Friday morning, I had off. Thank God. I hadn't slept much, even though I'd stayed in bed. My conscience wouldn't let me. I felt absolutely terrible.

Nina had part of the morning off, and returned to the dorm to get a book. "You're still in bed?" she asked. "Are you ill?"

I shrugged.

She sat at the end of my bed. "Well, what's wrong with you? You're always the first person up. You don't lay in bed like this..." she said.

"I'm sorry." was all I managed.

"I'm just worried about you. You've been all over the place this week." she said.

"I...don't really want to talk about it, at least not yet." I told her. "But I appreciate your concern."

"Are you going to class?"

I thought about having to face him. Eventually, it would happen. But I didn't want to have to do it today. "No." I said. "I just need a day off."

"Lunch?" she asked. He would be there too.

I shook my head.

"Well, you're going to dinner with Peter and I." she said. "It's not an option."

I nodded. "You're a good friend, Nina." I told her.

"I know." she said. "That's why I get to be the first one to know about whatever is bothering you."

"Promise." I said.

"Can I get you anything?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Thanks, Nina."

She leaned in and gave me a hug. "Enjoy your mental health day."

She was gone, and it was quiet again.

I laid in bed. There was really no way for me to fix this.

I remembered I had promised to babysit for him tomorrow. "Shite." I said, out loud. To nothing. I couldn't skip babysitting. Then he wouldn't get to go on the date and he'd have another reason to be angry.

I killed time by reading up on Potions. If I wasn't in class, I should be taking this time to do something productive, even if I was sulking. I read about three chapters before classes got out and Nina came to find me.

Harry's Point of View:

I'd had conflicting emotions all night. I'd slept only a few hours, and that was due to a sleeping potion. I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened last night.

She had kissed me. It still overwhelmed me. It was a really good kiss, too. Her hair was just as soft as it looked and her face was so close to mine.

And then she had fled.

I didn't blame her. I was scared too. And I didn't know what I was going to do when I had to deal with her again. My heart wanted to pursue the relationship, my head told me to scold her.

I didn't know what I would do during class. Except then she didn't show up. As I took attendance, I asked. "Has anyone seen Rosalin today?"

"She's ill today." Nina Gorman said. I met her eyes and she had a strong, nearly angry look in them. I nodded.

"Ahh." I said, and marked her as absent. I wondered if she was really ill or just avoiding class. And me.

I also wondered whether she would be babysitting for me tomorrow. I still wanted her to, but I would understand if she didn't. The whole situation left me with a stomach ache.

I tried to teach class as best I could, but dismissed them early. Before she walked out the door, I stopped Nina.

"Yeah?" she asked. "I mean, yes, Professor?"

I took a deep breath. "Could you just give this to Rosalin tonight?" I held out a note that I managed to scribble out while they were practicing. It wasn't sealed well, so I hoped she didn't read it.

"Uhm," she hesitated. "Sure?" She didn't sound so sure.

"It's just that she was going to do something for me this weekend, but if she's ill, then I'd rather she rest up, yeah?"

She nodded. "Sure." she sped up to walk beside Peter. I turned and walked up the stairs, wondering what I was going to do.

Rosalin's Point of View:

I opened the note. It had his handwriting on it.

Rosalin,
Are you still up to babysitting for me tomorrow?
HP

I had a feeling he knew I wasn't truly ill. I sighed, and allowed Nina to drag me to dinner. He wasn't there, thankfully, but that made me wonder where he was. Was he avoiding me as much as I was avoiding him?

I sucked it up. He showed up about fifteen minutes into the meal and grabbed something. I didn't watch him out of the corner of my eye like I had recently.

As dinner started to wind down, we walked out. But he came up behind me. "Well?" he asked.

It took me a second to figure out what he was thinking. "I'll be there." I said.

"Eleven thirty." He was gone.

I didn't know what that meant. My friends gave me a strange look. "I'm babysitting for him." I said.

"For who?" Peter asked.

"His godson." I said. "Don't tell anyone... I don't think it's supposed to be public knowledge."

They both nodded, and I was pretty sure I could trust them. It wasn't too weird, babysitting for a professor.

I spent the night playing chess with them. I had moved on from the overly dramatic, the world is over mindset of earlier and was just confused and regretting. Fiona's drama had worn off on me. My stomach was upset with a little worry over yesterday. Or was he going to just forget everything that had happened?

