Harry waited patiently for me as I went to my bathroom to splash some cold water on my face. My eyes were still bloodshot, but the redness of my nose was dissipating, thankfully. With a grimace, I gathered my bookbag and laced my fingers through Harry's. I'd decided to keep my eyes downcast as we walked so no one would see the rawness there. I thought to comment on how he'd somehow reached his Legillimens all the way across campus, but realized I'd have to stop being surprised by his magical aptitude sooner or later.

It's just my luck he'd be a mind-reading wizard.

As we walked, I noticed Neville and Luna were engaged in some banter as they walked together. Don't suppose there's any public response about that. I envy them. Still, there's... Possibly fewer whispers and stares around us.

We arrived to class just in time, and slid into our seats in unison. My mood was still grim as I withdrew my textbook from my bag and opened it to the last chapter we were on. As McGonagall launched into her lecture for the day, my chin rested in my palm.

What if Dumbledore has bad news for us? Fuck, I'm too scared to get my hopes up. I feel stupid for even bringing it up. There has to be a reason the Dark Mark's never been removed.

My internal musing was interrupted by a note Harry slid onto my desk.

'If you fret much harder, you'll get age lines on your forehead'

I smirked down at this message as it vanished, but my brow actually did relax, unintentionally.

'Date me long enough, you'll go grey prematurely'

This earned a subdued laugh from Harry.

'Guess we'll both age each other quicker'

His implication of spending the rest of our lives together clutched my heart.

'Don't you feel like you put too much effort into me sometimes?'

From picking up my things to seeking me out after Astronomy to eating lunch with me to inviting me to the Gryffindor table to worrying about me, all he does is run in circles around me, picking up the pieces. I'd predicted a response like 'you're worth it' or 'it's not a chore,' or something sappy along those lines.

'Not as much as you put into me' was his surprising response, though, and I quirked an eyebrow at him. His suggestive expression nearly made me burst into laughter in the middle of class, but I choked it down. Alright, I set myself up for that one.

'Incorrigible' I penned, but before sliding the note back, I glanced at him. A smug grin spread his lips as his eyes absorbed this word, and I continued. 'How the hell do you figure I'm braver than you?'

This was a question I'd been meaning to ask, but I was almost certain his answer still wouldn't convince me. A deliberating frown indented between his eyebrows as I slid the page back onto his desk. He took quite a while to formulate his response.

'You came back to school' he began. I rolled my eyes at this, but he continued. 'You held the most powerful wizard of our age at wand-point' This, I winced at. 'You survived living with Lucius, you survived living with Riddle, you lied to Bellatrix's face, you risked your life for me, you apologized, you owled your mum, you' Here, I reached over to still his hand. My heart couldn't take another word as his paragraph of text slowly disappeared. Before I could think of a reply, his hand started moving again under mine. 'You should give yourself more credit' was his final, messy inscription before he passed the note back to me.

'It's no saving the world' was what I'd decided on. After I'd slid the note back onto his desk, he wrote only my name before shooting me a frown.

'That's me you're talking about. And I happen to be fully enamoured with YOU' He thrust the page, and this message, back at me pointedly.

His words faded before my wide eyes as my cheeks warmed. My heart swelled so large it nearly choked me, and I sat frozen for a solid several minutes.

He's right. I'm dating the bravest person I know, and he thinks I'm braver than him?

'Still doesn't make me braver'

His eyes rolled so hard, I almost laughed again.

'I'm not only enamoured with you, I'm impressed by you. You don't trust my judgement?'

My warm cheeks warmed further as I realized Maybe I don't? I certainly doubt him, at least…

'Sometimes it's questionable' I slowly wrote back. This time, he snatched the page back before I had a chance to pass it back. A grimace contorted my lips as I watched him furiously respond.

'You can choose not to trust me all you want. I'm still right' was his reply.

