Her small face was tilted upward to look him straight on. Her dark eyes, usually so kind and full of laughter, were dead serious. To laugh and try to brush it off as a joke she was making would be insulting and wouldn't work. How did she even guess? It seemed like stretch just from seeing his wand a couple of times. He thought of lies, of walk arounds, of avoiding, of just disappearing, running away.
But he was never really good at lying or running away when he should.
"Yes, though men are called wizards."
Her eyes widened, the hand holding his wand starting to shake slightly. She licked her lips, holding the wand delicately out to him. "Show me. Please." Her voice was small and uncertain, but the command was still there. He had never seen such intensity on her usually easy going features.
It felt like every spell he had ever learned had left his head all at once. His heart started beating fast.
He did the first one that came to mind. "Lumos."
The soft light shined from the end of his wand, brightening the dark crevices of the wall that they were standing next to. Her mouth fell open, her finger tips raising as though to touch the light coming from the tip of his wand, but she shook her head, letting her hand drop. "I have a pen that does the same thing. Got it for a pound."
He snorted and flicked the light off. He grabbed her hand and pulled her down an alleyway, stepping around a dumpster that blocked the view from one end. "Prepare yourself, this is very, very uncomfortable. Whatever you do, don't let go."
She gripped his hand tighter, a look of apprehension covering her previous bravado. She opened her mouth to speak but Harry was already spinning on his heel, and after a sick, twisting moment of compression, they were in his flat by the front door.
Sophie staggered away from him, paler than he has ever seen her.
"Bloody hell." She leaned against the wall, tilting her head back, not looking at him but at the ceiling, her breathing loud. "Holy bleeding fucking hell."
"Sophie -"
She shook her head, sliding down the wall to sit in a squat, her head between her knees. Her shoulders started to shake.
Harry knelt down too, half formed thoughts of her running away, him having to track her down to obliviate her, him and her no longer hanging out, no longer killing time or drinking or talking about their days, no longer feeling her warm hand on his back, somehow making things better.
She pulled her head up, her face bright red, eyes shining. Great guffawing laughs that were shaking her silent frame before burst out into the hallway. He sat back, startled.
"Oh-Oh my god, you can do magic. You-you can do…"
He put a hand on her shoulder. Maybe she was losing her mind?
"I'm going mad. Absolutely mad. We just...magicked into your flat. Poof!" She flung her arms out, her breathing becoming more normal, tears starting to leak down her face, her smile softening from the manic hysteria of before into something more sincere. "Harry...Harry, this is the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me, that could ever…" She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his waist, her forehead resting against his collar bone.
He let his knees drop from the crouch that he was in to the floor and pulled her closer.
He could feel her smile, just as wide as before, on her cheek that was now pressed against his shoulder. He smiled wide too.
They were about four drinks in and had been in the flat for hours.
"I'm not going to be able to answer every question you have tonight, I'm exhausted anyway."
"Fine, I'll write a list and get back to you. But let's play twenty answers… questions? Twenty questions, I'll ask fast and you answer fast and then I'll let it go for now. We'll also make it a drinking game!"
He looked at her blearily, the firewhisky he just drank still burning at the back of his throat but also making him feel buoyant. Somehow everything seemed easy. "Fine, but how?"
She grimaced as she took another sip of hers, then smiled. She was sprawled out on the sofa opposite him, her hair loose in a fan around her head, her feet up on the arm rest. "If you take too long to answer, you have to drink, if I take too long to question, I'll drink."
Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that didn't sound like a good idea, but the firewhisky burned brightly on. "Sure."
She stared up at the ceiling, opening and closing her mouth. "Uh…"
"This definitely counts as taking too long to ask."
She scowled at him, taking a swig of her firewhisky, "I know, but I have so many questions it's hard to pick one on the spot."
"You're the one who just made up the rules!"
She glared more, taking another swig. "Right. Okay, so, what can't magic do?"
