Chapter 11
Harry wandered around the halls
aimlessly after breakfast, thinking of the note that he had received. Your
killer rung in his head over and over again. Making him wonder; who would
want to kill him? Could it be one of Voldemort's ploys to get to him? Should he
talk to Dumbledore about it?
Not noticing that Ron was walking next to him, talking about what he had done with Lavender Brown the previous night, Harry continued thinking. What made him the most . . . troubled was the fact that his 'Killer' had mentioned the people he held close, and harming them. What did he mean by, Everything you hold dear will become mine?
"Harry?" Ron yelled for the third time, finally shattering Harry's thoughts.
"Did you say something?" he asked as he turned his sharp green eyes towards Ron and continued walking down the stairs that led to the library.
"Yes, I asked how everything was going with you and Alex," Ron repeated with a smirk, his blue eyes twinkling in amusement.
"Wonderful," Harry smiled, thinking of the previous night. "Our first kiss was last night. God man, I have never felt so . . . alive, yet ….dreamy I guess at the same time. It's like everything but her slipped away, and the only thing I could focus on was her; her skin, her taste, her smell," he told him and walked through the heavy oak doors of the library and instantly searched for the woman of the conversation.
"First of all, why do you insist on using the term 'God' when you know I have no clue who he is, and second of all, you're in love with her man and you don't even realize it," Ron told him with a shake of his head. It was all obvious to him. His friends were head over heels for each other and didn't even realize it.
"W-what?" Harry stuttered and looked at Ron with a shell-shocked expression. Do I love Alex? He wondered as he continued to stare into Ron's laughing face. Yes, his mind told him firmly. Think about it Potter, you dream of her when she's right next to you, your hands go clammy when she smiles at you, and the thought of her not in your life makes your heart skip a few beats in fear. And the fact that someone might harm her is making you crazy.
"Oh Merlin dancing on a stick," Harry rasped with wide eyes. "I love her."
"Told ya so!" Ron taunted as he gasped for breath. The look on Harry's face had been priceless! He looked as if he had been beaned upside the head with a wooden ore and knocked out!
Harry shook his head to clear it and glared menacingly at his best friend. "Shut up, Ron!" he huffed. "A guy has a right to look however the fuck I did when he realizes that he's just fallen in love!" he defended as he started to wonder if it was a better idea all in all to just go back to his room instead of facing Alex at the moment.
"Shit!" Harry exclaimed suddenly, pushing a panic-y look into his eyes. "I forgot to do my Potions homework!"
Ron narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to inform Harry that they had finished it just the other night together in the common room, but Harry cut him off before he could get a word out.
"Tell the girls I'll see them in a little bit, I don't feel like dealing with Snape's attitude anytime soon," he told him over his shoulder as he rushed out the doors, leaving behind a stunned best friend.
"He has problems," Ron muttered as he looked longingly at the door. He was going to be stuck with two studious girls for who knows how long, all alone. Harry was going to owe him major time if he made it through this alive, he decided as he made his way over to the back of the library where they both usually sat.
~*~*~*~
Harry sat on his bead, his hands in his hair as he read the note that he had found in Alex's room. They would take her away from him.
Just we he found out what true love was, what it felt like, they were trying to take her away from him.
"It's not going to happen," he swore as he lifted his head out of his palms and glared at the walls. "I'll make sure you never lay a hand on her."
For now, he had a very good idea of who it could be who was sending these letters. Voldemort. It was his style. To scare Harry into doing whatever it was he wanted by threatening his loved ones. He couldn't stand the thought that that . . . monster could even be in the same universe as Alexandra, let alone the thought of him being close enough to harm her!
But, the question was, how would he protect her from the said monster? Alexandra was dreadfully loyal to those she held close to her. Probably due to the fact that she didn't let many people get close to her. Probably because of the loss of her family at such a young age. He couldn't imagine how much it hurt her to lose her parents. Yes, he too lost his, but he didn't know them. Didn't remember them. Alexandra on the other hand, had years to be with her parents before she lost them. She had the memories to haunt her.
