Maybe it's All for the Best

Chapter 11: Dinner

Turns out Sarah didn't help us make dessert due to the fact that her, Teddy and Harry didn't actually arrive until we were almost ready to eat.

"Ah Harry!" Molly smiled. "I didn't think you would make it" She pulled the boy into a hug.

"Sorry Molly... something came up" He smiled, returning the hug. "You remember Sarah don't you?" He gestured to Sarah behind him.

"Yes of course. How are you dear?" Molly hugged the girl. Sarah went rigid, like human contact would make her burst into flame. I rolled my eyes.

"Well dinner is ready, we're just going to take it outside and settled down to eat" Molly ignored the rudeness of Sarah and continued to bustle around.

"Outside? We're eating outside?" Sarah asked, Teddy pushing some hair off Teddy's face. Tonight it was bright green... Tonks would have been proud.

"Yeah, we have to eat outside. There's not enough room in here for everyone at the moment" Roe said bluntly, walking past with a plate of potatoes.

"Oh. Well I think Teddy's got a sniffle so it's probably not best for him to be outside" Sarah shrugged, brushing Teddy's hair off his face again. Honestly, Teddy looked fine and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm sure you'll be ok, won't you Teddy" I smiled and held my hands out to take Teddy. He started leaning over to me, a big grin on his face and his deep brown eyes shining, but Sarah turned her shoulder to me, cutting us apart.

"I'd rather not risk it" She said pointedly.

Molly glanced at Harry. "Well... If Teddy might get sick then I suppose we'll find the space around this table"

I stared at Harry, waiting for him to say something. He didn't. Just looked at the floor, looking a little more than embarrassed. I raised a shocked eyebrow and shook my head.

"No. He'll be fine. It's like 25 degrees outside. Not too cold at ALL!" I walked around her and tugged Teddy from her grasp. I swung the toddler around and he shrieked with laughter. "Let's go and find Victoire and see what she's up too" I smiled at him.

"Yesh!" He nodded and we walked away from Sarah. I could feel her glaring daggers at the back of my head and that only got worse when I sat opposite Harry, and placed Teddy in a high chair beside me. Sarah took her seat huffily next to Harry and leant her head on his shoulder.

"I guess you didn't forget your ring this time then?" She nodded to my left hand, her eyes still narrowed.

"No. I went home and got changed and remembered to put my ring back on" I smiled sweetly at her. "Potatoes?"

She nodded and I spooned some on her plate. Really though, I wanted to spoon them on her head. She thanked me stiffly.

"I just don't see how you could forget something that important really. I mean... if I had an engagement ring, I would never ever take it off" She smiled. She placed her hand on Harry's forearm and I suppressed my millionth eye roll. "So when are you heading home again, Riley?" She asked, reaching for the carrots.

"The fifth of August" I answered her, reaching for the same carrots. We tugged on the bowl before Draco took the spoon, heaped some onto both our plates and gave me an exasperated look. I let it go and settled back into my seat.

"Wow that's not that far away... what's the date today Harry? The 15th?" She asked, turning her head to look at Harry. I glanced at him and caught his green eyes in mine.

"It's not that close" Harry smiled at me. "She's still got another three weeks here, thankfully" He winked and I felt my cheeks blush. She scowled.

"And your birthday" I reminded him. "I'll be here for that" He nodded with a chuckle and pushed his glasses up his nose. He still had those adorable habits that he'd always had.

"It'll probably be the best birthday I've had in a long time" He admitted. Butterflies attacked the insides of my stomach and I grinned at him.

"Oh! You should invite Nate to that... We'd love to meet him" Sarah interjected.

"Yeah I guess" I nodded as Harry's eyes flickered away from mine. "But then I think it's more of a family thing" I turned to smile sweetly at her. Beside me, Roe snorted with laughter, covering it with a cough at the last minute.

"And Nate's not family?" She challenged me, her eyes gleaming with bitchyness.

"Not at the moment, no. Not part of this family" I shook my head and gestured up and down the very pack and crowded table.

"Then why are you marrying him?" She shrugged, leaning back cockily in her seat.

"Well, because I love him" I mumbled, looking at my hands. "He's not part of this family yet because he doesn't know them. He will one day" I nodded, looking back up.

"I still think it's weird you didn't bring him along with you to announce your engagement" Sarah sniffed.