His mind filled with the different laws and limitations and restrictions that his professor's had gone over, Hermione's voice periodically echoing from the no-so-distant past, saying, "Honestly, Harry, you have to remember these for next week's exams." But he couldn't remember them, not well enough to explain quickly.
"Lots."
She sat up, swaying slightly. "That's not answering the question! Take a drink."
"That wasn't a rule!"
"It is now."
He scowled at her over the lip of his glass and took a sip. "Hermione would be a better person to explain the details of things. For example, you can vanish and conjure things, but you can't conjure food into existence. And if the spell is sloppy or weak, conjured things can just disappear. Same idea with vanishing. There are rules and laws and other things about it. But, I guess, in a more...philosoigal, uh, phil-philosophical way, magic can't make someone love you or- or bring people back from the dead. Or make you immortal." He felt a little colder now, having said all that, thinking on how he learned that all the hard way. He took another sip despite having answered the question to feel warmer. It didn't work.
Sophie seemed to sense the shift in his mood, as she stood and stumbled closer to him, flopping down on the seat cushion next to him and poking him in the arm with one finger. "Henry - I've, I've just realized something important."
He turned to look at her, her face solemn despite the pick flush of her cheeks.
"I completely missed my dentist appointment."
They maintained eye contact for a few seconds longer before breaking apart into giggles.
"O-okay, um, next question, what is your favourite spell?"
"Expelliarmus."
"What does it do?"
"Expels arms."
"Wh-what?"
"Sorry, it makes people lose their wands, sometimes they just flying off, sometimes they fly towards you."
"Why's it your favourite?"
"I've gotten good use out of it."
"I don't think that's really answering the question, too vague. Take a drink."
He did and felt her put her head lightly on his shoulder, she made a humming sound.
"Now you're taking too long."
She took a drink, not even protesting, then a second later, "You said that you all have your own world, basically, your own banks and government and all that. Where is your favorite place in the whole wizarding world?"
"Hogwarts."
"Your school?"
"Yeah, it's not actually whatever other name that I've given it before, it's just Hogwarts, or I guess Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
"I don't know anybody whose favourite place is their secondary school. Though I guess it being magical would rather make it better. Why is it your favourite?"
Harry slumped back into the sofa more, making Sophie's head slide from his shoulder to his chest. She didn't move away, instead just pulling her feet up on to the sofa so that she was resting against him like he was a large pillow. "It was my first home. And it...it just feels magical. When I was told I was a wizard, despite going to Diagon Alley and seeing Hagrid do magic and all that, I think some part of me didn't believe that it was real. Then I saw Hogwarts and it all just fit. It's perfect. I'll have to take you there sometime."
"I'd like that."
There was a long pause as Harry put his feet up on the coffee table and slumped over further.
She took a drink before he could say anything and then asked, "Why do you all keep it a secret from us?"
He sat for awhile, until she pushed his elbow a little, and he took a swig. "Um, I guess because it's hard to know how you all will react. I mean, there used to be witch burnings."
"Sure, but we thought that witches got their power from the devil. Now I don't think people would react that way."
"Yes, maybe, but the maybe is a pretty scary maybe. And you all are a lot more dangerous than you were in the past, when all you had was some torches and pitchforks. Also, I think it would be hard because muggles would always expect us to be doing stuff for them."
She moved her head off his chest and looked up at him. "Are you worried that I'll do that?"
He considered her for a long second before putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her back down. "No."
"Why?"
"Because you're a good friend."
She put her arm across his stomach. "I guess, in a way, it's not terribly different than having a very rich friend. You can't take them for granted ethier."
Harry opened his mouth to say that he was that too, but changed his mind. He was suddenly overwhelmed by how much he still had to tell her.
"Speaking of, if you all have your own banks, then you all must have your own money?"
"We do, Galleons, Sickles and Knuts."
"Couldn't you con-conjure? - more money?"
"Sure, but it would be counterfeit. I believe the same basic economic principles apply to wizarding money as they do to muggle."
She starting laughing into his chest.
"What?"
"You spent too much time around Oak."