I played Nina first, and just barely managed to beat her. Some said that chess was Ravenclaw's sport, not Quidditch. I totally believed that. After our game, I played Peter, who beat me terribly. Normally I put up a little more of a fight, but I just wasn't feeling it tonight.

I went to bed earlier than usual. Although I'd spent most of the day in bed, I hadn't actually gotten a lot of sleep. I slept better tonight. I had taken a small sip of a potion I knew would make me sleep.

I got up early. I had choir this morning, and had to get to that. I was still a little groggy from my sleeping potion, but it was much better than not sleeping at all.

I had come to the conclusion that while things were going to be supremely awkward, I did want to be with him. It was undeniable. I had a feeling he was going to try and deny me because he was my teacher, but I was so emotionally messed up this week I didn't care any more.

And finally, eleven thirty. As I walked up to his office, my hands began to shake. I was nervous, no matter what happened today.

I knocked on the door to his dorms. I could hear his foot steps on the stairs, and he opened the door. "Rosalin." he said.

"Hi." I said. I didn't like the awkwardness that settled between us, but didn't know how to break it. I didn't know if I should bring up Thursday night, or if he would, or what.

"Come on in." he said. I followed him down the stairs. There was a chubby infant in a portable crib in the living room. He squealed happily when he saw Harry return. "This is Teddy." he said.

"He's adorable." I said. The silence settled in again. "I'm sorry." I choked. "About Thursday."

He took a deep breath and looked up at me. "I think... we need to talk about it when I get back." he said. "I... I've... it's been a rough few days for the both of us, I think and we should talk about it."

"I think that's a good idea." I told him.

"Good." he said. He didn't sound angry or anything, which pleased me. He picked up Teddy. "Hey, bud." he said. "This is Rosalin, who is going to watch you today, alright?"

Teddy was sucking on his fist. Not his thumb, all of his fist. He was a beautiful little boy. His hair was a light brown and his eyes were brown as well.

"He is a Metamorphagus." Harry said. "So if his hair changes colors, don't be alarmed. He's just being playful."

I nodded. "All right."

"And his lunch is in the icebox. After lunch, he will probably take a nap from two to about three. And then he eats dinner at about six, but I should be back by then. If I'm not, then he has dinner in there as well. There's a jug of watered down apple juice in the icebox, and he should drink that."

"Sounds easy."

"And, of course, help yourself to any food you want to eat. There's some blocks and other toys in that bag. He likes to color, and there's also stuff in his bag. He's a pretty shy kid, he knows how to talk but it's not always easy to get it out of him. And there's a radio in one of the cabinets if you want to listen to it. I think that's it." he said.

I nodded. "Enjoy your date."

"Yeah, thanks." he said. He didn't sound very excited.

"Well, I guess it's just us, Teddy." I said, turning around and scooping him up. "What should we do first, do you think? Do you want to eat lunch?"

He nodded. I let him down in his portable crib and gave him a few toys to choose from. He picked up a noisemaker and happily played with that.

I heated up what looked like chunks of chicken and peas. It didn't look to good to me, but I fed it to him and he was really happy. By the time we were done, his face had been smeared with peas. I wiped him off, and we got on the ground building towers out of blocks. I would build them three or four levels high, and he would knock them down.

He got a kick out of the wooden blocks crashing towards the floor. He let out a big giggle at them, and it was a really nice sound.

I could see him start to get tired, so I put him back in the crib. He slowly fell asleep, but was out cold once he finally let go.

While he was asleep, I read my Potions book. But he didn't stay asleep for long. He was only out for about forty five minutes, before becoming restless and waking up. We entertained ourselves for awhile. We colored and played with paper and then went back to the blocks.

He was a very peaceful baby. He didn't cry once and just seemed pretty content to have someone there with him and keeping him occupied.

We went back to the blocks for awhile, and he got tired again. He refused to sleep, but got really clingy to me. I'm not sure why, but probably because I was the 'adult' in this situation. He wanted to stay right on top of me, so I let him. We laid on the couch.

Harry got home just before six. He was wearing a Weird Sisters shirt he wasn't wearing when he left. He turned around, and I could see that the whole back was signed by the eight band members.

"How's he doing?" he asked as he came in.

"Very nearly asleep." I said. If he had arrived five minutes later, Teddy would have been asleep. He took him from me, and put him in the crib. Then he moved the crib into his bedroom.

I got up and went to his cabinet. I'd been too busy with Teddy to eat, so I got some crackers out of the cupboard. I sat back down on the couch. We still had to have our discussion.

