Chapter seven

By the lake

/

Harry was tapping his fingers impatiently over the cover of Herbology textbook, as he waited in the corner of the Entrance Hall. About five minutes ago, he had been wolfing down his lunch as fast as he could, leaving surprised Ron and Hermione alone at the table. Now, he was hypnotizing the entrance of the Great Hall, replaying in his head what he wanted to say to Angela.

The bell for the next class was fast approaching when the brunette finally left the Hall and headed for the grand staircase. Harry took a breath and stepped into her path. Angela stopped and raised her head in surprise.

"Hi," Harry breathed out.

Angela smiled in a way, which seemed pleased. "Hello?"

Harry's so hard rehearsed sentences evaporated from his head. Only after some anxiously long moment, he stammered out: "I would like to ask you about something."

Angela shifted two thick books in her arms. On the top of them, Harry noticed the inscription ´The Basics of Witchcraft´.

"About what?"

"Why did you help me out with that potion?"

Angela remained silent for a moment, watching Harry intently.

"Because I wanted to," she then stated slowly.

Harry nervously fidgeted. Under that look of hers, he had a rather strange feeling.

"Um… Well… Thanks then."

"You're welcome. It was definitely worth it, to see that disappointed look on Snape's face," Angela smirked in satisfaction.

From some reason, Harry felt disappointed. "You did it because of him?"

Angela shrugged: "Partially. I despise those who vent frustration on others…"

"I see…"

"If it´s all you wanted…" she half-turned to leave.

"Wait! How did you do it?" Harry asked, lowering his voice. "How come I heard you in my head?"

"Uh," Angela suddenly seemed sheepish. "That's a long story," she answered quietly.

"I'll be happy to give my free time to know," Harry replied firmly. "If you´re willing to tell me, of course."

Angela looked at him hesitantly for a moment, but then she nodded.

"Okay, if you really want to know…" she looked out the window at the sunlit school grounds. "What about before dinner tonight? By the lake?"

Harry felt like he was going to suffocate as his pulse quickened and heart raced with joy.

"Sure. That will be fine," he agreed in one breath.

The school bell rang not far from them, but they both remained standing, looking at each other awkwardly. Harry moved a little closer to her, convincing himself that maybe he could say—

"Potter! Rosier!" came a sudden voice from just behind them.

They both flinched. Snape glared at them as if he had caught them stealing something from his cabinet.

"Aren't you supposed to be in your classes long ago?" he hissed with a smirk on his lips.

"Yes, of course," Angela shot back. "On my way, Professor."

She gave Harry a subtle wink, walked around him and headed briskly up the stairs.

"Do I have to repeat that to you, Potter?" Snape said icily.

"No, sir," Harry snorted and headed for the exit to the school grounds.

"I deduct ten points from Gryffindor´s score!" Snape did not forget to reward him.

"How else," Harry muttered to himself as he quickened his pace toward the greenhouses.

/

After two hours of Herbology, which Harry found incredibly long, he told Hermione and Ron that he would see them at dinner and hurried to the bedroom to shake off the usual school load.

He tossed the books on the bed and tore off his hideous robe. He pulled on jeans, t-shirt, and an impeccable denim jacket that he had recently purchased at one of the Muggle shops. Of course, only after exchanging wizarding money for ordinary ones and under the supervision of Aurors, but it was worth the trouble.

He adjusted his glasses on his nose and took a quick glance at his reflection in the mirror. He flinched at his incredibly dishevelled hair, but then waved it off. He forced himself to take a few deep breaths before walking out.

He repeated to himself several times that there was no reason to be nervous, but it did not help much.

He ran down the stairs to the common room and ran into Ron and Hermione. They were standing by the window, Ron holding Hermione's arm, talking quietly about something. They stepped back from each other as they registered Harry's presence.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked loudly.

But Harry didn't even stop.

"I'm going for a walk," he waved to them and slipped through the opening before they could ask him any more questions.

The picture snapped shut behind him and Ron turned back to Hermione.

"Why don't you trust me all of the sudden?" he asked sadly.

Hermione sighed and replied looking outside. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"But why?"

"Because I don't have the strength anymore," Hermione said quietly and headed to the girls' bedrooms.

Ron looked behind her in disappointment. The moment she was out of sight, he angrily kicked the nearest chair.

/

It was not until Harry found himself on the western shore of the Great Lake, where he realized that he and Angela had not agreed on an exact location. He immediately broke into a cold sweat. They could walk around the lake for ages and never come across each other.

He did not see her anywhere nearby, and when he turned around he could not even see the exit of the castle. He was beginning to consider going back and waiting for her in the Entrance Hall, when suddenly the familiar shiver in the back of his neck started again.

He felt a light, invisible pressure and immediately heard her voice: I'm on your right.

Harry flinched in surprise, but immediately took a step to the right. Not far away in the grass, half hidden behind the thick bushes was indeed Angela, looking in his direction and hesitantly smiling.

Harry swallowed the lump that formed in his throat and made his way toward her with his knees shaking slightly. He managed to overcome the wave of anxiety only once he approached her, smiled back and sat down close to her.

"It's always been beautiful here," he muttered softly as he looked at the lake shining in the setting sun.

"And that silence," Angela closed her eyes in satisfaction.

"No loud classmates," Harry agreed.

"And no nasty Snape," she added and they laughed together.

Feeling more comfortable now, Harry lay on his side and propped his head up.

"So," he began slowly. "Will you tell me your secret now?"

"What?" Angela wondered with her eyes wide. "Just kidding," she said quickly when she saw Harry's frown. "I admit that since I used it with you, you have a right to know."

She leaned her elbows behind her on the grass and sighed.

"Have you ever heard of Occlumency?" she finally began with a question.

