Chapter 38

Scandal

The school year still hasn't begun. Izzie was still living at Grimmauld Place with her family and friends; everyone was getting restless. They were stuck inside the apartment for most of the summer unless they ventured with one or two chaperons watching their every move. And it was getting quite annoying.

Even Izzie wanted to run and scream from the house, because she currently had done something scandalize that everyone wanted to talk about; everyone meaning…EVERYONE. It was the only juicy gossip that summer. She wasn't the only culprit. It takes two to tango, right?

XXX

Izzie sat curled up on the couch by the fire in the parlor room. Everyone had already gone to bed. She even tried to go to sleep but it didn't take. She had herself some hot chocolate and just sat, looking at the slowly dying fire.

"You're still up?" she heard behind her.

She turned and saw Harry. She smiled, "Yeah. Couldn't sleep, I tried but nothing came of it."

"Same here," he said, "I must have tossed and turned for hours. Can I join you?"

"You can," she replied, "I made hot chocolate if you want some. It's in the kitchen."

Harry sat down, "It's the middle of summer."

"So, you can have hot chocolate any time of the year."

"Who told you that?" he laughed.

She gave him her best Hermione impression, "Lupin."

"He likes his chocolate."

"What happened that night?" she asked.

He knew what night she was referring to.

"Hermione told me the gist of it, just what you told her," she said.

He sighed, "Do you really want to know?"

She put down her cup, "Yes."

Harry told her what happened in the maze and what happened in the graveyard. She listened careful as he described Cedric's last moments. Hearing him talk about his battle with Voldemort intrigued her. Once Harry was done, she couldn't help but think about Cedric.

A tear slide down her face, "I didn't mean to upset you," he said.

"I won't deny that I'm upset that Cedric is dead but I'm not mad at you. This only adds on to my hate for Voldemort," she said, "I can't help but to think that Victor or Fleur could have been the ones to go to the graveyard instead. It was by chance that it was Cedric…I do know, if you had gone alone, you might not have survived. Lord Pansy-ass is going to get what's coming to him one day. I can't wait to see that day."

"I think I'll have that hot chocolate now."

After all the serious talk was over, Harry heard her talk about when she lived in America and how it was very different than living here but the people were the same.

"I swear Malfoy is just like this girl back at my old school. They act the same and come from rich families," she said, "And they're both bitches."

They both laughed and then Izzie yawned.

"Someone's getting sleepy," he said.

"I am not," she said as she was leaning sideways on the back of the couch facing him.

Harry took the same position, facing her, "I'm sure," he said. She yawned again making him smile as he reached over to place his hand on her face. He rubbed his thumb in a tiny circle.

"That's nice," she whispered.

He leaned over the small space between them to kiss her softly. She returned the kiss and grabbed his collar to pull him over her as she laid back into the couch. She continued kissing him until he pulled away. He moved himself until he laid against the couch with her in his arms.

They stayed like that for the rest of the night.

XXX

Izzie woke up first the next morning and found she had fallen asleep with Harry on the couch. He was on his back and she laid partially on him with their feet tangled together and his arm snaked around her. She just smiled as she looked up at him as he still slept.

"Morning," she heard from behind her.

She sighed as she slowly turned to see the twins looking down at her and Harry, it was George who spoke first.

"What are you two up to?" Fred asked.

"Go away," she whispered.

"Have you seen Izzie? I don't think she came to bed last night," Hermione said, coming into the room. She stopped as she saw her two best friends on the couch, "Oh, that would be why."

Izzie tried to get up before matters got worse, but Harry was still asleep and he had a tight grip on her.

"Does someone need help?" Fred asked, smirking.

"No," Izzie whispered.

"What are you kids looking…" Sirius walked in, "Oh!"

Izzie pulled away from Harry hard enough, she fell to the ground and woke Harry up in her process. He then proceeded to sit up at the same time Hermione helped Izzie to her feet.

"Nothing happened," Izzie said, "We just felled asleep."

"On top of Harry," George said.

"I don't want to cause a commotion, have everyone in here and have a house meeting about this," she said, "Nothing happened."

"We just kissed," Harry blurted out as he stood up.

Izzie looked up at the ceiling, "Oh my God!" she whispered.

"Wicked!" the twins said.

"Alright, boys," Hermione said, ushering the twins, "Out we go."

Harry and Izzie were left with Sirius staring at them.

"We just kissed," Harry repeated, "We stopped before anything else happened."

"Harry," Izzie said, getting his attention, "Stop talking."

"Thank you for being honest," Sirius said, "Do we need to talk about this?"

"No," Izzie and Harry said at the same time.

Lupin had chosen that moment to walk in, "Fred and George are running around upstairs, singing that you two made out on the couch last night. Is that true?"

Izzie sat back down on the couch with a loud sigh.

"What do you think mate?" Sirius asked, gesturing toward the kids, "Harry, go ahead and have a seat."

He sat next to her, "Please kill me now," she whispered.

Lupin and Sirius stood looking down at them, "It's okay if you two are dating," Lupin said.

"I think it's great," Sirius said.

"But we, well at least, I'm concerned about why you guys are together," Lupin said.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"You two suffered a tragic loss not that long ago," Lupin explained, "Being together for that one reason might make the relationship toxic. I don't want to see any of you getting hurt because of the other."

"But we just kissed," Izzie said, "It doesn't have to mean anything."

"Do you want it to mean something?" Sirius asked.

Izzie looked at Harry, "I don't know...maybe. I care about Harry a lot."

"I care about you too," Harry said, "I would never hurt you."

"By now everyone who lives here know," she said, "We haven't had a chance to talk about it."

"And you two should talk about it and soon," Lupin said, "But for now, you two should go upstairs to get ready for the day. I think Mrs. Weasley is going to have you all clean another room before going to Diagon Alley."

Izzie left first and then Harry followed.

"I knew that would happen, eventually," Sirius said to Lupin.

"I know, but it might have happened at a bad time," Lupin said, "She just lost Cedric."

"Harry might be the thing to needs," Sirius said and then laughed, "Can you believe it? A son and a daughter of the Marauders. Paige, Lilly and James would be happy about that too."

Lupin smiled, "I know they would."

Izzie waited for Harry on his landing, "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be," he said, "I'm not."

"You're not?" she asked.

"No," Harry kissed her on the cheek and then hugged her.

"Then I'm not either," she whispered. She pulled away, "Everyone is going to assume we are together."

"What do you want to tell them?" he asked.

"To bugger off."

"Is that all?" he laughed.

"What do you think?" she kissed him.

XXX

Everyone dealt with the news of Harry and Izzie's relationship differently.

Hermione just smiled knowingly, like she knew it would happen eventually.

Ron was confused because he didn't find out until they came down to the kitchen holding hands.

Mr. Weasley kept on talking about how Muggle dating rituals.

Mrs. Weasley couldn't stop saying she was happy for them.

The Twins kept on high-fiving Harry and making kissing noises around Izzie.

Jenny was the hardest because Izzie knew that she has a crush on Harry. She looked sad but tried to hide it.

Harry and Izzie decided it might not be wise to broadcast to the world outside Grimmauld Place that they were together, and they also talked privately with everyone about their concerns.

The adults agreed but the twins were harder to convince. They agreed to keep the teasing down to a minimum.

XXX

Summer days were ending and soon the new school were would begin.