Hey everyone and welcome to another short, this one is for HPClutchLockdown!

For those of you interested in my other works, I currently have three stories in progress with the pairings of those being Harry/FemVoldemort, Harry/Delphini and Harry/OFC

As usual, a big thanks to my Beta's and Discord Staff - Alec, Alpple, Babo, CalamityXx, Champ, DorianGray, NerdDragonVoid, O'Neill, Seventh Son, SinisterFox, Theo and Xevier!

Feel free to join my Discord for updates, a chance to request your own short story and information; link on my profile. Without any more rambling from me, I hope you enjoy the story!

(Sorry if you don't like this!)

November 14, 1994

Saturday Early Evening

Harry was completely and utterly left in the mud.

Two weeks had passed since he'd been selected as Hogwarts 'second' champion, and since that event had so unfortunately occurred, nothing good had happened for him — from a majority of the school thinking he was a glory hound and denouncing him, to his closest of friends in Hermione and Ron almost wholly abandoning him; it couldn't get much worse.

With the level of opposition and hate being sent his way, he'd be lucky if he knew the task even one day before having to complete it; he was well aware of the history of cheating, the books regarding past tournaments were riddled with such occurrences.

Thus, with no idea as to what it was and no friends to seek out, he'd taken all the time he possibly could to hunker down in an empty classroom to go over everything. From basic charms not taught during Hogwarts' curriculum to battle transfiguration, the latter being extremely complicated and his chances of learning its simplest spells being slim to none; he was doing it all.

Well, sort of; it turned out there was a large failure rate in his casting of the spells he'd been trying to learn. Be it a lack of focus, stressing over the tournament, missing his friends or a combination of everything, his magic or mind simply weren't doing what they should.

A feminine cough sounded from near the entranceway, the door closing sounding off shortly thereafter.

Harry, in response to the sudden noise, jolted in his seat; he'd not heard anybody enter, the thought making him nervous at who it could be while simultaneously annoying him for having such a scattered mind that he missed them. Shaking his head to hopefully clear it from whatever fog it had, he looked up and to the right, in the direction of the cough.

Greeting him upon his looking was a redheaded girl wearing the robes of Hufflepuff House, she had a slightly chubby appearance, an abundance of freckles on her visible skin and when he focused solely on her face, a confident, friendly smile.

"Done checking me out, Harry?" Her voice was confident and strong, the girl waiting for his eyes to meet hers before mimicking the appraising look he'd given her.

"I wa- I didn't know who'd come in, most everybody here's made it known they don't want to speak with me." Harry hadn't meant disrespect if that was how she'd interpreted it, more that he'd been nervous that somebody would take advantage of his loneliness to take some 'revenge' for 'the true Hogwarts champion' Cedric.

"Relax," Susan — that was her name… yes it'd taken him a few seconds to remember — said, raising her hands to show nothing was in them, approaching a nearby seat shortly after doing so, "I've wondered where you've gone off to since your ex-communication from Gryffindor, don't see you at meals to ask either; are you eating?"

Harry felt touched at the genuine feeling her question gave off, but it also made him feel weird; why would she care? They'd rarely talked over the last three years and Hufflepuff had led the charge against him as soon as his name had come out. Shouldn't Susan, who by all accounts and from the limited knowledge he possessed was one of if not the leading figures of Hufflepuff, be against him?

He narrowed his eyes at the smiling, seemingly nice redheaded girl — maybe she planned to spy on him for a time, see where he stood in terms of information gained before heading back to Cedric.

Suspicions raised and not feeling particularly generous all things considered, Harry shrugged his shoulders in response, promptly sticking his nose back in the book he'd been going over at the same time he replied, "Yes."

Susan didn't narrow her eyes back, she didn't scoff, no other signs of any annoyance or disliking she may have felt towards him showed either. If anything, when his eyes darted over to examine her upon his giving of a one-word answer, she seemed put out and pitying.

That bothered him more than any amount of anger or name-calling she could've done, but he wouldn't show it.

Hopefully, one-word answers and a lack of visual acknowledgement would send Susan away.

"You're sure?" Susan shifted closer, moving from the seat she'd previously taken to the one directly next to Harry, sitting in such a way that her body was turned to fully engage with him.

He still wouldn't look at her, his earlier hope of her leaving still clear in his mind.

"Yes."

"How?" Susan shot back immediately, the girl resting an arm on the desk and putting her head atop it.

"Dobby," Harry withheld a sigh — surely she had more to do in a day than bug him while he was studying for the task.

A sound of familiarity came from the girl, "He's the one you freed right? Hermione's spoken with more than a few people about him; you did really good getting him away from the Malfoys."

"Thanks… can I do something for you, Susan?" Harry realised without too long having to pass that the Hufflepuff girl had no plans of leaving his presence. Thus, he was left with no choice but to ask what she wanted and why she was bothering with speaking to him.

Merlin knows it could well make her a pariah if they were walked in on.

"Yes, you can — you're so kind for asking!" Susan beamed a beautiful smile at him and reached out with her free hand to run it along his arm until grabbing hold of his closer one, "Eat meals with me and my friends instead of doing so alone from here on out."

Harry recoiled, pulling his hand from hers without more than a second of contact having happened.

"Why?"