Harry started laughing too. "I'm disgusted to even think about how victeras - vic-victorious his smug face would look right now."
She shifted so that she was lying more on her side, her hand resting on his stomach. She took another sip for no reason, accidentally dripping some on his shirt. He didn't notice. "What does it feel like to do magic?"
"Amazing."
"I bet it's a lot like musicians or athletes that have amazing skills, eh?"
"I've never really thought about it that way, but yeah, I guess so. Except more natural, I suppose."
He shifted too, moving his legs over to the sofa, her head shifting again so that it's resting on his arm. She blinked at him a couple of times and spoke softly, barely above a whisper, "I think I've run out of the drink."
Harry shrugged, "I think we've had enough."
"The nights not over until you fall into a fountain."
"There aren't any fountains in here."
"Go fill up the bathtub. Or even just the sink, I'm not picky."
He reached over and flicked her ear.
Her face scrunched up, her eyes closing and staying closed. "What's your least favourite part about being able to do magic?"
In the long pause that followed her question, she opened her eyes and met his, only inches away. He swallowed once, then twice, "It feels like this gift, but it's also a burden. It seems to make as many problems as it solves."
She reached up and put her hand on his cheek. "I think that's probably more of a human thing than a magic thing."
"Then probably all of the mes-memorisation you have to do."
She smiled. "That's also any subject."
He scoffed, putting his hand on top of hers on his cheek and moving it in between them, still holding it. "Not all magic is good and sometimes it shows you...terrible things."
She opened her mouth and then closed it, squeezing his hand.
"Alright then, what's the most beautiful thing you've seen magic do?"
He shifted from his place on the sofa, raising into a sitting position. Sophie sat up too, sitting cross-legged on the couch behind him. He grabbed his wand sitting on the coffee table and brought it up. She put her hand on his back and despite not having the concentration to do the difficult incantation, the warmth of her hand seemed to seep into the slightly slurred words of the spell and the stag burst out without any struggle anyway.
He heard her small gasp as the stag's warm and calming presence filled the small living space, his large antlers moving through the ceiling light, his graceful legs crossing through the table until he was stopped in front of them. Harry turned to see her reaction. The white glow of the patronus made her look paler, not in a sickly way, but as though she too was glowing. Her long, wild hair had fallen out of it's bun ages ago and was a shimmering pale gold around her face. She reached out her hand that, like her eye contact with the stag, was unwavering. Her fingertips reached forward and nearly brushed the fine silver hairs on his snout, but he dissipated the way they always do.
Her hand fell slowly down to her side and she turned to look at him, her eyes wide and full of emotions he couldn't read. She slowly laid back down, one tear rolling from the edge of her eye to the bridge of her nose and dropping off into the fabric of the couch. He laid down again too and put his hand on her cheek.
"I do know one thing for certain, Harry. You're a good man."
He frowned, brushing away another tear before it could fall.
"How do you know that for certain? Sometimes I don't even know."
She took a shaky breath and put her hand on his cheek as well. "Only a good man could make something as … as good as that."
"They didn't even make it to the bedroom this time."
Even through the tiredness and the pounding in his head, he could recognise Ron's voice. What he couldn't recognize was the grainy texture under his check, or the soft warmth under his hand. It felt like slow, even warm air was being pushed against his chest, too, which was odd, but not altogether unpleasant. It sort of felt like he was sleeping with someone.
Harry opened his eyes slowly, blinking against the bright sun coming through the opened curtains.
Sophie's hair was spread out by his face, her pale face still dead to the world as she breathed into his chest, their hands intertwined between them, their legs tangled together.
Harry sighed, turning reluctantly to the scene he knew must be behind him.
Ron stood there, his arms crossed and posture disapproving, but his face was warring between amusement and smirking.
Hermione was behind him, a more serious frown on her face. Their argument swam back to him. He could imagine what she thought of this.
He turned back over and shook Sophie's slim shoulder.
"Hey. We have to get up."