He wondered if it happened while it was storming. That would at least explain the fear of storms.
"Harry?" Alex called out as she entered the common room, causing Harry to jump and tuck the note he had found under his bed almost guiltily.
"In here!" he called out as he scrambled onto his bed and laid down on top of the covers, crossing his arms behind his head, and his feet at the ankles as he looked at his door and waited for his angel to come through it.
"Hi," she smiled as she opened the door and looked into the jade orbs. "I thought that you had Potions homework to do," she asked as she walked over to him and climbed onto the bed so that she was sitting with her legs folded under her, near his right hip.
"No, I guess that I already finished it, and didn't remember doing so," he told her with a smile as he untangled his arms from behind his head and moved one of them to rest on Alex's thigh, moving his index finger along the inner seem of her pants lightly.
Harry looked into Alex's eyes and smiled triumphantly. Her eyes had darkened to a slate blue, and her breathing became a little shallower as he trailed his finger ever closer to her burning center.
"I see," she managed on a gasp as she closed her eyes to savor the sensation.
"How did studying go?" he asked as he stopped moving his finger and shifted his body so that he was laying on his side, his head propped up on the hand that had been lovingly caressing her.
"It went like studying always goes," she told him with a smirk as she shifted so that she was mirroring Harry's position.
"Did you know that the ball that we've been planning is tomorrow night?" she asked as she moved the arm that she had curved in front of her body to Harry's hair and played with the strands as she gazed into his eyes.
"Is it really?" he asked with a frown as he unconsciously moved his head into her hand as she rubbed it.
"Yes," she told him with a smile. "I only remembered because my Grandmother finally sent me my gown that I wanted."
Harry grinned at that and moved back to his original postion, bringing Alex along with him so that she was sprawled across his chest with her hand still tangled in his hair. "Can I see it?" he asked her as his hands slid down her back to rest on her butt.
"Tomorrow," she told him with a smirk.
"Why not now?" he pouted as he kneaded the muscles of her butt softly.
Alex moaned low in her throat and closed her eyes at the lovely sensations that Harry was creating and answered him in a slightly husky voice. "Because I want you to see me when we go down to the Hall together for the first time. I want you to see the full affect of the dress when I'm in it, and all beautified."
"You're always 'beautified'," he told her as he kissed the top of her head.
"Mmhmm," was all she said before she angled her head slightly and rested her lips on his, kissing him deeply.
Harry groaned as he opened his mouth to her probing tongue and gripped the underside of her butt and settled her body a little higher on his, letting her feel his erection against her core.
"Harry," she moaned breathlessly as she pulled back for air.
"Mm," was all he could manage before he pulled her head back down and kissed her again. "I love you," he mumbled.
Alex's eyes shot open. They were wide and shocked as Harry gazed into them and mentally hit himself. How could he be stupid enough to say that?
"What?" she squeaked as she struggled to sit up, and when she did, she didn't even notice that she was straddling his hips.
"I love you," he sighed. There was no use lying and telling her differently. "I just found out earlier today when I was talking to Ron. I'm sorry Alex, I didn't mean to tell you that way, or so soon even, it just sort of came out," he told her with regretful eyes.
"Oh," was all she could think to say as she stared at the intricate designs in his headboard. "I wish that I could tell you the same," she said at length. "But I can't. I'm sorry. It's just, I tend to keep my feelings locked away, and it takes me longer to know what I feel because of that," she admitted and finally looked him in his eyes. She felt bad as she did so, having read the sorrow that flashed through his eyes fleetingly as she told him that. "But, I want you to know what I do in fact feel for you," she told him. feeling as if she had to give him something in return. "I haven't been able to trust anyone as much as I do you since my parents died that night. And I . . . I just have this connection with you that I've never experienced before. I think, that I could be in love with you, but in all truth, I seriously don't really know," she told him with a sheepish smile and a shrug of her shoulders.