He came out with another shirt in his hand. He took off the Weird Sisters shirt and tossed it to me. It smelled like him. I folded it up.

"That's part of your payment." he said. "I'll get you some gold in a minute."

I examined the signatures. Myron Wagtail, the lead singer and my favorite, signed over the right shoulder. Oh, this was lovely.

I looked up, and saw him without his shirt on. I tried not to stare, really, but he was glorious. His skin was nice and toned. Covered in scars, but that was alright. The sight of his muscles rippling as he buttoned the new shirt sent a chill down my spine.

"H-how was your date?" I managed.

"Fine." he said. "She had press passes so we got to meet the band."

"Ugh!" I cried in jealousy.

"But I told her I don't want to go out with her again."

Hope was quick to spring up within my chest. "Oh?" I asked.

He nodded. He moved over and sat on the other end of his couch. "As much as this hurts me, it's not her I want to go out with."

"Why does it hurt you?" I asked, confused.

"Because it would be so much easier." he said. "Everyone's happy for me and we're the perfect couple according to the Daily Prophet, not that I ever use them for relationship advice, but still. Ron and Hermione like her already... she isn't two years younger than me and one of my students."

I let out a small smile, even though I knew that was probably weird. "I don't care." I told him. "I don't care at all."

"For someone who cares so much about schoolwork, you can be so carefree about other things." he said. The Firewhiskey in my hot chocolate that day. The fact we were breaking probably five school rules right now. I tried not to think about the rule breaking part.

"I am attracted to you." I said. "And you're attracted to me, yes?"

"Yes." he sighed. "But it's wrong, Rosalin. I shouldn't fancy you."

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't care?" I asked. I got up and moved closer to him.

"If people found out we were in a relationship, then you could get expelled. Which means no curse breaking for you." he warned. "And I would lose my job."

"We wouldn't tell people." I said. I looked at him, my eyes bearing into his beautiful green eyes. I put my hand on his arm, trying to get in contact with him.

"Eventually we'll break up and one of us will be angry and then it will all come out."

"I'll do an Unbreakable Vow." I said.

He looked like he was in pain. I felt bad I was causing this pain.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"I'm sorry." he said. "You're not. It's just that I have so much conflict inside of me. My head is telling me one thing..."

"But your heart is saying another?" I asked. I moved my hand from his arm to over his heart. He was breathing hard.

"Exactly."

"Me too."

"So why are you... well, acting on it?"

"I don't know." I said. "I want to be happy."

"And you think being with me will make you happy?"

I nodded. "Don't you?"

"For a bit." he said. That hurt, and I think he could tell. "Meaning, I won't be able to be enough of a boyfriend. This would mean that we could not go out on dates, could not do anything in public, could not hold hands..."

I took a deep breath. "Eventually..."

"I just don't want that to be a surprise."

"It's not." I said. "All right?"

He took a moment, and I could see his mind going in a thousand different directions. He was confused.

I leaned forward and kissed him again. His heart, his body was reacting. That part of him wanted me more than anything, apparently. His arms were wrapped around me, pressing me against him and holding tight. Kissing him was better than kissing any boy I'd kissed before.

His nose mashed against mine and his glasses were skewed but it didn't matter. His hands trailed down to my waist where he gripped tight, holding me.

It lasted a few minutes, before he pulled away. "Rosalin." he groaned. "It's too wrong."

I sighed. I could see we were getting nowhere tonight. "Fine." I said. I sat up.

"I'd like to continue going on as normal as possible." he said.

I was frustrated with him, but truly, I did understand his reasoning. "Of course." I said. I still wanted to cry and felt rejected, but I would do that later. I turned away from him.

He nodded. "Thank you." he said. He got up and took out a money bag. He counted out money.

I knew I was defeated, but that did not mean I'd given up. He reached out and gave me ten galleons. I knew that was outrageous, but I took it anyway. That would pay for most of my Christmas presents.

I got up and left his rooms. I felt better than when I'd got there, but still didn't feel right.

Author's Note: Well, that was a pretty long chapter, hope it made up from the short one I just posted. Hope everyone likes where this story is going. This is most definitely NOT the end of them at all. So... just keep your eyes open for new chapters ;) I just wanted to take some time to thank everyone who's commented on my chapters or sent me messages. Those are the things that remind me why I'm slaving over this story when my muse is on vacation. So, thanks a ton :) Keep it up!