At first she was clearly ignoring him, but then her face pulled into a pained look she sat up, clenching at her stomach. She stood, rolling over Harry's legs, and walked at a quick pace past Ron and Hermione, not even looking at them, to the toilet. She closed the door with a sharp click behind her, which did little to dull the sounds of her retching.
Ron and Hermione turned back towards Harry, who was already standing up and walking towards the cabinet. The door snapped closed just as he opened it and he turned to glare at Hermione.
"You don't deserve to have the hangover potion, Harry Potter. After what we talked about yesterday, I find you snuggled up with her -"
"I told her about magic."
Hermione's voice stopped, her mouth falling open, mirroring Ron's. She recovered first. "That's illegal." She hissed out, stepping closer to him.
Harry shrugged.
She moved passed Ron, crossing her arms. "You were part of the enforcement of magical law until just a few weeks ago, if you remember?"
"So have me arrested then."
Hermione's eyes narrowed and her fingers clenched on her arms. He swallowed, wondering if she was going to do it. After all, one didn't challenge Hermione without being prepared to face the consequences.
Ron put her hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. Hermione sighed. "I guess you wouldn't be you without an incredible amount of recklessness."
There was a distant flushing sound and then the sound of soft footsteps coming down the hallway. Sophie peered around the corner and flushed as Hermione and Ron turned to look at her.
"Congratulations on your engagement." Ron's sarcasm could cut through any hangover haze.
Sophie's eyes bounced from Ron to Hermione to Harry as she stepped further into the room. "What?"
"You and Harry are engaged now."
Her eyes widened. "Is...is that a magic thing? Like if you sleep in the same space twice you're automatically engaged, because I have to say that seems very archaic. Or else I'm not remember something very important from last night."
Ron smiled while Hermione shook her head.
Harry was pulling at the cabinet's handle. It remained fast. "No. They're making a joke about our laws. You're not supposed to know about magic, so you can't tell anyone."
He tried pulling one last time before he glared back at Hermione, who just raised her eyebrows at him.
"Let's go Sophie, let's get some fried food and coffee. We don't need to deal with this."
Harry grabbed her hand as he passed, pulling her towards the door.
She looked back over her shoulder. "Please come with."
Harry stopped, looking down at her and then looking back at Ron and Hermione. "Fine."
They were sat in a corner booth of the crowded cafe, Harry and Sophie nursing coffee while Hermione and Ron stared at them.
Eventually Sophie cleared her throat. "I can't imagine what impression you have of me. I promise I'm not always like this. I'm rarely like this. It seems that Harry just drives me to drink." She let out a weak laugh.
Hermione leaned forward. "I'm so sorry. We aren't disapproving of you or anything like that. I didn't mean to give that impression."
Ron nodded. "Would be a little hypocritical of me to get all judgey because of a few drinks."
Harry snorted, him and Ron grinning at each other across the table.
"The issue here isn't that, or anything about you. The issue here is that Harry thinks he's above the law and is putting you at great risk."
"I'm not going to let them do anything to her."
"And how can you promise that?"
"I'd like to see them try me."
Sophie glanced between them all. They were all silent as the waitress came and dropped their food off. "Who is they?"
"The Ministry of Magic. I don't know how much Harry told you…"
Sophie nodded her head. "He told me enough to know that you all have a government and there are strict rules about people like me knowing about people like you all. Do they have special teams that deal with people like me when we find out or something? I suppose it doesn't matter though. I mean, I know neither of you have any reason to believe that I won't tell anyone, but I hope that Harry trusts me enough to know I won't say anything."
She glanced at him and he grinned.
"Thank you Sophie, but that's not the real issue. I'm more worried about another wizard or witch noticing you and them telling. It doesn't matter if we trust you, the Ministry won't take our word for it and will erase your memories."
Sophie paled, looking at Harry with wide eyes.
He shook his head. "I wouldn't let that happen."
"I - I don't want that to happen. That seems really wrong."
"It is." Hermione's jaw clenched. "It is. But it's important that we remain secret. This is one tool to do so. In it's own way, it's also to protect you all."