Harry sighed and looked away from her. It hurt to know that she didn't feel the same about him as he did her, but at least he knew that she felt enough for him to trust him unlike no other. And maybe, like she said, she does love him, just doesn't know it yet.
Looking back into her eyes, Harry gave her a smile, "I'll wait as long as you need to find out," he told her honestly. He would wait. Until he was dead, he'd wait for her to say those words.
Alex exhaled a deep, relieved breath and smiled brilliantly down at him. "I promise I'll try not to keep you waiting long," she told him as she leaned down and kissed him lightly on the lips.
"Mmm, come back," he demanded as she pulled away.
Alex raised her brow in amusement and leaned in so that their lips were lightly brushing. "Or what?" she taunted.
"Or this," Harry smirked as he flipped her over in a single movement so that she was the one laying on her back, with him between her lovely thighs as he ravished her mouth.
"That's good," she gasped and pulled him back for another breath stealing kiss.
~*~*~*~
The next day went by quickly for Alex. Before she knew it, it was time to get ready for the ball.
"Harry, please. Go get ready with Ron," Alex begged as Harry stood in the bathroom, his shirt off, standing there leaning against the sinks only in a pair of jeans.
"Why can't I stay here?" he demanded as he looked at his flustered girlfriend.
"Because Hermione and I are going to get ready here," she told him with a huff for the third time.
Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. It was obvious that him being gone so that she and Hermione could perform this . . . ritual was important to her. So he'd go. "Can I at least have a kiss?" he asked, trying to look innocent.
"No. If I start kissing you, you're never going to leave. I'll kiss you when I see you again," she told him with a promising smile in her eyes.
"You wound me!" Harry exclaimed dramatically as he clutched at his heart desperately.
"Harry!" she growled in exasperation and crossed her arms tightly against her chest to stop herself from throttling him.
"I'm going I'm going!" he told her with a smile as he walked past her and kissed her cheek. "I'll see you in a few hours love," he murmured before disappearing into his room, grabbing his things and heading towards the Gryffindor Common room.
After Alex was sure that he was gone, she turned towards the bath and turned the water on boiling hot. It'd take her a few minutes to get in it after it was finished, and she wanted it to still be hot. After making sure that the scent was jasmine, Alex quickly left the bathroom for her room, where Hermione was already sitting on her bed, reading a magazine in a robe, having showered in the Gryffindor Tower.
"Okay, get in your dress," Alex ordered as she walked over to the wardrobe and pulled it out.
"I'm going to look like an idiot!" Hermione complained as she shrugged out of the robe, leaving her in a lacy strapless tan thong.
"You'll look wonderful," Alex corrected as she opened the box that held her own dress in it. It was beautiful. Not that she had expected anything less coming from her Grandmother. The material was a soft silk that was the exact color of her eyes, a clear shimmering blue, and was fashioned like an old style ball gown almost. The dress was strapless, and fashioned in a princess cut, slightly flaring at the hips to fall about her feet in soft waves, and the edges of the dress were adorned with shimmers of silver glitter. She'd look wonderful in it - she knew that she would.
"Can you tie this?" Hermione asked Alex as she finished wriggling into the layers upon layers of fine lace.
"Yep," she chirped in response and walked over to Hermione on silent feet and tied the strings that were dangling around together. "There!"
"How do I look?" Hermione asked as she turned towards the floor length mirror to inspect herself, and gasped. She looked. . . different. Beautiful different.
The gown was made of three layers of black lace – just enough so she wasn't showing everyone every piece of her skin – the back of the dress was cut open to the top of her butt, and had three pair of strings tied together going up her back –which was the only reason the dress actually stayed on her body, considering it had no straps. And there was a long slit that went all the way up to her thighs on her right side, showing a long amount of silky tan legs.
"You look fabulous," Alex told her with a smile before heading towards the bathroom to take a quick bath.
