Chapter 24: New Favorite

(Harry POV)

It was our last day of Holiday. We were supposed to head back to Hogwarts tomorrow morning, and none of us were really too excited about it. The adults always worried while we were away. None of us wanted to go back to Umbridge, and her delusional rules. I could tell Bella was dreading the return most of all. She hadn't had to deal with the constant whispers and stares for a hole week.

I still hadn't been able to figure out what was going on with me. I had been less angry for the past few days, but I could feel some changes happening inside of me. I was still having those strange dreams, and I couldn't get them to stop. Part of me didn't want them to stop. Maybe that was part of the issue.

Hedwig bit my finger that had been hanging onto her cage. I was about to feed her when I got caught up in my own thoughts. Obviously she did not like being teased.

"Ow! Alright, alright here you go." I handed her a dead mouse. She didn't look forgiving.

"Harry?" I heard a knock. Sirius's head poked in around the door. "Do you mind if we have a little chat?"

"Sure thing, Sirius." I sat down on the floor and leaned back on the bed. He did the same.

"I seem to be failing on my duties as your Godfather yet again, Harry. I can tell something has been troubling you, and I have yet to ask you about it."

I had noticed this whole week that he had been rather down as well, but I didn't need to ask him why. I know he hated being trapped in this house, with everything reminding him of his horrid family. Feeling useless and lonely.

I sighed. "I think there is something wrong with me, Sirius. These dreams are driving me mad, and all these feelings of hatred and anger I keep harboring are not helping. I can't help but think that this connection, between me and Voldemort, is causing me to become like him. To become something other than myself."

"Harry, I would be lying if I said that there were no similarities between you and Voldemort, but it's not what is similar about you that matters. It's what is different. You may have this connection with him, but that is something that you cannot control. But you can control what you hold inside your heart. He cannot ever touch that, because that is something that he can never understand."

I nodded at him. He was right. I may not be able to control my connection with him, but that doesn't mean that I have to become like him. I won't let him control me.

"I know Dumbledore is better at these kinds of talks, but how'd I do?" He said, wiping his neck with his hand.

I chuckled at him, "You were brilliant. I just wish I could help you."

"Just by being here you make me feel better, Harry. And when this is all over, we will be a family. You and I will finally be allowed to be happy."

I smiled at the thought of it. Having a real family. No longer having to go home to the Dursley's. It would be a dream come true.

We stood up and walked out of the room to go join the rest of the household. I saw Bella across the hall in a different room. She had her hand placed on the wall, and her eyebrows were squeezing together in thought.

Sirius placed a hand on my shoulder. "Now, I may not be that good at life problems, but girl problems I can definitely help you out with." He was staring over in Bella's direction too.

I was taken aback. Surely he hadn't noticed? It wasn't that obvious…. Was it?

"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about." I could feel my face start to get hot. Oh great, well if it wasn't obvious before, it sure was now.

He chuckled, "Sure you don't. All I'm saying is, when your cooped up inside all day with nothing to do, people watching is a pretty good activity to take up. Snape never blinks, for example. Molly always sucks in a breath before she yells. However, you two in particular are very interesting to watch." He raised his eyebrows at me. Oh great.

"We are just friends." I tried to say it firmly, but there wasn't any conviction in it.

"Oh yeah, and so are Hermione and Ron." He rolled his eyes, "There is no need to be embarrassed by It, Harry. She is a pretty, smart girl with a good personality."

"Exactly, she would never go for me."

"Wow, for being so smart Harry, sometimes you can be so thick. Open those eyes of yours will you?!" He laughed to himself. "You're Harry freaking Potter! You have battled a Basilisk and a dragon, yet you're afraid of girls. Come on boy, let's see some of that famous courage in action." He shoved me forward towards the room Bella was standing in. He started walking down the stairs giving me a thumbs up as he went out of site. Brilliant. He was never going to let this go.

I walked in with my hands in my pockets. I could feel my heart beating faster. Why was I so nervous all of a sudden? I have talked with Bella alone loads of times. Calm yourself Potter.

"What's up?" There it was again. I needed to work on my casual conversation.

She looked away from the wall, looked at me and immediately smiled. "Hey Harry. Just looking at the good-ole-family tree." She gestured to the wall.

All over the wall were pictures of different members of the black family, all connected by branches of a tree. There were a couple of pictures that had been burned through, so that you could no longer see their faces. I noticed that Sirius's picture had been among the destroyed. I frowned.

"Don't be upset about it. It's really a good thing to be taken off this wall if you ask me." She lifted her hand up to touch the wall. I noticed Bellatrix's picture directly in front of her.

The more I hung around Bella, the less she looked like her mom to me. Sure the similarities were there. She no longer reminded me of her mother though, she was just Bella to me.

"Sometimes I wonder what she was like before Voldemort. What she was like as a kid. Was she always such a terrible person, or did he make her that way."

I had never thought of Voldemort's followers as ever being different, but surely they were. They must have been children once that just wanted to play and have fun. Then teenagers, that just wanted to fit in. Some probably had hard lives, always looking for some sort of acceptance.

"All of his followers may have been different at one point, Bella. But they still made their choice. The wrong choice." She looked at me, her eyes piercing into mine. "But you're nothing like them Bella. You made the right choice."

She let go of the wall. "You're right. It doesn't do well to dwell on what she was like. It's what she is now that we should concern ourselves with." She sighed. Turning her body toward me. We were only a foot apart. "I apologized to Neville, but I never apologized to you Harry."

I definitely was not expecting that. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Maybe not, but someone needs to be. He isn't going to take responsibility for it, so I will. I'm sorry your family was taken away from you, Harry. You deserve so much more than you got." She reached up and touched my scar, running her thumb over it. No one had ever done that before.

I bravely reached up and took her hand, "And so do you."

She was staring at me, with those beautiful eyes, as if she was looking for something. I saw her eyes flicker, obviously down to my mouth. She formed a mischievous smile on her face.

Before I had time to even think. She closed the gap between us. Her hand rested on my chest, where I'm sure she could feel my heart pounding. This time felt so different than that time with Cho. This felt right.

I leaned down, but before I knew it, her lips had already found mine. It was like the world around us had fallen away. No troubles, no sadness, just each other. All my feelings of anger and hatred had fallen away. I felt like myself again.

Much too quickly, she pulled away from me. I opened my eyes. Her checks were more rosy than usual, and the smile on her face was different than normal. Content almost. She leaned her head against my chest, where I could feel her breathing against me. I started stroking her hair.

"That is definitely my new favorite."

I chuckled a little bit. "Well, that's a confidence booster." She started laughing too.

"Bella! Harry!" We both jumped at the sound of Mrs. Weasely's voice coming from down the stairs. "Come down for dinner!"

"Coming!" They both said together, I little too urgently.

We released each other, but she grabbed my hand before heading towards the stairs. I attempted to hide the foolish, smile plastered on my face. I knew Sirius would be watching.