Sophie tilted her head. "That's off."
Ron interrupted Hermione's reply. "All of you are so many steps behind me right now."
They all turned to look at him. "You two are now engaged."
They both turned a little pink. Harry put his head in his hand. "Ron, that's not -"
"I'm not saying you actually are or anything, you knobs. But say that someone gets noisy and makes a fuss about Sophie. Just say that you all are engaged. That's legal, you're allowed to tell muggles, that's non magic people, about magic if you're going to marry them now. I mean, that would be one hell of a headline, but -"
"Headline?" Sophie frowned.
"It could work." Harry was staring down at his hands. He looked over to Sophie. "It only needs to be brought up in case you're found out, which hopefully won't happen."
"But then you two would have to actually get married or, you know, "break up". If you two "break up" then you're still in the same spot as before."
Harry shrugged. "We'd cross that bridge when we get to it. The point is to delay any oblivating should it become a problem." He turned to her again. "So, basically, if you find yourself surrounded by a bunch of angry wizards, just say we're engaged."
She stared at him, then glanced at Ron and Hermione and took a deep drink of her coffee. "That has to be the weirdest sentence anyone has ever said to me in earnest."
She bit into her toast as they all laughed. "I keep thinking that this is a very long, very vivid dream I'm having. I'll be terribly disappointed when I wake up."
Harry smiled at her. "I'll just have to keep reminding it's real then."
She smiled back while Ron and Hermione looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
Ron and Hermione were in the kitchen, staring at black lumps burned onto the bottom of the frying pan.
"What have you done?"
They both jumped and turned around, looking very guilty.
"Harry! You look less dead now, mate. Did you have a good kip?"
Harry didn't answer, just gesturing to the pan that they were unsuccessfully hiding behind their backs with raised eyebrows.
"We…" She sighed. "We were going to make some eggs but we got distracted and, well…"
Harry moved between them and jabbed the pan with his wand, removing the eggs and most of the gritty ash, but there was still a black rough patch that didn't want to seem to leave.
"This was my favorite frying pan." He looked back at them, his shoulders drooping.
Hermione took it from him, gently, her face sheepish. "Sorry, Harry. I'll buy you another one."
Ron pulled out his wand and vanished the pan away. "At least it smells better in here now."
They sat down as Harry pulled leftovers out from the freezer. "Hermione, how is it possible you are great at everything else and so bad at this?"
"It wasn't my fault! Ron's the one who came up and … and distracted me."
Harry pulled a face. "Glad I woke up when I did then."
"You don't have the right to complain anymore. Just this morning I walk in to see you snuggled all close like a tiny kitten with Sophie. Not that I'm mad about it really. I'm happy you two finally got together -"
"We haven't." He looked back at them from his crouched position in front of the oven. "Why would you think that?"
Both of them scoffed in disbelief. "You can't be serious?"
"Maybe because you were snuggling?"
"Or maybe because you told her about magic?"
"Also, you're kind of engaged to her."
"I'm not engaged! That's just a precaution. We talked a lot last night and just fell asleep that way. And she guessed, I didn't tell her first." He sat down at the table with them. "I actually need to ask her about that still. She saw my wand a couple of times, but that wouldn't be enough to seriously ask if I can do real magic, would it? I think she must have seen something else."
"Don't change the subject, Harry. Are you not attracted to Sophie?"
Harry turned to look at her, opening his mouth to say yes, but the word didn't seem to want to come out. "It just wouldn't work."
"Why? You already told her about magic and she accepted it, very very well, I might add."
"Also, you didn't answer her question."
"I- I don't think it matters, the point is that I'm not trying to date Sophie."
"Merlin Harry, answer the question."
He pulled his hand through his hair, gritting his teeth. "Yeah, of course I think she's good looking. She's obviously very cute, you know, tiny, but that just seems to make her liveliness more noticeable. But like I said, I don't think it's either or nor there."
"Why?" Hermione looked frustrated enough to spit.