"Sure," Harry agreed. "Last year I was…" he quickly stopped.

"What about last year?" Angela narrowed her eyes.

"Um, well… Hermione told me about it last year," stammered Harry.

"Ah, she's that smart one I go to Runes with and Draco hates her, isn't she?" Angela asked.

Harry smirked: "Yeah, that one. She's my best friend," he added slowly.

"Just because I associate with Draco doesn't mean I feel the same way about her as he does," Angela remarked as if she knew what was going through his mind.

"That's good," he grinned.

"Well, if you know Occlumency, logically Legilimency tells you something too, right?" Angela returned to the topic.

"I do hope you don't mean that..." he breathed out, almost frightened.

"No," she cut him off quickly. "The fact that I speak to you in mind is not Legilimency, aka mind reading, but it works on a similar principle, so I just want to use it for comparison. I can only convey thoughts. Actually... I was surprised that you´re able to receive them. But Snape really, like really gets on my nerves, so I gave it a try. And it worked."

"Where did you learn that?" Harry asked curiously.

Angela did not answer for a while.

"From my aunt," she replied, suddenly looking down.

"And if I can receive your thoughts, shouldn't I be able to send them to you as well?"

She shrugged. "The option is there. It's not so difficult if you have some abilities and patience for it. It also depends on who you want to communicate with. For example, I had no problem with my aunt, but I could never do it with my best friend."

"Isn't it actually something like telepathy?"

"Something like that," she nodded. "The big difference, though, is that I don't read minds. It's disgusting and unauthorized invasion of privacy. I´ve got a bad feeling Snape´s on it all the time."

"I agree with you completely," Harry grimaced as he remembered his 'tutoring' lessons with the mentioned professor last year.

"I could teach you if you wanted," Angela suggested suddenly.

"Really?" he looked at her both surprised and excited.

Angela nodded solemnly: "Although I think you would probably be better suited with Occlumency…"

"What?" Harry looked at her in shock. "How…"

"Sorry, I'm just thinking too much," she shook her head apologetically. "So? Would you like to try?"

Harry's distrust rose again.

"And why do you want to teach me that? You won't gain anything from it."

Angela blushed and smiled sheepishly, "But I will," she said quietly, looking Harry in the eye.

Harry cleared his throat and rather changed the subject: "Well… I'm also wondering how you know Malfoy."

"I'm from the same House after all," Angela replied.

"But Malfoy doesn't hang out with just anyone," Harry objected.

"That's right," she nodded. "Okay, long story short – my aunt was a distant relative of Draco's grandmother. After her death, Narcissa took it upon herself to take care of me until I came of age."

"What about your parents?" Harry asked curiously.

Angela fell silent and looked at the surface of the lake.

"You don't have to answer me if you don't want to," he added, almost regretting asking when he saw her pained expression.

"No, that's fine. I just… I never knew my father and my mother…" Angela took a deep breath. "She's dead."

Harry did not try to poke further. He could see that she was in pain.

"If I hurt you with that question, I'm sorry."

"It´s all right," Angela replied, but still looked sad.

The sun had hidden behind the hills during their conversation.

"It's getting cold, shall we go eat?" Harry suggested, sitting up.

Angela nodded and stood up with Harry's help. Somehow, he managed to let go of her soft hand and together they made their way to the castle.

"When can we start with this thoughts-transfer thing?" Harry asked.

Angela thought about it. "Maybe already this weekend? If you have time..."

He grinned: "I certainly want to learn it, so I have."

She nodded, but avoided his eyes: "I'll let you know then."

"I´ll be looking forward to it."

"Me too. And… I´m sorry for behaving so haughtily back then. When we had met at night."

Harry eyed her a bit stunned. He was actually surprised she opened such a topic.

"I think I was too affected by fame around your name," Angela continued quickly. "I didn´t expect you to be… friendly to me," she humped a bit as she said that.

"It´s all right," he assured her. "I was not offended or anything. Really. I… I was actually curious about you."

Finally, she looked into his eyes and seemed to relax.

"Good," she smiled so brightly that Harry´s heart skipped a beat.

They reached the gate and stopped. Helpfully, Harry opened the door for her.

"It was nice talking to you, Harry," Angela said.

"Likewise," Harry replied. "It's nice to know that there´re normal people in Slytherin," he grinned and was overjoyed when she chuckled in amusement.

"All right, so… see you," Angela stood by him hesitantly for a moment, as if she wanted to say something else, but then she turned and quickly walked into the Great Hall, which was already filling up with the alluring fragrance of dinner.

Harry had to take a few breaths to calm his pounding heart before heading in the same direction.

/

Hermione and Ron kept glancing in the other´s direction, but never once looked directly at each other. Harry sensed a strange tension between them, but chose not to ask any questions and hungrily dug into the fried cheese. Hermione got up after a moment.

"I'll go straight to bed," she murmured softly. "Good night."

She quickly left with shine of tears in her eyes.

Harry turned to Ron questioningly: "Did something happen to her?"

"I don't know about anything…" Ron shook his head unconvincingly.

Harry sighed and rather focused at the Slytherin table.

/

Angela just stared intently at her plate, even though she knew Draco was watching her with a frown.

"Where have you been?" he asked quietly after a while.

"Why do you care?" she retorted.

Draco scowled: "As you wish. But I told you that Mother wants me to follow you and inform her about everything.''

Stiffened, she looked into his eyes: "But you don't do it..."

"No," he admitted. "I don´t want to spy on you. That is why I ask you directly."

"You can easily describe me as an obedient little girl to your mother. As far as I know, lies are no problem for you."

Draco did not respond, but hissed at her before he left: "I hope you still remember the warning we got."

Angela remained silent and just watched his back cheerlessly.