Susan reached out again, her hand grabbing his with more firmness than previously had been done stating simply, "I believe you."

"You believe me?" He parroted back, this time letting the Hufflepuff girl keep the contact she'd initiated, though more from confusion than actually caring about it.

She dipped her head once, "Yes; you've not lied in the years prior, our second year comes to my mind the most — we shouldn't have driven you off and treated you as we had, you were innocent the entire time. I won't be making that mistake again like how so many of our classmates are, my friends won't either," Susan looked curiously at him as she said that, "Speaking of friends, I'm sure Neville and a few of the Gryffindors below you in year would enjoy sitting with you too, they're not all fair-weather friends like so many seem to be… they just need a chance."

Harry caught on to how she'd accentuated the word, though that may have come from how she'd squeezed his hand during her saying of the word too.

Either way, he realised now the girl was here to make 'friends' with him, the effort being put forth more than he'd imagined for a joke as this could still be.

"Okay, what'll you do when your housemates start something come the time I sit with you?" He was genuinely interested in how she'd answer, the wording potentially being able to betray her reason for having followed him here.

Susan lifted her nose, narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, the effect radiating from her being very uncomfortable.

She noticed the cringing of Harry and ceased all of the mannerisms she'd taken on.

"So, how was it?"

"What're you talking about?" Harry hadn't heard her say anything.

Susan giggled and tapped the back of his hand with hers, the connection having stayed despite the awkward moment that'd just happened.

"My look, was it intimidating? My Auntie taught me, she said it keeps all the incompetent higher-ups away when she's working at the Ministry," Susan pouted when he failed to respond after a dozen or so seconds, "I could say something condescending like she does too if I need to, want me to tr-"

Harry shook his head and raised his hands, finally putting the book down during that time.

"No need, it was good, really good actually; reminded me of a Slytherin brat," Harry kept his hands raised when Susan returned the narrowing of her eyes at his words, "I get it, I'll join you for a meal… can I get back to my prepping now?"

Susan shook her head no while smiling and biting her bottom lip.

"Of course not silly, now that I've gotten you to agree to a meal with so little effort, I'm on to my next request for you — Hogsmeade. We've got a trip coming up soon in preparation for the Yule Ball and I want you to join my friends should yours still be avoiding you," she tilted her head and scrunched her lips in thought, "Should you all makeup you should still come with us; we asked you first, no?"

Harry let out the sigh this time, the energetic and all too positive Hufflepuff girl starting to grate on him.

"I'll think about it, and what's this about the Yule Ball?"

Susan giggled again and after raising her head from the arm it'd been resting on, used the now free limb to gently give him a scolding tap on the shoulder.

"Very funny Harry, and I'll take that as a yes too, even if I have to drag you out with us; maybe in return I could help you a bit with your studying considering you've been on this same section for a couple of days now."

"What?" Harry blinked, looking at the girl with a confused and again suspicious look on his face while attempting to pull his hand from hers as he'd done earlier.

This time, her tight grip prevented him from doing so and got tighter in the process — her panicked expression and blushing cheeks making him more nervous as the seconds passed, but she was quick in her attempts of calming him lest he lashes out.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry — I may've walked in on you two days ago… and yesterday… maybe this morning too when you were still here," Susan's look was extremely apologetic and embarrassed, though not once did her voice waver or show any signs of shyness, "Truthfully, my aim was to catch you when you were done or near enough so. When on this fourth attempt I noticed you were still around the same area of the book and showing no signs of moving, which forced me to interrupt you… sorry about that too."

Oh.

That wasn't nearly as nefarious as Harry would've thought, and he didn't really have any reason to doubt her words either; something about the girl just seemed so trustworthy. Be it her very visual showing of emotions or the way her voice conveyed them, he just felt at ease.

"It's fine," he started with, trying to come up with what he'd say in response to his being stuck on account of not wanting to look stupid — he couldn't find anything but the excuses he'd given himself earlier, so, he chose simply not to speak instead of acting a fool.

"I can help you," Susan blurted out, her grip tightening around his hands again.

"Susan I don—"

She interrupted him, "If I'm making you sit with me for meals and take me to Hogsmeade, the least you can have me do in return is help you with the tasks. It's what friends do, Harry."

"Alright," He wouldn't argue, maybe the girl could even tell him the task if on the off chance Cedric found out about it early; would certainly make preparing for the tasks ahead easier if he knew just what he was preparing for.

Susan smiled and stood up from her seat, raising their conjoined hands until he had to stretch to keep them together.

"It's dinner time or close enough to and you did promise to join me for meals, so," she pulled abruptly, making him stand lest she pulls herself into his lap, "Let's get going."

Harry shook his head in amusement but did as she asked, packing his belongings up in his satchel before throwing the strap over his shoulder.

"So wh—"

He was interrupted again, this time from a soft, wet sensation touching his cheek.

Susan had kissed him.

Susan had kissed his cheek.

Harry turned his head, searching for Susan's face to ask why she'd done it when she responded without his prompt.

"Can't I kiss my friend's cheek?" she played innocent, her expression teasing and her bottom lip bit.

He was shaking his head with a smirk when she pulled on their hands like she'd done before, this time leading him out of the empty, dull classroom and into a hall filled with her giggling, playful attitude.

Hogsmeade definitely wouldn't be bad with Susan.