre or two to Harry's and sat down next to him, pressed between the bedside-desk and himself.
Not sure of what to do, he showed her the picture he'd been working on for a couple of days. It was nothing much, just a black and white sketch of Hagrid's hut and the forest in the background. It also had a unicorn standing peacefully amongst the trees. Its white glow was illuminated in the moonlight the best Harry could achieve in greyscale. He'd gotten the idea when he sat watching the dancing shadows while holding the girl sitting beside him.
She gasped slightly, "This is beautiful. You should be an artist." Parkinson looked directly at him, "You know, my father taught me the spells to make paintings move ages ago. I can teach you later if you'd like."
Harry smiled, "Yes, thank you."
"You're welcome," she murmured quietly while softly stroking her fingers over the unicorn.
-,.,-
First thing, this story is very open plot-wise so far, even when I have half of it written already. But it is a series, and this is just the first instalment (is that word the correct one?) of at least 4 more. So anything you want to read, let me know and I'll see what I can do so fit it in. The further the story goes, the more clear will the plot be so this offer is open until such time as the final story in the series is complete.
The story will also be in Harry's POV mostly, along with a few others occasionally. Any events you want to see, or read in another POV, Let me know and I might write a Side-Story.
Also, let me know what you think, even flames if written properly.
Thanxx
Love, Iivanainen