Three hours later, Hermione's hair was up in an elegant French twist with some curled tendrils of hair falling about her face, and her make – up was to perfection, with dark eyeliner and eye shadow on to match the dress, and a dark mulberry painted on her lips. And Alex was finally dressed, with her hair half up, half down, in it's natural state, and was held back with a diamond clip that her Grandmother had sent along. Her make up was done in shimmering colors, and she had rubbed small amounts of glitter on to her chest and arms just so that she wouldn't have an overly stark contrast to the dress because of her dark skin.
"Ready?" Alex asked Hermione as she heard the door from the Common room open.
"As much as I can be I guess," Hermione told her with a brave smile.
"Come on then."
Harry watched the door as his girlfriend and best friend walked down the stairs. But, he only had eyes for one of them. And she looked absolutely stunning in her gown. Like the sea goddess he once called her. The dress was obviously made for her, considering how it hugged all of her curves as if it too was her skin.
"You look wonderful, magnificent … wow," Harry told her with a smile as he took her hand and kissed her wrist, then turned his attention to his friend. His eyes widened, he felt them do so. "Good Lord! I do believe that Malfoy will be eating his tongue 'Mione!" he told her with a smirk. "You look wonderful."
"Thank you Harry," Hermione blushed as she made her way to the door. "But I'll see you two there okay, there's something I need to do."
Sharing a look, Harry and Alex frowned before looking at Hermione, who was already out of the door. "Okay!" they called out before looking at each other.
"What was all that about?" Harry asked her as they too headed out of the door towards the ball.
"I have no clue," she told him with a frown before she looked at him and smiled. "You look cute tonight," she told him with a grin, knowing that he wouldn't like the term. Which he showed with a wince.
"I don't look cute. I never look cute. Handsome; yes, charming; yes, cute; no," he told her firmly.
"Well Mr. Potter, I say you look cute, so you are cute, got me?" she demanded as they made their way through the crowd of students so that they could stand in the front of them seeing as they had to open the ball with a dance together.
"Whatever you say, Miss St.Raven," he mocked with a twinkle in his eyes as he looked at her with a … well, a cute grin on his face.
"Are you two ready to open the dance?" asked the somewhat prudish voice of Professor McGonagall from behind the couple.
"Yes ma'am, we are," Harry answered with a small smile.
"Good, then we may start," she told them with a nod as she opened the doors. Immediately, music came on, and Harry grabbed Alex's hand and lead her into the middle of the ballroom floor and lead her through the intricate steps of the waltz. Why they made the waltz the opening dance they'd never know, but by the time the music ended, Harry's nerves were on end, and Alex felt like she was going to burst with desire.
Soon after they made their way to the sidelines, music blared across the hall in a fast, jerky beat.
Alex turned around and faced the now full dance floor and smiled with pride. She and Harry, along with the perfects, had done a wonderful job with the decorations. The light came from the millions of fireflies that flew around the hall, the decorations were kept simple, but elegant, and the colors were a bold contrast against the whites and silvers.
"We going to dance or just stand here looking at everything?" Harry asked Alex with a grin as he whispered the words into her ear.
"I thought you didn't like dancing in front of people Mr. Potter?" Alex inquired softly as she looked at Draco staring at Hermione. He had something inside of him for her, and he didn't even know it.
"Oh, I think that I can make an exception for you my love," he told her with a boyish grin on his face.
"Well then, lets dance," she invited as she looked at him with sparkling eyes. Holding out her hand, she waited for him to take it before heading towards the dance floor.
"Lets see if you can hold your own against me Mr. Potter," she challenged.
And hours later, Alex realized that he could, and he did. His hands had been exactly where she needed them, when she needed them, his hips in perfect harmony with hers, and his body – God his glorious body had been pressed tightly against hers enough times to make her explode. But now, now that the hall was quiet and empty, and partiers were beginning to grow tired from the festivities, Alex felt as if something bigger was going to happen. And, she had a feeling that she wasn't going to like the out come of whatever it was.