I didn't dignify her statement with a response.

"Did you say he was working, Riles?" Harry asked. I smiled at him across the table.

"Yeah he is" I nodded. "Otherwise I would have brought him with me"

Harry raised an eyebrow and shook his head slightly, knowing I really wouldn't have. Sarah didn't say anything to me again for a while and I took the opportunity to help Teddy get food and talk to other people.

"So what does Nate think about you hanging out with your ex-boyfriend, Riley?" Sarah asked between dinner and dessert.

"Why should Nate care?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well because he's her ex... I'd feel really uncomfortable if my boyfriend was hanging out with his ex-girlfriend" Sarah gave me a pointed look, again resting her hand on Harry's arm.

"Maybe that's because you know his ex-girlfriend means more to him than you ever – OW!" Roe was cut off as I thumped her thigh under the table and someone kicked her shin. Sarah fixed her with a glare.

"Actually Nate doesn't really know Harry's my ex... I don't see the need to tell him" I shrugged and glanced at Harry. Harry was looking at me puzzled, probably wondering why I never told Nate about my past.

"So you're keeping things from him as well?" Sarah tutted. "What else haven't you told him? That you're a witch?" She giggled. "Seems like your relationship is built on lies, if you ask me"

"Well no one asked you did they?" I glared at her. "My relationship is not built on lies, thank you. There are just things in my past that he doesn't need to know... old relationships being one of them" I gritted my teeth and threw my napkin on the table. "Excuse me, I need the bathroom" I stood and walked inside.

I didn't really need the bathroom. I just had to get away from her otherwise I might just pull a Roe and punch her lights out.

I sat on the couch and pulled out my wand. Using the light from my wand, I pushed the tip against the diamond in my ring and sent rainbows over my shirt and hands. I played with it, projecting the sparkles onto the roof and walls with magic.

"Well that's one use for your ring" I heard Harry chuckle from the doorway. I didn't look over at him, just continued to look at the sparkles in my diamond. "I'm sorry about her Riley" He said after a few seconds of silence.

"She's a total bitch" I told him bluntly, shaking my head. "I don't like her" He sighed.

"I knew you were going to say that" I felt the seat dip next to me as he sat down. I dropped my wand to my lap and turned to look at him. "But I'm sorry that she's picking on you. I didn't think she'd be so rude"

"I'm a threat to her. Of course she's going to be rude" I shrugged. His eyebrow raised.

"A threat?" He asked.

"She has this thought in her head that the only reason I came back was to steal you away and mess up your life" I repeated the words she said to me the first time I met her. "And apparently, me moving away three years ago ruined your life... and you're happier now without me" I dropped my gaze to my hands.

"Why would you stealing me away ruin my life?" He asked with a frown. My stomach clenched and I didn't know what to say. "You moving away didn't ruin my life... I ruined my own life by not coming after you when the war was over" He admitted in a quiet voice. I looked up at him again.

"Harry I..." He cut me off.

"The thing that would get ruined however..." he cut me off "Is your life back in New York with your apparently gorgeous fiancé"

My eyes dropped to the ring and suddenly I hated the thing. It was big and ugly and all I wanted to do was throw it into the fire. I looked back up at him. "Harry I...don't want–"

He was suddenly so close, his lips mere centimetres from mine. I lost my train of thought for a second. Flashes of our first kiss came into my mind... the awkward talking in front of the fire... the closeness of our faces... the heat... the emotion...

"There you are!" A loud voice made me jump back, my heart beating wildly. "I think you should take Teddy home, he's getting tired and cranky" Sarah put her hands on her hips and stared at us. I was still trying to find my breath so I just looked at the floor.

"Teddy'll be ok. He can crash on one of the beds in the twins room" Harry waved a hand and slumped back onto the couch.

"No Harry. I think he should be taken home" She sounded so much like a wife that I half expected him to sigh 'yes dear'.

"Maybe..."

"I'm going to find Roe. Excuse me" I said quickly and left the room. My head was swimming. Why did he have to do this to me? Every damn time I saw him it was like I had a rope around my waist and he was pulling me in. I should really learn my lesson... but then I always was a sucker for learning things the hard way.

Plea's Note:

Hope this makes up for the filler chapter :) Things are getting interesting

Xo Plea