I'd anticipated his words to be much more cutting, and my grimace relaxed into a smirk once my eyes scanned his words. Just then, McGonagall distracted us as she called for us to take out our wands and quills. We were to transfigure the feathers into leaves, and Harry and I exchanged a glance as, I assumed, we both realized we'd be one quill short now. Nonetheless, we followed along with her incantation and wand pattern. Harry was immediately successful, of course, a broad grin stretching across his face.

How can he still be proud of his own successes? Surely someone like him should only expect success at this point.

I attempted the transfiguration twice more before I was somewhat successful. Where his quill had transformed into a beautiful fern branch, mine became a shriveled sort of twig. I frowned at it as he snickered. My eyes rolled, but a grin threatened to disassemble my disappointment. Withdrawing a fresh quill, I finally responded to his last message.

'Suppose you're taking it as a personal challenge to convince me of my worth?'

'Of course. Still, that stick is rather pitiful…' He turned a teasing grin up at me as he stamped out the final ellipses. His competitive nature inflamed my own as I snatched the page back from beneath his hand.

'I've another stick that I dare you to call pitiful'

As I smugly slid this message back onto his desk, I settled my chin back into my palm and glimpsed his red face out of the corner of my eye. Instead of writing back, he muttered "Git" back at me. I snickered quietly as he slid the page between two pages of his textbook. Soon after, the bell finally tolled and we began packing our things back into our bags.

"Have you got Quidditch practice today?"

"Nah, practice starts next week. I'm visiting Hagrid tomorrow, though."

I hummed in assent as we clasped hands and made our way to dinner.

As we entered the Great Hall, our conversation about Quidditch practice was derailed by a commotion at the Slytherin table. A first-year was in tears on the floor before a group of, of all things, Gryffindors. Several professors were hastily approaching the scene from the end of the room, but I'd immediately ripped my hand out of Draco's and sprinted to the scene.

"Is this the House you wanted? Honestly, we all have reason to suspect you…" One of them was commenting as I reached the group.

"What the fuck is going on?" I demanded as I tore through the gathering to crouch over the weeping first-year. "Are you alright?"

She shied away from me initially, but once her eyes found my face, a kind of wonder overtook the terror. I reached out a hand to her, offering her a smile.

"Is… Is my house… Evil?"

The posse of Gryffindors I'd ripped through had dispersed as several professors arrived at the scene.

"No. Of course not. Just because a select few from your house did some bad things means nothing about the rest of you. Are you hurt anywhere?"

She eyed my outstretched hand warily as she sniffed. She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her robe before hesitantly reaching her hand back toward mine. Once I'd clasped it, I hoisted her to her feet.

"I… I think I'm okay…"

I cast an assuring glance around at Slughorn, McGonagall, and Flitwick as I pulled the Slytherin girl into my arms.

"That's good. I'm sorry they were mean to you. That's not what Hogwarts is usually like."

The professors who'd gathered took a moment to assess the situation, and probably catch their breaths, before they nodded and turned back toward the professors' table.

I held the girl to me a moment longer as she seemed to calm down, before gently pulling her shoulders from my waist and looking her in the eye.

"If anyone's ever mean to you again, you just come to me or any of the professors, okay?"

She sniffed again before a brilliant smile shone on her face.

"Okay."

With a reassuring smile, I released her and returned to Draco, who had remained frozen where I'd left him, looking on with his own awestruck expression. My cheeks warmed.

"What?"

I'd garnered a fair bit of attention from the rest of the room, but instead of replying, Draco seized my face and crushed my lips to his.

"Mmf-!" I exclaimed in surprise. Once he released me, his face was bright red. Mine was likely similar, so warm were my cheeks.

"Er… Dinner?" He asked, and I chuckled.

My non-conversational nature is rubbing off on him.

"Yeah," I replied as we took hands again and made our way to where our friends were looking on. A range of expressions painted their expressions, but we silently slid onto the bench and began loading up our plates from the dishes. Eventually, the group's cumulative amazement relaxed as they returned to their dinners.