"Because I'm just going to fuck it up." Harry stood, moving around the table to check in the oven. He could feel their stares on his back.
"Harry...That's… Why would you think that?"
He spoke quietly, still staring into the oven. "It's just too much, isn't it? It's one thing to accept that I'm a wizard, but what about everything else? The fame, the war, my role in it, everything. It's too much for me, so what would it be like for her? It was too much for Ginny. I like that Sohpie doesn't have to deal with it."
"You're not something to be … to be dealt with or something, it's not like that-"
He stood up and leaned against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. "Oh, like you didn't get people vandalizing Weasley Wizard Wheezes hoping that I would come and investigate?"
Ron's eyes widened. "How'd you hear about that?"
"Or like everytime Hermione has a success it's not because she's brilliant and works really hard, no, people have to go around saying that it's just because she's my friend, because she's a war hero."
Hermione shook her head, "That's entirely not your fault though. People are going to-"
"Or what about Ginny? She couldn't get ahead in quidditch because everyone only cared about how she was dating me."
"So what, you're just going to be single for the rest of your life?"
Harry shrugged, clenching his jaw. "People will get over it eventually and then maybe... The point is, you two idiots made your choice a long time ago to get involved in all this mess, and now you're both famous in your own right and it's too late to do anything about it. But Ginny was able to get away from it all and it's been a relief. Why would I drag Sophie into it? I've told her about magic and maybe I'll even tell her about the rest, but if we're just friends then it doesn't become her problem. Dean, Neville, Seamus, Luna, Bill, Charlie, everybody else doesn't get bothered by it too much, just being my friend. And more importantly no one knows her at all. No one bothers her now, so if we just stay friends then it won't be a problem."
Hermione was staring down at her hands clasped in front of her. "You liked that she was a muggle when you first started seeing her, didn't you?"
He thought about denying it. "Yes."
"Because you haven't felt at home in the wizarding world in a long time, have you?"
"I'll always be a wizard. I wouldn't give up the wizarding world for anything. I just wanted..."
"A break?" Ron interjected, looking oddly tired.
Hermione shook her head, "But then she became a real friend and now… but don't you see, Harry? That's the whole issue with your entire mindset. You can't control feelings. At first you thought she was nice and she was a good break from everything, then she was a good friend and you wanted to get closer to her, felt bad about lying, and now you're trying to say that you'll just stay friends, but how can you know? What if she starts dating someone else, would you be okay with it? You weren't okay with lying to her after a while, what makes you think hiding your feelings will be easier-"
"I don't know, alright! I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing at all. But the idea of losing her friendship now is … is just too sad. And I want to protect her from all my stupid baggage, so I don't know what to do. The best thing I can think of is being friends. I can handle my feelings that much. Lying to her felt wrong, but it isn't wrong just being friends. I can't say I'd be thrilled if she started dating someone else, but I'll deal with it."
"Rather than deciding all this on your own, why don't you talk to her about it, explain-"
"Explain what? Hey, I know we have fun and you enjoy watching me fall in fountains and I enjoy watching you tell off complete arseholes, want to have your privacy completely stripped away while I mope about how messed up everything got? Oh, also, because you happen to not have magic and you're dating me, the likelihood of some crazy wizards coming after you seems very high. Does that sound like a good time? Come on you two, don't pretend that dating me would only have some small hiccups and she would be totally fine after a sit down and chat over tea."
Ron shook his head. "Look, I don't know how to argue with all that, but it doesn't sound right. You're allowed to be happy and if she makes you happy, then the rest is all noise."
"What if, as you all become better friends and she learns about you, she still wants to give it a go?" Hermione's head was titled, her eyes calculating.
"Then she either wouldn't really understand or she would be completely mad. Look, maybe I fancy her a little, but being friends is the most important thing, that's enough. Actually the most important thing is that I don't drag her more into this. If I wasn't a selfish arsehole I wouldn't have even started all this but at the very least I can try to keep her safe."
Hermione closed her eyes. "Oh Harry, you're the least selfish person I've ever met."