The hair at the nape of her neck was standing on end, making her roll her head backwards as she changed into her nightgown to get rid of the feeling, and her body was cover in goosebumps. Not a good sign at all. The last time her body got like this was when . . . when she lost her parents.
After that though slashed through her head with a bang, another followed it. Harry.
"Harry!" she screamed as she ran towards his door and threw it open. She scanned the room and couldn't find him anywhere. Not in his bed, nor by his wardrobe. Where are you? She nearly sobbed in fear. This would not happen again. She wouldn't let him take what was hers.
"Harry?" she whimpered as she walked towards his bed, and saw him standing by the window watching her with shuttered eyes. He looked… emotionless as he stared at her, his hands clasped behind his back, his emerald green shirt rolled up to the sleeves, and his eyes . . . empty.
"Harry?" she asked hesitantly as she stared of him. This couldn't be the guy who told her he loved her only yesterday. It couldn't be.
"What?" he growled as he fought not to walk over to her and hug the frantic fear away. And, to keep himself from doing so, he leaned against the wall near the window and simply stared at her, and tried not to think of the body that the nightgown was hiding. He had to end it with her.
"I – I thought that you were hurt," she admitted as she started towards him, stopping a few feet away from him. It scared her, what she saw in his eyes. It looked as if she meant nothing to him. Just when she was starting to think that he meant everything to her.
Harry laughed and couldn't help but think that it sounded cold and heartless even in his own ears as he said, "It appears my love that I'm perfectly fine. Would you like to check and see?"
"Why are you being like this?" Alex whispered as she fought the tears that gathered in her eyes at his cold tone. He had never ever talked to her in that tone. Not once since she had met him. It was like throwing her into freezing cold water, then taking her out and sending her to Antarctica. Her whole body was covered with pinpricks, and it hurt knowing that it was because of the man in front of her.
"Because my love," he spat out mockingly, all the while his head was chanting, I love you, I'm sorry I have to do this. "Why should I stay with you if you won't give me what I want? I'm tired of playing games with you Alexandra. I want your body and you know it, yet in insist teasing me with it, pulling away right when I'm about to get the most pleasure."
"You love me," she insisted, not caring that the tears were spilling out of her eyes rapidly.
I'm sorry, Harry's mind told her mentally as he laughed. "No, I don't, I told you that I loved you to have your body. It seems like that hadn't worked, did it?" he told her viciously. He needed her out of his sight and soon, before he broke down and cried himself. She was his life, and he had to push her away. He'd rather die than see her die because of him.
Alex looked at Harry with wide, sad, disbelieving eyes before running out of the room, with her hand over her mouth and disappearing into her room.
Collapsing on her bed – a bed she had not slept in a long time, she sobbed herself to sleep, realizing with a shocking clarity that she had gone and fell in love with Harry James Potter, and he had only played her.
Harry had enough sense to mutter a silencing spell on his room as he listened to Alex's crying on the other side. As he crumpled to the floor and began to cry himself, he could only think one thing. You'll never know how much I love you Alexandra St. Raven.
Authors Notes:
Oops. I'm sorry! I really really am! I sorta kinda forgot about this story. Yes yes yes I know I know I know! Bad writer bad writer bad bad writer!!
I wasn't able to get a hold of Kelly for this chapter, so I just went ahead and wrote it myself. There are about three or four chapters left, and I'm not going to make any promises, but I'm hoping that they'll be out soon.
I'm terribly sorry for the wait! I'm going to try to get a hold of Kelly though so that I can finish the next chapter a little sooner, because it's a little hard to write two different stories at once, and do homework at the same time. So we'll see what happens okay? And I really am sorry you guys!
I promise it won't be like….5 months again. Okay?
Thanks for reading you guys!
Mistress del Mare
Part of Dreamer di Musica